The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-11-13
A Well.Known
Brotherhood.
LIFE ON WHEELS.
All About Hacks and Their
Drivers in Worcester.

The advancement of a city is meas.
ured immensely by the Individual char.
acteris;ics of its hack drivers and by
the collective condition of its hacks
The smaller the city, the larger in size
are its public vehicles, until the lum-
aering omnibus of the little village
marks the limit.
London and New York are overrun
with handsome, little, two wheel. one
horse affairs with a sort of musts I'd
Don arrangement up behind for the
eilver. Washington owns the four
Wheel, one-horse cab, and other places
pass through all the gradations and
dcsraoations clear to the shaky, can
ory-top, mule-power, nondescript CON
Germ o. the southern towns And the
drivers dltTer as much as the vehicles
worcester Is particularly blessed In
her hacks, She sticks to the four-wheel
tNo-horse carriage, a kind of cross be-
tween cab and a barouche, and an
eHinertly comfortable conveyance. A
traveller is struck at once by the neat
appearance of the. hacks and the salts
fed air of the drivers, but he is some
NAiebL NWO llOISeS inlay mean
double fare, and is agreeably sur
prised to find that it doesn't.
Two horses are necessary in this
nomelike city with it's seven or more
hills and fractions thereof. AS one
OF the Jehus Sid on being asked about
his double team:
THE man who would make one horse
pull hack over these hills, ought to
get 60 days.
1t is cheaper, he thinks, to feed two
horses for ten years. than to feed one
horse for three years and then have to
buy another.
Hackmen as a class possess an in
dividuality and each has his personal
characteristics. They are a jolly lot
of fellows for the most part, talkative
as BARRIERS, and full Of anecdotes of
hairbreadth escapes and queer passen-
gers. And they always like to talk
about their horses. They must be wise
beyond their days, especially in Wor-
cester where it takes the wisdom of
Solomon and the instinct of a homing
pigeon to thread the labyrinthian
streets to reach a given point by the
shortest route and not wind up in some
cul -de-sac from which there is no exit
save by backing up a forty degree in
cline; and they must possess strong
powers of intuition to find numbers on
the houses, for there is no other certain
way in half of Worcester.
They must possess a knowledge of
human nature in order to please Gus
toners, but most of all, to know how
much to charge. Worcester hackmen
possess that spirit Of New England
independence of which his New York
brother knows naught.
Its a darn shame" said one old
d1.iNrprs x4rbn he a eff fo;v e.%,a
ito want a man to take two trunks
and only charge five cents more.
won't do it; and 1 wouldn't take a fare
the other night, because he wanted to
go up the steepest hill in town.
Worcester hackmen, as a rule, are
gentlemanly, good natured and oblig-
ing, traits almost unknown to the New
York cabby.
Il wouldn't charge a man more'n q
quarter to take him to the depot" said
the same old man, unless he had q
trunk, though the law says fifty cents
is the fare. And / don't think any
other hackman would, either"
A hackman's face is an index to his
clientele. There is one long visageC
fellow in town whose chief delight i,
to attend funerals, while another,
round-faced, jolly chap, is just the on
to give godspeed to bridal couples, ant
he gets extra fares for his happy smile
A paternal-looking old man, who wear
Arctic overshoes, is the special pet o
timid old ladies' and is often chosen a!
driver extraordinary for christenings
because he looks as if he would be care
full, and there seems to be no DANCE
of his horses running away. The,
might fall down, but that has to b.
risked.
Hack fares are not high in this city
Fifty cents for one person may b
charged between a. m. and 10 D. m. t.
any point within the mile circle and 2
cents for each additional person. TIL
night fare is 50 cents for each pas
senger Outside the mile circle an,
within a mile and half from the cit,
! hall Is cents may be charged one pas
senger and 80 cents each for two o
more. Outside the mile and a hal
circle the hackman may charge what
ever he thinks he can get. Specia
rates are given by the hour and b,
the day.
There are Ga hacks in Worcester now
less proportionately than there were 2
years ago. when the population wa
only half its present number, and tn
earnings are smaller. At that time h
was considered a poor hackman VIII
didn't turn in from $40 to $50 per week
Now he is doing exceptionally well i
his earnings for the week amount t
$50.
Each driver has his own particula
stand and his favorite doorway il
which to wait for passengers. TIL
Union depot used to be the best stan,
in town, and is yet, for that matter
but one firm has the monopoly Their
and allows none but it's own hacks t
use it. A number of hacks are KEEP
there all the time, as wei
as wagons for baggage transfer
A favorite stand is in front of TIL
Spy Office, and there can often be seei
in that neighborhood an anomaly in tn
shape of a one-horse cab, an example
of the famous exception which prove
the rule.
Hack horses possess some Of the lido
syncracies OF their drivers, but all o
them give one feeling of pity half
| defined sense of sorrow. yet one can
not help respecting their virtues AM
4 patient worth. They never seem t.
die. The same thing is sometime
claimed of the drivers. They disap
post boys on the donkeys, they jus
ride away forever instead of dying il
bed like other persons.
Hacks. hack drivers and their horse
are passing away in the changes o
time. The hacks are being relegate,
to country homes, the drivers ar
adopting other pursuits and the horse
are wandering toward the glu
factories. 1t would not be so painful
if. like the "one-hoss shay" the who'll
system would go to pieces at a singh
stroke, but to see that which has beef
useful in it's day falling apart board b,
board, decaying slowly but surely be
fore the ravages of time, the trolle,
car and the bicycle. makes one realiz
too surely that all must change, and il
the fuilness of time he, too, must Civ,
place to something newer, younger ant
perhaps better.
Mr.. Edmond r. Lyon, one Of tn
/ largest fur manufacturers in the coun
I try, will be at the Boston store Mon