Fernando Gonzalez Rodriguez worked on the Hathaway and Steane Tobacco Plantation in Southwick, Massachusetts. He lived in the company's barracks with the other tobacco workers of Farm C; the sleeping quarters were on the second floor of the bunkhouse.   On the evening of September 20, 1958, Rodriguez went to the Estes Club, a popular gathering place for Puerto Ricans, on the third floor of 50 Ferry Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. There, he saw his crush, nineteen-year-old Otilio Vaxeo, who, repulsed by him, brushed aside his advances as she did in previous run-ins with him.  Rodriguez left the club.  Luz Maria Reyes Escribano Otilio left the club at about 12:15 a.m. with her brother-in-law, thirty-seven-year-old Nazario Gutierre Mendoza. Outside, they ran into Rodriguez, who pushed Otilio before producing a .32 caliber revolver. As Otilio turned, Rodriguez fired a shot point-blank into her back. He reportedly fired a second shot that entered the bicep of h...

Barnett's Grave in Suffield In November 1930, John F. Barnett Jr. submitted plans and an application to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Public Works seeking permission to place fill in Congamond Lake to provide a bathing beach.   After receiving state approval, John spent three years developing Barnett's Beach before it opened at Congamond Lake on July 4, 1935. It featured a dine-and-dance pavilion, live entertainment, "fine sandy bathing, picnic grove, boat livery, and recreation fields."   The resort, located on the south end of Middle Pond, had valuable frontage along the new Suffield-Congamond State Highway. The main building was five stories tall, about 300 feet long, and 75 feet wide. The ends were 50 feet wide. On one end was the dance hall and dining; the other was living quarters and cottages. Barnett's Beach held a dance until midnight on August 10, 1935. Following the dance, the night watchman made his usual rounds before calling it a ni...

Some 300 people visited Balch's Beach on the north end of Middle Pond at Lake Congamond between June 17 and 18, 1929. The amusement center held its grand opening on July 1. (Balch's Beach stretched across Point Grove Road to North Pond.) Balch's Beach featured a concession stand, live entertainment, a dancing pavilion, row boats and canoes, fishing, and a speed boat that provided lake tours. It also had a picnic grove, a bathhouse, and a merry-go-round. Cottages, campsites, another bathhouse, and a ballroom were later added. (A powerful searchlight was installed atop the bathhouse in 1931. The light mimicked daylight and illuminated the water for night swimming.) The Balch's Beach Ballroom became the Ritz Ballroom in 1930.  The original owner, Benjamin Babb, held a $5,000 first mortgage. Clayton Balch was the director, presumably until William P. Marcoullier of Westfield operated it under a trust agreement circa 1930-1. (However, Thompsonville Bottling Works filed a $50...

Police in Pennsylvania arrested Frederick Davis in 1959 on an outstanding warrant for multiple burglaries in Vermont (including a post office in Pownal); they also arrested his girlfriend, Mary Backus. (Police set a trap for the couple after Mary's father tipped them off to their whereabouts after she wired him asking for $40.) During his interrogation by police, Frederick implicated his brother, Hilton. Police in Granby, Connecticut, contacted their counterparts in Westfield, Massachusetts, after finding a 400-pound arc welder, welding cables, a welding helmet, and other items stolen from the abandoned Fruehauf Trailer plant at James Cavanaugh's home in nearby Windsor. Police picked up Hilton shortly after Cavanaugh told them that Hilton was his partner in crime. Authorities in Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut became aware of the Davis brothers after police from Rutland, Vermont, arrest warrants in hand, traveled to Southwick, Massachusetts, believing that was wh...