Historical Wyoming County April 1957 - Old Fulton History

Page 6 6
April 1957
(Following are additional reminiscences of his boyhood days in North
Java by Mr, Lyon, now residing in Florida,,)
One of the best Halloween stories I ever heard came from outside
the county, from the little village of Leicester over in Livingston
Countyo it was related to me by George Rich who worked in
the Perry Knitting Mill and boarded with my aunt, Mrs0 Russell, so I
think it will pass for this publication,,
It seems that a farmer living at the edge of the village had an
old swell box cutter which he had repaired, painted and varnished,
ready for the coming winter season. It was too much of a temptation
for the boys. Back of one of the stores there was a barn with a
ridge roof and beside it a shed with a lean-to roof. It was no
trick to get the cutter on the shed roof and then to the ridge of
the barn. They intended to straddle the runners over the ridge, but
accidentally everyone let go of the cutter at the same time and the
vehicle slid down the opposite side of the roof. It never hit the
ground for beside the barn ran a railroad track and just at that
moment an eastbound freight was pulling through town. The cutter
landed in an open top car. No one in -Leicester ever heard of it
again.
The story has a sequel though I never heard it. But some poor
railroad station agent, in some mining town somewhere around Scranton,
Pa., must have had one heck of a job trying to find out where
that cutter came from.
One person who was known for his peculiar manners and oddity of
speech was Fletcher Royce. I worked with him one time during the
potato harvest back when spuds were pulled out of the soil with
hooks. At meal time, as soon as the men were seated at the table,
Fletcher would grab the pie plate, help himself to a generous slab
and pass it along. Of course the others waited until the heavier
part of the meal was partaken b u "t Fletcher made sure of having his
pie.
One time when he had been to Buffalo with a load of produce he
stopped on his way home at a neighbor's place for a little chat0
The neighbor asked him how he found the market, referring of course
to prices. Fletcher very casually replied, "Oh, I just drove along
Elk Street until I came to it,"
(continued on page 8l)