Improvements – The Williamsburgh Turnpike which has been making for the last two years is now finished. It is made on soil similar to that over which the Brooklyn turnpike passes, and we are informed is not surpassed by any road in the state. It is 66 feet wide throughout and curtails the distance between the East river and Jamaica nearly 4 miles and between New York and Newtown one half. The distance to all places on Long-island, except a small part of the county of Kings, is also curtailed the route from New York to Rockaway formerly exceeded 28 miles, is now by the facilities afforded by the Williamsburgh and Rockaway Turnpikes diminished to little more than 15 – on contemplation of the opening of the new road, the number of horses in the Williamsburgh Team-boat have been doubled, which afford additional facilities to persons travelling by that route.  – Long Island Star, Sept 26, 1816 
 
SIAMESE TWINS AT MASPETH  
The Jamaica Standard states that Coroner Siebs held an inquest on the 22nd inst., on the bodies of two female children, whose parents are residents of Maspeth. The children were of natural growth, but were stillborn, and singular to relate, were united by a ligament of flesh connecting the sides of the bodies similarly to the celebrated Siamese Twins. Each child had one head with a distinct neck, two arms, two hands, two legs, two well-formed feet, and five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot. – Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Sept 30, 1869  

TRIED SUICIDE AFTER QUARREL  
Middle Village Man’s Attempt at Self-Destruction Failed.  
Robert Stott, 35 years old, of 2 Juniper Avenue, Middle Village, last night attempted to commit suicide by drinking a quantity of cleaning fluid. The mixture made him sick, but it was not strong enough to do him harm. His wife and neighbors found him after he had drank the dose, and a hurried call was sent to the German Hospital, to which Dr. C. Mayer responded. After administering an emetic, Stott was revived and taken to the hospital as a prisoner and for medical treatment. Investigation showed that Stott had a quarrel with his wife early in the evening and the matter preyed on his mind to such an extent that he attempted to take his life. – Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Sept 12, 1911  

A “Homicide” at Middle Village  
On Sunday evening last, while Jacob Sched, a resident of Middle Village, Newtown, Long lsland, was drinking in the saloon of Phil Olarsius, near Whitepot, a farm laborer named Anthony Spellman entered, and soon engaged a noisy conversation with Sched. Both were under the influence of liquor. A dispute arose, during the progress of which Spellman struck Schad on the head with a beer glass and fled. Sched also left the saloon. Shortly afterward he returned, bareheaded, bleeding from the face, and crying, “Chris hit me, Chris has killed me.”  He was taken to St. Catherine Hospital.  – New York Times, Sept 20, 1878  

RUN OVER CATCHING “HITCH.”  
Charles Rang, a 12-year-old school boy of 22 Back Avenue, Maspeth, was about to jump on the back of a truck late yesterday afternoon when he ran in the path of an automobile owned and driven by George Holden of 272 Grafton Avenue, Newark. The boy was knocked down and his skull fractured. He was taken to the German Hospital by Ambulance Surgeon Resnikoff. Holden was served with a summons to appear in the Jamaica Court on Friday. The accident occurred at Grand street and Maiden Lane, Maspeth. The boy is in a critical condition.  – Brooklyn Eagle, Oct 18, 1917