The Wilmington morning star., 1940-04-06
Man bout
Manhattan
-ey George Tucker

This is Our Town, and I wish
Frank Craven were here to tell
you about it Here in Our
Town, we have about 500 people,
but sometimes the number goes up
to 700 or 800, depending upon the
visitors we get, and the weddings
that are celebrated. We have a lot
of nice people, and maybe there
are some who aren't so nice, but
they're all good people when you
get to know them,. and I'm going
to tell vol a little something about
them.
See that fellow in front Of the
hotel over there? That's Axel.
,. Axel sleeps in a bullion vault,
a steel safe, you might say, every
night. . One time, he ran a nail
through his foot, and they wanted
him to get see the doctor. . . I
guess nearly everybody in Our
Town told him he'd better go see
the doctor, to have it treated right
81 he wouldn't have lock-jaw. But
Axel wouldn't do it. Instead, he
got himself two pints of whisky.
One pint he drank, and the other
he poured into his shoe. Now he's
we'll as anybody.
That woman passing Axel now
is Slot Machine Ida She's
about 60, and every nickel she
gets she plays the slot machines.
That's how she comes by her name.
Everybody in Virginia City knows
Ida. . One night the miners broke
a 10 bill and had it all put into
nickels and gave them to Ida so
she could play the slot machine.
Ida says it was the best time she
ever had.
In Our Town, the main street is
C street, and we have twelve bars
on that one street. Good ones, too.
c street is only two streets from
A street. You see, in Our Town.
the old days the cream of the elite
used to live on A street. On B
street, We had the courthouse and
the Jail, and some of the nice PEG.
pie lived there, too. C street, as I
said, is the business district in
Our Town; E street used to be
where the Cinnamon lived. The
Mexicans lived on F street, and
then the Indians lived on G street.
That isn't exactly the way it is
now, but it used to be that way in
the old days, and it stayed that
way until after we had the first
fire, back in the 70's.
Our Fire Department is right
down there. We have a man who
stays there all the time, and he's
paid by the county. When a build.
ing catches fire in Our Town, the
fire department never actually tries
to save it-they concentrate on
the nearby buildings to keep them
from burning. In Our Town, any
building that catches fire is pretty
sure to be a goner.
Then there's Vince Nevin, n
OF the incest fellows you ever met.
Vince owns the only newspaper in
Our Town, the Virginia City News,
and it has eight pages. We're
mighty proud of that paper be.
cause the first and back pages are
by hand, something you don't
see very often any more. The 9th.
six pages come in every Thurs.
day from Salt Lake City, all print
ed up. That's the newsoffice there,
where Vince is going in. If you
turn around and look this way,
down there in the valley, you a
see the old cemetery. We have
cemeteries in Our Town, but
that's the Oldest and most interest.
ing. The first 20 men even buried
there died with their boots on.
Well, l guess I'd better get on
down the street. There's Father
Harrlgan, u priest, who comes
up once a week from Reno. And
Joe Hart, manager of the
Virginia City theatre. That siren
o hear means it's twelve o'clock.
It's right aA'oss the street from
the Wonder Lode bar. Goes off
every day just like that, and when
1T does everybody in Virginia City
knows it's noon and time to eat.