F_in Ray Of Sunshine Posted August 10, 2020 Share #1 Posted August 10, 2020 Lenox Basin doesn't even really exist today - it's just a 4-way intersection. On one corner is a bar. That's it. But come to find out, back in the canal days, it was a swingin' place. There was a small canal basin* a hotel, a livery stable and a number of farms. The hotel - The Little Mascotte- was the setting for an endless stream of newspaper articles. Unlicensed booze, Sunday sales, gambling, hookers ("inmates of a disorderly house"), two murders, two suicides and a number of accidental drownings that may be attributed to time spent at the Mascotte. The proprietor was one Clayton D Johnson. Time and again, he would get raided and shut down...and be back in business shortly. In this case, it appears he wasn't above a little jury tampering: *hence the name Lenox Basin. I felt pretty stupid when I realized a lot of place names weren't just pulled out of a hat. Stacey Basin actually had a basin, there was actually a foundry at Lenox Furnace, "Clay Hill Road" was where they drew clay from, for the pottery.... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airehead Posted August 10, 2020 Share #2 Posted August 10, 2020 Jollied the jury People don't use language in the way they used to-- it is a durn shame really 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerrySTL ★ Posted August 10, 2020 Share #3 Posted August 10, 2020 "jollied" Whatever could that mean. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F_in Ray Of Sunshine Posted August 10, 2020 Author Share #4 Posted August 10, 2020 Clayton had a long, interesting career. Lost his liquor license, so he took one out in the bartender's name. Got popped for Sunday sales and running a disorderly house. He pled guilty to the Raines Law charge, but the judge dropped the disorderly house charge after he agreed to sell the place, which he did: Three months later: (....if an actual sale ever took place). He had a couple of race horses, a "naphtha launch", was married four times.... (his third wife skipped town with the bartender after a couple of months). Even after he sold the place, he made the news. I have an article where he got busted for pirating fish from Oneida Lake. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Longjohn ★ Posted August 10, 2020 Share #5 Posted August 10, 2020 There was an inn several miles from where I grew up that had a similar reputation. When in high school the guys all talked about wanting to check it out when they got a little older. It never happened, before I graduated the place was sold, torn down and they built a Burger King there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airehead Posted August 10, 2020 Share #6 Posted August 10, 2020 Clayton Johnson was an interesting man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsnip Totin Jack ★ Posted August 10, 2020 Share #7 Posted August 10, 2020 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F_in Ray Of Sunshine Posted August 10, 2020 Author Share #8 Posted August 10, 2020 35 minutes ago, Airehead said: Clayton Johnson was an interesting man. Tip o' the iceberg. Lenox Basin itself was the real eye-opener. I didn't even know it existed, until fairly recently, let alone that it was such a den of iniquity. If I pull up fultonhistory and do a search for "Lenox Basin" I can almost guarantee the resulting articles will involve some sort of nefarious behavior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F_in Ray Of Sunshine Posted August 10, 2020 Author Share #9 Posted August 10, 2020 38 minutes ago, Longjohn said: the place was sold, torn down and they built a Burger King there. I believe the spot where the Mascotte was is now a parking area for the Erie Canal towpath. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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