A few days before armistice was declared between the Allies and Germany, ending the First World War, the York Gazette and Daily published a poignant letter written home by a York County soldier wounded in France.
The heading read:
"PRIVATE GEORGE SLOAT IS TWICE WOUNDED
Long Level Soldier Falls in Battle with Bullets in Leg and Arm"
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York Mayor Ephraim Hugentugler had his hands full in the fall of 1917. He hauled many locals into his police court for furnishing liquor to soldiers stationed at the temporary training camp at Gettysburg. The soldiers also got themselves arrested for drunkenness or being disorderly, a charge that sometimes meant consorting with the local young women.
Excuses flew liberally: The Gazette reported that one soldier got off with just a $10 fine by explaining that "he never drank before and that the booze went to his head and he did not know what he was doing."
A 24-year-old soldier "caught spooning" with a 13-year-old girl in Penn Park said he didn't know she was under 18 because "he did not ask her age." The mayor didn't quite believe a group of women, aged 15 to 24, rounded up at Penn Common when many of them said they couldn't get away from the soldiers. "Huggy" told the girls they should be home after nine and "declared that if they are not permitted to take their soldier friends home to entertain them, they certainly will not be allowed to do so on the streets and public parks."
The Mayor and Police Chief Kottcamp were both upset when the U.S. District Judge Witmer, who had jurisdiction over the liquor furnishing cases, let seven of what Hugentugler called the "worst characters in York" off with a warning. Hugentugler decided to take matters into his own hands. See my Sunday News column below:
The Tribute Tree Committee appealed to the patriotism and generosity of York County citizens in this December 1919 York Gazette ad. A neighbor recently asked if I knew anything about the rows of sycamore trees still standing in places on the Susquehanna Trail south of York. She had heard that they were some kind of War Memorial.
Research led me to an extensive file at the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives. The file contained only a few articles on the Susquehanna Trail sycamores, which were indeed planted as a World War I memorial by the War Mothers organization. The rest of the file was a treasure-trove of information on the York County component of a similar World War I memorial project to line the Lincoln Highway from coast to coast with trees.
The file includes original records, donated around fifty years ago by the Woman's Club of York, of the Road of Remembrance from Abbottstown to Wrightsville. Records of contributions collected by the very organized group of women are included, as are file cards for each serviceman memorialized. For example:
NAME: William John Feldman
RESIDENCE: 404 W. Market St., York
DEPT OF SERVICE: Artillery
RANK: Private
WHERE DIED: Contrexeville, France.
A number in pencil (S-141) probably refers to the original location of the tree planted in memory of Feldman.
Click here for a previous post on the Woman's Club, sponsors of the memorial tree project.
Why isn't the Lincoln Highway across the county today an avenue lined with these trees? One reason is probably that instead of the visually distinctive sycamores planted along the Susquehanna Trail, four varieties of trees (oak, sugar maple, elm, and tulip poplar) were planted. These common trees would have blended in more quickly, with their purpose forgotten as memories faded.
The other reason for the Lincoln Highway trees disappearing is quite evident--progress.
The story of the ambitious project itself is absorbing. The full column telling that story follows:
The York Gazette & Daily arrived the same day it was printed, via the U.S. mail, in rural York County when I was growing up. That was most certainly the main reason my parents, and many others like them who didn’t agree with the paper’s political views, subscribed to “the morning paper.” They liked their news fresh.
Being a voracious reader from the time I discovered the magic of reading, I remember sitting down with the paper every day and pretty much reading it from cover to cover. That’s a habit I still haven’t broken.
The Gazette & Daily made a liberal out of me, which I am sure my parents never foresaw. Perhaps more importantly, it also deserves credit for my early interest in history, which ultimately became my profession. I never missed the regular feature on what happened in the past--small fascinating snippets of the news of the same day from 25, 50 or more years before.
Since the York Gazette, the York Daily, and the Gazette & Daily, all predecessors of the York Daily Record , are easily accessible on microfilm at the York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives, this blog will be looking back to some of those bygone events, along with other tales from York County history and their connections to the larger world out there. Please let me know if you like the look back in time, and if there is anything else you would like to see. The universe is filled with intriguing York County stories from the past. We will do our best to snag them in orbit.
See below to find out the hot news from 50 and 90 years ago:
Expressway (Route 83) under construction in 1957.
