Historical Wyoming County April 1957 - Old Fulton History

April 1957 Page 8 9
PIONEER PICNICS (cont.)
100 acres or more had one or more hired men, the wages about $18 to
$25 per month with board and room. If a man got $25 and a driving
horse kept, it was good. There were also many bicycles,
A farm boy who had a best girl must take her to Pioneer Picnic;
if not, he was all doneD There were fields full of horses and
carriages, one at Kettings on the corner, another south of that with
others inside the grounds0 The fees for hitching were 25$^ to 50^; if
oats and hay were furnished, it would be a little more0 There were
many horse jockeys present and much dealing was done. A horse jockey
from Nunda drove in with a thin old horse. You could count his ribs.
The jockey was intoxicated and made a great show. A lady called the
police department and Chief Butler from Perry arrived. After some
argument he arrested the jockey and shot the horse. Old horses who
were wihdbroke and heavy were often doctored up with arsenic;if they
were balky their shoulders might be rubbed with a Vrick to show they
had drawn hard in the collar. Some of the jockeys I remember were
Sam Orcutt, Merton Streeter and Mill Templeton.
There were all kinds of fakers on the grounds, the medicine
show, wild animal show, the painted ladies,the wild man from Borneo,
the snake charmer, souvenir salesman, fortune tellers and pickpockets.
Also, "Ma Jones," a shady character who was arrested every
Pioneer Day for selling spirits and keeping a disorderly establishment.
She would pay her fine and be back the next year, I remember
when I was about fifteen years old and had begun to think about
shaving I got a razor, brush, a cake of soap and a gold ring,all for
25f^i The ring turned brassy in three days and the only thing the
razor would cut was warm butter!
Then there were the more legitimate shows and stands like the
merry-go-round with the little steam engine for power,Mr. McWithey's
shooting gallery, Ed. Adams and Mrs. Adams kept a good eating stand,
and the old man who sold hickory canes. The man and his son who sold
whips for the Rochester Whip Co. attracted the crowd by telling tall
tales. Eight out of ten farmers had a bunch of whips, four or five
for a dollar. The salesman could beat the whips around a post and
they seemed to stand a lot of abuse. Many f armers stood around for
hours listening to his line of talk. I remember John Linsley from
around the Reservation who was always there. The son of the whip
salesman sold whips on the other side of the platform and told the
crowd what a "liar" the old man was.
Then, too,there were the dance halls and the skating rink. Herman
Piper ^rom St. Helena had melons to se^ljand there were the tintype
takers. There were the busses from Perry, the wagons with Silver
Lake Ice, Joe Henry's Boat Livery and v fishing bait. There never
vias any license to sell strong drink for years, ^ome s old Hop Soda,
a beer with a small oercent of alcohol. One remembers the excursion
trains from Buffalo, Rochester, Bradford, Pa. and Hornell, and the
steam boats that took passengers around the lake. ,J -he largest one
was Capt„ McCarrick's Shilo No. 2, then the Urania, the Robinson,