The following is just a sample of the pictures and articles in the 20 pages of issue #3.

The Golden GoddessA six foot polished brass statue, The Golden Goddess rests in the waiting room of the Spaghetti Warehouse. The Goddess stood on a pedestal in the lobby of the Westbrook Hotel on the corner of 4th and Main Street. The Westbrook was the HQ for all operations, wildcatters and oil scam artists. Before any deal was made, each entrepreneur gave the statue a rub for good luck.

Who was Paddock?
B. B. Paddock was born in 1844 in Cleveland, Ohio. He grew up in Wisconsin. At the age of seventeen he joined the Confederate Army in 1861 and soon became the war’s youngest commissioned officer. After the war he came to Ft. Worth where he became friends with K. M. Van Zandt, a banker. Van Zandt offered Paddock “The Democrat” newspaper if he would run it. Paddock accepted the offer. He edited The Democrat for ten years. He was instrumental for Ft. Worth’s first water system. He served five years as president of the Ft. Worth and Rio Grande Railway. Paddock became Mayor of Ft. Worth in 1892 and served four terms. He was a very popular mayor. He was also an author writing several books about Ft. Worth’s early days.

The reason so many weather vanes are silhouettes of roosters is because around 1000 AD the Vatican called for the likeness of a rooster to be erected atop every Christian church as a reminder for all the faithful to attend church regularly.

Ellis Pecan Co.Located at 1012 N. Main Street, this building has been the Ellis Pecan Co. since 1946. It was built in 1924 by the Klu Klux Klan (Klavern no. 101) for about $50,000.00.

The TV Dinner was introduced in 1954. An average person laughs about 15 times a day. According to one pole, nearly of all American women wear a bra that is the wrong size. Crocodiles kill more people in the jungle than any other animal. Levi’s were invented for the California Gold Miners in 1873. The life span of an ant may be up to 16 years. In 1984 the National Coca Company of Peru introduced toothpaste with cocaine in it. One in ten truck drivers is a woman. A hard rain falls at the rate of about 20 mph. Alexander Graham Bell was 29 years old when he invented the telephone. The first electronic computer was built in 1889 for the U. S. Census Bureau. The longest lived insects are queen termites, which may live for up to 100 years. The first city in history to boast a million inhabitants was London, in 1811. When he died, Elvis’ estate was valued at $10 million. In 1976, a Los Angeles secretary formally married her fifty pound pet rock. The first stereo record went on the market in 1958. The zipper was invented in 1893, for use in shoes. Only 1% of American women are completely satisfied with the way they look. Only about 5% of American men say they are satisfied with the way they look. The average American consumes almost ten pounds of “chemical additives” annually. Your fingernails grow up to four times faster than your toenails. America’s first pizzeria opened in New York City in 1895. The first shopping center was built in Baltimore MD, in 1896. Bathtubs dating back to 1999 BC have been found on the Island of Crete. First American hotel with indoor modern bathrooms was the Tremont House in Boston, 1880. Ten gallon hats only hold about a gallon of liquid. Your backbone is actually thirty-three different bones. Coffee has absolutely no nutritional value.

The Lake Worth Monster
by James Buel

I don’t know how it got started but there’s news going around
about the big hairy monster it’s the biggest tale in our town

He lives in a swamp out by the Worth Lake
and has been scaring young folks who are out on a date

A big hairy figure lurking in the dark
right where the young lovers had decided to park

All of a sudden in the still of the night
with a chill in the air and it was deathly quiet

A noise was heard in the undergrowth nearby
and when it was spotted it let out a cry

It would curdle your blood say the one’s who have heard
and the young lovers just sat frozen and couldn’t speak a word

Several day’s later when they were able to speak
they told about the horror of the hairy monster freak

Legend still has it that he’s seen now and then
and you’ll hear these frightening stories time and time again

When you’re out near Greer Island looking for a place to park
be cautious and careful you never know what’s lurking in the dark

The Lake Worth Monster of Greer Island Fort Worth, Texas by Sallie Ann Clarke is a neat little book. When I purchased the book, Sallie wrote me a note explaining that she wrote the book before she saw the Monster. She says the book is of her imagination of what could have happened if the Monster was really on the loose and dangerous. She has several accounts of eye witnesses who say they saw the Monster. There is a picture of a tire that was said to have been thrown 500 ft. Large tracts of the animal (or?) were found and measured. They were about 16 inches long with a width of eight inches. The tracts were said to have been seen by about 120 people. Sallie said that she was in a group of about 19 people when she first saw it. Pictures were taken of the Monster by about three different people. For one, I would like to see one of the pictures and maybe print it in The Journal. I like the book and thought it very entertaining reading. As you can see from the Star Telegram reprint it all started around July 11, 1969. As Sally says, “The legend never seems to die.” For a copy of her book send six bucks postpaid to Sallie Ann Clarke, 4209 Elmwood Dr., Ft. Worth, TX 76116.

Dumb Things to Say to Your Waiter
“Waiter, would you bring me a smaller check?”
“Waiter, take back the ice cream, it’s too cold.”
“Waiter, I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”
Sign outside a North side eating place: “This place has tip-top waiters. If you don’t tip, they blow their top.”
Customer, “Say waiter, how is the food here?” Waiter, “I’m only a waiter, not a witness.”
Remember, the only waiter who never accepts a tip is a dumb waiter.

You can’t make footprints in the Sands of Time if you’re sitting on your butt, unless your intent is to make buttprints in the Sands of Time.

Pollock-Capps House1120 Penn St., built 1898-1899. In the days before air conditioning Bluff-Top locations were very important for the breeze they caught. This house and the Eddleman-McFarland house next door are the only two remaining Victorian homes that once abounded on what was known as “Quality Hill”.

Eddleman-McFarland House1110 Penn – built in 1899. This house was built for Sarah C. Ball, a wealthy Galveston widow. They moved to Fort Worth to be near their family doctor, Dr. Joseph Pollock, who lived next door. The home cost $38,000 to build in 1899. Sarah died in 1904 and the house was sold to William H. Eddleman. He lived in the house with his wife Sarah, his daughter, Carrie, and son-in-law Frank McFarland. After William Eddleman’s wife died in 1921, he gave the home to his daughter.

Pig SubwayAt the East end of the Hog and Sheep barns there is a subway for animals. As the animals were unloaded from the railroad cars, there was a need to move them to the North end of the Yards to the Slaughter House. Crossing streets and opening and closing gates was not efficient. So, they made a subway to go under the streets. I recently walked the length of the subway. It was dark, eerie, and muddy. Be careful if you try it yourself.

The cowboy was needing a shave so he stopped into a barber shop in old Hell’s Half Acre. As he was sitting in the chair, he took a fancy to the young manicure girl and suggested a dinner and a show later that evening. “I don’t think I ought to,” she said. “I’m married.” “Why don’t you ask your husband?” the cowboy said, “I’m sure he wouldn’t object.” “Why don’t you ask him yourself,” the girl said, “he is shaving you.”

La Grave FieldLa Grave Field’s home team dugout tunnel leading to the showers and locker rooms. La Grave Field was the home of the Fort Worth Cats Minor League Baseball Team. From the Tarrant County Courthouse go North on N. Main across the Paddock Viaduct to 5th Street, turn right, go several blocks and the Field to your left with the trees is what’s left of La Grave Field.

More or Les
The driver behind you wants to go five miles per hour faster. If you have the time, you won’t have the money. If you have the money, you won’t have the time. You can just about always stand more than you think you can. Control your generosity when you’re dealing with a chronic borrower. Buy a used car with the same caution a naked man uses to climb a barbed wire fence. Watch your attitude, it’s the first thing people notice about you. The reason a lot of people do not recognize an opportunity when they meet it, is that it usually goes around wearing overalls and looking like hard work. The man looking for trouble doesn’t have to take out a search warrant. Don’t tell secrets to a friend, because she might have a friend. A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband, while a man never worries about the future until he gets a wife. Everything is funny as long as it’s happening to somebody else. Adam and Eve had many advantages, but the principal one was that they escaped teething. Noise proves nothing, often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she has laid an asteroid. It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt. The car to watch is the car behind the car in front of you. It is not enough just to put your shoulder to the wheel; you must remember to push. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair. After you’ve heard two eyewitness accounts of an auto accident, it makes you wonder about history. You can live to be a hundred if you give up all of the things that make you want to live to be a hundred. Few things are more satisfying than seeing your children have teenagers of their own. Any child can tell you that the sole purpose of a middle name is so he can tell when he’s really in trouble. Human beings are the only creatures on earth that allow their children to come back home.

Old Age is Golden
Old age is golden, I have heard it said.
But sometimes I wonder as I go to bed,

My ears in a drawer, my teeth in a cup,
My eyes on the table until I wake up

Ere sleep dims my eyes, I say to myself,
Is there anything else I should lay on a shelf?

And I am happy to say, as I close the door.
My friends are the same as in days of yore.

When I was young, my slippers were red.
I could kick my heels right over my head.

When I grew older my slippers were blue.
But still I could dance the whole night through.

Now that I’m older, my slippers are black
I walk to the corner and puff my way back.

Since I have retired from life’s competition,
I busy myself with complete repetition.

I get up in the morning and dust off my wits,
Then I pick up the paper and read the obits;

If my name is missing, I know I’m not dead,
So I eat a good breakfast, and go back to bed.

Contributed by Olena Sargent