Richard Bostwick Reminiscences

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Welfare Office Stories
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Cab Driving Stories
Introduction
The Way It Was - 1930
The Gambler And His Gal 1927
The Last One To Know 1926
Just A Couple Of Hustlers 1925
Cash On Delivery 1923
One Born Every Minute 1923
Fun Is Where You Find It 1923
An Ace In The Hole 1922
And A Little Child Shall…
Gold Tooth Murphy
Aiding And Abetting 1929
Buried Treasure 1927
The Good Samaritan
Just A Country Trip
The Prodigal Son
Occupational Hazard
Four Bags Full
Overtime Pay
Above And Beyond The Call
Fourth Down And Ten
Let There Be Light
Take It Or Leave It
Double Or Nothing
Bandit
The Champ
Three Of A Kind
My Silent Big Spender
N.P.R.R. (Northern Pacific Railroad) Mr. Moody

Extras

Prohibition Stories
A Little Competition
Some Did Burn
Last Words

The Last One To Know
1926

A cab driver often knows more about the private lives of some of his steady customers than the customers themselves do. A case in point concerned a certain local businessman who ran a small shop uptown. He was a very pleasant person and all of us drivers liked him quite well-not on account of the tip he always gave you, but due to the fact that he was a real nice guy.

This fellow had a standing order with our firm for transportation home each night at the close of business. I guess I should say each morning, for he closed his shop at 1:00 a.m. Which ever of us drivers happened to be first out at the time would pick him up at his shop and drive him home. Now, unbeknown to him, but known to most of us drivers, this man had a very promiscuous wife. I, as well as other drivers, had seen her in some very compromising situations. Like the time I answered a call to a certain motorcycle shop, I saw her come up to the showroom from the basement in company with several bike riders. They had to help her into my cab for she was quite drunk and disheveled.

One particular night when it came time to pick him up, I was first out and as I pulled up in front of his shop, I could see him standing just inside the door. He had already turned out all of the lights except for the night-light. He came out, locked the door, and as he got into my cab he said, “Take me home.” He lived upstairs over a grocery store in the residential part of our town. The building sat back aways from the sidewalk, and it had an open porch running clear across the front. The entrance to my passenger's quarters opened out on one end of his porch. As I pulled up in front of his home, someone stepped out of his entrance and vaulted over the low railing at the end of the porch. They then hid behind a large elm tree that grew along side. My passenger anxiously asked, “Did you see that?” I said I thought I had, but who could it be?

As he always carried the day's receipts with him, he felt sure it was someone waiting to rob him. He told me to hurry up and get out of there. As I pulled away, I looked over my shoulder and saw a man running the other way as fast as he could. We drove around a couple of blocks and when we returned, I walked up to the porch with him and of course there was no one around.

They should have watched the time a little closer…