×

HISTORY IS COOL: 80 years ago

July 7, 1944

Lost child found

Services were held Monday in Holy Name Church at Tupper Lake for Joseph Fromaget, 6-year-old son of Mr. And Mrs. Adelard Fromaget, whose body was found Saturday on the slopes of Mount Morris, 12 days after he wandered away from the fire warden’s cabin near the summit.

The finding of the child’s body climaxed the most intensive search ever organized in this area for a lost person, state police records showing that nearly 1,100 men turned out to comb an estimated 6,000 acres of forest land on the four slopes of the mountain.

After an autopsy performed by Dr. Earl C. Wagner, the coroner stated that the child had been dead between five and six days when found and attributed the death to starvation and exhaustion. The child was found about one and three-quarters of a mile from the fire warden’s cabin, near the summit.

The body was found by Leverette Lancaster, scoutmaster of the state scout troop of Newark, one of a party of 10 explorer scouts from that city who arrived in Tupper Lake Friday after a canoe trip from Old Forge, and remained to join in the search on Saturday.

The father left the boy on the morning of June 20 while he continued on to the lookout tower on the peak to attend to his duties as fire warden.

Sidewalks buckle

The sidewalks in this resort can’t take it. Village workmen will have a job on their hands to reset a number of cement blocks on Main Street broken by the heat. The walk buckled and broke in several places during the hottest June 28 in 23 years.

As sidewalk traffic is at its peak here with thousands of visitors, gravel has been used to fill in the large cracks, but as the edges are at different heights, the condition represents a threat of fails to come.

Airport reopening

Word was received over the weekend by Supervisor Willis Wells that the civil aeronautics administration has approved the reopening of the Lake Placid landing area. The field, which is under the jurisdiction of the North Elba Park District, has been closed under army orders since shortly after Pearl Harbor.

Supervisor Wells further announced that the field would be operated by Cyrus Sorge, former TWA captain of the Air Transport Command, who has more than 5,000 flying hours to his credit, many of which have been transoceanic in all the theaters of war.

Capt. Sorge was decorated by the Chinese government in appreciation of his work in piloting Mme. Chiang Kai-Shek. He will operate a flying school from the Lake Placid airport, and also a charter service.

Surgical dressings

The production room of the local branch of the Red Cross operated 51 hours during the month of June, during which 62 workers gave 522 hours in making 3,051 4×4-inch surgical dressings.

Eighty-six hours were given by 15 summer residents of this resort. The room operates each Tuesday and Friday from 2 to 5 p.m. and on Thursday from 8 to 10 p.m.

Pope meeting

Lake Placid’s Lt. Catherine Stevens Moses, who is stationed in Italy with the army nurses corps, has recently had an audience with the Pope. A daughter of Mrs. Elizabeth Stevens, she writes, “He is a very impressive person. We waited two hours to see him. He has an audience at 11 a.m. every day. It is something I shall never forget. I stood but two or three feet from him, and he speaks excellent English. I surely was thrilled. I got rosaries, which he blessed, as well as other articles.”

Lt. Stevens Moses was recently made a second lieutenant. She has been overseas for a year, first serving in North Africa after a year in the army service in this country. She writes that the days are warm but the nights cool, reminding her of Lake Placid.

Bicycle problem

The bicycle nuisance in the village remains unabated and the village trustees have instructed police to warn cyclists to conform with the local ordinance relating to vehicles. There have been complaints that children often ride double and sometimes triple and seem to believe that they have the right of way through Main Street, where the traffic is at summer peak.

Police were also told by the board to see that garbage trucks are through with collecting on Main Street before 9 a.m. as they have previously been instructed and must secure permits as in other years. The trucks will be inspected before licenses will be issued.

Starting at $1.44/week.

Subscribe Today