Nowadays, most people pass through Burt on Route 78 in the Town of Newfane without blinking an eye. That was not always the case. In the late 19th century, the community contained several industries, a hotel, post office, train station and many of the trappings of a thriving community. In fact, on March 23, 1905, the community was so thriving, that it actually experienced what was describe as a full-blown riot.

Newspaper accounts gave a pretty complete description of this rural melee. “It was about 10 o’clock when the trouble started at the hotel of Willis Carrier of Burt, near the Rome-Watertown Railroad station. The affair was not a little rough housing, but a riot, pure and simple, serious in intent and serious of consequence. Besides Carrier and his wife and family, four traveling men stopped at the hotel and they probably had the experience of their lives.”

According to one of the men involved in the skirmish, a crowd of fourteen or fifteen men, ranging in age from 19 to 39 years old, mostly farmers’ sons from the neighborhood, went into the hotel barroom. It was said that one member of the group had gone intending to “apologize” for a previous disagreement with Carrier, who would have nothing of it. The lad said that Carrier then struck him on the head with a club. (Carrier, of course, would not corroborate this part of the description.)

With the false bravado afforded men influenced by liquor, the gang went outside and found a way to get even. They amassed huge piles of stones, some as big as a man’s head, and began an organized assault against the hotel and hotelier. The newspaper reported, “The crowd began the fusillade. The result was startling. Windows were smashed, boards splintered, and doors knocked from their hinges.”

As the rock throwing continued, the residents of the house barely escaped with their lives. Carrier, while attempting to move his children to safety, was struck in the face by a large stone that could easily have finished him off if the aim had been correct. The four traveling men were in bed at the time and reported that they were pelted by stones that broke the windows and landed on their beds. Startled and frightened, they hid in other rooms while the shower of stones continued for two hours.

Word of the riot reached the Sheriff in Lockport who immediately gathered his deputies and rode a special railcar to the scene. When the law officers arrived, some men were still assailing the building with rocks. The constable immediately arrested four men and had plans to arrest ten more hooligans the next day.

Peace was restored before the next morning’s light. We can also assume that the four traveling salesmen shook off the dust and hightailed it out of town without looking back!

Douglas Farley, Director
Erie Canal Discover Center
24 Church St.
Lockport NY 14094
716.439.0431
CanalDiscovery@aol.com
www.NiagaraHistory.org