2 ————————————————————— The Peconic Bay Shopper • Preserving Local History • April 2011 ————————————————————— publisher/editor — Michael P. Hagerman art department — Rita M. Hagerman advertising sales — [email protected] Dan Hagerman: 631-365-6331 office manager — Lori McKiernan: 631-765-3346 regular contributors — Gail F. Horton — Antonia Booth, Southold Town Historian — Daniel McCarthy A division of: ACADEMY PRINTING SERVICES, INC. 42 Horton Lane - POB 848, Southold NY 11971 — www.academyprintingservices.com — The Peconic Bay Shopper is published monthly eleven months each year. (There in no January issue.) On Our Cover — This interesting photo is part of a collection in the story by Antonia Booth begin- ning on page.... A FAMILY GROUP PHOTOGRAPH: This picture, stamped like the others, “E.H. Payne, Southold, N.Y.”,on the back, is a combination of the Boisseau and Mitchell fami- lies with the photographer, Etta Payne, in the front row, right, wearing a striped dress and wielding a croquet mallet. One would like to parse the symbolism of the woman on the very left rear (see how the stripes of her parasol mimic the stripes of Payne’s dress.) Why is she pointing? Why is the woman in the push chair reading a newspaper? Why is the woman toward the left clinging to the tree? We’ll never know but it’s fun to wonder. BUNNY KIDS! This photo shows the Southold School graduating class of 1950 as they appeared in the first grade. Left to right: Barbara Cochran, Alice Droskos- ki, Julia Akscin, Phoebe Young, Antone Sepenoski, Chester Albertson, Charles Karsten and John Donohue. Photo courtesy of Alice (Droskoski) Kramer. ————————————————————— The Peconic Bay Shopper • Preserving Local History • April 2011 ————————————————————— 3 THE LIGHTNING SLINGERS by Bob Kaelin he November issue of this past year’s Shopper had “Lightning Slinger, “ and in those days they moved Ta picture of the old railroad station at Peconic around a lot, even from one railroad to another. They (shown below) and it brought back several memories for were an essential link in a railway’s own signalling and me. For one thing, that photo was credited to Charlie communication system, and in small towns all over the Meredith, but at least one other publication (Victorian United States little stations like this with their Western Stations of Long Island by Ziel and Wettereau) shows Union offices served as a large part of the communi- the identical photo as having been taken by Dr. Josiah cations network throughout the whole country as we C. Case. This is really beside the point, however; the knew it up until the mid-1940’s. important thing here is that this little station at Peconic Legend has it that telegraphers in certain sections was actually Charlie Meredith’s first place of employ- of the country would have contests to see who would ment when he came here and it’s almost certain that be the fastest “lightning slinger,” and Charlie Mer- this photo would have become part of his vast collec- edith at one point in time, had become the fastest of tion, anyway. them all, up and down the East Coast. The man was He was a native of Vancouver, Canada, and had a true genius; he had a quick wit, a mind like a steel apparently spent a few years here “south of the border,” trap, and a wonderful sense of humor. He was quick Charles H. Meredith, courtesy of Nan and Palmer Shade. working as a telegrapher before coming to Peconic in to “pick up” on things and cultivated a keen interest the employ of the Long Island Rail Road to serve as the in both photography and radio. Those of us who were agent/telegraph operator in that little building. privileged to have known him will always remember the In railroad lingo, a telegrapher was known as a ever-present cigarette holder clenched in his teeth. Soon after arriving in Peconic, Charlie married Helena Jefferson, the daughter of a prominent local family. There were four children: Lyle (born 1910), followed by Kathleen, then Donald and the youngest, Hope, who married Let Albertson. Just how long Charlie stayed at Peconic sta- tion is not known, but for the rest of his life here he maintained a studio and workshop on Cutchogue’s Depot Lane where he repaired radios and operated his prolific photography business. Over the years, he took Nikola Tesla. pictures of everything ranging from accident scenes to Photo credit: everyday farming and commercial ventures, as well as Tesla Memorial local pageantry and, of course, the usual school class Society. 4 ————————————————————— The Peconic Bay Shopper • Preserving Local History • April 2011 ————————————————————— assemblies and yearbook portraits. It’s a safe bet straight line through the ground, using the earth, lighting of the entire 1893 Columbian Exhibition that there are but a few small communities in the itself, as a conductor. For instance, the straight-line at the Chicago World’s Fair which put the alter- country that have such a vast photographic archive distance between New York and London would be as that which was left to us by Charlie Meredith. much shorter than the “long way ‘round” over the Just about all of this collection is now in the hands curvature of the earth and would not be affected of the Southold Historical Society (donated by the by the vagaries of weather. Albertson family) and many of Charlie’s photos Nikola Tesla was born in Croatia and when can also be seen decorating the inside walls of the he first came to the U.S. in 1884 he was destitute, recently refurbished IGA store on Main Street in having been robbed en route in France. When he Southold. got here, he had only the clothes he was wearing, a Prior to the First World War, Charlie also met small book of poems and four cents in coin. Hav- and befriended another kindred spirit but a differ- ing lost all record of his previous accomplishments, ent sort of “Lighting Slinger” named Nikola Tesla he had to work at such menial jobs as a ditch-digger who, by then, had established a large laboratory, until he could finally make his way to New Jersey powerhouse and test facility, complete with a 187- where he applied for a job with a fellow named foot-tall transmission tower in a section of Shore- Edison he had “heard” about. Edison, apparently ham that was known at the time as “Wardenclyffe.” recognizing Tesla’s ability, hired him on the spot, Among other things, Tesla was working on an idea but the honeymoon was soon over when Edison to transmit electrical power via radio waves instead told him to forget the idea of alternating-current of over high-tension lines. Indeed, were it not for because they were going to go ahead with the de- Tesla and his development of alternating current, velopment of a direct-current system. long-distance transmission of electricity would not The two of them locked horns over this and have been possible at all. It was Tesla’s system of eventually parted company. By then, Tesla had power transmission that succeeded in harnessing enough momentum for a fresh start on his own. the power of Niagara Falls in the 1890s. Edison, meanwhile did succeed in setting up a The tower -- as ominous and mysterious as rudimentary direct-current utility system in New it appeared -- was only part of a larger system that York City, but it could not be sustained without a was not visible. Beneath that tower was a 120- series of large “booster” stations all along its route foot-deep well from which radiated a labyrinth of and it turned out to be a dismal failure. underground tunnels much closer to the surface. Edison continued a vigorous campaign to While the great tower could be used to transmit further his direct-current schemes and they eventu- signals through the atmosphere, the purpose of ally became rivals. Fortunately, Tesla’s genius was the subterranean earthworks enabled Tesla to recognized by a man named George Westinghouse experiment with his idea of sending messages in a and together they accomplished the wondrous Telsa’s tower as it appeared 100 years ago. ————————————————————— The Peconic Bay Shopper • Preserving Local History • April 2011 ————————————————————— 5 nating-current scheme on a firm footing once and for all. Westinghouse eventually obtained forty patents from Tesla, breaking a monopoly previ- ously held by General Electric. Curiously enough, when Tesla realized that Westinghouse later needed help, he tore up his contracts with him, enabling Westinghouse to continue, but left himself with little in the way of financing to pursue his own ideas. Tesla felt grateful to Westinghouse for having had faith in him, but in tearing up those contracts he missed out on royalties that would have snowballed into a very large fortune. He was indeed a unique character. He had become a U.S. citizen in 1891 and feeling that his American citizenship papers were his most valued possession, they were among the few things that he actually kept under lock and key. The immigrant who arrived here in 1884 left a great legacy to his adopted country. There is a photo of him on display at the Statue of Lib- erty, memorializing him as the man who changed the world. He referred to himself as a “discoverer” rather than an inventor and was so far ahead of his time that some of his works are still waiting to be explored to this day, over 100 years later. Meanwhile, back at Wardenclyffe, the mysterious goings-on there could puzzle people far and wide, but the local gentry could be more re- ceptive.