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Maury Thompson

Maury Thompson is a freelance writer and documentary film producer from Ticonderoga who specializes in the history of politics, labor organizing and media in New York's North Country.

He previously was a reporter for The Post-Star of Glens Falls for 21 years.

His latest book is The Animated Feather Duster: Slow News Day Tales of the Legendary Facial Hair of Charles Evans Hughes.

In 1883 The Glens Falls News Cycle Was Cut In Half

September 8, 2020 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

The Morning Star April 2 1883Breaking news from Sandy Hill was published at 5 am Monday April 2, 1883, the day the Glens Falls news cycle was cut in half from 24 to 12 hours.

“A bout of fisticuffs occurred at the freight depot yesterday afternoon in which several glove handlers were engaged. No less than forty spectators were present. No damage was done beyond desecration of the Sabbath,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported in its debut issue. [Read more…] about In 1883 The Glens Falls News Cycle Was Cut In Half

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, History Tagged With: Glens Falls, Journalism, News, Newspapers, Queensbury, Verplanck Colvin

Prohibition One-Liners From 1920

August 28, 2020 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

The Drunkard's Progress: A lithograph by Nathaniel Currier supporting the temperance movement, January 1846Oh what pun it is to chuckle over Prohibition one-liners published in 1920 issues of The Post-Star, a daily newspaper of Glens Falls, NY. [Read more…] about Prohibition One-Liners From 1920

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: beer, Glens Falls, liquor, Prohibition

Early Stunt Men, Daredevils ‘The Human Fly’ & ‘Hurricane Hutch’ in NY

August 5, 2020 by Maury Thompson 1 Comment

Daredevil stunt man and movie actor Rodman “The Human Fly” Law had been shot out of a “monster sky rocket” and had jumped in a specialized “aeroplane parachute” from the Brooklyn Bridge and the 792-foot Woolworth Building, the tallest building in the world at the time.

For his next feat, Law came to the Adirondacks. [Read more…] about Early Stunt Men, Daredevils ‘The Human Fly’ & ‘Hurricane Hutch’ in NY

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Ausable Chasm, Ausable River, Essex County, film, Film History, paddling, Performing Arts, Saranac Lake, Schroon Lake

Al Jolson and Harding’s ‘Front Porch Campaign’

July 24, 2020 by Maury Thompson 1 Comment

Al Jolson speaking during Warren G Harding's front porch campaign in 1920Charles Evans Hughes and Al Jolson shared a small stage at Marion, Ohio in 1920 as part of Republican presidential candidate Warren Harding’s “front porch” campaign.

Hughes, a lawyer in New York City at the time, and “a troupe” of Big Apple entertainers traveled on the same train from New York City to Marion the morning of Aug. 24. [Read more…] about Al Jolson and Harding’s ‘Front Porch Campaign’

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, New York City Tagged With: Charles Evans Hughes, Cultural History, Glens Falls, New York City, Political History, politics

David A Henderson Tours New York State in 1902

July 6, 2020 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

David Henderson courtesy Library of CongressHouse Speaker David A. Henderson, at the turn from the 19th to 20th centuries, had a reputation for spontaneously breaking into a patriotic song when making speeches.

But when it came to newspaper reporters, he kept silent, even during an extended tour of New York state in summer 1902. [Read more…] about David A Henderson Tours New York State in 1902

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, New York City Tagged With: Political History, Ticonderoga, Warrensburg

Meredith B. Little: Leading Glens Falls Spiritualist

June 20, 2020 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

MB Little Insurance AgencyGetting the vote was just one of the issues suffragettes encountered in the late 19th century.

They also faced the premise of some theologians who contended the afterlife was restricted to an exclusive old boy’s club.

“A benignant looking, white-bearded patriarch,” who distributed candy to local children annually on Christmas Eve, debunked the theory in a Sunday afternoon debate in 1894 at Psychical Hall.

No — not Santa Claus. [Read more…] about Meredith B. Little: Leading Glens Falls Spiritualist

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Glens Falls, Political History, Religious History, Spiritualism, Suffrage Movement, womens history

French Pugilist Georges Carpentier’s Visit To NY

June 3, 2020 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

Georges Carpentier and supporters in Monte Carlo in 1912French pugilist Georges Carpentier was traveling with the Seils-Floto Circus from Albany to Montreal in May 1920 when the train stopped briefly at Plattsburgh.

(In an interesting side note, Carpentier was traveling in the same private rail car that President Woodrow Wilson used a few months previous on his trans-continental campaign to gain support for the League of Nations.) [Read more…] about French Pugilist Georges Carpentier’s Visit To NY

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: boxing, Lake Champlain, sports, Sports History

Wally Foote: ‘The Most Handsome Man in Congress’

May 10, 2020 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

Wallace Turner Foote JrThe Plattsburgh Daily Press in late 1894 fact-checked the boasts of M.W. Howard, age 32, of Alabama, and George M. Southwick, age 31, of Albany, who each claimed to be the youngest member of the incoming U.S. House of Representatives.

Actually, it was local Representative-elect Wallace T. Foote Jr., who would still be 30 when he took office, that would have the distinction. Foote represented New York’s 23rd District, which included Essex, Clinton, Franklin, Warren and Washington counties. [Read more…] about Wally Foote: ‘The Most Handsome Man in Congress’

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Clinton County, Essex County, Franklin County, Lake Champlain, Political History, Port Henry, Union College, Warren County, Washington County

Politics and War Preparations: Charles Evans Hughes in Plattsburgh

April 29, 2020 by Maury Thompson 2 Comments

Leonard Wood and Charles Evans Huhghes Reviews CItizen Soldiers at the PLattsburgh Training Camp in Sept 1916No one, other than railroad workers, was around on Sept. 5, 1916 when the campaign train of Republican presidential candidate Charles Evans Hughes stopped at the Louisville, Kentucky station, en route to Lexington and eventually upstate New York. [Read more…] about Politics and War Preparations: Charles Evans Hughes in Plattsburgh

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Charles Evans Hughes, Military History, Plattsburgh, Political History, World War One

John H. Moffitt’s North Country Political Biography

April 23, 2020 by Maury Thompson 4 Comments

John Henry Moffitt courtesy Cole Collection, Plattsburgh Public LibraryConstituents in New York’s 21st Congressional District, unlike U.S. Rep. Constantine B. Kilgore, D-Texas, didn’t get caught taking summer naps, joked The Plattsburgh Sentinel on April 5, 1889.

Kilgore, better known by the nickname “Buck,” had persistently blocked Republican John H. Moffitt, who represented New York’s North Country, from securing a $10,000 appropriation to construct a road through the military reservation in Plattsburgh. [Read more…] about John H. Moffitt’s North Country Political Biography

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Clinton County, Fort Ticonderoga, Grover Cleveland, Plattsburgh, Political History

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