100 years ago in The Saratogian
Tuesday, Oct. 23, 1917
A Corinth man who commutes to Ballston Spa for jury duty is killed tonight when his automobile is hit by a trolley on the southern outskirts of Saratoga Springs.
Dudley S. Greene dies of multiple injuries and shock shortly after arriving at McCarty Hospital, according to Dr. R. H. McCarty. As a member of the supreme court jury, Greene heard testimony in a case earlier today.
“Instead of remaining in Ballston he was accustomed to making the trip to his home every night in his Dodge automobile,” The Saratogian reports. Some other jurors usually carpool with Greene, but on this occasion he’s driving alone.
“Near the oil tanks he was accustomed to leave the state road on Ballston Avenue and drive over a crossroad in the west of the city which connected with the Corinth state road. By making this short-cut he was able to save considerable time. To make the cut he had to cross the tracks of the Schenectady railway company.”
Schenectady Railway provides trolley service between Schenectady and Saratoga Springs. Crossing the tracks at the oil tanks is risky because the tanks and nearby buildings obstruct your view of the trolley tracks as you approach. Investigators believe that Greene could not see the northbound trolley coming as he drove onto the tracks.
“He turned onto the tracks, and his car was struck broadside by the trolley car. He and the automobile were dragged along the tracks fully a hundred feet, and when the car finally came to a stop, the machine was found to be totally wrecked, and Mr. Greene’s body was in the wreckage.”
A Greenfield native, the sixty year old Greene moved to Corinth five years ago. His son, Frederick Greene, was electrocuted by a fallen wire two years ago.
Books for the troops
Saratoga Springs school superintendent C. L. Mosher reports today that libraries of books and magazines have been shipped to Saratoga County soldiers stationed at Camp Ayer in Massachusetts and Camp Wadsworth in South Carolina.
The draftees at Ayer and the federalized National Guard troops at Wadsworth will each receive about 200 books plus a considerable number of magazines. Local businessman Clarence R. Parmenter volunteered to cover the shipping fee to Spartansburg.
“The books sent in were excellent,” Mosher writes, “Everyone who saw them was impressed with the fact that care had been taken to send new, suitable and interesting books.
“At least the boys will feel that the people at home are not forgetting them – and we all know that something to read is at times a great help.”