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Flashback Friday Archive 2021-22: Flashback Friday: Week of April 30

April 29, 1871 – 150 YEARS AGO
Rockland County Journal

NYACK HAS THE HONOR
       A few weeks ago we copied a statement from the Messenger which gave the Wiles Brothers, of Grassy Point, a credit for constructing the first engine ever made in the county. It now turns out that the above paper was mistaken; for the engines now in use on the tug-boats B. C. Brainerd and West Point were built in Nyack, by Smith & Crumbee, predecessors of Thomas McGee, seventeen years ago, and they are in good condition to-day.

ROCKLAND FEMALE INSTITUTE
       Those who have taken any pains to make themselves familiar with the workings of the above-named institution, will heartily endorse the following from the N. Y. Evening Mail: 
       “We have more than once taken occasion to speak in the highest terms of the Rockland female Institute at Nyack-on-the-Hudson, under the superintendence of Rev. L. DeLos Mansfield. We need only reiterate our former commendation, which will be accepted by all who know anything about this institution. Its excellent location, its superior discipline and the comforts it affords have all combined to make it a favorite school for young ladies.”

SYNONYME FOR TREACHERY
       The names of Judas Iscariot, Benedict Arnold and Orange S. Winans. The latter  is not only a knave, but by his own confession, a fool also. Tammany bought him and henceforth they will use him so long as it is for their benefit to do so. When no longer of service they will kick him about like a mangy cur which no one owns or acknowledges—a fitting reward for a traitor.

LATEST SENSATION
       The latest sensation in our village [Nyack] is a real live, white ghost, seen on dark nights in the vicinity of Ketchel & Purdy’s shoe manufactory.  Wonder if it’s a “Crispin.”

April 29, 1921 – 100 YEARS AGO
Rockland News

RUNAWAY BOY FOUND IN THEATRE — 13-year-old Thomas Riley Remained All Night —Discovered by Cornetist, Latter Gave Chase and Turned Youth Over to Chief Furey
       Thirteen-year-old Thomas Riley of Avalanche, New York awoke in the Broadway Theatre yesterday morning to see Jack Valle, the cornetist, enter. The youth made a dash for the door, and Valle, observing that he had something under his arm, followed.
       Valle chased the youth above Franklin street and finally captured him, turning him over to Chief of Police Furey.  To the latter the boy said he had run away from his home with $4 and had bought a railroad ticket to Hackensack, N.J.
       At West Nyack Young Riley left the coach and walked to Nyack, where in the evening he went to the theatre and, unobserved, remained huddled in a seat until after the doors had been locked for the night.
       Nothing had been disturbed in the playhouse, but the boy had the covers to the ticket boxes. Chief Furey turned the lad over to Miss Gladys Mendham, county agent for the State Charities Association, and she took him to Spring Valley, from which place she communicated with young Riley’s parents.

April 27 & 30, 1971 – 50 YEARS AGO
The Journal News

GIRL 15, SPEAKS HER MIND
       The future generation of Orangetown was heard last night during the long debate over the zoning change to limit the height of industrial buildings in laboratory-office and light industry zones.
       Sheila Prisco marched down the aisle at the South Orangetown Junior High School, boldly took the microphone and looked the gentlemen of the town board straight in the eye.
       “I am only 15 years old and don’t pay taxes yet and so what I am going to say is going to be emotional.”
       She told the board she did not want to look at industrial buildings in her backyard in Palisades and asked that the town board not approve the zoning change under consideration.
       A wave of applause from the audience crowned her speech.
       Later, her father, Paul, followed her to the front to ask that the town establish a 300-foot buffer between residential and industrial property and eliminate all special permits to waive this requirement.

ROTARY HONORS RESCUE TEAM
[Image: BRAVE ONES—William Meyer (left), Rotary member, looks on as members of the rescue team, John [Ginnity], asst. Chief of the Haverstraw Fire Department, Ray Alfonso, Haverstraw patrolman and Dec-Air pilots Anthony Cosimano and Jack Foster receive congratulations from Mayor Anthony Bosico and Rotary president Eugene White. (Photo by Al Witt).]
       Two helicopter pilots, Haverstraw volunteer firemen and village police were honored yesterday by the Haverstraw Rotary Club at the Lodge on Route 9W, not far from where the team rescued two New City girls on a rocky ledge near the High Tor on April 3.
       Rotary president Eugene White presented the rescuers with certificates of achievement “for service above self.”
       In addition, the pilots, firemen and police were thanked on behalf of the community by Mayor Anthony Bosico.
       They had participated in the rescue of Eileen Spring, 15, and Nancy Slater, 14, who were seriously injured when they fell about 200 feet, landing on the ledge.
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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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