New Britain's Mayor Gardner C. Weld made a bold political statement on May 10, 1926, by firing the entire police commission in one fell swoop. Chairman David L. Dunn, Edwin A. Parker, Thomas F. Jackson, and William F. Lange were all asked to tender their resignations immediately, with Weld explaining he wanted to make his own appointments. The clean sweep surprised City Hall, as most expected only partial replacements. The outgoing board had been appointed by ex-Mayor Paonessa back in 1922. Meanwhile, the nation was captivated by the daring escape of notorious jewel thief Lillian McDowell, known as 'Cat Eye Annie,' from Auburn prison in New York. She tunneled through her punishment cell wall over the course of a month, sleeping on cement and brick fragments while hiding the debris in her mattress. After crawling into the prison yard, she used a plank from the greenhouse as a ladder to scale the wall, then lowered herself with a rope she'd constructed in her cell. She left behind an unexpired sentence of nine years and six months.

These stories capture the tension between old-guard politics and reform movements sweeping America in the mid-1920s. Mayor Weld's wholesale firing of the police board reflects the era's push for political modernization and clean government, as Progressive Era ideals continued influencing local politics even after the movement's national peak. 'Cat Eye Annie's' sensational escape embodied the celebrity criminal culture of Prohibition-era America, when bootleggers and jewel thieves captured public imagination. Her story ran alongside a major liquor smuggling conspiracy near the Connecticut border involving millions of dollars — showing how organized crime had become sophisticated and interstate during Prohibition's sixth year.

• The New Britain Herald cost just three cents in 1926 — that's equivalent to about 47 cents today, making newspapers remarkably affordable entertainment
• Hotel chef Joseph Adams was saved from ammonia poisoning in Middletown when a random pedestrian heard his 'faint tapping on glass' from the basement window — no cell phones meant this kind of lucky accident was often the difference between life and death
• A hailstorm in Dallas caused $1 million in damage in just 10 minutes, with hailstones over two inches in diameter perforating automobile and streetcar tops
• Building inspector Arthur N. Rutherford discovered an I-beam 'weighing many tons' improperly supported in a busy store, highlighting the era's often dangerous construction practices
• Safe crackers made off with $2,000 from Worcester's Olympia theater — roughly $31,000 in today's money, showing these weren't petty crimes

• 'Cat Eye Annie' had previously escaped from Erie County Jail but was recaptured 36 hours later in an attic in Kenmore after spraining her ankle jumping from a jail window — female career criminals were rare enough to make national news
• The liquor smuggling conspiracy centered in Portchester, New York involved Emil Wormser, described as a 'millionaire alien' who had lived in the US for 20 years — showing how Prohibition created opportunities for immigrant entrepreneurs in illegal markets
• St. Matthew's German Lutheran school was requesting medical examinations from public school physicians, reflecting how German-American communities were still rebuilding trust and integration just eight years after World War I ended
• New Britain reported 28 cases of measles in a single week when the statewide total was 711 — this was before vaccines, when measles was a routine but serious childhood threat
• Irving Austin, one of the accused bootleggers, was a former president of the Portchester Chamber of Commerce, showing how respectable business leaders often had fingers in illegal pies during Prohibition