Allegations of voter fraud in Southwick, Massachusetts, had residents questioning the integrity of the voting process following the arrest of Clinton Aldrich, who was charged with illegal voting on Election Day, 1868. The case attracted considerable interest throughout the region. Aldrich appeared in the afternoon session of Westfield Police Court on Saturday, November 14, 1868, with Judge M. B. Whitney presiding. Massachusetts State Senator Henry William Fuller was counsel for the defense, while H. B. Stevens represented the Commonwealth.    Henry William Fuller, circa 1868   Southwick Selectman Aurelius Moore was called as a witness on behalf of the Commonwealth. Under direct questioning, he testified that he saw the young Aldrich place a piece of paper into the ballot box, but he was not sure what, if anything, was on it. Upon being recalled, Moore testified that when he counted all the ballots, each was filled in for either Republican or Democrat, and that there were ...

On July 10, 1951, a Holyoke, Massachusetts, judge fined Gus W. Vasilocosta of Suffield, Connecticut, five dollars for failing to slow down at an intersection. It was a minor traffic violation, one of thousands routinely handled in local courts. Two years later, on Monday, December 14, 1953, Vasilocosta was driving his convertible coupe westward along Thompsonville Road in Suffield. At the same time, Paul O. McGinnis of New Salem, Massachusetts, with his passenger Anthony M. Symanski of Hatfield, was traveling south on East Street in a 2½-ton truck carrying four work horses. East Street and Thompsonville Road intersected just ahead of them. The two vehicles approached the crossing. Locals had a name for it: “Death’s Corner.” At 11:31 a.m., they collided.   Gus Vasilocosta’s wrecked coupe following the collision at “Death’s Corner"   The impact forced Vasilocosta’s coupe into a cement retaining wall as the truck continued forward before overturning. It also tossed the horses fro...