One Century Ago: Woman Fined for Dancing

Welcome back to One Century Ago, a collaboration between Patch and the Historical Society serving Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown.

Each week we bring you the front page of a local newspaper that covered the news in Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow (North Tarrytown) one hundred years ago. This front page comes from the Tarrytown Press-Record. The Press-Record was published as a weekly from 1893 to 1946 and has been preserved by the Historical Society on microfilm.

Friday, October 4, 1912:

Miss Perry Arrested Then Married

Early on Sunday morning a car containing four occupants stalled in front of the Carmelite Church in Tarrytown, and came to an abrupt halt. The driver was Mr. George Miller, and his companions were Miss Perry, and another man and woman. While the machine was being repaired the two high spirited, and highly intoxicated, young ladies gave an exhibition of “turkey trotting” in the middle of the street. This was a type of dance which was as popular as it was controversial, achieving infamy when the Vatican denounced it as demoralizing.

On that particular Sunday morning, passersby in Tarrytown were no more impressed by this new mode of dance than the Vatican had been, and immediately reported the young people to the police. Before the police arrived, the four offenders had driven away, but their car stalled again near White street. By this time, Miss Perry, who was very inebriated, had become so rowdy that two of her companions, the couple, left and caught a train back to New York. Mr. Miller also wandered off, leaving the young woman alone.

Officer Briggs found Miss Perry sitting in the car, and spent a long time coaxing her out, before he was finally able to take her to the police station. While he was taking down the particulars of the case, Mr. Miller strolled into the station, completely intoxicated.

Mr. Miller was locked up with Miss Perry, though there was no particular charge against him. At about 7 o’clock on Sunday evening, the two were brought before Judge Moorhouse, and Miss Perry was charged with disorderly conduct and fined $10. Mr. Richard Lubcke, evidently a friend of Miss Perry’s, arrived on the scene and paid the fine before taking Mr. Miller and Miss Perry for dinner at the Florence Inn.

Over dinner the subject of marriage happened to come up, and “to show that there was nothing slow about them” Mr. Lubcke and Miss Perry declared they would get married. They immediately went to get a marriage license which they brandished in front of Judge Moorhouse’s astonished face, and about ten minutes later they were man and wife.

Supervisor Millard Happy

Supervisor Charles D. Millard was well known in Tarrytown for the cheerful and happy expression he often carried on his countenance, but the Press-Record reported “it seemed to us when we saw him on Monday morning that he carried an even happier one”. Indeed, there was good reason - a little girl had arrived in his home on Grove street, and both mother and baby were doing very well.

Sadofsky Returns from the West

Abram Sadofsky, a very popular Tarrytown baseball player, returned to a warm welcome after seven months on the Pacific Coast. “Abe” played shortstop on the Seattle team, and received very good reviews in the Western newspapers. For the first few weeks he achieved a batting average of .400, but was suddenly struck down with typhoid fever, and was forced to spend three months in hospital.

Having finally returned to his home turf, Abe reported that “out there they play ball twelve months of the year”, and that the Eastern fans were “tame and mild” compared to their Western brethren.  

Entertainment for Robins’ Nest

The upcoming annual concert in aid of “The Robins’ Nest”, a Tarrytown home for disabled children from New York, was advertised on the front page. The concert was to take place in Irvington Town Hall, and was extremely important to the charitable home, since it was their main source of funding. This year the program included the Balalaika Orchestra and two famous Russian dancers.

Housewives Take Note

The Press-Record offered female readers a little piece of homely wisdom - “The wife’s practical knowledge of how to buy for the home makes the husband’s capacity to earn money, for the home-making expenses, really worthwhile.”

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