I can’t imagine national headlines intrude much on the Westport Police Department desk log.
Then again, the headlines on November 22, 1963 were unlike any other in history.
Here’s what the book looked like 50 years ago today:
There — sandwiched between a 1:05 p.m. arrest by Officer Chapo for an unregistered motor vehicle, and a 2:45 p.m. arrest of a 26-year-old by Detective Finch — are these 2 entries by R. Skinner:
1:55 pm Reports that Pres. Kennedy was shot in the neck while riding in a car in the streets of Dallas Texas
2:30 pm It was confirmed that Pres. Kennedy was dead.
As noted at the top of the page, the weather at 12 noon was 58 degrees, and clear.
The Westport Police Department’s handwritten log books go back to 1924. But few entries may be as poignant as these.
Where can I see its log books? Westport Library?
What an interesting post, Dan. You are a master at finding the local connection. What a poignant way to contrast the old-fashioned innocence of a few handwritten sentences against what would become the hugeness of that national tragedy.
I’ve been remembering that Friday afternoon like it was yesterday for a week now. I was in first grade, six years old — Miss Huck’s class at Bedford El – – now the Town Hall. We were let out early, and I walked home — down Main to Compo, made a stop at Merritt Superette for a Hershey Bar with my lunch money, then on down Compo to Richmondville Ave. It was a beautiful fall afternoon and to this day, I remember how the air smelled — soo good like fall. I was sad, got home to very sad parents and neighborhood. Not sure some of us really got over that day completely. It was so shocking.
Thanks Dan for finding this.I am at my moms for Thanksgiving and shared with the family showing my dads police log for the day.