Deafening Shot

James Hare was a meat peddler for Edward A. Kellogg in the Feeding Hills section of Agawam, Massachusetts. (Edward Kellogg's store was at the crossroads in Feeding Hills Center. It was the largest village store in the area, employing seven to nine clerks and maintaining a fleet of delivery wagons.) Part of James's route included the Longyard District in neighboring Southwick - a place you did not want to be at night, especially if you were someone like James, who was known to carry a lot of money on his person from his meat route, which he would usually finish and return to his Feeding Hills home by 6:00 p.m. However, on November 17, 1898, James's route took longer, probably due to the rainy weather and muddy roads. Feeding Hills Produce was Kellogg's Store at one time. While driving his covered meat wagon through a dark, lonely stretch of the Longyard, a team sped past James as he went up a small hill beyond the last house he passed. The men in the wagon stopped their ...