This involves a friend of mine from high school, Bobby Lyeth, Jr., who probably was a couple of grades behind me, so maybe he was 15 at the time. I was a senior and age 17.

It’s quite a story so I am going to print it in its entirety.

“LAKE CLEAR, Dec. 22 — Four men traversed the uncertain ice of this lake to save the life of a big doe who had been chased into the middle of the lake by dogs, lost her footing and lay floundering on the glassy surface Monday afternoon.

“Robert Lyeth, Jr., who had been skating near the shore of the lake, saw the dogs and the doe coming out of the woods, saw them chase her onto the ice and saw her fall.

When every gas station handed out road maps. That was still the case 1946 when I was 16 and worked for Charlie Lavery at his Blue Sunoco on River Street. Also, for a dollar’s worth of gas (about 5 gallons) you might be asked to check the oil, radiator, battery and the air in the tires. There was, a gas station, it seemed, on every corner. Just on River Street there was Howard Benham’s Gulf Station at 57 River St., next to the beach; Herb Overbaugh’s Lakeview Mobil Station at 70 River; then Red Hogle’s Chop Shop, now today’s Fusion Market; Lavery’s at 105 River, today’s boat launch site and Les Carr’s Main Line Garage and gas station at 127 River, just before the right turn onto Lake Flower Avenue.

“Lyeth, according to Game Warden, Paul Benoit of Inman [near Loon Lake], twice chased off the dogs who followed the deer onto the lake and then returned to the village to summon help from the Conservation office in Saranac Lake.

“District Game Protector Ray L. Burmaster notified Benoit at his home in Inman and the Game Warden left immediately for Lake Clear.

“Benoit went to the seaplane base located on the lake about three miles beyond the Junction and spotted the deer.

“‘She was floundering around on the ice,’ Benoit related, exhausted and unable to get to her feet.’

“The Game Warden went to the Matthew Otis Lumber yard nearby to seek help. There he met Ed Jarvis and Tuffy Hartigan, [a friend of mine, whose wife, Mae, worked in the front office of the Enterprise] and Lyeth, who had turned in the report to the district office.

Hesseltine’s Milk Bar, located on the Old Lake Colby Road, was originally constructed by Mr. and Mrs. Maurice and Carrie Kelly Hesseltine as a milk pasteurizing plant for their dairy farm on Trudeau Road, and later converted to a restaurant and dairy bar. The Philadelphia Eagles football team was in training here in the late 1940s and we teenagers had a great time talking to them as they walked around town in the evenings. They made their way out to Hesseltine’s Milk Bar and Mrs. Hesseltine made them big milk shakes which created the “Super Milk Shakes” carried in their ad. It was sold near the end of the 1940s and later was Kate White’s Restaurant; then it became Laura Newberry’s Restaurant who later moved her business to today’s location of NBT Bank on the corner of River and Lake Flower. It was also later Tom Doty’s Meat Market. The building today is a private residence. The Hesseltine’s are the parents of Patricia Hesseltine Finn and Ronnie Hesseltine. That drawing in the ad looks a lot like Tim Hesseltine.

“The four men went to the Jarvis home where they got about 20 feet of line, an axe and a flashlight. Lyeth and Hartigan got their skates and the party returned to the east end of the lake.

“They walked carefully out onto the lake for about a quarter of a mile, Benoit said, taking with them a pole about 10 feet long which they had cut.

“Hartigan and Lyeth had volunteered to skate out to the animal. ‘It was late in the afternoon and darkness was closing in fast,’ Benoit said.

“The Game Warden gave the two men his gun with instructions to kill the deer if she was badly injured; if not, to lasso her with the rope and drag her back in for examination.

“Lyeth and Hartigan skated out to the deer, circled her two of three times and finally got the noose around one of her back legs. They tied the line to the center of the pole, each took one end of the pole and they began to skate back to Benoit and Jarvis.

“‘They stopped briefly two or three times to rest,’ the Game Warden said. ‘Because of the weakness of the ice, they had to keep moving as much as they could.’

“The two men brought the deer over half-a-mile to shore where Benoit examined her and found that she was not seriously injured, ‘although the dogs had bitten her on her back and the back of the neck.’

“The two men removed the line from the animal and, Benoit related, ‘she gave us a look of thanks and appreciation and shot off into the woods.’

“‘Great credit goes to Lyeth and Hartigan,’ Benoit stated. ‘I wouldn’t have walked out on that thin ice and I don’t think anyone else would have. The only way they could do it was on skates and by keeping on the move.’

“The entire episode was over, he said, within a matter of 20 or 25 minutes. It was completely dark when the men reached shore with the deer.

“‘It was through the co-operation of the conservation-minded citizens of Lake Clear that the life of this doe was saved,’ Benoit concluded.”

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Ed Lamy, world famous skater

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Mr. Lamy won so many championships in speed skating — he did a clown act with his brother in big skating shows in New York City and excelled in many other sports. He was drafted to a major league baseball contract and broke his collarbone just before training camp and dropped out. Read his incredible accomplishments in Marc Wanner’s Wiki web site at Historic Saranac Lake.

After reading all about Mr. Lamy while growing up here and being friends with his son Jim, I had never seen the following story about the equally famous “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” cartoons.

“In a special delivery letter from Robert Ripley, received here yesterday [Dec. 12, 1948], Edmund Lamy of 95 River Street was informed that the dinner, to observe the 30th anniversary of Mr. Ripley’s first published cartoon, has been postponed until a later date.

“Mr. Lamy, featured in that first cartoon as a broad-jumper on skates, [actually jumping barrels] was to be a guest at the dinner planned for tomorrow evening at Toot Shor’s restaurant in New York City.

“Mr. Ripley, famous author of the “Believe It or Not” cartoons stated in the letter that it had been decided to wait until a future date when a coast-to-coast network could be arranged.

“The Saranac Lake Chamber had voted $100 [purchasing power in 2023, over $1,200] for Mr. Lamy’s trip to New York. Mr. Lamy returned the check immediately upon receipt of Mr. Ripley’s letter.”