Hay Scales Off Limits
Times Union, Nov 14, 1888
The businessmen of Newtown appear to be determined to make things uncomfortable for people who wish to gather around their premises and have a social chat. Furman’s hay scales, on Broadway, Newtown village, was the place where many a Newtown boy congregated in the evening. The scale had attached to it a small platform where they might sit comfortably, while others gathered around by the score. When the small boys played “Pound, pound, cookity cook” in the daytime, this was the “bank.” When the larger ones wished to talk politics or discuss any matter or go swimming in the evening they always met at the hay scales. But two sharp boards were made to meet at an angle of about thirty degrees on the sitting place, destroying its usefulness in that respect. Mr. Thomas Burford, a little further down the street, had attached to his bakeshop a long stone stoop, and many a person in the moonlight summer evenings rested on this stoop and listened to Andrew Beiger, the loquacious printer, sing and tell of incidents which happened to him in his tour of the United States. But now Mr. Burford is having the stoop lowered to such an extent that it is no longer a resting place to weary bones. Should any of the “boys” wish to sit on Burford’s stoop now his knees would be on a level with his eyebrows.
LONG ISLAND INTELLIGENCE
A Burglar Shot And Captured
New York Daily Herald, May 26, 1867
About one o’clock yesterday morning, as Randolph Reas of Middle Village was entering his room, he discovered that the apartment had been entered by a burglar, whom he afterwards saw trying to make his escape from the premises. Reas immediately seized a loaded musket and discharged its contents at the intruder. The charge took effect in the man’s shoulder and necessitated amputation of the arm. The wounded prisoner was sent to the County Jail to await the action of the Grand Jury.
Cop Injured Stopping Runaway Horse
The Chat, August 4, 1923
While attempting to stop a runaway horse In Brooklyn last week, Patrolman John A. Shellard, of 9 Caldwell Avenue, Maspeth, fractured his kneecap and had to be removed to St. Catherine’s Hospital. Shellard was on duty at the time of the accident on Broadway. A horse attached to a light delivery wagon became frightened and started to run down Broadway at Myrtle Avenue. As It neared Park Avenue, Shellard made a leap for the animal’s bridle and swerved the animal out of the path of several persons who were boarding a trolley car. The bridle broke and the horse continued to run, throwing Shellard to the street. Dr. Marks from St. Catherine’s Hospital was called and after treatment removed him to the institution. Friends wish him a speedy recovery and have been extending congratulations to him for his bravery.
Old Lutheran Church to be Razed
Times Union, January 5, 1930
The parish house of Trinity Lutheran Church in Middle Village, at Juniper and Metropolitan Aves, the oldest Lutheran edifice in Queens County, is soon to be demolished. The parishioners plan to erect a larger and more commodious structure in the residential section of the community. The move was decided at a recent congregational meeting when it was pointed out that the building is hemmed in on two sides by cemeteries and its possibilities as a home center in its present position are limited. No new site has yet been selected, according to the Rev. Henry C. Wasmund, pastor, but it is intended that the new building will have Sunday school rooms, sexton’s quarters, bowling alleys, small and large meeting rooms, and an auditorium.
