The Holy Grail Press
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Word of the Every So Often
batfowler: (noun) a person who captures roosting birds by starling them, thus causing them to fly toward a light and into a net. A batfowler is another one of those careers my guidance councelor never mentioned.
Everyday History
On October 6, 1866, the Reno Gang boarded an Ohio and Mississippi train and made off with around $13,000, which would be in the neighborhood of $275,000 today. It was the first time a moving train had been robbed in the United States, but it certainly wouldn’t be the last. In the last half of the 19th century railroads had rapidly expanded across the wide open expanses of the west, and the trains were carrying a lot of cash and gold. As well, there was no communication out there in the middle of now here. It was the perfect environment for train robbers.
From 1866 to 1937... ish, in the Golden Age of train robbery, dozens of gangs robbed upwards of 250 trains. These included such notorious bad guys as the James-Younger Gang. Yeah, Jesse James is made out to be a regular sweetheart in many movies, but he wasn’t. He was a cold blooded killer who killed innocent people and didn’t share anything. Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch was no better. They were very successful at robbing trains and such for a while, until they all got caught or killed, but they certainly killed their share of lawmen and civilians, even though they claimed they didn’t.
By 1900, train robberies started to dramatically decline and were all but gone by 1930. Part of that was because of the telephone, which greatly cut down on response time. As well, trains began using heavily armed guards – the Pinkertons. And people stopped shipping large sums of cash, using checks instead.
Still, that didn’t stop the Newton Gang. On June 12, 1924, they robbed a train outside of Rondout, Illinois, for over $2 million, which would be worth right at $37 million today. Ca-ching! But they didn’t get away with it. The gang’s leader, Willis Newton, got shot, and though he didn’t die, he was caught seeking medical treatment, and that led to the whole gang getting busted.
It was in 1937 that the last traditional attempt to rob a passenger train ended in failure. Two guys, Henry Loftus and Harry Donaldson, ended up shooting a passenger and killing a brakeman before they were severely beaten by the other passengers. They ended up spending seven years in prison, and then were never heard from again. Probably for the best. All told, none of the traditional bank robbers truly got away with it. They all either ended up being gunned down or in prison.
Cartoon of the Week
“’Amazing Navigational Skills’ my ass! Admit it. We’re lost."
Stuff
History of the Future: Tagging
It was on December 4th, 2028, that Seattle shop owner Felix MacGoogan, tired of the nightly “tagging” of his business’s outer walls by rival street gangs, just left cans of spray paint outside for them to use. Said MacGoogan, “What’s the point of even trying? I paint over their graffiti in the morning so they can put graffiti over my paint at night. Besides, what do I care what colour it’s painted? Paint is paint. And this way, I don’t have to do it anymore.”
Soon neighboring businesses joined MacGoogan and left paint out as well. Shortly thereafter, the entire city stopped trying. Seeing shop owners set out paint cans at closing became a common sight during the winter of 2029. It wasn’t long, though, before the gangs couldn’t tell their graffiti from even their own. Said one gang member, “It never really made much sense, anyway, but this is ridiculous.” The only way they found to stake out their territory was to completely paint the businesses in solid colours with tastefully coordinated trim. The practice quickly spread, and before long every gang in the city spent their evenings painting local businesses.
Said a former shop owner, “You never knew what colour the shop was going to be each morning. Sometimes it would be red, sometimes blue. You never knew. But they always cleaned up after themselves.” Indeed, it became a sign of power to have the best looking blocks. Soon roving bands of youth were brazenly planting shrubberies along the sidewalks. The sound of a weed eater was common at night.
In the spring of 2030 officials from other cities began arriving, trying to recruit Seattle’s gangs to come to their towns and wreck all the havoc they wished. Chicago and Indianapolis had limited success, but it never quite caught on.
Then, just as suddenly as it began, it stopped. Said one gang member, “Hell, that’s work.” It wasn’t long afterwards that the city fell into disrepair. Having gotten used to not having to do any maintenance on their property, nobody did. Pleas were made to the city gangs, who had all moved to the suburbs and bought homes of their own. Perhaps DJ Weeder, the head of the Toro gang summed it up best, “Man, nobody wants to hang out in the city. That place is a dump. Besides, who’s got time? I’ve got a yard to mow.”
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