Summer had ended for the residents of Troy, N.Y.; but for one young man in the early hours before dawn on Tuesday, September 19, 1961. This man who seven years earlier had left the wilds of Burlington, VT. behind him to begin a new life in the bosom of sibling family on Stowe Avenue in Troy. Young Eli Napoleon Burnum, my Uncle Zeke, was visiting the Copa Lounge on 412 River Street, but not in your usual way, nor at the appropiate hour. A neighbor had called the police when they heard a disturbance on the roof of the Copa Lounge at 3 A. M..
I don't know why or what possessed him to climb on the roof that particular night, it was most certainly out of character for the uncle that I knew from family gatherings. I stumbled across these two newspaper clippings quite by accident while doing some family research at the local Family History Center. Some would say that this item adds a bit of spice to the otherwise boring and mundane part of family history that is contained in the gathering of facts and dates. It must have been a very slow night for the Troy Police Dept., because all total there were ten policemen including the Captain, the Assistant Chief, the Sargent, a Detective, 2 plain - clothesmen, plus 2 more patrolmen; then several other officers showed up on the scene! Did it really take that many men to help my uncle down off the roof? I have decided to file this under "Sources of Amusement". Case Closed!!
