Reprinted with permission from the
Hamilton County News!
Transcribed by Annie Weaver
A petition asking approval of a $10,000 settlement in the wrongful death action brought by Mrs. Gladys Friel Taylor filed in Hamilton County last week in the latest aftermath of the Nicoll-Frederick manslaughter trial.
Attorney Albert Lawrence, Herkimer, filed the petition for the consideration of C. Surrogate James D. Curry. Mrs. Taylor's brother, Charles died of shotgun wounds suffered Nov. 15, 1953. John Nicoll, 26, Scotia, was accused of firing a rifle at his car on Route 8, near the Herkimer-Hamilton County line. Irvan Fredericks, 25, Scotia, was claimed to be the driver of the car in which Nicoll was riding.
Nicoll received 10 to 20 years in Attica State Prison and Fredericks a term of 7 to 12 years. The two men, now free in $15,000 bond, pending an appeal of their sentences in the Appellate Division, were named defendants in the death action. Final settlement is several months off, attorney Lawrence indicated. There are six brothers and sisters who have not been located plus Mrs. Taylor and two other sisters 13 and 15 years. The other heirs of Friel must be served notice of the petition for settlement by publication.Another article: A $10,00 settlement has been accepted by the administration of the estate of Charles Friel, 25, Morehouseville who was fatally wounded and was approved by Hamilton County Surrogate James D. Curry.
1953, May
The body of a lumberjack, Lee Vint, about 55, from West Virginia, was found lodged in the chimney of a camp on Mays Lake near Big Moose. The body was discovered when the fireplace wouldn't draw when Mr. And Mrs. Burton Sweet and Mr. And Mrs. Kenneth Trowbridge of Phoenix, arrived to open camp.
Police theorized Vint had tried to enter the camp in search of food. Dr. Hosley, Long Lake, acting coroner's physician, gave a verdict of accidental death by asphyxiation.Robert R. Pulling, 28, died unexpectedly Dec. 31, 1953 in Faxton Hospital, Utica as a result of injuries suffered in a head-on-collision a half mile north of McKeever on Route 28.
Mr. Pulling was born March 26, 1925 in Utica, son of William A. and Ida Mae Davis Pulling, Raquette Lake. He lived there until coming to Old Forge in 1932 with his family when his father, station agent at Raquette for many years, was transferred to the New York Central Railroad Station at Thendara.
Following his graduation from the Town of Webb High School in June 1943, he left a few days later to enter the Navy. A sister, June Pulling, was then in the WAVES and a brother, William, was in the Army. Since his release from the service, he had been employed at the NYC Station in Thendara.
He had also assisted his 89-year-old grandmother, Mrs. Mary Davis, in the care of the home and his parents, both of who are in ill health. His mother who had been an invalid a number of years is now in a critical condition.
Mr. Pulling attended Niccolls Memorial Church, Old Forge. He was a member of North Woods Lodge 849, F & AM; Covey-Pashley Post, American Legion; and the Old Forge Fire Dept.
Last Updated: Wednesday, 14-May-2008 13:14:32 PDT
Copyright © 1954 - 2005; Hamilton County News