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told you
Franc is Donovan,
Thomaston, Conn.
Thursday,Jan. 5 I 39
Mr. Potsford haE.$ rigged up all
for his radio. It consists cf a I
the tuning d ial by means of ii\T-lich
chair and Ince stations as k
risin, 9,nd fou his greater clEXIM
1171,8 added a magnifyil
ass tx
d i 1 number7 e sily d-isiagrx:x
"Know where I r-ot that gl a .59?
old lamp. 17 nu c find
sooner or late -2,1f
I'd ever wnt
can tell.
°I had. a lot 0 f fun on
e of tae t -f, --Ps
rru h riE on to
old lamp ax
through with t tit h1 I sat down
and I fourd out t'c;at I'd be --n cle
gore. in a stai ne.
"Yes sia.^ d been over t.,,,Tcrity-f
ov0-$ hu-:-dr,-.d and sixty f iv
did a century run, though z I czx 1
not. 3ome fellers used sce
t hey could run up. A great tr I p
ad back. s f if "iils oa
to me it s lme day of course
"I nt 0 Lt
wi-.ty-.1; ix LI Inu te
s'aop one
%fter,
g tore in liraterburY,drin7zin'
scorchin'
sc
he
px
x
ingenious contrivan ce
long rod attached to
can sit in his Morris
pleases without
xcxx con-73nience
x through. which
discernible.
he as1„7.5. *That's nly
"use for everything,
he
the
ho'd have thought
agn.in7 Put you nev-3r
o 1 d bicycle. Guess I
I? 7!Thri IE0t
4 figured up my mllea
ar07).ild e world if
thou 3::.nd lent
miles one week. Never
x x could' easy
how many of them
s up to Spr ingf ie d
0 xlzzi
way. You were sup:os ed
four o'clock. flt
n in Dexter's drug
sody How' s th,t for
W 151)88
"Lots or fe
h3.t us to
-2-
1-rs us. -d to try to
an awful steep-. kJ
1,5ridge went in. I rememb--Jr tx, yi
They 77:15:: T7nci:.-., Tom show Nam
the bloodhounds they used to ha
the Ice was runnin' loose.
:loon1 s they saw me comint on
they made a beeline for me. I g
driv in' the wagon says 'Don't
you. sb ,they d idn' t ;hut
know? They spoiled my try f
it two or three of them in
"There was a fell er used
best riders I
Torringt n was one of the
and ride ,3,round in c ircles o v
evenint tr. in cone in. Then he
-,,nd say,' See you in To rrIngt 0
too.
"They usd to make the '71,xg1
Torrington. That had the big wx
XX
111
ke Pl ymout h hill,inxiaxxxx
hill before the
new
x tr in' it once.
x comint accirn,and all
v e for c'clasint Eliza across
tow
small one in
"Da ck in
Iash.ingt
front.
litttyx ninety t tt
,time they had h
t he wklii* Nksilx wh-el,
toff in a hurry. Feller
worry,they won' t hurt
ii o w the hell was I to
to
e
n.
t xxx the anyway
used to make it.
cone down fir m
He'd come down
ever
X 0: X
of American Wheelmen. They was xxxxx
st9.yin' in the same. hotrl wi t
had those Eagle wh els.
r,ne mornin' they got an old tamsxt
out in tkxstr..-y, the street
v11,
see.
y -the de lo:)t till the
wave at the engineer
:rnd by God,he 7Tould,
7 Eagle' up in
heel in back and a
three I was down in
c 0 hvent ion of the League
loiNx0fx three-four fellers
me from Spr ingf ield,
xxlexx tomato can and got
ront of the hotel and
batted that thing around with th
e I r wheels just like
"Great times,great t4mes,
the automobilT,s come al °rip..
before everybody got to oxxt
ox Zhccx
0 roc)
n
ore could h ave a bicycle. I V
seventy five of them over in t 1.1
every day.
'alt automobiles was a I/ xf x
Jack Coates used to have a ,10
Pone Hartford Company. He u .d
s tate. They'd tell him how xx m a
didn't care where he went. xJ x e
old seat on the c'cass is and start a
nothinT and come back
when
"That's how I got my first a n
goinl to Springfield and I was tidck
Terryville to get the tro1e y an
f lagged him. I was late. I x s XL X
the trolley,' and he says,'Sure,.' and how
right.
"The different cars they 1 X ek x
keep a list of 'em.. There WC xa
and the Stevens Duryea, and the k
Peerless and the Nation- ,a x x
and the Metz --I can' t rememb,
"Billy Qi lbert, that used ip 1 i
had a Stanley Steamer. He wa a n
Californy now. Spent all his
and he swore by steam. W mx 1 x
on the bicycles. Then
irse it was a long time
oitninl them, too. Most any
e member when they was
e sheds by the Marine shop
xx different proposition.
xtaatilax testtin' em for the
to ride em all over the
fly miles to go and they
xx He'd just rig up an
out,no wixiataa windshield
e got the ml.Teae made up
d f astest auto ride. I was
xx hikin' along over tcY7ards
Zit
X X
Jack come alone: and I
x says,' Jack, can we make
we did fly. .le made it all
xec used to be. I used to
was the fa Pope Hartford,
Locomobile, and the
and thAx2xxx the Saxon,
them all.
ve next to me here,he
engineer. Hel s out in
life, on the xtx railroads
x Touldni t have a
gasoline enp-ine.
'After he moved to CALIfean x y
a letter. Said there was a
San Francisco tine miles lnn
Californy he wrote me
g hill out there ximx beyond
1 magi long. Said ten tow
cars was kept busy on that h x d. t x hill all the time. But
that steamer of his just 3.XX t x ate it up.
"You 0 ought to be able to r It Xx remember when they
used Plymouth Hill for txstt t a gx testin' cars. It- was
quite a trick for a car to mp over ttxx x Are there in high. Good
many of 'em wculd start off i n hi5h,then shift to second,
then low,then they'd get stag k x stuck. But it's a damn
_
poor car that won't go over in ti E h t
buy a car that w'culdntt make it i n
"Well, I got to go down tom
y ou np lift today. MrObtxx
the olr out. I feel as thou
me good. So you just wait tit
and fAxIxmyxtrixx fix my fire s
together.
'se days. Man wculdnt t
high.
t I ain't goin' to give
I'm not goins to take
though the walk will do
till I put the cat out
and we'll walk d own