Excerpt from E. F. Ruterman's Recollections

"Ross Brooks [Jr.] lived next door to Whitty's. There was a vacant lot between these two houses. Ross's dad was a night Police officer and rode a horse all over town as it was against the law for a kid to be on the street after 9:00 P.M. They had a 9:00 P.M. whistle. You could hear his horse coming and the kids would scatter like quail and head for home. He rode up one avenue and down the next all night long. We would be playing hide the whip or ditch around the three little green houses that were catti-corner from Grandma's house. We were living at 908 4th Street at this time The little green house by the alley was the one I was born in. Some people rented the vacant lot between Brooks' and Whitty's and of all things they sold ostrich eggs and empty shells for ornaments. This business didn't last long. Claim was that one ostrich egg fed four people."

Ruterman, Ernest Richard, ed. Ernest Francis Ruterman's Recollections. Syracuse, NY, 1994.