Tidbits of Sandwich History
September 2024
By Joan Osgood
It would be difficult to make full length stories from these historical news items but that doesn’t make them less interesting. In fact, we could assign a headline for each of them: Daring Rescues; Sea Turtle – Dead or Alive; Sandwich Glass for Sale; Black Eyes and Bruises; Cleveland Rests.
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"Daring Rescues"
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The Sandwich Card and Tag Factory is long gone, but in the latter years of the 19th century it was situated at the lower dam of Shawme Lake near the Town Hall. Brothers Levi and William Nye established the business. John “Jack” Hoey, who lived on Pleasant Street with his family, was a valued employee of the brothers, and they relied on him to oversee the operation.
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On January 16, 1902, Jack heard cries for help coming from in front of the factory. Fred S. Pope, who lived on Grove Street, was trying to free 6-year-old Donald French who had broken through the ice which had not yet frozen solid. In fact, the ice in front of the dam was so unstable and the current so swift that Pope, too, was soon in trouble.
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Hoey rushed from the Tag Factory with a long ladder, pushed it toward the boy, and pulled him to safety. But wait. By now Fred Pope was struggling in the water. Hoey was able to grab and thrust him onto land.
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Then, four years later, while crossing the bridge between the pond and the factory, a young woman named Mary somehow lost control of the carriage she was pushing. Inside the carriage was two-and-a-half-year-old John Theodore “Teddy” Liberty, the son of John and Rosetta (Dalton) Liberty who lived on Pleasant Street. The carriage tipped over, spilling Theodore into the pond at the edge of the dam where the current was running swiftly.
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Jack Hoey happened to be looking out of the factory window and saw what had happened. He ran to the dam, dove into the water and rescued little Theodore. Mary, terror-stricken, had also jumped into the whirlpool to try to save the youngster. Seeing that she was now being swept beneath the bridge, Hoey again leapt into the water and, seizing the girl by the feet, was able to save her life. Teddy Liberty grew up in Sandwich to be an admired townsperson, businessman, owner of a hardware store on Jarves Street, and a member of many civic organizations.
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Lower dam on Shawme Lake
​​Jump to the day before Christmas 1909. Yes, again. Hoey heard cries for help. 12-year-old Johnnie Schuster had broken through the ice while skating. Hoey’s long ladder came in handy once more as he extended it over the ice to the boy who was able to grab it. Hoey pulled him to safety.
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Five rescues in nine years! I can only imagine that John Hoey kept that ladder close at hand for the rest of his time at the Tag Factory.
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"Sea Turtle - Dead or Alive""
For about 20 years, at the end of the 19th century, Dime Museums were everywhere. Most cities in America had one. The name was derived from the admission fee they charged – 10 cents. The Austin and Stone’s Dime Museum located in Boston on Scollay Square was a very popular “entertainment emporium.” Live human entertainment as well as freaky eccentric exhibits of the bizarre such as two-headed snakes and petrified mummies were featured.
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In 1886 Austin and Stone sued well-known East Sandwich businessman R.A. Hammond. The case was tried at the courthouse in Boston. The suit was for the recovery of $28.00 the museum had paid Mr. Hammond for delivery of a 400-pound sea turtle caught in a fish weir near Scorton Creek. Austin and Stone’s attorney argued that the $28.00 should be returned to them. Why? The turtle was dead!
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Austin & Stone's Museum
"Sandwich Glass for Sale"
It was an enterprising summer for six-year-old Adele Ann Quirk. A large sign, “Sandwich Glass – 5 and 10 Cents” hung over her decorated stand on Factory Street.
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Many townspeople of the day knew exactly where to dig for fragments of glass made at the old glass factory. Adele was one of them. She dressed in costume, set up her stand, and arranged her pieces of glass for display. A 1933 Cape Cod News article reported she was doing “a lively business.”
Sandwich glass fragments that were dug from the site of the dismantled old glass factory were used by two Sandwich glass jewelry designers in town - Nina Sutton and Hazel French. Each made beautiful one-of-a-kind creations from these fragments. They are works of art. Anyone who owns a piece of their jewelry is indeed fortunate. And just maybe the Sandwich glass fragment came from Adele’s stand on Factory Street.
Adele Ann Quirk
"Black Eyes and Bruises"
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The sport of polo, extremely popular in England, was introduced in America in 1882. By 1884 the Massachusetts Roller Polo league was operating with 14 teams across the state.
It was not polo as we think of it today – riders on horses smacking a ball up and down a grass field. It was more like our present-day ice hockey – with one major exception. This polo was played on roller skates on wooden floors. The games were fast, wild and pretty much without rules.
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​The Sandwich Observer reported that a large number were assembled at the Casino on School Street on February 23, 1885, to witness the first polo game played in town. There were six members on each team, and from the published account it was a rough and tumble game.
The rule was that no one who had ever played before could be on a team! Why? I don’t know.
In any case, by the end of the game, it was described as, “more force than science, both sides had black eyes and swollen heads. There was some high and lofty tumbling, but we think Donovan rather excelled in the spread-eagle act.”
"Cleveland Rests"
President Grover Cleveland and actor Joe Jefferson were great friends. Both loved to fish and were frequent visitors to the lakes and ponds in Sandwich. In the late 1890’s after a day’s fishing at our town’s Spectacle Lake, as it was called then, they would frequently stop at the Central House (later named the Daniel Webster Inn).
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As the story goes, on one such day the driver of the horse drawn carriage didn’t pick them up. So the two set off for the village on foot. After walking a couple of miles, Cleveland sat down on the side of the road and told Jefferson to continue on ahead and he’d wait for the carriage.
“Where shall I tell them you are?” asked Jefferson.
“Just tell them I’m at Cleveland’s Park,” replied Cleveland.
The word got around about this and the owner of the land where the former president waited cleared a portion of his land and put up a sign, “Cleveland’s Park.”
Grover Cleveland fishing
Playing Polo
Joan Osgood is a member of the Friends of the Sandwich Town Archives