Pushing a Hudson Across Texas

This looks like Jim's 1940 Hudson

Jim Hollingsworth.  Jim and I were often inseparable in high school.  We got involved in a lot of adventures.

One time we and another friend met several Portuguese sailors who had come to Port Arthur on a Portuguese Navy tanker, Sam Bras. They spoke little English, and we spoke no Portuguese, but we thought we’d show them around town, and took them to our house for supper.  My mother, who spoke Spanish, was delighted to converse with them. Then we took them back to their ship. 

                 The next night they treated us to a lavish supper served on their ship’s upper deck, in the open.  We all helped ourselves out of a huge platter of rice and sausage and seafood, with lots of red wine.

                 One of the sailors got so attached to America that he decided to jump ship, and he asked us to help him make the break from the ship past immigration authorities. 

                 We agreed to meet him down at the local Greyhound bus station late at night.  We (Jim, our friend Doug DeCluitt, and I)  drove down in Jim’s old 1940 Hudson, and searched for Manuel, but couldn’t find him.  We did find a large turtle that was nearby and we put that into a burlap sack. 

                 A short while later, perhaps acting on a report from Manuel’s ship, the Port Arthur police came searching for the missing sailor and caught us— three suspicious looking high school boys.  They began to search the Hudson, when they spied movement in a pile of burlap on the floor of the car.  The policeman pulled his pistol, and then searched more, perhaps expecting to find the sailor hiding there.  It was just the turtle. 

                That was the end of our attempt to aid in an illegal entry to the U.S.

                Manuel did indeed escape, though.  Years later we heard that he had made it to Danbury, Connecticut and was enjoying life there.

Pushing a Hudson across Texas…Jim’s old Hudson seemed to be getting more cantankerous as time went on. One summer we decided to go camping up in East Texas, and the Boy Scout Camp, Camp Bill Stark.               This was on Cow Creek, up in Newton County, famous for having the most varieties of poisonous snakes of any place in Texas.   We had been camping up here for years.

               Jim drove, and two other friends, Tommy Hughes and Doug DeCluitt and I pushed that Hudson, off and on,  some 60 miles to the north of Port Arthur.  At this time we felt like we were too old for regular Boy Scout activities, so we relied upon our status as “senior” Scouts, and asked for a campsite.

              The first night we thought we would make a nice meal of canned Dinty Moore beef stew and biscuits.  I mixed up the biscuit dough and put it into a pan on the fire, and then started to heat up the canned stew.  There was a can of water sitting there and I poured it into the stew, and started to cook it.

             The biscuits turned out great, and we spooned the stew into pans for supper.  After a day of pushing that car, and then hiking inside the Campground, we were hungry!

             But— My Gosh, that stew tasted terrible!  After only a bite or so, we were all getting sick. 

It turns out that the can of “water” I had poured into the stew was actually kerosene that someone had poured out to fill our lanterns. 

             We pushed that Hudson to a lot of places in Texas.   Sometimes you need to jump out of a car while it is in motion, but I learned that you do not want to do that in a 1940 Hudson.  If you jump out of the back seating area, you will discover that the rear doors open with the hinge at the rear, so the door scoops you up as you jump.

            This is another amazing thing I have learned over time.

 Jim Hollingsworth and wife, many years later

And here are some books and papers for your consideration:

Victoria’s) Grandchildren, copied from Oxford Photographic Gallery taken at Windsor in 1863. Followed by lead article, “The Queen's Grandchildren”, who are now the four children of the Princess Royal. Identified in photo are  Prince Frederick William, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Henry. Articles: "The Voyage of the Pigs"; "Broken Cisterns";  "Little-But-Bitter" ; "What Can I Do?" by Ancient Simeon; "Paul and his Donkey" by Cousin William; "Loved or Feared", a fable, by Rev. Paxton Hood; "Smyrna"; "The Truants" by Uncle Joe; More stories and illustrations, all with a moral lesson and religious teaching for youngsters. 236 pp. 9 x 14.5 cm. Maroon cloth on board, blindstamped with gilt decoration, gilt-edged pages, slight wear on edges. Inscription on front endpapers: "Presented to Sarah Jane Warburton by her sister alice April 1866" and "Mary Hannah Geening, June 1, 1868".  Very good. (7353) $59.00. Children's

Rosanna; or Scenes in Boston by the Author of "Three Experiments in Living", etc. First Edition by Hannah Farnham Sawyer Lee, 1839 Cambridge, MA: John Owen. Author Hannah Farnham Sawyer Lee (1780-1865) wrote her first book at age 52, and obtained a fine reputation as a writer of books to guide children morally.  In this book, Rosanna McCarty is a young Irish immigrant woman in Boston, and she fits the stereotype of the time:  Poor, Catholic, and intemperate.  Lee's use of Irish accent and her description of life among these poor folks is colorful and sometimes funny.  This book has been reproduced very frequently, but first edition copies are quite scarce. 134 pp. 11 x 17 cm. Brown cloth on board with blindstamped design and gilt title, cover very good, text block soiled at endpapers and foxed. Owner's name  "Elizabeth Pettee" written in pencil on front free endpaper.  Good. (7997) $75.00. Children's/Religious

Scenes of Wealth, or views & Illustrations of trades manufactures, produce & commerce for the amusement and instruction of tarry at home travellers with copper-plate engravings, by Rev. Isaac Taylor, 1826.  Hartford, CT: Oliver D. Cooke & Co. For children, takes them all over England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland to show how goods are made, and how England's 19th century economy works. Fascinating glimpses into life in this era. Straw work at Dunstable, cable making at Deptford, lace making at Buckingham, malt for beer at  Reading, mineral waters at Cheltenham, china at Worcester, pins at Gloucester, sugar trade at Bristol, the mines at Redruth, bullocks at Devonshire, pipe clay at Teignmouth, sail-cloth at Bridport, hogs at Hampshire, hops at Farnham, gunpowder at Battel, turnery-ware at Tunbridge, (whale) oil at Hull, paper-making at Maidstone, coals at Newcastle, buntine and shrouds at Sudbury, potatoes in Ireland, (with description of destitute poverty then prevalent in Ireland.) and much more. 168 pp. 11 x 18 cm. Marbled paper on board, with a "new" paper spine (perhaps 100 years old), cover well worn at edges, front hinge cracked,  pp. 91-92 two-thirds missing, bottoms of several pages frayed, poor. (4997) $49.00. Children's

Very Little Tales for Very Little Children in Single Syllables of Four and Five Letters, Second Series, First American from the Fifth London Edition 1845 Philadelphia, PA: Geo. S. Appleton, 148 Chesnut St. Tales printed in very large type: The New Born Lamb; The Bad Boy, &c.; Old Sly Sam (or Old Sam Sly); Poor Fan. 253 pp. 10 x 12.7 cm.  Blindstamped cloth on board, edges frayed. Front free endpaper torn, wrinkled.  Fair. (7787) $50.00. Children's

Mrs. Beeton's Everyday Cookery, new edition, with coloured plates and other illustrations 1912 London, England: Ward, Lock & Co., Limited.  Marvelous old English cook book with recipes for Blackbird Pie, Berlin Pudding, Betsy Pudding, Bloater Toast, Brain and Tongue Pudding, Brood Khutjes, Curds and Whey, Frimsel soup, Oatmeal scones, Ox-cheek Soup, Pig's Pettitoes, stewed, Jugged Rabbit, Boiled Salsify, many more. 752 pp. 13 x 20.5 cm. Decorated brown cloth on board, cover frayed and worn, some recipes are marked with ink borders, good. (3663) $37.00. Cookbooks

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