A New Map of Paulding County
By: Stan Jordan
One of my readers brought me in a new and up-to-date map of Paulding County and I am very glad to get it. He drew my attention to the fact I was making a mistake in some of my history, I will tell you about it.
I usually said that General Anthony Wayne troops stayed on the south side of the Maumee River from Fort Wayne to Defiance; I read that in some of my books and Mr. Ehrhart’s history book. Well, this new map shows that those troops stayed on the north side of the river and that is probably how CR 192, generally called River Road, was laid out. But in Mr. Ehrhart’s book it shows some of the trail west of town, where the wagons plodded through the mud. Either way it would have been a hard ordeal to move among the swamp, trees and insects.
But I understand the man who rode a horse and delivered the mail from Fort Wayne to Defiance stayed on the south side of the Maumee. Antwerp had a post office a couple of miles to the east of town, but I think it changed every so often, as it was generally in somebody’s house.
See ya!
Warm Weather Brings Fun
By: Stan Jordan
Yes, I know the farmers want warm weather so they can get the beans and corn planted and I’m sure other folks have waited a long time for good weather and to get out and about.
Like Dan & Traci Bowers annual Horsepower Holiday at the Paulding County fairgrounds, the Maumee Rental LLC that is the scenic river tour by Louis Beregszazi, the Rotary has their annual Pancake and Sausage breakfast at the United Methodist Church. This has been a fund raiser for almost forty years. All are welcome and this is Memorial Day morning. Then that same morning, we have memorial service at Riverside Veterans Memorial Park with a parade and all.
That same week the A.C.D.C. has their big annual Rib Fest down on Cleveland Street and the fire house, that is Saturday, June 2nd.
If the weather man knew how many people want some good warm, dry weather, maybe he would hurry it up a little.
See ya!
Beware Of Those Dug Wells
By: Stan Jordan
I was having lunch at the “O” the other day with some of the fellas, and Steve Franklin told me of an incident here in the area and I think I will tell you that you could have a potential danger in your yard and don’t know it.
One day Steve’s wife, Marsha, who is a nurse at the hospital, came home and noticed a little hole in the yard. So she and Steve dug down under the sod and found a cement cover over an old abandoned dug well. Now, this one was quite safe because of the good cement lid on it.
But again that was a hole five foot around and 30 ft. deep. If someone had fallen into that pit it would have killed them. Someone years ago probably had animals and that was their water supply. It was common for people to have a couple of pigs along with their horses.
A few weeks ago, Bryce Steiner bought a vacant lot on Wilcox Street at an auction. There was a flag pole arrangement in the center and upon investigation they found it was an open well that was partially filled in. So you see, those wells were common and you might have one in your yard.
See ya!
The Suicide Squeeze
By: Stan Jordan
In all of baseball there is nothing as exciting or entertaining for five seconds as the suicide squeeze. I guess that I have seen 3 or 4 of them and they have a place in baseball.
When a team needs one run very badly, like they are losing 1–0 and it is in the seventh inning, if they can get one run they can stay in the game.
To make a suicide work there is a few things that you have to have. A good runner on third base, a good player at bat that can bunt very well and a good runner on first and all the players have to be able to read the coach’s signals. It is very important that all understand the signals and be on the same page.
The opposing pitcher is very good, we can’t touch him, but we finally have a chance to get a run to tie the game. We have a man on third base, one on first, a good bunter at bat and we only have one out. This is the ideal time to have a suicide squeeze and tie the game up. I see the coach run through the signals and we are going for a suicide on the first pitch.
Our runner on third is Swifty Morgan and he is dancing on the foul line as far from third base that the baseman will let him. The pitcher has turned toward home and action is just about ready to start.
Swifty Morgan starts for home, the third baseman is running toward the mound, the first baseman is running toward the plate and the second baseman is running over to cover first base. Our batter is Big Bill Bales and is squared around for the bunt and the pitcher is throwing a high hand one.
Now all of this action started at the same time. The pitch was just about belt high and Big Bill bunted it back toward the pitcher’s mound. The catcher had to stay close to home and the third baseman was going to end up on the mound and scoop up the ball and the runner was flying toward the home plate to score.
The third baseman could see he didn’t have much of a chance to throw the ball to the catcher and tag the runner so he would settle for an out. He threw a hard one to the second baseman covering first.
Swifty Morgan slid across home plate and scored a run. The runner on first was already heading for third base and the first baseman threw the ball to the short stop who was covering third and he darn near nailed the runner but he was safe. All of this action and excitement was over in 10 seconds.
Half of our team was on the diamond to celebrate our success and the game could go on for a long time.
See ya!
