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25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FREEPORT BANK p S away Prominent South Shore Institution Celebrates Birthday Auspic iously-Organized March 3,1892- Morris Miller Its First De positor. Build a romance if you will around i some old clump of vines or perhaps j , of a relic left by an unseen great, great grand sire, but permit us to 1 build a romance around that staid, j dignified old structure—The Free- j port Bank and its cashier, William , S. Hall. While in the realm of | Romance let us also consider the | happy family of directors and the busy clerks and the confident deposi tors, and what better romance in all the world can one think up than this. You pass Main street and casually look over at the sturdy, old building, now nearing the quarter of a cen tury mark and you reckon that some fortunate people have their pil stored up in the sober looking in- < r ' ' ” ' ’ ’ » r«‘« nd you perhaps ruminate i •>—WII.MAW S. HAM,, ( ashler. stitution, and you perhaps ruminate along and ponder on the group of young financial giants handling all that money and you try to visualize its cashier, William S. Hall as a sturdy oak looking down with an eye of protection on that little group. Place that same old institution into some crevice of the financial district of M anhattan and within a week some dreamer would happen along and write a book or a play about this, or some of its kindred and you would read it and marvel at it all. You would draw a charmed circle about the institution and would revere the memory of it. You would reflect on the romance of it all and never fail, when in passing, to stand and stare into its steel-barred in teriors. Try then to imagine your money resting in the depository of the Freeport Bank. W hat would you do? Would you place it there and <•’’ Indeed not. You into the business Olliciiils Mini lllrectnrs of Hu port Hank. 1— SMITH ( OX. 2— 1). WFSI.KY PINI., Vice Pres. trust to luck? would inquire ___ ...... sagacity and acumen of its head, into his handling of the bank's , - ------- ---------- ---------- moneys and into his ability to deal l0lI,.<> ,, r' an<^ Mrs. Curtis Smith, with persons who look upon a finan- I ‘V Woodhavcn, March 4th. It is in- cial institution as a means to an!*1171*110^ that the wedding date has been set for April 22nd. Mr. Valen tine is known to many of the local 4 - JOHN J. KAN DAI. I,. Pres. JUST LEARNED OF THE ENGAGEMENT The many friends of Rodney Curtis Valentine, of Smith street, Freeport, and Miss Louise Bourdctte, daughter of Mrs. Mary Bourdctte, who resides with her aunt, Mrs. Amelia Madi son, on Cottage Court, Freeport, arc congratulating them over the • an nouncement of their engagement. The m atter has been kept quiet by the young people, but it was discov ered that Rodney presented the bride-to-be with a diamond engage ment ring during the holiday season. Some of their friends and rela tives have arranged to give the young people a miscellaneous shower at the hom e of Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Smith, “LADIES” BOWL AT THE FREEPORT CLUB Amusing Episode when Jersey Club Failed to Appear cial institution as a means to an end—sometimes reached through a devious and sinuous path. Every one who handles his own money investi gates the calibre of man with whom he trusts it. T h a t is why the Freeport Bank is the remarkably strong institution it is today. William S. Hall is its cashier and he has been “investi gated” so much that the bank has been growing, not so conservatively as even Mr. Hall might say, but by leaps and bounds to its commanding position in the financial world to day. To the busy, hardened mind of an editor with a sharpened edge on his apparatus of thought the Free port Bank is a subject of delight, because in writing about it one un consciously begins to write about the history of Freeport. The FTceport Bank was organized twenty-five years ago today, March 3, 18V2. Its inception was hatched in a small building situated where the tailor store is now located, directly opposite the present site. No more than the doors were opened —by Cashier William S. Hall—one of the foremost of the village mcr- . chants—Morris Miller stepped forth and asked if the bank were ready for business. Mr. Hall assured hint that it was. “Then let me make the first de posit,\ requested Mr. Miller. Thus his name is linked very solidly with the history of the Free port Bank and it will go down with the archives of the F'rccport Bank, and we hope Cashier William S. Hall rounds out the golden an niversary. March 3 is truly Inauguration Day in the life of the F'rccport Bank because it marks the date of open ing twenty-five years ago, with the energetic, cnervcssing young cashier rqpching out for the financial busi ness of the village. Before the opening of the Freeport Bank Free port was in swaddling clothes. It was unincorporated and without elec tric lights, water mains and proper school facilities. It had a strug gling population of less than 2,500 and was just one of the cluster of Long Island villages. Nothing more could be said for Freeport than that. John J. Randall and William G. Miller had just opened up the old Samuel Carman lands, but it might be said with the opening of the Freeport Bank was started the in fluence that stimulated a realty de velopment that sent Freeport up several notches as a home center. Interest in the general condition of things developed with the coming of the Freeport Bank. It meant so much to the thriving business men to have the institution here, espec ially with John J. Randall, the great developer, as president, and William S. Hall, as cashier. It was as the coming of rain to a farm er after a long siege of hot. . ^ ...WW. J V* H I V 1 w e l l residents as having been the Long Island Railroad freight agent, at both Freeport and Rockville Centre, for a number of years. Recently he has been employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in the office of the express and baggage department, at the terminal in Manhattan. Willard D. Finch, Elvln N. Ed wards and a few more hum orists in the Freeport Club turned things top- sy turvy at the club house Friday evening when they spilled out enough laughs to last for a year. The boys at the club are talking about it yet. They will continue to refer to it from time to time and when the most act- ABOU BEN BIFFS BUDGET Wherein Is^Contained An Account of Some of The Haps and Mishaps of His Belov-ed Fellow Men. Officials mill Directors of (he Free port Bank. .>—H AKVKY 1$. SMI I H. (1—WILLIAM <i. MILLER. 7— W AM,ACF II. ( o k n w i l l . 8— COLES PETTIT. SENATOR CALDER VISITS FREEPORT Guest of Honor at Din ner at the Club on Tuesday John A. Smith Had Nearly Reached the Century Mark The Hand of Time touched John A. Smith, Freeport’s oldest resident, on Friday evening, last and Uncle John passed into eternity. His de mise came while he slept, with his | family surrounding his bed. The gentle, little old man was laid to ; rest on Monday afternoon in lireen- j held Cemetery, following impressive services 'aid oxer the remains by the Rev. I. Sidnox (iotikl, of the Presby terian Church. John \. Smith xxas horn Inly 17, ISIS , on Mcadoxx brook road. He xxas tin son ot Daniel Smith. He lived on his father’s farm until he xxas 24 years old when he m arried Miss Susan Smith, the daughter of Raynor Roxk Smith. Four children \x ere hot n to them, three sons, all fixing and a daughter, long dead, rite sons are Xlon/o, aged 71 and Lincoln and Charles, tin latter of Baldxx in. It x x a s more than seventy-five years ago when John A. Inst be gan to make his presence felt in this vicinity. At that time the Bark “Mexico\ bound from South Amer ica to Ncxx \o : k xxilh passengers xxas wrecked off Milburn, in Hemp stead Bay. Raynor Rock Smith xvent to the rescue of the passengers and succeeded in saving nine, the captain, a colored man, a baby boy and six other men. John A. Smith assisted in getting the drowned out of the wreck and in interring the remains in Rock ville Cemetery. A monument in that cemetery marks the site which is the burial ground of all those I several hundred persons xvho were j coming to this shore as future citi- Thc next year Mr. Smith Perhaps you Freeportera don’t trine of realize how fast your village is grow ing. Heretofore when you held your annual tillage elections you all voted at the same place. This year for the first time you will have two poll ing places, due to the increase in your voting population and the necessity of properly providing for those who desire to exercise the rights of free man. You must register personally William M. Caldcr. United States senator-elect, was the guest of honor at the Freeport Club, on the occasion I of the annual dinner, Tuesday night. The senator will take his oath of of fice next Monday, so the function of Tuesday evening xx.ls about his last . ......... . . . before he assumes his duties as the meutn ct mum which has <t-,|e’s renresentative in the hiuher come to he so lightly regarded he i i i ,■ c k , county officialdom * !Lr,anch of hc 1<clleLral Government. 1 he senators remarks, while mostly personal, were serious at times, and | he had the close attention of every- | GAVE OVER WEIGHT AND WAS ARRESTED H arry Zcincr, coal merchant and postm aster of Merrick, gave a con crete example of the foibles of be ing generous, in the Freeport Court, Monday, when he appeared before Justice of the Peace Norton on a charge of not having weighed coal that xvas taken from his xvards for delivery in Smithville South, on February 21. The complaint is by Frank Wood, sealer of weights and measures, of Roosevelt. It appears that when the Zciner wagon was held up that it contained 75 pounds of coal over the ton. Despite this slap at the H. C. of L. given by Zciner, W oods made the charge all the same. Even the excuse of his being philanthropic and offer ing more than was called for did not | save Zciner from arrest. The fact I remains that the driver did not have any slips indicating the xveiglit of coal, and the contention of the com plaint is that, not haying the weigher to determine the xveiglit of coal, the driver could not have any ticket. The Zciner case will come up for | , a hearing in the Freeport Court on | the morning of March 15. I L nine iu um e aim xvnen m e most ac t-i T “ \ ' . ‘v®,7,lv‘ peisonany ive young member of today is hoary j Uii >cai 0,1 .•',ar(,h G' if you intend headed hc will recall last Friday’s in- vu!f f,or vil age officers on March cident in term s like this: “Do you' 7^: Loiinnately theie is no contest i(.member that night when the women from ..Jersey played the club bowling team?\ It was all over a challenge hurled this year. Otherwise the two poll ing places would be filled to the point of bursting. Freeport may never have 1,500 polling places like New York an l i v e r a cnaiicnge nurien j ‘M\ vco 1“xc ,' vw I0.rlt »l me players or m , local «1«‘ L \ £ through brother Kiheb. by Ihe c h .m - f i “ J o F l C g l l n d ? The members of the Village Board, President E. S. Randall and Trustees C. A. Williams and H. L. Maxson, are candidates for re-election and will be re-elected without so much as the batting of an eye by any body . The work of the Nassau County Charter Commission is practically completed and will probably be pre sented to the Board of Supervisors along in May, according to present plans. No man may say xvhat rec ommendations will be contained there in, that is, outside of Bronson Win- throp, and his associates. Sometimes wise men who arc deliberating for our good let loose some point as a “feeler\ and note its reception by the so-called public, meaning the news paper editors, politicans and such who arc supposed to aid in formula ting what is termed “public opinion ELVIN N. EDWARDS. This is called “trying it on the dog.\ If the dog is unduly ferocious over it, the wise men withdraw their \con structive thought\ and either modify or abandon it altogether. There is nothing to show that the proposition to create a city out of Nassau County xvas such a feeler. If there xvas any Some of the people in, around and about the Court House are deeply i on.r, . , i ,i i „ ,i, mystified over the periodical rceurr- , H’r v i a t o r shared the lu no, - xx enee, as it were, of Municipal Rc- !he abi5 nt .Pres,('c\t of U searchers, as they call them, in their S,atvs,- ,n. whose honor a s,le t to.,' midst. First one arrived and was drunk,, and h.s appearance stirred mained seven months, when he disap- thc l,alr,t,t!sm °H lks !i:!low ‘-'o.mtix peared between sundown and sunup. ^cond to he thrdlmg strains of Then another appeared, then another, bc ,,at,° nal anth^ ' ■ T f '''I1\ 0, and now the twain are devouring the ,he most- successful ,n ,lle c,ub s h,s JOHN A SMITH .statistics contained in the many ‘\A\ *“ f' tomes that show our public expendi-1 gcneral ' nU‘rcsfi tures. '\•■-•I— .. . rri,„ „ Further than there seems to . The pretty club house was dam dy be some relation between them and <lecprate<1 w,,h ,U!(I Glory ..ml the the indefatigable Col. William Bald- n?enu, was sc/ vt:(1 m. tbc m.,dst o f a n win. all is in doubt. One observer’s abundance of American colors. Red Impression is that the Colonel intends wbVc a[1,( blue balloons x\ ere served a In an early issue of the Journal of cacb table, nml paper hat', representa- Civilization Issued by the Nassau t!vu of Colomal and Revoh.ton.4ry County Association to hand somebody ('a-NS' .were given to each 'liner. Ihe the Black Spot. But why worrv about ‘’pnimittee ... charge of the dinner won one or two Municipal Researchers? ,be unreserved praise of the diners If it was young John L). himself or fo,r the masterly way m winch the his father who was bustling about wh?lu affa.rvvas arranged and car , • t « i f l P f l n i l t I hr* v i m / * rx . <*zv real concern might be excusable. However, there’s an Admiral Ben Bow Tavern hard by the Court House if you ,,, i iii tiiin I lie LMll'KIS 111 J, u a n i u v m e c o u r t HOUSC If VOll , , , v ' ‘ v , K would escape from a Researcher. The ('bl1dcd county town and villa*, oft, ethics of his calling strictly prohibit c,la ' anrd 1lru -v,. |L'l>rcsent.itive i i 't his investigation of that particular < ° „ r\ i1*' class of quasi-public institutions. moved to Freeport xxlth his wife ...^ -I- hi mv i urn s | and built a home on North Main tory, both m point of attendance an<‘ street opposite that which was thc gcneral interest. i scene of his death. It was John \. Smith's/.^custom each year to go to thc Isle of W ight where he conducted a hotel. Hi re hc was wont to meet Mr. and Mrs. Russell Sage, whose summer home was then. \ friendship xvas struck up between the happy hotel man and tin milfinn.il if Mr. Sage used to go down to si e his friend Smith as a pleasing surcease from worry. Oc casionally the financier would ride behind \fi. Sm ith’s team and on otln t occasions he would ask Sniilh to (fiivi his team, feeling confident in hi' sea1, with the future nonagen- an an in thc driving seat. Young Smith was a hustler in his oung days. He was a Republican II his life. He evinced a lively in- ried out. The same praise was ad vanced to Elvin N. Edwards, presi dent of the club. The guests (Continued on Page 4.) The Republican Pre- fential Primaries will be held on March 10th, 1917, Petitions must be filed by this Saturday evening. See adv, on page 6, and news story on page 2. death to poor old Father Knickerboc ker’s pay roll. | pion woman bowling team of Jersey I City. Finch accepted the challenge ! for the local boys and made every j arrangement for the series of games ! F riday night. More than two hun dred men and women were present to see the match game—the women to get a few tips on bowling from ! the champs of Jersey. About seven , o’clock that night Finch received a telegram from the wmmen stating that they could not appear and canceling the game. Finch was not to be outdone. He broke : the news to Elvin N. Edwards and the two decided on a plan of action. They got in touch with H. Bratton _ __ Kennedy, the form er actor and coach, I of that intensely human document who promised to make up five mem-1 described as the Penal Law and bers of the club to resemble women.{point to their value as future bul- He found five old bloomers and 1warks ----- •— *— ------------“ion — blouses that were once worO by shapely chorus girls, raked up some The Owl carries thc report that i-^uyic u, me village there will be opposition in Rockville splendid vote they gave him .it tin Centre to the appropriation of any polls. He docs not feel himself n sum, large or small, for a new town mote from this village, cither, as lit hall in Hempstead. R. V. C. has has a one-fourth interest in ,t trai l never forgotten or forgiven the rape , of land along the Jamaica and Heinp- nf its title of Town Capital once con-) stead Turnpike. Hc once referred to ferved by the vote of a town m e e t-' Freeport as a horrible example in ing. Now comes a Freeport man w h o : Congress when they were preparing thc insists that Hempstead is too far in-| Underwood tariff bill defending the land for a Town Hall, that it ought ! farmers’ interest. Thc Nassau cen to be located in some place at the gressmen favored taking the duty off head of navigation of some tidal riv- potatoes, and it was suggested that er. He doesn’t say it, hut of course they be taken off string beans, also he means Freeport. One thing is This xvas a ’joke, he said, and he told - ---------- ---- — , certain, a lot of people In the town- the story of the farmer xxlio sent 5,000 such intention it. ^ m ust be apparent; s^jp believe the next Town Hall bushels of string beans into the mar- that doggy doesn’t w ant a city out ought to be located somewhere on ket and was allowed 3 cents a bushel here, having lied from Manhattan es- \[errjck road and will vote \no\ and got his own baskets back. The pecially to escape civic pitfalls and on Hempstead appropriation this farmer vxas from Freeport. The con- the society of municipal researchers spring. sumer paid about $1.50 for the bushel. and sociological tinkers and efflcienc: ______ The speaker said that in his judg- engineers who have during the past | —, . . , ment, Long Island is the finest spot in three years fastened with the grip of. The Brooklyn Water Commissioner s th whole country Long Island, from . ........................................... carpenters are busy making shutters M lst untl, s„ovv comes is th, for all the buildines at thp Rtntinn# ^ J - Senator ( alder began by pr,fifing ,, 1 ,, ms me. tic cx’inced a lively in- Freeport as the largest village ca-t 01 1 ti-rrst in politics xvlien he voted for Jamaica, and hc feels obligated t\ William Harrison for president of the people of thc village fur tin the United States. In local politics he held office on numerous oc- That the County Charter Commis sion’s report will prove an exhaus tive study of county governments gen erally and contain many practical and highly useful suggestions will un doubtedly be the case. It may not recall the identical language of the Ten Commandments or of Article 122 (Continued on ^age 4) for the preservat of regen erated Nassau. No doubt their es sence, however, like the drummer’s overcoat in the bill, will be imbedded therein, a tacit recognition of the doc- , 1st until snow comes is the for all the huHdm es at the stations fin/ st t onc can find anywherc soon to he closed and presently tha wi(h its‘ occani fcitilc soil J (. “f j ’ city s Long Island water system wil 0f ' pc0plc. and general condition of comprise only the three stations of - ,ife He tells his frl^n-L ,n Wan,agh Milburn and Ridgewood _ vVaslIington to dnve through the rhe machinery in the dismantled norti, and south shores of Long Isl- stations will be stored at those three and before going' to their homes m iwlnts and the birds and spiders will thc wcst or in other ts of thc be allowed full possession. Some COimt , x of the employes will be transferred 'pj1( senator favors the inland to other points and many others face waterways and believes with good the loss of their jobs altogether. So argument .that it can soon be a fades away after more than a half t|,mL. of realization. He thinks we century’s existence a great municipal OUKht to ,merest the Federal gov- and political necessity. Inasmuch as eminent into appropriating the nec- the Island Is sinking into the sea ai essary fund for the inland waterways the rate of 5 inches every century, wbich will open up a complete water- (Continued on Page 8.) Continued on Page Eight. casions. Nassau county was (Jueens county thin, lie was justice of thc peace for two terms, town collector for two more term s and xvas asses sor for six years. There was no talk of graft in those days, as jus tice as administered by John A. Smith xxa' trulx representativi of the blind lady xvith the scales. John A. as told in the Post be fore was not strictly a teetotaler. He indulged moderately in smoking, chewing and drinking, but used the latter more as a medicine, especially in his older age. He was rem ark able in that up to several weeks ago he retained full possession of all his faculties. Until this last winter he was an active wrorker, and nev< r felt happy unless hc was working around his yard. He could kill a ifig with thc strength and energy of a man half his age. It xvoiilil he impossible to be'fin to tell all of the anecdotes that arc told of Mr. Smith. He loved horses and even during his ninety-fifth year he was known to enjoy a drive be hind a fast horse. Several years ago he was witnessing horse rac ing at Belmont, with his son, Alonzo. \How do you like them, grand dad''\ asked a friend. \Fine but tell -them about Fisher, I.onz,” he said to his son, and. con tinuing, said: “Fisher was a horse T bought for five dollars. For seven years Ffishcr carried me into the ■ ity, but I traded Fisher to a friend. The friend gave Fisher away for Continued on Page Eight.
