By Mary Hoar, President Emerita, Yonkers Historical Society, recipient of the 2004 Key to History and President Untermyer Performing Arts Council
Monday, February 14th
February 14, 1931: Motion picture stars Charles Farrell and Virginia Valli slipped into Yonkers City Hall to obtain a marriage license. Later that day, Reverend Ralph Houston married them at the First Methodist Church parsonage, North Broadway and Ashburton Avenue. United in Yonkers, the couple were together until her death in 1968. Farrell played Gail Storm’s father Vern Albright in the long-running 1950s TV series “My Little Margie.”
February 14, 1945: The Yonkers Kiwanis Club Board of Governors adopted a resolution opposing the “Entertainment of prisoners of war any place in the United States outside of their places of detention.” Copies of their resolution were sent to area members of Congress and to Kiwanis International.
Tuesday, February 15th
February 15, 1939: Warburton Avenue dentist Dr. Edward Jones was appointed a member of the New York State Commission tasked with studying conditions of the state’s urban African-American population.
February 15, 1955: Eighteen Yonkers Auxiliary Policewomen were presented in their new uniforms! The women, sworn in as peace officers after completing the same intensive training course as male Auxiliary officers, were given the same authority as the male officers. In addition to being assigned to clerical work, they also performed policewomen’s duties.
Wednesday, February 16th
February 16, 1935: Special nurses at Yonkers Professional Hospital successfully lobbied for replacing twelve-hour shifts with eight-hour shifts. Previously paid $6 for twelve-hours, the new rate was $5 for an eight-hour shift. St. Joseph’s Hospital had a shorter shift for four months; St. Joseph’s Nursing Supervisor Alice O’Donnell said it “worked very well.”
February 16, 1945: Former Yonkers mayor William Wallin was unanimously reelected to another 12-year term on the NYS Board of Regents.
February 16, 1945: After American Legion officials Post 7 Commander Leslie Jones and Crescent Post Past Commander Morris Zellner spoke about Mount Carmel Church hosting 150 Italian “signees,” the Eighth Ward Republican Association added its name to the list of organizations opposing the “coddling” of Italian service units. A copy of their resolution was sent to US Senator Robert Wagner.
Thursday, February 17th
February 17, 1918: Chairman of the Yonkers War-Savings Committee William Palmer East announced five hundred Yonkers Boy Scouts had pledged to buy a thrift stamp for their own thrift card.
February 17, 1947: Sister Elizabeth Kenny, the Australian nurse known for creating a successful method of treating polio, visited Yonkers City Hall to receive a check for $4500 from the PAL; the money was raised at a benefit show put together by PAL President Lieutenant Edward O’Connor specifically for Sr. Kenny. She thanked “the good people of Yonkers for their generous support.”
February 17, 1955: Representatives of all Yonkers banks met at People’s Savings Bank; they adopted a resolution opposing to the proposal to turn the Dunwoodie Golf Club into a county public golf course.
Friday, February 18th
February 18, 1923: Former Yonkers High School and Pittsburgh University baseball star Jerry Brady signed to play with the Mariano Team in the Havana League. Brady, the son of Police Captain Hugh Brady, was to report to Cuba in the Fall.
February 18, 1935: Trapped by a ruse, two men from Newark were caught on Roosevelt High School grounds with a truck with liquor! Gertrude Fleishcher, school cafeteria manager, was suspicious after the men cashed a check earlier than agreed. She got them to return by hinting she might want to buy some of their applejack, but had Principal Richards call the police when they arrived. When the officers searched their truck, they found half of a case of whiskey and a 5-gallon jug of applejack. Patrolman Frank Jordan placed Sydney Ades and George Zall under arrest for petit larceny and transporting liquor, a violation of the state liquor laws. Ades, according to Jordan, said he offered to sell liquor to Miss Fleischer. The whiskey and applejack were sent to the city laboratories for testing.
Saturday, February 19th
February 19, 1926: Dr. Virginio Minervini, head of the City Hospital for Communicable Diseases, announced his resignation; the post was taking too much time from his private practice. Health Commissioner Dr. Clarence Buckmaster asked Yonkers to create the position of resident physician at the hospital because of the large increase in work.
February 19, 1935: The two Newark men arrested at Roosevelt High School, Sydney Ades and George Zall, were brought before City Judge Fay to be charged with petit larceny, offering to sell alcoholic beverages to school Cafeteria Manager Gertrude Fleischer, and unlawfully transporting alcohol without a license. Judge Fay denied bail. The men were held while police also investigated if the men had sold liquor to any Roosevelt High School students. Because they did not want to delay the trial, the men’s attorney conceded the seized liquids were whiskey and applejack.
Sunday, February 20th
February 20, 1920: George Thomas, the alleged leader of the policy slip racket in Yonkers attempted to escaped after Judge Boote ordered his arrest. He was in the courtroom to see how one of his henchmen fared in court; the judge recognized him and ordered Captain Ford to arrest Thomas, who bolted out of the court. Court Interpreter Henry Friedman grabbed him in the hallway, and then marched the escapee back into the court, holding him by the scruff of the neck. Friedman recognized the man; Thomas had been arraigned on similar charge the previous September and given a suspended sentence. Boote ordered that sentence to start immediately.
February 20, 1945: Chairman William Scott called a special meeting of the Central Committee of War Veteran Organizations to “consider—in the American way—the question of Italian war prisoners or signees visiting communities and being entertained.”
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