MARY BRASWELL: New city telephones were all abuzz in June 1902.

Each week Albany Herald researcher Mary Braswell looks for interesting events, places and people from the past. You can contact her at (229) 888-9371 or [email protected]. Follow @ABH_MBraswell on Twitter.

In June 1902, life was a lot different yet in many ways the same as it is today. The days were hot. Boys and girls fell in love. Watermelons were chilled … in the creek. See what was making the summer news that year in and around Albany.

June 1902

— Tickets were available from Phillips, the tailor, on Washington Street for $1.50. Each ticket entitled the holder to the pressing of 12 pairs of pants or four suits. The tickets had no expiration date, but were nontransferable.

— The crop of mayhaws was looking poor as of late May and early June. Housewives were encouraged to plan for a backup jelly for the winter to come.

— Ladies from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church held an ice cream and cake social on the lawn of the courthouse. So popular were their wares that a profit of nearly $25 was realized.

— A fire that originated at a downtown Moultrie bakery caused damage and loss to 8-10 businesses. The downtown area was replacing frame building with brick at every opportunity to avoid a repeat of such losses. After this fire, only four woodframed shops remained in downtown Moultrie.

— Albany’s post office had a brand new Daeremus canceling machine. The new state-of-the-art piece of equipment could cancel 700 pieces of mail per minute. That rate was about eight times faster than canceling mail by hand.

— The Albany City Council voted unanimously to go as far as 1,500 feet in drilling the new Artesian well, assuming, of course, water was not hit sooner.

— Dougherty County’s voter registration books were closed with a total of about 650 names. Registration board members were busy going over each entry to be certain those registered were eligible to vote in this county. As expected, some names were stricken from the register, and undoubtedly others would be, for nonpayment of taxes.

— A.F. Churchwell announced a big sale at his department store on Washington Street. Among the many specials were: bottled ink — 3 cents, ladies’ hem-stitched handkerchiefs — 5 cents each, men’s shirts and drawers — 23 cents each, good whisk brooms — 10 cents each, horse hats — 10 cents each, and cuspidors — 10 cents each. Churchwell also had stores in Pelham, Dawson and Thomasville.

— A burglar broke a windowpane and managed to slip between the iron bars on that same window of J.R. Pinkston’s store on the corner of Pine and Washington. Police surmised that because of the small space between the bars, the burglar must have been a child. The only thing missing from the store was the entire contents of the cash register — $1.30.

— The Albany Herald was the place to get the latest in election results from the June 5 statewide elections. All results and updates, as soon as they were made available, were read through a megaphone out the window of the newspaper building to interested residents, all through the night.

— Ground was broken about one mile east of downtown Albany for the new Planters’ Oil Company. The plant was expected to be completed in time to begin extracting oil from the fall crop of cotton seed.

— Police officers in Albany were getting reports of chicken thefts almost every morning. Thieves were stealing from the coops and leaving the heads behind. Anyone approached with already-dressed chickens for sale was asked to immediately report the vendor in hopes of catching, and stopping, the overnight losses.

— William Lockett, superintendent of the water works and electric lights department, announced he had sufficient requests for fans to justify turning on the electric current during daytime hours during the summer. Orders were taken for desk and ceiling fans and all should be in Albany within a few days, a pleasure many homes and businesses were eager to enjoy.

— Ladies from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church were given charge of the soda fountain at the Paragon Pharmacy two Thursdays in a row. The ladies served the usual fountain drinks as well as delicious ices. Proceeds went to the Ladies’ Guild for charitable work.

— A husband and wife in Leary, as was normal for the couple, left home to “go out” on Saturday night, locking their three children inside. The house caught fire. The oldest child, age 6, broke a window and escaped. Two younger children, as well as a dog chained to the house, burned to death. When the story ran in the newspaper, there was no indication of any pending charges.

— Closing exercises were held at the Auditorium for the Albany Academy Class of 1902. A large crowd attended the exercises and enjoyed speeches and music. The class of 1902 consisted of two girls and three boys.

— Following the decision by voters, bonds were nearly ready for validation and sale to the tune of $40,000 to build a new courthouse in Dougherty County. A strong two-thirds of all that voted said yes to the bond issue.

— A gang of three to five thieves had been operating in Albany for several months, especially on Saturday evenings. The members would mingle with the large groups of shoppers in downtown department stores and simply steal items of clothing by concealing them under a coat slung conveniently over an arm. Three members of the gang were arrested while two got away. Those arrested confessed to carrying many of the items to Baker County and selling them at ridiculously low prices.

— The Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company sent a crew of workmen from Atlanta to Albany to expedite improvements to service. The work included some new poles, new lines and switchboards. Updates by Southern Bell also included the ability to add up to 40 new telephones within the city.

— The Third National Bank was organized in June 1902 and opened within a month. The new bank started business with paid-up capital totaling $50,000.

This ’n’ that

—The No. 1 cause of death was influenza/pneumonia.

— The population of Las Vegas, Nev., was 30.

— Only 6 percent of Americans graduated from high school.

— Heroin was available over the counter at drug stores.

— The average life expectancy was 47.

— Only 14 percent of American homes had a bathtub.

— The average speed limit for automobiles was 10 mph.

QUIK QUIZ ANSWER: (a) 230