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Murdering the Electrician
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Most things on Hoxsie are found when we’re looking for other things. This is one of those things: while searching for some background on the Albany and Hudson Railroad, we came across a brief mention in the San Francisco Call of May 17, 1907 of the murder of the railroad’s chief electrician, Alonzo Hewitt.…
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Improper Diversions, 1800
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Another of the notable laws of Albany in 1800: A law to suppress improper diversions in the streets and lanes. It was ordained That if any person or persons shall at any time or times hereafter make any noise or disturbance in any of the streets or lanes of the said city, or promote…
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Wharfage
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Again mining the laws of Albany from 1800. Are they interesting, or is Hoxsie just overwhelmed with other work? Doesn’t matter: here we go, with the law for regulating the manner of using the wharves and fixing the rates of wharfage. Each year, specifically on the second Monday of March, the owners and proprietors…
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The Ornamental Hair Store
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Hey, Schenectady! Need ornamental hair? You’re in luck. In 1840, John Xavier opened a new ornamental hair store at 92 State Street, three doors west of the post office. Everlasting curls, plain and curled frizetts, puffs, everlasting and curled ringlets . . . he had it all, kept constantly on hand or supplied at…
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Time to Build the Highway, Citizen
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Remember how residents of the city of Albany in 1800 were required to pave not only their sidewalks, but half their streets? That’s nothing compared to their obligations with regard to the city’s highways. The laws of 1800 don’t make it clear exactly what was considered a public highway – it was likely at…
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A Remarkable Winter
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From Joel Munsell’s Annals of Albany, a reminder that another winter was pretty mild, a mere 214 years ago: A meteorological table was kept for the month of January, 1802, and published in the Gazette, by which it appears that the lowest range of the thermometer was 10°, and the highest 55½° above zero.…
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Streets and Lanes, Gutters and Kennels
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Paving of city streets is a big deal these days. Or lack of paving. Or, in poor Troy’s case, paving and then having the fresh pavement collapse into a sinkhole. But it has always been a big deal. Going back to the laws of Albany from 1800, we find an entire law “to regulate…
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Leather Bags and Gunpowder
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An important note from the laws of Albany as they were set forth in 1800, and proof that city officials were as safety-conscious as they are today: the law set some very strict standards for the transport of gunpowder through the city. Well, perhaps “strict” is an overstatement: And be it further Ordained, That…
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Who will carry our filth from the streets? Albany’s cartmen
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In early 19th century Albany, there were no garbage cans – household garbage, food waste, chamberpots, and animal dung were tossed out into the nearest street or alley. Albany’s Laws and Ordinances of 1800 prescribed a law for cleaning the streets of the city, and regulated the cartmen who carried such waste and everything…
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Death by Railroad, 1858
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From the 1858 New York State Engineer and Surveyor’s report on the many railroads operating in the state, we find this interesting tabulation of the human cost of running the rails in that year. The number of passengers killed for the year was 20; 142 were injured. Railroad employees: 29 killed, 24 injured. Others…