Lou Gehrig attended Yonkers Boys Week in 1928
By Mary Hoar, City of Yonkers Historian, President Emerita Yonkers Historical Society, recipient of the 2004 Key to History, Member of the Yonkers Landmarks Preservation Board, and President Untermyer Performing Arts Council
Monday, May 1st
May 1, 1929: After being interrogated all night by Yonkers Police, Earle Peacox confessed to the torch murder of his twenty-year-old wife Dorothy. Peacox. YPD believed Earle became jealous after reading a letter friend Eugene Bussey wrote to her and killed her. Bussey regretted writing the letter and planned to help the Peacox defense.
May 1, 1939: Several Park Hill property owners were dismayed to learn the deed for the former Valle Mansion on Park Hill Avenue in Lowerre Summit (original map showed not technically Park Hill) was filed with County Clerk Harold Mercer; this confirmed the rumor the mansion would be used as a “heaven,” or a residence for Father Divine’s followers. A few neighbors were upset, but their soon-to-be next door neighbor Maurice Blinken said he was not. He stated, “If Father Devine has taken the house, I might observe he is a neighbor, also, of President Roosevelt. I feel honored to be placed in the same class as the President.”
Blinken, grandfather of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, was former President of the Yonkers Board of Education and Chairman of the Yonkers Public Library Board.
Tuesday May 2nd
May 2, 1939: Earle Peacox was brought back to Police Headquarters to identify a dress mailed to the police station allegedly belonging to his wife; he couldn’t.
May 2, 1961: Yonkers City Clerk William Gray testified before the State Investigations Committee (SIC) studying bingo licensing. While being questioned by the Commission’s Chief Counsel Carl Vergari, Gray stated he asked for a $500 loan from bingo games operator William Buckner. Gray became distraught while repeatedly denying he had taken any money and claimed not to remember when asked questions about Buckner. A Commission investigator took the stand after Gray and testified Gray received $500. State Lottery Control Commission investigators admitted accepting money from Buckner.
Wednesday, May 3rd
May 3, 1929: District Attorney Frank Coyne announced Eugene Bussey would not be useful to the prosecution of Earle Peacox as Bussey sold both his story and the letters he received from murder victim Dorothy Peacox. Bussey was held as a material witness.
May 3, 1961: Acting Mayor Michael Nugent asked First Corporation Counsel John Trainor to acquire a transcript of City Clerk William Gray’s testimony before the State Investigation Commission (SIC) inquiry on bingo licensing in Yonkers; the investigation focused on William Buckner.
While being questioned as a witness when called before the SIC, Buckner refused to answer on constitutional grounds 55 times during questioning, including whether he knew several high-level known members of organized crime.
Thursday, May 4th
May 4, 1942: Seventy women started national vocational training in the Aviation Defense School in the old School Ten; this ten-week intensive course would qualify them for vital war industry skilled labor jobs. Most women signed up for the 7:30 am to 4 pm shift, but others wanted the 4:00-11:30 pm or the 11:30 pm to 7 am section. Assistant Principal Earl Carroll said the women were “keenly interested” and were fully aware the course work was “not a child’s play or game but a serious thing.” The course was an eight-hour-a day, five-days-a- week commitment. And yes, there was homework!
May 4, 1961: Mayor Kristen Kristensen immediately acted on a City Council request to create a committee to examine testimony of City Clerk William Gray, Jr., before the NYS Investigation Committee. The Mayor, a Republican, created a four-member committee of two Democrats and two Republicans to avoid the appearance of partisanship as Gray was a Republican. Democrat Vice Mayor Michael Nugent, who asked for the committee, was named Chairman. Councilmen Alice Allen and Gordon Burrows were the Republicans and Edward O’Neill was the second Democrat. Gray testified he asked former Yonkers resident and ex-convict William Buckner for a $500 loan.
Friday, May 5th
May 5, 1961: Four Yonkers sailors were on the USS Lake Champlain, the primary recovery ship for the Naval pickup operation for the first US astronaut Commander Alan Shepard when he landed the Project Mercury space capsule Freedom 7 in the waters off Cape Canaveral. Serving on the Champlain were: Signalman Third Class Edward Delapp of William Street; Seaman Robert France of Walnut Street; Seaman Neil Graner of Corley Street; and Shipfitter Third Class Paul Savage of Hudson Street.
May 5, 1961: After an absence of two days following testimony before the Yonkers bingo inquiry by State Investigation Commission, City Clerk William Gray reported to his office in City Hall. No one had any idea as to where he was or how to reach him during his absence.
Saturday May 6th
May 6, 1914: Mayor James Lennon gave Yonkers resident William Mangels an official Yonkers welcome at City Hall; Mangels had been wounded in the fighting at Vera Cruz.
May 6, 1929: Defense attorney Sidney Syme accused Captain Silverstein of beating client Earle Peacox during questioning and causing a toothache. The charge was “vigorously denied” by DA Coyne and Silverstein. Several pieces of furniture were smashed during questioning, but, according to the DA, the damage was caused by Peacox. Coyne said Peacox threw a chair across the room and ripped up notes the stenographer was taking.
Sunday, May 7th
May 7, 1919: The three hundred soldiers camping at Van Cortlandt Park were given free privileges to the Yonkers YMCA and its swimming pool to get relief from the May heat wave.
May 7, 1928: More than 3,000 people came to greet New York Yankees star Lou Gehrig at Glen Field as Yonkers closed the 1928 Boys Week with athletic games.
Questions or comments? Email YonkersHistory1646@gmail.com.For information on the Yonkers Historical Society, Sherwood House and upcoming events, please visit our website www.yonkershistoricalsociety.org, call 914-961-8940 or email info@yonkershistoricalsociety.org.
