The Westford Wardsman, September 29, 1917
Center. Mrs. L. H. Buckshorn, Charles O. Prescott and John P. Wright have been diligently at work this week to raise Westford’s part of the fund for the camp libraries for the enlisted men. Miss Bunce, at the library, has also assisted in every way possible with the work.
L. B. Lincoln, of Houghton, Me., visited his brother, Rev. H. A. Lincoln, at the parsonage this week.
Mrs. Harold W. Hildreth, who is teaching in the academy, has been a great sufferer this week with an ulcerated tooth, obliging her to remain at home.
The regular meetings of the Red Cross and the French Relief have been held at Library hall with good attendance and good interest during this week. The Red Cross has the promise of another sewing machine if it is found necessary, one being promised by Miss Clara Fisher.
Mr. Brigham, at Mrs. Gertrude Skidmore’s, who has been quite seriously sick, is reported as improving.
Warren E. Carkin, who has been sick with typhoid fever, is out again and unable to resume work.
Frank L. Fletcher, of Somerville, brother of John M. Fletcher of this town, has just passed his eighty-third birthday anniversary and with very comfortable health.
The Westford Oaklands defeated the Dalton A.C. of Lowell, 9 to 2, at Whitney playground last Saturday afternoon.
Company L, M.S.G., held its regular drill at the town hall on Tuesday evening. The members of the company made a good showing with their new uniforms and equipment. The company has completed its arrangements to go to Concord Sunday when the Groton, Westford and Concord companies will drill together.
Charles S. Edwards and Mrs. Flora M. Merritt were married last Saturday. The ceremony was performed at the home of the groom’s parents in West Chelmsford by Rev. H. H. Lippincott of the M.E. church. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards will reside at Brookside. No cards. W. M. Wright, since the marriage of his daughter, will board with Mrs. Moran, of this village. Mrs. Tyler, the late Mr. Merritt’s aged aunt, will go to Brookside to live with Mr. and Mrs. Edwards.
Miss Sarah Rogers, at H. L. Wright’s, has received the sad news of the death of a soldier nephew in the service of France.
“Sent Away With a Smile.” Nearly 200 towns-people turned out last week Friday morning to give the nine young drafted men a hearty God speed and cordial farewell on their departure for Ayer. This number was the first of Westford’s forty percent quota to report for camp and were as follows: Leon F. Hildreth [b. 1895], Frank C. Johnson [b. 1889], Clarence E. Hildreth, Robert Orr [b. 1894], John Hobson, Herbert Smith, Frank Charlton, Gustave Eliason and Arthur Szyswilan [Adam Szylvan] [also Joseph Perkins, see Oct. 6, 1917, “Center”]. As each man reported at the town hall they were heartily welcomed, and after they were all assembled pictures were taken by Charles L. Hildreth and another picture as they were ready to depart in the automobiles. It was a sad time at best, but everyone did their level best to give the boys a good send-off. The board of selectmen, Capt. Sherman H. Fletcher, Oscar R. Spalding and Frank L. Furbush, and Herbert V. Hildreth of the public safety committee, accompanied the young men to Ayer in the automobiles which were furnished by Dr. O. V. Wells, Dr. W. A. Sherman and Arthur G. Walker. As the party moved away they were given three rousing cheers by the assembled company. Thus do the first contingent of drafted men start in to train for soldiers for Uncle Sam, and it is expected that another group of numbers will soon be drawn for reporting at Ayer.
About Town. The Old Oaken Bucket farm folks are uncovering potatoes that weigh 1 pound and 2 ounces, raised from planting small seed. The writer does not claim that this is wonderful, but the largest reported. J. Willard Fletcher reports 14 ounces, not including the white grub that liveth and abideth therein.
The prize offered for the largest pickerel caught in Forge pond was awarded to W. R. Taylor, who hooked and hauled one in at three pounds, and lost one that weighed four pounds by mental weight.
Mrs. Martha Taylor Howard and son, George Taylor Howard, of Bound Brook, N.J., are visiting at the parental home.
Prof. John Adams Taylor left on Friday for his year’s work at the University of North Dakota.
At the last meeting of the Grange an invitation was received from Littleton Grange, and accepted, to neighbor with them on Wednesday evening, October 3. Westford Grange invited Chelmsford and Carlisle Granges to give us of their entertainment in exchange for victuals on Thursday evening, November 1. Fourteen applications for membership were balloted upon and accepted. State Overseer Smith, of Hadley, was present as official visitor and gave of his experience and observations.
Fair a Success. Middlesex-North fair was universally regarded as the best for half a century. The school garden exhibit was the largest and most like farming since such exhibits have developed. The crowd was immense. Add to this the weather, with a thunder shower thrown in to remind us that summer did not play finale when the frost played its recent opening demonstration. Aside from the usual as well as the unusual was the display by the Lowell Fish and Game club of various fowl, animals and fish. In the award of premiums the West Groton school took first prize of $15. Among the honorable mentions is the Boutwell school of Groton. The Y.M.C.A. camp at Nabnassett exhibited a fine display, one of which was a bushel of potatoes, one of 17 ½ raised from one bushel of seed, and also seventeen potatoes from one hill, nearly all of which were marketable.
Other winners were Mrs. Fred A. Snow of West Chelmsford, canned beans and asparagus. Among the Stony Brook farmers who came up with premiums were William R. Taylor, 1st on Duchess apples, 2nd on Porters. On the general exhibit, $3.50 was awarded the table Stony Brook farmers. The Old Oaken Bucket farm won 1st premiums on Williams, pumpkin sweets and crab apples, and 2nd on field corn and 1st premium on best bushel of potatoes, with Frank W. Fletcher in close pursuit with 2nd premium. The Prescott farm on Francis hill was awarded two premiums on apples. All in all, Westford was there with the goods.
Forge Village. Thomas Gallagher and William Kelly journeyed to Lawrence last Thursday evening to represent the local football club at the league meeting. Great interest was shown among the members, as everyone was anxious for the club to be admitted to membership of the league. Realizing the importance of the occasion Mr. Gallagher pleaded with the league officials, with the result that the Forge Village team was admitted to the league and arrangements were made to play the first game on Saturday with the Lawrence Thistles as opponents.
The four drafted men from this village left for Camp Devens last week Friday morning. They were driven in an auto by Edward Hanley to Westford Center to join the group. They were taken by Drs. O. V. Wells and W. H. Sherman and Arthur Walker in their machines to the camp. Each one was given a sweater and other necessary articles by the Red Cross. Among those to go from here are John Hobson, Herbert Smith and Robert Orr.
Mrs. James Wisely and two sons, of New Jersey, who spent the last two weeks at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Thompson, left for Worcester last week Friday morning for a brief visit before going home. Thursday evening Mr. and Mrs. Thompson gave a party in honor of their departing guests. A musical program was enjoyed and refreshments were served. Mrs. Wisely was formerly Miss Nellie Burns, of this village, and has a host of friends.
Miss Mabel Sanborn is visiting her brother, George L. Sanborn, in Fitchburg.
Miss Lillian A. Wheeler and Miss Gertrude E. Comey returned to Boston last week Friday after an extended visit at the home of Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Comey.
Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Cockroft and Miss Sarah Hunt returned to Ware last Sunday morning after an enjoyable visit at the homes of Edmund and William Hunt.
A very pleasant surprise party took place Thursday evening at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Hobson, of Orchard street, when the members of the soccer football club presented to their son, John Hobson, a wrist watch. The young man, who answered the call to the colors, was greatly surprised, but thanked his friends for their thoughtfulness. The evening was pleasantly spent in music and games, and refreshments were served. Mr. Hobson had previously tried to enlist in the navy, but was not tall enough to pass. He was a member of the football club and is very well liked by his association.
Mrs. V. C. Bruce Wetmore is recovering from a broken collar bone. The accident occurred at her home a week ago.
Ayer
Camp Notes. A visitor at the camp last Sunday, who had traveled extensively, said that the crowd last Sunday was by far the greatest he had ever seen anywhere.
Fifty of the depot brigade left last Saturday for Boston to help fill the ranks of the 101st regiment of engineers. Another squad of 200 men left Sunday to join the 104th infantry [26th Yankee Division] at Westfield. They were all Massachusetts men.
Several thousands of visitors waited for the arrival of the 1516 recruits who came from Boston on three special trains. The understanding was that the trains would be run to the West Main street railroad crossing, where the detrainment was supposed to take place. The crowd and several mounted officers waiting there were disappointed, however, the trains being run into the camp ground, near Davis crossing, from the Worcester, Nashua and Portland division. The change in the place of detrainment was said to have been made to avoid the great crowds on the Shirley road which blocked that thoroughfare, making the passage of that sized body of men practically impossible.
Receiver J. H. Heustis, of the Boston and Maine railroad, was at the camp grounds the greater part of last Sunday, personally overseeing the work of getting the men coming by train into the big enclosure.
A men’s choir is to be formed at the Knights of Columbus building by the draft recruits.
Daniel J. Gallagher, state deputy of the Knights of Columbus, visited the camp last Sunday.
The Y.M.C.A. information bureau at the main entrance proved very useful last Sunday in directing people to various parts of the big camp.
The electric cars moved very slowly in passing through the immense crowds on the Shirley road last Sunday. The running schedules were necessarily badly disarranged.
A football game by teams from the 301st infantry was one of the diversions last Sunday.
Four recruits who came from Charlestown as substitutes were sent home after the missing “regulars” had been found. The substitutes made a strong protest against being sent back, saying that they wanted to stay and learn to fight.
So great is the area to be covered in gathering news that the correspondents at the camp are obliged to travel on horseback. A correspondent stated that some of his companions were unused to this sort of traveling and become foot sore after their daily jaunts.
The men from Division 6, Boston, each carried a banner bearing the words, “Sammies and had been in the camp only four days, coming from Newbury, Vt. The body was recovered a few hours later. The remains were taken to Boston in an auto ambulance of Waterman, Bros., undertakers, of that city, Monday afternoon, and thence shipped to the young man’s home in Lewiston, Me., for burial [on Sept. 24].
A rumor is in circulation in railroad circles that the Boston and Maine railroad will run a passenger train to and from Ayer and Boston every two hours to meet the request of the federal government. The increased patronage since the camp was started is the cause of the rumored movement.
Herbert E. Phinney has been granted a license for a pool table in the building formerly occupied as a Methodist church, which has been secured by the grand lodge of Odd Fellows for a rendezvous for members of the order who will be stationed at Camp Devens. Mr. Phinney, who is in charge of remodeling the building to meet the new requirements, expects to have it open on this week Friday evening.
F. A. Johnston, of Hyde Park, a workman at Camp Devens, was arrested on Monday for failure to report for military duty at the camp. He was held to await action of the federal authorities in Boston.
Next Call to Camp Devens. Those included in the next call to Camp Devens, October 5, are as follows: …
Westford—Walter O. Beebe, Alexander Brunelle, Harold W. Hildreth, Frank L. Blaisdell, Seth W. Banister, Arthur C. Arvanties, Marden H. Seavey.
District Court. Frank Neilly, employed at Camp Devens, was found guilty of drunkenness and of evading fare on the Lowell and Fitchburg street railway last Saturday morning. The drunk charge was filed and on the complaint for evading fare he was fined ten dollars. An appeal was taken and the defendant was ordered held for the October session of the superior court at Cambridge in $200 sureties.
Albert Carbone and Eli Harper were before the court to answer to complaints for cruelty to a horse. Carbone, the owner of the animal, was fined twenty dollars, and Harper’s case was filed after a finding of guilty. Carbone appealed and was held in $200 bail for the superior court. Frank Love, charged with a similar complaint, pleaded guilty. He was fined forty dollars. Clarence Wilson, a driver for Love, was found guilty and his case was placed on file. These cases were brought as a result of the activity of Theodore W. Pearson, agent for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. All of these complaints arose from the ill treatment of horses at Camp Devens, where the defendants are engaged in construction work.
Leo Willet, of Lowell, was arraigned on a complaint for stealing a canoe at Forge pond on the night of September 14. He was found not guilty. The main witness to appear for the government was Mrs. Edward Crowell, the owner of the canoe, who was camping at the pond. She placed the value of the stolen property at forty-three dollars. The canoe was recovered in North Littleton. Willet admitted taking the canoe, but had no intention of keeping it. In company with two other men he went to Spectacle pond, Littleton, on a fishing trip, carrying the canoe overland from Forge pond. Willet, who is a private in the 6th regiment now encamped at Westfield, admitted taking “French leave” two weeks before in order to go to Lowell to see his folks before going with his regiment to France for service, and expected to be court martialed on his return for leaving without permission. It also developed that he was found guilty of larceny at Forge Village in 1915, for which he served eighteen months in the Concord reformatory. After communicating with his commanding officer at Westfield, Willet was sent to that place.
Wilbur Roberge, of Danielson, Conn., who was taken into custody by Chief Beatty for safe keeping, was unable to say much about himself. His queer actions showed that he was mentally unbalanced. He claimed that he was assaulted at the camp, receiving a severe blow with a club on the head. Enough information was gained from his disconnected story to show that he was one of the draft men from Danielson that arrived with the Connecticut contingent last week Thursday, but had failed to report for duty at Camp Devens.
Michael Sales was found guilty of assault and battery Tuesday morning and fined ten dollars. The assault followed a wordy altercation between the defendant and a fellow employee, both of whom are dish washers at the Baldwin commissary at Camp Devens. Sales was alleged to have thrown a handful of dishes at his co-laborer, knocking out a couple of teeth.
A draft recruit charged with drunkenness was sent back to Camp Devens. The reason advanced for the partaking of the liquor was that he was sick and took the liquor for relief.
Biggest Crowd Ever in Ayer. The greatest crowd that ever assembled in this vicinity came to Camp Devens last Sunday, when it was estimated that the attendance reached the enormous total of fully 150,000 persons, coming in 35,000 automobiles from all over New England and New York state. The big increase in the number of draft men during the week indicated that a very large throng of visitors would be on hand, but all previous estimates as to the number which would come were completely eclipsed. The highways in all directions were packed all day with automobiles and pedestrians. The greatest congestion was along the main thoroughfare to the camp, the entire highway being filled from the camp entrance to the Ayer town hall. In spite of the tremendous number of visitors the police detail, in charge of Chief Beatty, made an unprecedented record for efficiency. But one slight accident was reported during the day.
The greatest demonstration of the day came on the arrival of the Boston contingent, numbering 1582 men, who came in three special trains. After being given a preliminary physical examination and other details had been completed the men were assigned to their barracks. Earlier in the day 700 men came to swell the ranks from Western Massachusetts, and smaller numbers from New York and New Hampshire.
By Sunday night the forty-five percent of the quota of New England and New York had arrived; making a total of approximately 20,000 recruits. The next forty-five percent will begin to arrive next Wednesday and will come in for several days. The remaining ten percent will arrive some time later. The total number, when all the quota are in, who will be encamped here, will be about 43,000.
Brigadier General Hodges, commander of the camp, allowed all the men to go home and vote at the state primary on Tuesday, providing that they returned before reveille the next morning. As a result of this permission 2500 men left for their homes. Depot square was crowded during the forenoon by the soldiers who sought every means of transportation to get to their homes.
Officers Elected. Ayer Council Knights of Columbus, held its annual election of officers on Tuesday evening in its rooms, Page block. The following officers were elected for the ensuing year:
J. M. Markham, g.k.; George L. Wilson, d.g.k.; Edw. N. Wilson, ch.; Martin O’Neil, f.s.; John F. Ryan, treas.; Frank E. Griffin, rec.; John H. Hooley, warden; Michael J. Pender, i.g.; William Barrett, o.g.; A. H. McDonald, trustee 3 yrs.; Hugh McDonald, advocate; J. M. Markham, John H. Hooley, delegates to state convention; M. J. Griffin, A. H. McDonald, alternates.
It was voted to pay the dues for the duration of the war of all members in the military service of the United States and to issue a traveling card for one year to these men.
John E. Dunphy, general secretary for the Knights of Columbus at Camp Devens, gave a talk on the work being done by the order and the work it intends to do at Camp Devens. J. L. Foggarty, of Home City Council, Springfield, also spoke on the war work of the order.
Arrangements have been made to offer the use of the local K. of C. rooms to soldiers at Camp Devens to be used by them as a town clubhouse. The rooms are fitted up with every facility for this purpose, having a Victrola, piano, pool table, stationery and writing materials for correspondence, a telephone and a large hall for meetings, lectures and entertainments. The clubhouse will be open for the use of the men both during the day and evening and as it is centrally and conveniently located on the third floor of Page block, no doubt many of the soldier boys will take advantage of its facilities. A cordial invitation is extended to every man in camp, whether a Knight of Columbus or not, to visit this town clubhouse and make free use of its advantages.
Arrangements were also completed at the meeting for the procuring of sweaters and other comforts for the soldiers at the camp. These will be distributed by the Knights of Columbus through General Secretary Dunphy at Camp Devens.
Those Poor Citizens of Ayer. The following editorial is taken from the Boston Transcript of September 5, who give credit to the Hartford Courant for the clipping:
We do not understand that the establishment of the encampment at Ayer has or will entail any great burden upon the town while, on the other hand, it will bring money into the place for a time. When the war is over Ayer will retain the real estate and the memories connected with the camp.
Just now Ayer is booming as if gold bearing quartz had been discovered within its borders and the inhabitants are not all of the type which Massachusetts had in Revolutionary days if one may judge from the following letter printed yesterday in the Springfield Republican:
As the wife of an army officer I should like to tell how the patriotic people of the little town of Ayer are “doing their bit.” There is a house for rent there, just an ordinary, large-sized house, and the price of it is $1000 a month—without furniture, without servants, without supplies of any kind, one thousand dollars! To be sure, there are others, common frame structures, with no heating facilities other than chimneys, ranging anywhere from $500 down to the modest sum of $200 a month.
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