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Flashback Friday Archive 2019-20: Flashback Friday: Week of May 22

May 21, 1870 – 150 YEARS AGO
Rockland County Messenger

ROWDYISM: THOSE STOLEN MILK PAILS
To the editor of the Journal
     On the night of April 27, two young rowdies of this village passed from house to house and stole from the premises of their owners’ sundry milk pails, pitchers and other vessels placed in readiness for the early milkman. Most of these articles contained milk tickets and in several of them money was placed for the purchase of tickets, sometimes to the amount of $1 or $2. These young ruffians in broadcloth were watched during their thieving expedition. And the proof of their crime is most positive and conclusive as also is their identity. We have waited sufficiently long for them to make amends. Not that we intended to let the matter drop, but out of consideration to the parents and friends of the guilty parties who are among our most respected citizens and hoping that these young gentlemen? might have some little spark of manliness left, which would induce them to return the stolen articles and refund the stolen money. In this we have been disappointed and are compelled to believe that like all others have the sneak-thief fraternity, they deserve no further consideration, or indulgence, and we wish hereby to notify them that unless the articles are returned within a reasonable time after the publication of this notice, they will be arrested as thieves at the suit of five different parties and punished to the full extent of the law they have violated. The only concession that we will make to them is that they may leave the articles stolen at their respective places in the night. It is not enough that our principal thoroughfare must be every night infested and our sidewalks blockaded by a swarm of all the vile and ruffianly scallywags, lollygaggers, corner loafers, wharf rats and gutter snipes of the village and vicinity, whose hideous yells and obscene conversation in front of our principal business places render this part of our village almost impassable during the evening. No gentleman or lady can pass to the streets without elbowing their way through this filthy festering putrid mass of the scum of our society. And yet, this is not enough for us to endure. But our young gentlemen in broadcloth, professional gentlemen too, must turn sneak-thieves and go through our village from house to house at midnight stealing milk pails and pitchers robbing them of money, etc, etc, just to show their peculiar talent. Really, we expect soon to hear that these professionals have graduated by robbing a henroost or some other equally ennobling exploit, in order to add brilliantly to their reputation and put the finishing polish to their other accomplishments. Now young men, (gentlemen, you are not), we will give you just five days to return the articles you stole or the shame and disgrace to yourselves and friends of a public arrest and trial as thieves, with its consequent punishment and imprisonment. We are determined to put a stop to such rowdyism at all hazards. You facetiously term your noble exploit a “sky-lark,” but you will find to your sorrow and shame that your “sky-lark” will be caught by
       NIGHT HAWK, and four others.

May 21, 1920 – 100 YEARS AGO
Rockland News

FAVORS A BRIDGE OVER THE HUDSON Letter from President of Good Roads Association
     President George Briggs Buchanan of the Rockland County Good Roads Association strongly favors a bridge over the Hudson and thinks a tunnel will be almost a failure. In a letter to this paper, he says, for a period of 15 years or more, I have advocated the building of a bridge across the Hudson River, and nearly everyone who has gone to Albany promised to help. The help was that the bridge commission recommended a tunnel, which in my opinion will be almost a failure on account of the exhaust, gas, tires etc.
     The people of Rockland County and northern New Jersey need a bridge, a fact pointed out, more than ever. Why wouldn’t it be a good thing for the various organizations in Rockland County to get together and advocate it?

FORMER COUNTY CLERK IN HOSPITAL Former county clerk Cyrus M. Crum of New City was taken with a severe choking spell, while eating in Scotts restaurant in Nyack, Thursday, noon. An ambulance was called, and Mr. Crum was removed to the hospital where he was treated by Dr. Leitner. At last account, he was recovering.

May 22, 1970 – 50 YEARS AGO
The Journal News

DEMOCRATS, YOUTH DEBATE MEANING OF AMERICAN LOYALTY
[Image: A Rockland youth makes a point during Democratic forum at Ripples of Rockland. Photo by Sean Murphy.]
       Of the six panels dividing up an audience of 1,000 attending a forum sponsored by county Democratic clubs at Ripples of Rockland, New City, last night, the unit on youth unrest and drug addiction drew the largest single crowd.
       During an emotional two-hour session, an intensive dialogue developed as panel members and students attempted to define loyalty in terms of respect due to the nation's symbol, the flag.
       But the two generations were unable to reach a consensus as to how that respect should be accorded.
       “How can we possibly equate the rape of a country with a broken window?” asked one youth, a student at the University of Buffalo, the scene of recent campus disorders, student strikes and police action.
       The young people disclaimed lip-service to the flag which, as a symbol, has been used to polarize further citizenry saying it is because they are for the principles of freedom, but not for “racism, the Vietnam War and poverty.”
       “I wish I had the guts not to get up and salute the flag, but I'm a little afraid of the consequences,” said one young man. He called the revolt by some against the traditional flag salute “a minor thing, not a basic grievance.”
       Paul O'Dwyer, candidate for U.S. Senator, said he always saluted the flag because, to him, it had always been a symbol of liberty and freedom, “and I don't want this Nixon-Agnew bunch to change that.”
       The other candidates for state office, Paul F. Mundt, Robert Meehan and William Dretzin, entered into the dialogue from other points of view.
       Meehan, district attorney, seeking the post of state attorney general, supported traditions, saying they gave him the right to reject “no-knock” warrants and preventive detention, as opposed to constitutional freedoms.
       Detaching himself from the word “politician,” a term used scathingly by the students last night, Meehan said he was sincere about doing things for people, not property.
       Mundt, state senate candidate, defined his feeling for the flag by his actions while chairman of the Board of Supervisors. He said the flag meant that a John Birch Society member or an extreme leftist was allowed every right to speak on county property.
       More specifically, he labeled recent attacks on the Rockland Community College as “totally unwarranted and destructive.” All officials who have worked to support the college know there has always been an open dialogue, he said.
       Dretzin, a candidate for congress from the 25th District, directed himself to the young people in the audience on the question of the movement for a new congress.
       All the panelists were in accord on the urgent need for youth to become involved in the political scene, a suggestion received coolly and suspiciously. Students remarked that their involvement in the 1966 McCarthy campaign had proved fruitless.
       At this point, O'Dwyer, after one young girl challenged the Democrats for running peace candidates challenging Republican Sen. Charles B. Goodell, said he had “lost his patience.”
       “You white liberals have a lot to learn,” he said. “The black liberals don't want Goodell.” O'Dwyer scored Goodell's prior voting record on civil liberties, housing, and Social Security.
       “He even voted against cleaning up the rat infestations in the Harlem ghettos,” said O'Dwyer.
       Summing up the discussion for the general audience later, O'Dwyer said, “The young are frustrated because they see no reality to pulling out of Vietnam. To the elders, the flag remains the symbol of freedom, to the young it means the continuation of an immoral war.”
_____

This Week in Rockland (#FBF Flashback Friday) is prepared by Clare Sheridan on behalf of the Historical Society of Rockland County. To learn about the HSRC's mission, upcoming events or programs, visit www.RocklandHistory.org or call (845) 634-9629.

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