We continue our series on the 1927 Grand Jury criminal case identified as The People vs. Clayton Elliot.
Following the arrest of Mr. Elliot by the New York State Police for blocking the state highway with his log loader, a jury was selected, witnesses subpoenaed and a trial date set. In the meantime, the local chamber of commerce penned a passionate letter of support, including an impressive petition to “go easy,” which was directed to District Attorney Harold Main. The petition was signed by many of this community’s leading citizens, which lack of space in our last column prevented listing.
Those names represent the “movers” and “shakers” in our pioneer days here, and they are listed because they are historically important personages. The occupations following the signatures was listed on the petition:
J.H. Black, supervisor Town of Altamont; Paul Martin, acting president (mayor) of village; A.J. Deshaw, village trustee; Ralph Hasting, chamber president; A.J. Grenier, village trustee; George Charland, village trustee; J.H. Littlefield, merchant; Archie Baril, highway commissioner; Charles E. Kassus, cashier T.L. National Bank; Albert Woods, Woods Garage; People’s Pharmacy Druggist; J.E. Bruce, T.L. Transportation Co.; A.M. Bissell, Hotel Iroquois; J.J. Collison, physician; E.H. Harve, druggist; F.E. Smith, merchant; Donavan and Bedard, merchants; Martin Bros. Grocery; Propps, Inc., merchant; McCarthy Bros., retired grocers and lumbermen; N.F. Foote, dentist; M. Ginsberg, merchant; George Delair, town clerk; W.H. LaRocque, dry goods merchant; Brown Bros., grocers; and Thomas and Camelo, merchants.
Many of those people signing that petition arrived in Tupper Lake when it was a frontier village. They took great risks and grew and prospered as the village grew and prospered. They raised families here and built homes. They would outlast the Depression that destroyed so many others. They would struggle through the shortages and despair of WWII. They were tough, resourceful, energetic and visionary.
Tupper today is still a vibrant community, thanks, in large part, to those early settlers and their exceptional business acumen, faith, optimism and love for this wonderful place we call Tupper Lake. Those signatures were a veritable “Who’s Who” in this community during the 1920s.
There are no court proceedings in the file. However, we do find a notice from the county judge, The Honorable E.C. Lawrence, to a lawyer named George Moore, informing him that he is to represent Clayton Elliot for the March term. There are 10 names with charges on the list that Attorney Moore is directed to represent. As I read the various charges against the other defendants, I can only wonder what Elliot, with his seemingly low-level offense, is doing on that list which included burglary, forgery, assault, manslaughter, etc. Oh yes, also on that list one other Tupper resident was charged with the offense of “common gambler.” It would seem that crime was alive and well in Franklin County in 1927.
Also of interest in the file is a single piece of hotel stationary. The letterhead reads “The Faust Hotel – Charles and Bill Girard Prop.” History note: The Faust Hotel was probably the most familiar landmark in downtown Tupper Lake, situated near what is now Rebel’s Video. It was a large, four-story hostelry, built as early as 1895. I remember it being operated by Dick Hosford and Art Bates in the late 1940s. Later it was sold to Naja Ellis as an apartment building. It was torn down in 1958.
The Girards, Bill and Charlie, who ran the hotel in 1927, need little introduction. Bill, of course, later became the popular Franklin County sheriff. He was a large, personable man well known here. Generations will remember Charlie as the successful, wonderful host at his Waukesha Grill, along with his wife, Philema Skiff Girard, as well as with daughter Dorothy and son Charles Jr. How that dance floor would rock on Saturday nights. It’s amazing the log walls stayed intact. Who could forget Ray Bourdage and his sweet saxophone playing the sentimental “Good Night Sweetheart” that announced closing time?
Written on that Faust Hotel stationary was what appears to be arguments Attorney Moore apparently planned to use in his defense of his client Clayton Elliot. These arguments are in strong handwriting in what appears to be random thoughts. Perhaps, given the primitive roads and automobiles of the day, the lawyer, who was from Malone, had taken the southbound train from that village and needed stay overnight in order to catch the northbound coach the next day. We can imagine him sitting in his hotel room, with a boisterous bar below, jotting down several arguments he would use in defending Elliot. Here is what he wrote:
“Highway under construction . . . farmer with hayrack . . . railroad track and train . . . all authorized by law . . . reasonable interruption . . . operating on own land . . . claims to a good landing.”
That’s it, folks! No information can be found in the county file concerning the actual trial except the following legal document, “Record of Conviction,” which reads as follows:
“At the trial term of the County Court, held at the courthouse in Malone, June 13, 1927 – the District Attorney moves that the defendant be sentenced – defendant being interrogated by the court says his name is Clayton Elliot, age 47 years, occupation is lumberman, one child, age 28, and that he received religious instruction in Baptist church and that he has never before been convicted of a crime. Defendant being asked by the clerk if he has any legal cause to show why sentence should not be pronounced, shows none. Whereupon it is adjudged by the Court that the defendant be confined at hard labor in the _______ at _______ for the term of _______ years and _______ months. FINED $200.”