True stories of old Houston and Houstonians: historical and personal sketches / by S. O. Young. Page: 75
244 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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HOUSTON AND HOUSTONIANS 75
Pete White,' and listen to the tales they will tell you. You can
get enough to make a book if you want to."
NOT DOWN ON THE PROGRAMME.
HATEVER may be said of Houston's quiet Christmas,
the same does not apply to New Year's Eve, the
death of the old year. Houston fairly stood up on its
hind legs and welcomed the new year in the most royal manner.
There was noise enough to make up for the deficit for
Christmas and then have some left over. I did not see any
of it, for I did not venture away from the Press Club, where a
number of us welcomed the new year in in an orderly manner.
That noise, firecrackers, pistol shooting and everything else,
showed me that there was some love of fun left in the old place
yet and made me like it all the more. It was much after the
way we used to celebrate and for the first time I began to feel
as if I were at home. One terrible explosion had a good effect
on me, for it carried me back instantly to so many years ago
that I am not going to say how many.
There is a good story involved in that explosion, too, and I
am going to tell it, although it is on Sinclair, and he may not
like to have it told. The reader must remember that we were
all much younger and that W. R. Sinclair was very far from
being the staid and dignified editor that he is today.
The newspaper boys and the police stood in with each other
much closer then than they do today. The "force" was not
large, but it was lively. Alex Erichson was chief and Bill Glass
was deputy chief. Alex was serious and took but little stock
in fun and jokes, but Bill Glass made up for all the chiefs defects
in that way.
There was a good sprinkling of railroad men who ran with
the gang also, and it was the neglect of one of these that gave
rise to the following incident, which is absolutely true:
A conductor who "ran with the gang" got married during
Christmas week and on New Year's Eve gave a dance at his
residence down in Frostown, as that part of the city where the
gas works was located was called. His house was a small one
and presumably for that reason he failed to invite any of the
"boys" to the dance.
Bill Glass and Sinclair, or "Sin." as he was called, understood
well enough that no slight had been intended, but they pretended
to be greatly outraged and worked on the others until they were
ready to do anything that Glass and Sinclair suggested. These
two thought of every possible way of getting even with the
conductor and at last hit upon the following novel plan, which
would not only accomplish their purpose, but at the same time
let the whole town know that they were on their job.
Near midnight they got the boys together near the court
house and told them their plans. There were several pieces of
field artillery, six-pounders, that had been accumulated by the
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Young, Samuel Oliver. True stories of old Houston and Houstonians: historical and personal sketches / by S. O. Young., book, 1913; Galveston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth24646/m1/75/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.