Carbon County news., 1937-06-04

the typical villain--you know,
that tall, dark man with the white
teeth which gleam beneath his
long, black mustache as he
Kisses at the shrinking heroine
or the manly hero cha! At last,
I have you in my power!" So
when you exclain jokingly
Course you, Jack Dalton!" you
are perpetuating his .fame-an-
other man whom everybody
knows but whom no one has ever
seen in real life.
If you've ever travelled in Texas
or elsewhere in the Southwest,
you've probably heard about Old
John Santa Fe. Everybody has,
even though it would be difficult
to find anyone who has ever
actually seen him. One of those
times when the train on which
you're riding stops in the outskirts
of a town, ask the conductor or
the brakeman if you've arrived at
the station yet. The chances are
that he will answer ''Nope, got
to wait for Old John Santa Fe,
you know"
For Old John is the fellow who
always has to be ahead. If he.
isn't always ahead, at least he
thinks he always ought to be.
Just what was the genesis of Old
John Santa Fe is unknown. Ac-
cording to one story, he was born
as the result of a situation in
Forth Worth, Texas, where the
Cotton Belt" and the Santa Fe
lines intersect and the Cotton
Belt" uses the Santa Fe station.
So when trains on the two lines
are approaching the station at ap-
proximately the same time, the
''Cotton Belt" train, even though
it should be nearer to the station
than the Santa Fe train, waits
until the other pulls in before
drawing up to discharge its pas
sengers. From this practice, pre-
sun1ably, the mythical character
of Old John Santa Fe and the
tradition that he: "always has to
be ahead" was created by the
railroad men and by them made
familiar to the public.
A Perpetual Plaintiff.
Mention Of Old John Santa Fe
suggests another famous John
whom everybody knows but
whom no one has ever seen. In
one of the early books of English
legal forms, a typical case of
ejectment was cited in which the
plaintiff, to whom the name of
John Doe was given, brought
suit to force the defendant, a
certain Richard Roe, (also a ficti-
tious narne) to vacate property
belonging to the aforesaid Doe.
It's probable that there was
once a real John Doe and perhaps
he was a clerk or other minor Of
fetal of the Court of the Kings
Bench in which the action of
ejectnnent originated. If he was
a real person, the facts about
him have been lost in the mists
of antiquity but that doesn't
mean that he and his opponent
are any the less well known. I'm
til 1852, when ejectment was
abolished by the Common Law
Procedure act, Messrs. Doe and
Roe were involved in every case
of this kind. Even after that date
they continued their Iitigious
course, both in England and in
America, to which they apparent
ly migrated at very early date. |
But John Doe wouldn't be so |
unfavorably, as well as widely.
known if he had been only a party
to civil actions. Unfortunately. |
however, he hasn't. Poor John
DoeI What a host of crimes have |
been committed under his name. |
Is a public official suspected Of
being recreant to his trust and |
accepting bribes or otherwise in
volved when graft and corruption |
rears its ugly head? Immediately |
the grand jury meets, brings in |
an indictment and issues a war
rant. Whose name is on it? Who
else but John Doe? =.
When the district attorney de-
cides to suppress gambling or
clean up Illegal dispensing 8
spiritus frunenti, whose gam
bling dens and illicit stills are
raided? John Does, Of courseI
A man is found murdered with q
blunt instrument, no doubt.