The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1922-10-05
Saltwater Minnesota, Thursday, October 5, 1922.

haved reasonably until some slicker sold
Frank draft inducer. The first time he
tried it the fame shot up behind about two
feet, which was all right as long as he
kept in the fairway, but once he backed
up on old Doc Hool, gentleman of much
facial herbiage, and burned off consider
able acreage of standing crop. Doc was
pretty sore, especially between the chin and
collar band, but he never sued Frank be-
cause he couldn't decide whether to charge
him with malicious trespass or deforesta-
ton.
The most enduring of our old timers
were the Frazier brothers, Charley and
Joe. They were genial, unassuming boys,
who brought to the automobile game
combination of conscience and mechanical
skill that built them nice business. Char
ley used to be a champion bicycle rider,
and with his long moustache reminded one
of the pictures of Henri Fournier about the
time he won the Paris-Madrid race with
a Panhard. Joe was an artist all the way
through, and once he was turned loose on
a machine, of any make, he wouldn't eat
or sleep until he had cured its ailment. He
was little fellow, and had to be 10 get at
the vitals of motors that never were de-
signed with view to accessibility, and
had high voice which was the natural
consequence of swallowing so much oil as
he worked under car.
The Fraziers sold the first Rambler to
old Chris Soens about 1906, and up to re-
Gently it was still making weekly ap
pearance, either way you spell it. This
little one-cylnder wagon had one seat with
the controls in the middle and pump
handle steering lever that could be Topped
over to either side, in case one passenger
lost confidence in the others ability at
critical moments. This type of steering
gear perforce was not irreversible, and
rotund driver had all the road humps
registered in his canal-zone.
A little later the Fraziers got one
cylinder Knox, air-cooled with threaded
pins radiating from the cylinder so that it
looked like hard-boled porcupine. 1t
had folding seat in front of the driver
and when the village belle was married
the groom hired Charley to drive them to
the station to elude the usual crowd of
heavy jokers. Charley was plopping along
at good clip on dark side street when
one of Wards hacks suddenly loomed up
in front of him. He put on the brakes so
hard that bride and groom suddenly came
face-to-face with the cedar blocks, and
spent their honeymoon in hospital
w. L. Casaday, the plow maker, de-
signed a rotary steam engine and put it
in buggy, and rugged up an extra gear
for heavy going, such as crossing car
tracks and manhole covers. 1t ambled
along after fashion, but the principal
defect seemed to be in keeping the steam
in the engine until it was needed. As a
rsult its progress was marked by fog
like the nebulay hypothesis, and residents
along Colfax Ave-, said it always rained
three days steady after Casaday passed by.
Old Cap shuey claims he established the
'first gerridge between Paris and Chicago"
and can show you photo of the place to
prove it. He also says he sold the third
Ford Hank ever built, and is running yet
the Ford, that is. Cap acquired his title
as pilot OF squat little steamboat On The
St. Joe river, but he got tired of grading