This Week in Chester History…

The Mendham-Chester Tribune reported in 1937 that Chester Township Clerk Eugene Vliet rear-ended a truck at the crossroads in New Vernon. Driving the truck was Francis X. Backer, who was returning from Plainfield where he and his wife had been helping the Boy Scouts prepare for their trip to Washington, D.C. Mrs. Backer was slightly injured, and Vliet’s car’s radiator was “badly smashed in.”