Pity the toll taker

A toll bridge over the Housatonic River between North Canaan and Chapinville in Salisbury “was built by a joint stock company called the North Canaan Bridge Co., which raised the necessary $1,500 for the project by selling 60 shares of stock at $25 each,” Rail Tales columnist Richard Paddock wrote in this newspaper’s Jan. 15, 2009, issue. 

The bridge in Weatogue was built in 1894 and lasted until the 1930s. It cut off about 3 miles that would have otherwise taken travelers around via Dutcher’s Bridge. There’s little evidence of the old roadway today.

Paddock researched the bridge the old-fashioned way — by methodically scouring issues of old newspapers on a microfilm reader.

Today, the resource is available at your home computer.  Working through the Scoville Memorial Library internet homepage, under Helpful Links  scroll to “The Lakeville Journal and Western Ct News” and double click to find yourself in an electronic stack of Journals (1897-2017) and News (1871 to 1923).

Enter a name, place or event and see what turns up.

For the toll bridge story, what turned up for me initially was a string of news items that contained my subject words, not necessarily together and by no means in chronological order.

Limiting the search to a particular year or half-decade yielded a more manageable offering.

Several articles appeared in my toll bridge search — and Dick Paddock I’m sure came across them manually.

Two stories that particularly interested me were “Automobile Hog,” Aug. 28, and “Didn’t Know He Must Pay,” Sept. 4, both 1913. 

They are about a scary experience for a young toll taker.

Here’s the second news item, about a rude motorist:

“The automobile driver who, according to the statement of young Hugh Corcoran, the bridge tender at the toll bridge, not only evaded payment of the  fee but slapped the face of the boy in charge as he passed, as related in last week’s News, has come forward with an explanation. Thursday afternoon Mr. D.W. Cosgriff, of Sheffield, called on Attorney J. Clinton Roraback, at his Twin Lakes home, and stated that he had read an account of the alleged brutal treatment in The News, and that inasmuch as he was the owner of the Ford car number 41028, and had driven it over the toll bridge on Sunday, he desired to clear himself of the charge of any intentional misdoing. 

“He said he did not know the bridge was a toll bridge nor that any fee was required to pass over it; and when the boy approached his car to collect the fee, he thought the lad was simply fooling, and in order to prevent him from getting hit by the car, had simply shoved him aside, out of danger, and then driven on, over the bridge. He regretted that his action had placed him in the light of one who would be guilty of such misconduct as the story would seem to indicate.

“Mr. Roraback accepted Mr.  Cosgriff’s explanation as satisfactory, and the latter then went to Young Corcoran, paid the toll fee and apologised for his mistake. And thus the incident ended.”  

In the Journal or News computer search, once on a newspaper page, you may browse the rest of the issue and even backtrack to previous or forward track to following issues.

Of course, the local historian seeking a broader perspective may do this dozens and dozens of times to piece together a story.

There’s always more to discover. I had no better luck than Paddock in identifying precisely when the toll bridge closed. 

Local history is not for the timid, and is usually left to patient, disciplined local practitioners — whose writings from time to time appear in this newspaper.

Doing your own searches may reveal unexpected news articles on intriguing topics — and off you’ll whing into the cybersphere for hours, maybe days. You may forget what your original topic was. 

The writer is senior associate editor of this newspaper.