<\/p>\n
I have recently made several references on this program to articles that appeared in the Waterville Sentinel and the Waterville Mail in the year 1909. I am partial to that year because it was when I first knew the City of Waterville. That autumn I entered Colby College as a freshman. So the events in this community during the later months of 1909 are vivid in my memory. One of these events stands out especially strong, Admiral Peary’s return from the North Pole.<\/p>\n
I wonder how many of my listeners know that one of the first audiences that Peary addressed on United States soil after his eventful reaching of the top of the world was right here in Waterville. He had made a brief stop and had given a brief speech in Halifax, had hastened by train to St. John, N.B., then with only a brief stop and no speaking, he had come straight through from St. John to Bangor. Thereafter a short public reception at which he said some one hundred words, he went on to Waterville.<\/p>\n
I recall vividly that on September 23, 1909 a decorated platform had been set up on the lawn in front of the Maine Central Station. Classes at the college across the street were suspended and the entire student body was among the throng at the station to greet the great explorer.<\/p>\n
Peary’s stay in Waterville lasted only a short ten minutes. Among those who made the most of it was the Colby chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon, for one item which Peary had proudly placed at the Pole was the banner of DKE. The Sentinel reported: “Peary was dressed in a black suit and soft shirt and he looked weatherbeaten and hardened. He could not speak for a moment because of the cheers from Dekes. but he recognized the yell and waved to the boys. Then he turned to the huge crowd and said: “I feel very much honored by this tribute. I am indeed proud that we have at last gathered in the top of the earth. We have won that for which some of the best men of the most civilized nations have been striving for 300 years. It is possible that the influence of the pine-clad granite hills of New England and the rockbound shores of Maine have contributed to the staying power that has made possible the winning of the Pole.”<\/p>\n
The Sentinel tells us that Mrs. Peary and two children were at the windows of the Pullman car and watched the reception.<\/p>\n
The Sentinel paid tribute to Dr. J. F. Hill for assisting Mayor Redington to arrange the reception to Peary and was high in its praise for the marshal of the day, Captain Harold Leon Pepper. Pepper’s Co. H of the National Guard headed the parade from City Hall to the Maine Central Station. Behind them marched a thousand children from the public schools and 400 from the parochial schools. The members of the city government and other dignitaries rode in carriages. Music was furnished by Haines’ Waterville Military Band. A feature of the parade was the Hospital Corps under command of Dr. John G. Towne.<\/p>\n
At the station Co. H was posted on two sides of a hollow square, into which marched the school children. Over the sea of faces could be seen the waving flags, and the band greeted the explorer with “Hail the Conquering Hero Comes”.<\/p>\n
The Sentinel concluded its long account with these words: “Mayor Redington and Dr. Hill cannot say too much in praise of their reception in Bangor, where they went to meet Peary and invite him to stop in Waterville. While delighted by the reception they saw accorded the explorer in Bangor, the Waterville men declare that ours was the more spontaneous and enthusiastic.”<\/p>\n
Already on these Little Talks I have mentioned several episodes of student pranks or demonstrations at Colby that occurred many years ago. The Sentinel told of one such episode in its issue of October 23, 1909. The article brings back memories to me, for it was my freshman class, holding the traditional freshman reception in an Oakland hall that gave the sophomores occasion for their outburst.<\/p>\n
The Sentinel headlines told in brief what happened: “Sophomores land in the lockup. Had a rough-house in Oakland last night. Street railway men called police and sheriffs. Fourteen Colby students will appear in court this morning.”<\/p>\n
For at least a dozen years prior to 1909 each freshman class held a reception, as quietly and secretly as possible, at some spot outside the city. It was customary for the sophomores, as soon as they learned when and where it was held, to raid the place and try to break up the party. The next year. in the fall of 1910, my own sophomore class would get into trouble with the authorities trying to break up the class of 1914 reception at Clinton.<\/p>\n
But in 1909 we were the freshmen and victim of the sophomore raid. I recall that we had our party in the old dance hall that overhung the lake at the end of the electric car line in Oakland. Probably the Sentinel told accurately what happened. At least this is what it said: “The sophomores charged the hall. and the freshmen on the inside fought back with chains and any weapon they could grab. Apples and eggs were ready missiles. Neighbors. hearing the racket, called the deputy sheriff. He responded with other officers. They stopped the disturbance and the freshmen left for Waterville in two special cars without further harassment. Fifteen sophomores stranded in Oakland engaged a special car to bring them back to the college.<\/p>\n
“Supt. Choate of the Electric Railway telephoned the Waterville police to meet the returning car and arrest the students. Officers Albert and Burgess tackled the job and waited at the corner of Elm and Temple Streets. When the officers boarded the car on its arrival, they found that it was already well guarded. Three conductors of the road, the motorman, Deputy Ellis and Constables Ben York and Oscar Getchell were on the car watching the students. Officer Burgess boarded the front platform and Officer Albert the rear. The students were herded out and escorted to City Hall.<\/p>\n
“City Marshal Farrington was awakened from sound slumber, as was Judge Frank Shaw. When the Marshal arrived, he told the students that, if they would give their right names, they could go now and appear in court the next morning. Deciding that at this point discretion was the better part of valor, the students agreed.<\/p>\n
“The railway men were very indignant and wanten the students put in the lockup all night. The boys were permitted to call Lawyer Pattangall, who agreed to serve as their counsel. They were a bunch that was not exactly joyful as they faced the prospect of a night in jail, and they were quite eager to accept the City Marshal’s offer. No doubt the matter can be fixed up without any great difficulty, although some sophomores will miss recitations this morning.”<\/p>\n
The Sentinel’s prediction was indeed correct. The boys got off with sharp reproof and their promise to pay for all damage done on this escapade.<\/p>\n
The arrival of Admiral Peary and the arrest of Colby sophomores were not the only memorable events of 1909. That was also the year that saw the death of one of America’s most famous race horses, for the Waterville horse Nelson was indeed the Man A War of his time. He was a very old equine when he became so feeble that his owner, Hod Nelson, with tears in his eyes, shot the noble animal to put him out of his misery, Nelson was then 27 years old.<\/p>\n
Nelson was foaled on June 12, 1882. As a two year old he began to attract attention and as a three year old racer he set a record of 2:26, the fastest mile made up to that time by that age horse on a half mile track. In 1889 Nelson set a mark of 2:15t, and in 1890 he went on the western circuit, where at Kankakee, Illinois, he captured the world record of 2:12. Two days later, at Terre Haute, he lowered that mark to 2:11t. Then in 1891 he trotted a mile in 2:10 at Grand Rapids. His final record was made in 1893, when he finished a mile in 2:09 at old Rigby Park in Portland, a site later taken over by the expanding yards of the Portland Terminal Company that served both the Maine Central and the Boston and Maine.<\/p>\n
The Sentinel, on this occasion of the horse’s death, quoted Hod Nelson as saying: “They say I have refused $100,000 for Nelson, but I can tell you that I was offered $125,000 for him when we were on the circuit and he was eight years old. But I wouldn’t take it. Some say he was ugly, but I tell you he was kind. I have slept in the same stall with him at least fifty times. When he woke up in the morning before I did, he would tug at my clothes to get me over to the box where I kept his oats. He has had many keepers and was never known to harm any of them.”<\/p>\n
The people of Waterville reacted as if one of their own number had died. There was genuine mourning for the great horse that had made Waterville famous allover the land.<\/p>\n
One of the items on the ballot in the referendum election in November, 1965 was to see if Maine would rescind its old law denying paupers the right to vote.<\/p>\n
Fifty-six years earlier, in 1909, paupers were also in the news. Headlines in the Waterville Sentinel said: “Marriage made difficult. Poor Department interfering with the course of true love.” Then followed the Sentinel’s story: “J.P. Giroux, clerk to the overseers of the poor, has filed a list of marriageable paupers in the City Clerk’s office and has forbidden any of them to be granted marriage licenses. He intends that henceforth the course of true love by those receiving aid from the city shall be rough. The occasion for Giroux’ action was the application for a marriage license by a man using a name different from his usual cognomen, though the fellow insisted he had a right to use the new name. Giroux found out about it in time to prevent issue of the license. The intended bridegroom was indignant, but he found the law ‘agin him’ and he had to submit, for the time at least. He declared it was a pretty state of affairs in a free America if a man couldn’t get married when he wanted to, provided only the girl gave consent. But Giroux couldn’t see it that way. He said he wasn’t going to chance any doubling of city aid on the case, and he doesn’t subscribe to the old adage that two can live as cheaply as one.<\/p>\n
“So at least one marriage has been postponed until the frustrated bridegroom can figure some way to get around Clerk Giroux and the law.”<\/p>\n
Year: 1966<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #693, Broadcast on May 29, 1966<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42954,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8610"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8610\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}