Born: 1898
Died: 1967
Married: Frances Sherman
Children:
Sam Sherman operated the Palace Billiard Academy.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise November 11, 1982 (for the full article, see Lent Cottage)
[...]
On November 10, 1940, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Sherman moved in [to 18 Franklin Avenue] as tenants. At that time, Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Pasho lived in the caretaker's quarters on the third floor. Theirs were the myriad responsibilities inherent in maintaining a large building. Not by any means least of these was keeping it comfortable in winter.
In the basement were a coal furnace and hot water heater. They demanded attention. Every morning at five o'clock one would have to descend three flights of stairs to grab a coal shovel and feed the fire boxes and return various times throughout the day. Feeding amounted to a carload of coal each winter.
After being tenants for seven years, the Shermans bought the Jennings Cottage and moved to the third floor. Six months later, they converted to oil-fired heat and hot water. They installed aluminum, combination storm windows, and, one by one, they put radiators on the porches. These are the only major alterations that have been made at 18 Franklin Ave. None significantly affect the building's appearance. Mrs. Sherman is the current owner. She still lives on the third floor.
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Adirondack Daily Enterprise, January 27, 2011
Part of a Guest Commentary by Phil Klein on gambling
When I was growing up in Saranac Lake in the '30s and '40s, I became acquainted with my first bona fide "gambler." His name was Sam Sherman, and he was the proprietor of Saranac's only pool hall, affectionately known by everyone as "the hole." A solitary door on Broadway opened to a flight of descending stairs, and as one entered, his nostrils were immediately accosted by the smell of stale cigarette and cigar smoke. (I use "his" because the only female who ever entered the hole was Sam's wife, Fran, who happened to be a considerably larger-proportioned human than Sam.) When she would make one of her occasional visits to the hole , Sam would alert all of the pool room's clients to watch their language. This struck me as funny, because I once heard Sam explode (in her presence) with a torrent of vile language, the likes of which would have made his pool room patrons gasp and turn green with envy!
It was while I spent many happy hours in "the hole" that I learned much about gambling and Sam's many other activities. They comprised accepting bets on horses and sporting events, selling what were known as "Treasury Balance tickets" (a version of the "numbers game") and his participation on many afternoons in card games over at the Hotel Saranac, involving the winning and losing of considerable sums of money. I must not forget to add (for the sake of rounding out the picture) that in Sam's candy showcase in the pool room there were other items--"naughty" ones--that were designated as "special products for men."