By Mary Hoar, City of Yonkers Historian, President Emerita Yonkers Historical Society, recipient of the 2004 Key to History, and President Untermyer Performing Arts Council
Monday, January 9th
January 9, 1934: As part of his efforts to comply with Mayor Loehr’s orders to drastically reduce city spending, DPW Commissioner Edward Murray announced $75,000 would be cut from Yonkers street lighting budget. His plan was to reduce lighting in the “heart of Yonkers,” and stagger illumination in the outlying sections. Each light in our business sections had two lamps; only one would be lit. E. P. Prezzano, Yonkers Electric Light and Power Company VP, announced his company would be happy to work with Yonkers during the economy move. Murray’s total departmental reduction was $169,697; much of the cost reduction was to come from the elimination of jobs, both labor and higher salaried positions. All savings was earmarked to pay off Yonkers existing debt.
January 9, 1945: People in Yonkers thought they might be seeing a mirage… not once, but twice! Several people called YPD to report they had seen a dog floating down the river on an ice floe! A few hours later, YPD began fielding calls a deer had been spotted floating down the river. In both cases, the Coast Guard in Yonkers made heroic rescues. They picked up the first, indeed a dog, in one of their boats. The same afternoon, they attempted to get the deer on board, but failed. They then used their cutter to push the ice the deer was stranded on towards the shore. As soon as the deer spotted shore, it jumped off the floe, swam to land and galloped away.
Tuesday, January 10th
January 10, 1933: After multiple reports of ghosts prowling around St. John’s Cemetery and vandalism of cemetery vaults, Patrolman Albert Will nabbed a New Main Street man in the Odell-Brevoort family mausoleum at the stroke of midnight! While walking through the cemetery, Will saw the heavy door of the vault swing open; the officer entered the vault with his gun drawn and found twenty-two year old Joseph Porter hiding in the corner, surrounded by the 22 family members buried there. Porter refused to reveal why he was there, but insisted he had not disturbed or stolen anything. Judge Boots remanded him without bail for investigation of the malicious mischief charge.
Wednesday, January 11th
January 11, 1945: Lieutenant Edward O’Connor went on trial before Deputy Public Safety Commissioner Frank Duffy. O’Connor, the first of five police officers accused of dereliction, was accused of four violations of police rules. Charges were filed in November by former City Manager William Walsh in connection with an incident centering on alleged major gambling operations. O’Connor, on desk duty at the First Precinct, was charged with failing to record phone calls, failing to record he alleged orders to officers, and reporting to Walsh “contrary to the facts.” Prosecuting attorney was Corporation Counsel Broderick; Defense attorney for all officers was former Corporation Counsel Paul Bleakley.
Bleakley attempted to have a joint hearing for all five defendants, but was turned down by the Trial Commissioner. Two witnesses were called, Fred Stoekel and YPD Captain John McCormack, Traffic Division Commander. Stoekel, Manager of the Yonkers Electric Light and Power Company, testified on lighting services for the Sure-Way Developing Shop at 289 Nepperhan Avenue near Copcutt Lane. McCormack spoke about heavily curtained windows and a lack of laboratory and dark room equipment; the building should have had both according to its leasing agreement.
Thursday, January 12th
January 12, 1945: “Famous Handwriting Expert” Elbridge Stein testified at Lieutenant Edward O’Connor’s trial; after his “scientific examination” of the police records for the Coputt Lane gambling incident, he stated erasures had been made in the O’Connor report and new notes made. Former City Manager William Walsh stated he went to Police Headquarters after the incident and demanded to see the records. Chief Kruppenbacher showed him records; Walsh then seized possession and kept them until the trial. “Most significant” was testimony of lineman John Scanlon, who attested he saw Patrolman Connolly in Copcutt Lane the morning of the incident. Defense Attorney Bleakley jumped to his feet and thundered, accusing Scanlon of lying; Bleakley stated Scanlon told him in pretrial questioning he was unsure he had seen a patrolman the morning in question.
Friday, January 13th
January 13, 1938: The extreme level of “Dutch Schultz” Flegenheimer’s machinations to hide ownership of a Yonkers brewery were revealed in a lawsuit brought by his widow Frances. She believed Schultz’ former associates had conspired to give Democratic leader Thomas Brogan ownership of the Yonkers operation, so she filed suit to recover stock in the two dummy companies Schultz set up to hide his ownership. Besides Brogan, among the eleven she named in the suit was her late husband’s bodyguard, his lawyer, “lieutenant,” and a night club owner. Schultz was believed to be the kingpin of New York bootleggers at the height of Prohibition.
Saturday, January 14th
January 14, 1944: Speaking at the Yonkers Rotary Club, Sidney Karlton, Medical Director of the Pyridium Corporation in Nepera Park, informed members the Yonkers plant was one of the few companies in the US producing the wonder drug Penicillin! This miracle drug, however, was reserved for war use as it was difficult to produce. He also spoke about sulfadiazine, developed “right here in Yonkers at the Nepera Park plant. Sulfadiazine, used to combat strep-throat, pneumonia and gonorrhea, had faced opposition from doctors just ten years earlier. War casualties had sharply dropped as each soldier had packets containing sulfa tablets and powder. Pyridium moved to Yonkers in 1927, just two years after the company was started.
Sunday, January 15th
January 15, 1934: Death claimed Yonkers resident, dance pioneer and founder of the Negro Art Theater Hemsley Winfield who died of pneumonia at New York Hospital at the age of 26. Winfield danced his way to fame as the original witch doctor in Eugene O’Neill’s “Emperor Jones,” mounted by the Metropolitan Opera Company, the first African-American performing in a credited part at the Met. Winfield’s brought his own corps of dancers from the Negro Art Theater Dance Group to perform in the production. The Yonkers native lived with his family on Wolf Street, and graduated from School Thirteen where he was president of his class.
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