Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Three boys, ages 10 to 14, got hold of a keg of cider “from some boy whose name they did not know.” It turned out to be “tokay” wine and they proceeded to hide it under a railroad culvert and “conduct a speak-easy for the entertainment of themselves and friends.”

They gathered there the next several days.  But then they drank way too much of it. A pedestrian at Trent Avenue and Altamont Street reported seeing three very intoxicated boys near that intersection. When police arrived, one boy ran away, one made only a “sluggish” attempt to flee, and the third was “too stupid to move.”

All three were arrested and police found the keg of tokay under the culvert, with five gallons still intact and a brass faucet driven into the side.

One boy gave his name as Mike Riley and one as Emil Olsen. The third was unable to say his name. That boy’s brother was interviewed, and he said that for the past several days his brother had been “unusually buoyant at times and depressed at other times.”

That boy was taken to the emergency hospital, while the other two were taken to juvenile detention.

Also on this date

1898: The Supreme Court, in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, ruled that a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrants was a U.S. citizen.