2-Max-Sollender

Hero of the Day:
Max helps police

Soda clerk sees crime; then gives chase

On arriving in this country around 1910 at the age of 18, Max Sollender found work as a soda clerk in an ice cream store. That's where he was on a hot summer's day sometime between 1912 and 1914, when he witnessed a crime, trailed the suspects, and raced around town after them until they were apprehended by the police.

An enlarged and enhanced reproduction of the newspaper article chronicling Max's derring-do appears here in its entirety, in three segments, which are actually much easier to read than the original. We have Mel Goldstein, Max's son-in-law, to thank for bringing it to our attention. The language and what the account reveals about life at the time make this family clipping a treasure.

While the story was not on page 1, it did occupy an important spot in the outside column above the fold on page 2, making it the second most important article on that page. A reader today may well find the story as humorous as it is exciting, and it also contains a wealth of details of historical interest.

Reporter shows sense of humor;
Writing reveals historical details

The writer may have had his tongue in his cheek, suggested by the deadpan style. He describes how the two suspects crowded themselves into a single telephone booth, "notwithstanding the fact that there were others [empty telephone boothes] in the store." Then, he gives Max credit for observing that this -- two people in one phone booth -- was "a strange proceeding for a hot day." Whether it was the writer or his editor who wrote, "Hammering Noise Betrayed Them," there's melodrama in that subhead. Finally, newspapers once had a preponderance of Irish staffers, and use of the word "lads" in the headline suggests that this newspaper was no exception.

Chases thieves eight blocks

While the first automobiles became widely available only a couple of years before this incident, there were probably early streetcars already in use in the country's largest city, the scene of the crime. The thieves, whom Max had trailed from the ice cream store, waited for a "car," which must have been an early streetcar. When they hopped on, Max was not far behind, "slipping into a rear seat." But after 13 blocks, Max blew his cover by hailing a policeman. That alerted the thieves to his presence, and the chase began. From 70th Street to 78th Street they ran, "Sollender and the officer in pursuit." Max had to have been in excellent physical condition. "My father was then in his prime," said Irving Sollender, his son.