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-jkjrr	i}y *1
^akX^ Jun«7, 1992 ™ '	"	M
Your letter re BSL "characters" made my day. What I am about to relate happened during the 1930's (when I was 10-14 primarily), so many "Tacts" might be colored somewhat. However, I am going to relate what I remember to be"true." If only "rumored," I will say so.
Clarence Halpin, Willie Rudolph, Gerard, Bobo Carver, and Indian Joe were truly moronic, and I doubt that any one of them could read or write his name. Nevertheless, 1 never heard of any child abuse nor rapes in BSL.
Clarence was the slowest of the five. He was tall with rotten teeth, and very poor eyesight. In 1945, he would beg money each Monday (25$ in 1945 would be like £2.00 today) and order 3 hot and 2 cold drinks at Bressler's Uafe, whereupon he would alternate drinking hot - cold.
He could not carry on a logical conversation. 1 was led to believe that the woman who raised him found him on her doorstep. How they survived before "welfare" is a mystery.
I doubt that Willie Rudolph knew his own birthday, or the name of the street on which he lived. I never heard him sing "Lady in Red," but remember him for putting out lit cigarettes on his bare feet, and constantly speaking of "oriental figtrees" (.which we took him to mean that private part of a female's anatomy). He came by his stupidity naturally, as his elderly father wore aluminum state sale tax tokens in his ears as hearing aids.
Gerard (first, last, or only name?) I only saw on Sunday afternoons, when he and Bobo Carver would stand on N. Beach Blvd. (by theold bridge) in white suits with red ties and flowers pinned to their lapels. Bobo (the smartest of this quintet - if any of them could be called "smart") lived with 2 single sisters, and did cut grass about	town.	Gerard, I understand,
was only "let out" on Sunday afternoons.
When I was 14 or so, there was a Charley Gager (aged 12 or so) who lived with his widowed mother on Carroll Ave. You need but raise your arms and tell Charley you were Frankenstein - and he would run home crying. Charley became infamous c. 1946 when he and another moron would burglarize homes.
Not only would they steal, but they would smoke and leave lighted cigarettes. Charley was caught once, and I, in all seriousness, told the Sheriff he could not charge a non-compos mentis with breaking and entering - when the Sheriff replied (in all seriousness) that C. was I'fche brains of the gang."
There was also "House-boat Jerry," a Slav, who	lived, not surprisingly,
on a h.b. anchored by John Bell's old place in	Cedar Point. Lfuring the
hurricane of 1947 it was alleged that Jerry climbed the mast of his boat and challenged God to come down and fight. God won when Jerry's boat sank. However, Jerry beat the "system" when the Red Cross gave him as a replacement a new h.b.	>
Cecil Ward was a midget who drove a Model T before we had automatic transmission. Because he could not reach the clutch to shift gears, he would start In third. He once had a wreck while drinking and tried to dispose of his bottle by throwing it out the car window. Unfortunately, the window was up.