Guest Editor:CarI T. Hartmann4907 Allison Dr.Lansing, Mi. 48910

VOL. 11, No. 2September, L972

Monthly Ncwrlcll.r oflhc HOIATIO ALGEnSOCIETY. The World'rOnly Publi<otion Devol-ed to Thot WondarlulWorld ol Horolio Alqcr.

Fourded 1961 by Forrest Campbell b Kenneth Butlct

WEW TITLESfor your se arching pleasu re

by BOB BENNETTTHE " GARIIELD LIBRABY." GLORIOUS FUN !

The relatively recent discoveryof the Engl i s h paperback seri es pub-ljshed by the Aldine Publishing Co.London has added at I east Z0 new'itles to the lists of those coll-

\-ectors interested in all title var-iations of Alger's l^lorks.

The Al d i ne fi rm speci al i zed i nrepri nt materi al and thei r Garfi el dLibrary series contains 45 Algersi n two seri es , wi th the fi rst cont-aining 37 A'l ger stories and thesecond, 8 titles that originallyappeared i n the fi rst seri es . Theeight titles jn the second seriesare great'ly abridged versions ofthe ori gi na'l Garfi el d edi t'i ons.

The second seri es was di scon-ti nued af ter the pub'l i cati on ofon'ly e'ight titles, probably becausethe A1 ger materi al was no 1 ongerselling as rapid'ly as other storiesby Engf ish authors. The first ser-fes was i ssued between I 887 -l 897and the second series in l90l .

Fo1'l ow'ing i s the compl ete I i stof A1 gers i ncl uded i n the Garfi el dI i brary. New tj tl es are s tarred .

-r. LUCK AND PLUCK; oR, JACK 0AKLEY'sINHERITANCE. Reprint of Luck and

Con't on page 5

NO. 39, 3o j ll'. Krri:",

Repri nt

was connting a ntrmbet' of iiauk li'rLes.

of Dean Dunham

N EhJSBOY SEPTEMBER 1972

ALGER SOCIETYher the philosophy of

J R. and to encourage"STRIVE AND SUCCEED"a century guided A1 -

ed heroes, I ads whosetomi zed the Great Am-and fl amed hero i deal sm'il I ions of young Am-

HORT

HORATIOthe spithat foger's u

struggleri can'in counericans

AT IOo furt

ALGERrit ofr hal fndauntes epiDreamtl ess

OFFICELE0 (B0B) BENNETTJAC K BAL ESDAN FULL ER

KENNETH B. BUTLERRALPH D. GARDNERFORREST CAMPBELLJUDSON S. BERRYCARL T. HARTMANN

PRESIDENTPRESIDENTTREASURER

DIRECTORDIRECTORD I RECTORDIRECTOR

SECRETARY

The NEhjSB0Y i s the off i ci alorgan of THE H0RATI0 ALGER S0CIE-TY and i s publ i shed monthly exceptJanuary & July and is distributedfree to Society members.Membershipfee for any twelve month period is$s. oo.

NEI^ISB0Y recogni zes Ra1 ph D.Gardner's H0RATI0 ALGER, or THEAMERICAN HER0 ERA , pu bl i s hed bythe tlayside Press, .l964, as the1 eadi ng authority on A1 ger.

Pl ease use membershi p rosterfor mai I i ng address es of our off-i cers and members.

@@@Welcome to l{ew PF'S

PF-358 Mark Suozzi T-l 22643 Union RoadCheektowaga, N.Y. 14227

Mark is a student in N.Y. andis interested in lst. editions.He al so col I ects Campa'ign Buttons ,

0l d toys and Banks.

PF-359 Tom Col I iCSA PressLa kemon t,

ns T -20

Georgia 30552

RS

VICE

Tom is a magazin and bookeditor whose i nterest i n A1 gercenters around A1 gers- short 2stories. He also collectsstamps and sci ence fi cti on.

PF-360 t.Ji I I i am J. McCord T-l 04l0 Mac'intosh Dr.Mi ddl etown , N.Y. I 0940 ,-(Helen D.)

W'i'l liam is a control sPec-'ialist and is 'interested in comp-l eti ng hi s f i ne col I ect'ion ofA1 ger. He i s al so a 1 ocal hi s-tory buff and collects 0 & h] RR

i tems and coi ns.r<!ro!oo!oo!cofeofo{r!+o!el.eo}r.t{+olr!ooio+!or!o{e

H.A.S. THE eoOX MaFlr

0ffered by Da I e Thomas PF-3 I 55397 E. 132, St.Cleveland, 0hio 4\125

Hectorrs Inher. HTC Good $10.00Struggling Upward HTC Good 10.00

Matched Chimney Corner Ser i esTa t t e red Tom HTC VG 1 2.50You ng 0u t I aw HTC VG 1 2.50

Ma tched Ta ttered Tom Ser i es '

Jackrs Ward HTC VG 12.50\zBrave s Bold Series

Mark The Match Boy HTCRufus t Rose HTC

Ma tc hed Deep G reen Cov .

Ma r k The Ma tch Boy P6C Good I 0. 00Rough s Ready PEC F-G 6.50Rufus E Rose PEC F-G 6.50

Ma tched Deep Green CoverPau I the Pedd I er PsC Good 9.00Phil the Fiddler PtC Good 9.00S I ow t Su re PeC Good 9.00Tel eg.raph Boy PsC Good 9.00

PEC Matched SetTa ttered Tom Ser i es

Ragged Dick PeC F-GPEC Yellow Cover wlleaves E

Jackrs Ward PaCPsC Green Del ux CoverSome color di scoloration

He I en Fo rd PsC GoodPsC Alta Edition

Try 6 Trust' PEC V-GPsC Yel I ow Cover

RETURNALBE IF NOT SATISFIEDB00K MARI Con'lt c;n pege-

MAKE YOUR PLANS NO|/ FOR THE 1973c0NVENTl0N. lN0lANAP0LtS MAy 1tthnu 13tll. SEE y)u THEREI i ,l ,l ,l ,l ,l

Good 9. 00Good I 0. 00

5.00f ru it

9. oo

9. 00

12 .50

3

N El'lS B0Y

BOOK MART CONTINUED

orfered by Paul J. Fisher PF-.I48. Ritchie Rd.Bi ngh amton , N.Y . I 390.|

All good or better - variouspubl i shers. No thi n cheapcopies. $Z.OO each post paid.

SEPTEMBER 1972

r..o.!ff ".?.hg.g!..ngnlgr-q0ur newest "L I FE" member, Dr.Lesl i e I . Poste PF-334 has been busyhunti ng AI gers and did acqui re a fi rstedition of F0RGING AHEAD. Les now had110 titles.--Ts an EctJve U.S. Armyreservi st Lesl i e was on acti ve dutymost of the months of July & August.Now in his 30th year of service hewi I I be promo ted to Col o nel o n Sept.28th. "giving me the opportunity toserve another fi ve years ". 0ur con-gratlations Lesl ie - we are proud tohave you as a member.

--

Ken Butler announces that hesti I I has a few copi es of Ral phGardner's "R0AD T0 SUCCESS" a I60page bi bl i ogra phy of AI ger's worksstill available. If you would likea copy send a check for $O.OO (tfrisis a specfal price to HAS members)to hlays i de Press , Boo k Dept.

l50l hlashington St.Mendota, I1l. 61342

Be sure to mention your PF numberwhen ordering:-..,

0ur congnatu'l ations go to Al iceand Steve Press on the birth of theirdaughter Rebecca Louis on June I, 1972

Ann Sharrard, PF-325 has had a

busy first year as an HAS member.Starting with a small inherited coll-ection of Algersshe is now up to .I08

ti tl es,i As Ann says; "Then came somemonths of reassessing and upgradingeasy (ha ha) to fjnd titles. Then onto I etter writi ng and phoni ng to poss-i bl e I eads . And now I have acqu i redseveral new friends and have addedA1 ger ti tl es to my col I ectjon.

-

lde are very sorry to hear thatPF-080 Robert Johnson had a heartattack. We hope to hear soon that youare back on the book road agai nhunt'i ng the elusive A1 ger.

+-+.+Berti e and Les Langl oi s have just

returned f rom a tri p to I,Jash'i ngton DC.hIhile there Les went to the Congres-tional Library to see "THE DISAGREEABLEWOMEN " .

Con't on page 4

Adrift in NewAndy GordonAndy Gran t' sBen's Nugget

,4ob BurtonBound to Ri seBrave and BolCash boy, The

York

Pluck

Charl ie Codman's CruiseA Cousfn's ConspiracyDriven from HomeErie Train Boy, TheFac i ng the Worl dFrank Fowl erFrank's Campai gnHector's InheritanceHel pi ng Himsel fHerbert Carter's LegacyIn a New hlorld

, d, The Poorhouse BoyAoe' s Luc k

Jul ius the Street BoyLuke hJal tonMaki ng hi s l^layMark Mason's VictoryPaul the Peddl en

,-Phil, The FiddlerRal ph Raymond 's Hei rSam's ChanceShifting for HimselfSf nk or SwimSlow and SureStore Boy, TheStrive and SucceedStrong and SteadyTony, The HerohIajt and HopeWal ter Sherwood's

l-Young Acrobat, TheYou ng Adventu rer ,Young Miner, The

Probati on

The

Young Mus'ic'ian, TheYoung Salesman, The

MORE BOOK MART ON PAGE #7

N EWS BOY SEPTEMBER 1972Con't from page #3

"Due to the deI ecate or bri ttl econdition of the pages however theywould not allow me to make a zeroxcopy of it. They would permit meto s i t there and copy the who:l e I 90'pages i n I ong hand. Imag i ne howI ong thi s woul d take? The coverwas i n very good condi tion. "

--

PLEASE CHANGE THE FOLLOI^lINGADDRESS IN YOUR ROSTER. . .

Bil l HendersonGreystone Apts.I 085 lrlarburton Ave.Yonkers, N.Y. 10701

Jud i th Lemon27 Vaughn CourtEatontown, N.J. 07724

Judith writes that since theyhave joined the HAS, which they haveenjoyed very much, they have takenup Scuba Divi ng and are al waystrying to add to their antique tele-phon e co'l I ecti on . "Tel ephones areaI most as di ffi cul t to I ocate asgood condi ti on Al gers . " (anyonehave any phones for sale?)

--

Dale Thomas is now the proudowner of a l st. edition "SeekingHis Fortune and a New York Weekly"Dan the Detective". Thi s bri ngshi s total to I I 6 origi naI storiesand 152 titles. Dale also sentalong some short stories fromNew York Weekly which we willwe publish in future issues.

VICE-PRESIDENT'S COLUMN

The Pros and Cons of ListingCurrent AI ger VaI ues

by Jack Bales

One of the recent furors to hit the And finally, those in favor of a

Horatio Alger Society is the controversy pricing system state that since theregarding the l'isting of prices accorded prices of everything go up through theto Alger volumes. When Bob Bennett askedyears, whJ should people get so upset.

vmembers for thei r opi ni ons concerni n9 when A1 ger val ues ri se? 0ne cannotcertain values of A'lger books, many buy a loaf of bread for ten cents any-refused to have anything to do with his

-4-

project. A number of readers of the Dime

Novel Roundup compl ai ned about thi s

aspect of Ral ph Gardner's book, promp*-,tgRalph to write his vi.ews on Alger pricingfor the magazi ne. Furthermore, at thi s

year's annual HAS convention in Mt.Pl easant, members who attended di scussedthe subject for over an hour.

But there are many varying opinionsregardi ng the 1 i sti ng of the val ues ofAlger's books. Those in favor of pub'l ish-i ng A'l ger pri ces have a number of reasonsfor thei r beI ief. Probably the most

common . one i s that they bel i eve that ALL

i nformati on know about A1 gers shoul d

freely be gi ven to al I who desi re i t.After all, they reason, when one buys a

book by mail he is entitled to know itscondi ti on ; therefore , why s houl d one Iotknow its true value? Also, if YOU knuzhow much a particular book is worth, why

shoul d not everybody know thi s i nfor-mati on ?

These i ndi vi dual s al so mai ntai n

that thi s pri ci ng of A1 gers wi I I he1 p

accomplish a number of things: I - Itwill bring into circulation books thathave lain forgotten in attics for untoldyears, and ? - It will make the.name"Horati o AI ger, Jr. " a more remembered

one, and bring more attention to theman, and hopefully thus to our Society.

cont page 10

NEl^lSBOY

Con't from page #1

Pluck; orn John 0ak1ey's Inheritance.

BILL STURDY: oF, THE CRUISE OFKIDNAPPED CHARLIE. Reprint of

Charlie Codman's Cruise

3. BRAVE AND BOLD: OR, THE ADVENTURES0F R0BERT RUSHT0N. Reprint of

Brave and Bold; or, The Fortunes of aFactory Boy.

4. RAGGED DICK; OR, THE EARLY L I FE0F RICHARD HUNTER, ESQ. Repri nt ofRagged Dickt or, Street Life in N.Y.

*5. PADDLE Y0UR 0l^lN CAN0E; 0R, HARRYRAYM0ND'S RES0LVE. Repri nt of Si nkor Sw'imi oF, Harry Raymond's Resolve.Note: The A1 ger title, Strong orSt,eady has as its subtitle, Padd'l eYour Own Canoe. The ti tl e, Paddl eYour 0wn Canoe; or, The Fortunes of},lal ter Conrad, is the serial izationtitle of Strong or Steadyi ol", PaddleYour own Canoe.

E OF THEof Frank'sdo on the

SEPTEMBER 1 97 2

*12. GE0RGE CARTER"S LEGACY; 0R THEINVENT0R'S S0N. Repri nt of HerbertCarter's Legacyi ol"n The Inventor's6on.

I 3. D0 AND DARE; 0R, A BRAVE BOY'sFIGHT F0R F0RTUNE. Repri nt of sametitle by A1ger.

*.l4. BEN STANT0N THE EXPL0RER. Re-pri nt of Ben's Nugget; oF, a Boy'sSearch for Fortune and The YoungExplorer; or, Among the Sierras.*1 5. NEVER DESPAIR (NIL DESPERANDUM);0R, C0URAGE AGAINST THE W0RLD. Re-print of Hector's Inheritance; or,The Boys of Smith Insti tute.*l 6. H0l^I HIS SHIP CAME H0ME. Repri ntof Shi fti ng for Himsel f; oF, Gi I bertGreyson's Fortunes

17 . TATTERED TOM. Reprint of Tatt-ered Tom; or the Story of a StreetAra b.

I 8. STRONG AND STEADY.SELF-HELP. Repri nt ofSteadyl orr Paddle Your

I 9. STRIVE AND SUCCEED; 0R, ThePR0GRE S 0F 'hIALTER C0NRAD. Reprintof the-same ti tl e b,v A1 ger

20. l^lAIT AND HOPE; 0R, BEN BRAD-F0RD'S M0TT0. Repri nt of same ti tl eby A1 ger.

*22. PLUC KY PAUL . Repri nt of Pau'lthe Peddler; or, The Adventures ofa Young Street Merchant.

*26. THE YOUNG RANCHMAN OF THEMISS0URI. Repri nt of Bob B urton;ol^, The Young Ranchman of theMi ssouri .

*28 . HE },IOULD BE A MONTEBANK.Rejprint of The Young Acrobat of theGreat North Ameri ca n C i rcu s .

A TALE OFStro ng andown Canoe.

6. FRANK'S CAMPAIGN; A TALrqRM AND THE CAMP. Reprint

\_.mpai gn; oF, l^Jhat Boys CanFarm for the Camp.

*24. B0UND T0 RISE;0R, LIVE AND LEARN.Repri nt of Bound to Risei oFr Harryl,lalton's Motto and Risen from TheRanks i oF r Harry l^Ial ton's Success.

*7. TRIALS ANDMASON; OR, TRYTry and Trust;Bou nd Boy.

ADVENTURES OF HERBERTAND TRUST. Repri nt ofor, The story of a

GUARD IAN.Al ser

6

8. SAM'S CHANCE AND WHAT HE MADE OFIT. Repri nt of Sam's Chance; and howHe Improved I t.*9. THE Y0UNG ADVENTURER; 0R, TOMNELS0N IN CALIF0RNIA. Repri nt ofthe Young Adventurer; oF, Tom's Tri pAcross the Pl a'i ns, and The YoungMiner; or Tom Nelson in California.This story combines the two Algerstori es and hence must be consi dereda new title.*l 0. R0UGH AND READY; HIS F0RTUNESAND ADVENTURES. Repri nt of Rough andReady i oF, Li fe Among the New YorkNewsboys and Rufus and Rose; or, The

.*rtunes of Rough and Ready.

11. JACK'S WARD; 0R, THE BOYReprint of the same title by Con't on page 6

N Et^lS BOY SEPTEMBER 1972Con't from page 5

*35. VAL VANE'S VICT0RY; 0R, IJELL blOf'i.Repri nt of Faci ng the Hor'l d; or, TheHaps and Mishaps 0f l-iarry Vane In e Newt^Jorldi or, Among the Gold-Fields *fAustralia.*39. [.lAIT TILI- THH CL0UDS RCILL BY; SR,THE lllATERF0RD MYSTERY. Reuri nt ofDean Dunham.

*42. UI!CLE JACOB'S SICREThlHO CLEARED HIS FATiIER'5pri nt of $E0Oi 0l"u ,lacohSecret.

; 0R, Tfl[NAFiE. Re*MarlovdB's

52. STRUGGL I NG UFbTIARD ; 0R , A BRAVfB0Y'S PURP05[. Repni nt ef Struggl f ngUpward; or, Luke Lankin's Luek.

*55. STRAIGHT AHIAD; OR, LiFT ON Ti-IEI RON ROAD. Repri nt of The Eri a Tral nBoy.

57 " TH[ 0DDS AGAINST [iIPi; 0R, CARLCRAI{F0RD'S EXPERI El{e E. Repni nt *fthe same tjtle by A'i ger.*69. T0M RUFF; lnji-i0 $-lI irlAS AHD }{F{AT l-ltDID. Repri nt of Tom Brace: if ho he l,,lasand How He Fared.

75. HELPING Hif4SELF; 0R, GRANT TH0RI'{-T0N'S ANBITI0N. Repni nt of the sarnetitle by A1ger"

76" T0M TEMPLE'S CARIER. Reprint ofthe same tjtl e by A1 ger.

V8. J0E' LUCK; 0R, A BCIY'S ADVEhITURHSi N CAL I F0RhlIA. Repri nt of the sametitle by A"l gen"

Bl . Tl-lE TELEGRAP!-l B0Y; 0R, C0URAGE[{iNS. Reprint of the Telegraph Boy"

*83. DUTIFUL DAN, THI BRAVE BOY DET.ECTIVE. Repri nt of Da.n, the Detee ti ve.*85. THE FORTUNES OF BEN BAI{TLAY, THE5T0Rt B0Y. Repri nt of the Sto re Boy;01 , The Fortunes of Een Barc1a"y.

5ECCIND SERtrES:

I. LUCK AND FLUCK; OR, JACK C}AKLTY,,SINI-IERITANCE.

2 " BILL STURDY; 0R, THE CRU I5E 0F Tl-iE

KINruAPPED CHARLIE.3. BRAVE AIIID B0LD; 0R,

TUN[5 OF ROBERT RLJSF]TilN.4. RAGGED D ICK; 0R, TI-tI

TI"IE FOR.

EARLY LIFE

Fi ve of the Ganf i el d ti tl es corn-b'i ned two A1 ger stori es i nto one (Nos.S, "l0, 14, 24,35). These cornbinerjstr:ni es are abnidged versf ons of thetrr" jgi iral Alger tal es and must be con-sided as new titles. The cop'i es Ihave exami ned , i ndi cate consi derabl eeditorial work and in some cases, thetext "i s angl r'cized ter make the storyrnov'e su i tabl e f or the tastes of theEngl i sh boy readers. hjhere only thesu btj tl e ha s changed i n the s i nE1 estory reprint, there is no justific-atisn f,or warranti ng i t as a separatetitle.

OF RICHARD I.IUNTER5. THE TRIALS AT{D ADVINTURES OF

I-iERBERT MA50N; 0R, TRY Al'jD TR{,iST.6. R0UGH ANE RIADY: ]{IS F0RTUNES

AruD ADVENTURES.7 . SAM'5 CHA},ICE AFiD ldHAT i"iI MADE

fiF IT.8. JACK'5 HARD; 0R, TFIE E0Y GUARD-

IAN "

HOl.J MAI{Y TITLES?

If we take the most necent I istof 176 titl es pri nted by HAS and addto it the 2A Garff eld L"i brary tjtles'i ndicated and ass the new titles in-cl uded i n Ral ph Gardner's "Road toSueeess" bibliography (The Herm'it'sl-leir; The Star of the Circus; andSuecessful Faul ), and subtnact thetwo ti tl es , The Di s tri ct Te1 egraphBoy; and, The Young Rai l spl itter,which have never been veri fi ed , thenevr total woul d be 197 titl es fory0ur searchi ng pl easure.

No one has ever been abl e toboast of the cCImpl ete stockpi 1 e of197 titles, not even Horatio h'imself,as sevenal of the ti tl e vari ati onsdi dn't appear unti I after hi s death.

Thi s poi nts up one of the reasonsthat col j ecting Al ger's works hol dssuch a f asci nation for so rnany col I -ectors. The quest "For the unattain-abl e and the seal'ch for the unknownkeeps so mariy of us stri vi ng to getthat hard-to-Eet item. If anyone

cont on page 7

My persona'l shel f reached theI 50 mark wi th the addition of "TheAdventures of a TeIegraph Boy" and"A Ro1 1 i ng Stone". Looki ng over thelist of those I lack, I must confessthat the 47 remaining titles all looktough to come by. Does anybody in thehouse have a spare copy of "TIM0THYCRUMPS h,ARD " ?

NE BOY

Con 't from. page 6

or,€r does reach that 197 goal he won't- able to sit back and call it quits,as he can then pursue first gditionsand first issues for each of'his 197i tems. If that doesn't hol d him, wecan toss him into that unchartered seaof short stori es and other AI ger wri t-i ngs. The short stori es al one numberwel I over 200 i tems.

I wi sh to thank Eddi e LeBI anc forpermission to use material origi nal Iypri nted i n "The Dime NoveI Round-Up".

FORREST AT I^JORK

The above pi cture shows ForrestCampbell in his study at his home inFairhope, Al abama. He is holding theJune Convention i ssue of Newsboy andone can see A1 ger memorabi I ia al Iabout the room. His Alger col I ectionj - al ong the wal I at the ri ght, and\- the center wall his "The Smalll,'Iorl d of Horatio Ai ger" banner i shung. This 'i s a diagram of New YorkC"ity, showing the principal areas

SEPTEMBER 1972of which Horatio was famil iar. 0nit are several A1 ger rel ated photo-graphs.oo

This shows some of the books inDave Kanarr's A'l ger collection. Be-sides both of Ra'l ph Gardner's booksbei ng present, a Hurst mi ni ature ofJulius The Strcg!- Boy is in the for-grouIE-.---On-the toffilgtrt is a bookby Katherine Dunlap Cather, and it isevident that Horatio is in prettysel ect company, for on the cover thefollowing authors are mentioned;Dickens, Kipling, Alger, Carroll,Py1e, Alcott, Stevenson. Dave alsohas a hlhitman edition of Risen fromthe Ranks, noteworthy becauTE-othe subtitles, "Harvey t,'Ialton'sSuccess. " Do you see the error?

MORE BOOK MART@

0ffered by Edwin M. Gross, PF283. 529 Carol i na St.

Charl eston n I^l. Va . 2531 I

All - $t.zs each post paid. All infair to good condtion.

World Sun Publ isherFac'iffie Cash BoyJoe's LuckHelp'i ng HjmselfBrave and Bol d

DonohuesYounI SaTesmanYoung Acrobat (Mi nt)You ng Ex p1 o rerTom' the BootblackTony the Hero

Maki ng hi s way

Andy Grant's PluckSam's ChanceT el egraph BoyChester Rand

N El^lS B0Y SEPTEMBER 1972

HORSECARSb rJ ev zt-q n m . g tteb e-!-

As i re-read one of Al ger's books

the other eveni ng, I came across thei nc'ident occurri ng i n the horsecar. Thi s

type of vehicle is mentioned many timesby A1ger. So I started to do a littleresearch. Bei ng Cunator of Docentry atthe Grand Rapids Public Museum I have

the advantage of having the real thingnot far from my. office. And because I

gu'ide groups through our exh j bi ts I have

to learn as much as possible about

descending and Paul or Ben or Frankcame to the rescue and saw the rich oldperson home, and thereby gained a

val uabl e fri end.

Let us take a look at the horsecar,or horse-drawn streetcan. The fi rststreetcars were pul I ed by horses. Latera cable car was invented. This cablewas pul 1 ed by steam povler. The cabl e

ran through a small trench in the \/surface of the ground. There was a

special gripping device to attach thestreetcar to the cable. Later came theelectric street car, still in use insome big cities. In the early 1800'selectric power had been tried, but thecost of generating electricity was toogreat to be practjcal. So the horsecarcontinued to be used.

By giving you a history of the one

we have you can understand the ones

used i n New Your Ci ty i n A1 ger's time,as they may have been made by the same

manufacturer. The Brownel I and l^li ghtCar Co. of St. Loui s , Mi ssouri , bui I thorsecars and simi I ar vehi cl es from1857 to 1875. 0ur car was in actu6l '-;use in Grand Rapids from 1864 to 1890.

cont page 9

"things."in the Gasl

tracks, r's

in the yearshops, and

al arm box,half of the

0ur Horsecar, s i tti ng mi dway

ight vi1'lage on its metalfrozen in a moment of time1870. Flanked by stores,

upstairs hotel and a fireit mirrors life in the latter19th century.

How many books of A1 ger's have theboy hero mounti ng the steps and ri d'!ng

i n one of these cars? Innumerabl e.

Many exciting things have happened there itoo. H'is wal I et was stol en. Someone

dropped a small purse into the pocketof his sack coat and then accused h'im

of steal i ng i t. An ol d gentl eman orlady slipped on the steps as they were i,

N EI,'lS BOY

from page 8It was pu11ed by a heavy draft horse,s. \ig that he sometimes weighted avton. It seated about 20 persons on thetwo long woven spf it-reed seats facingeach other across the narrow aisle.The driver stood outside under a verysmall wooden canopy, and he weatheredhot sun , rai n , hai I and snow. In thewinter an oil stove or other heater was

placed inside, and the floor was coveredwith straw for warmth.

Thi s car, ol d No. 11 , was i n use

from 1865 to 1890, remaining idle jnthe car barns until 1948, when it wds

presented to the Publ i c Museum. But

since there was no room in the buildingthe car had to battle the weatherstanding outside the museum for 12

yenrs. Then the Gasl i ght Vi 1 1 age

bf,a6inn was constructed, and 'i t was

moved ill, given a protecting coat ofye'l 1ow pai nt, i ts wel I -worn steps and

other metal oi I ed as a protect'ionagainst t'ime. According to Mr. JeffersonRandol ph Kean , of Ari'ington, Vi rgi n'ia ,who is in the process of writing a book

about horsecars , ours i s one of the threeor four oldest horsecars preserved inthe Uni ted States. They arei rare.

The horse-drawn car servi ce began

here on May, 1865, as a means of transporover the almost impassabl e rough and

muddy streets. You will remember Tatter-ed Tom sweeping the dust and mud at thecrossing, and the heavy traffic consist-ing of loaded drays, carriages and otherc\. eyances. How hazardous it was iustto cross a street!

SEPTEMBER 1972

0ne of the conductors from 1905

onward (el ectri c cars ) enjoyed a nostal gi c

vi sj t recently to the car's new home.

He lvas born in !874, but recalled storieshis father told of the old horsecars. He

said that "the coaches moved very s'low1y

in the early days since they were drawn

with on'ly one horse. l,'lhen they went up

one of the hills, tow horses would have

to be connected to make it. Then on the

way down the hill the conductor had toapply the brake to stop the coach from

runni ng i nto the _horses . " 0ne time he

remembers his father telf ing that the

car jumped the track on a h'i I I and went

up on the sidewalk stopping not more

than two inches from a woman trying tocross the street wi th four smal I chi I dren.0ur hero should have been there to rescue

them !

El ectri c power was i nstal I ed i n 1891 ,

and the old No. 11 was driven for thelast time into the carbarn, and the horse

was put out to Pasture.

ALGER ITEMS FOR SALE

ALGER TILEFrameNamr Pl ate".l 00" Cl ub pl ateA1 ger Price List

$2. oo$3. 5o$t.ooFree$2.00

"Dan The Newsboy Picture $5. OO

Send check to: Carl T.Hartmann, 4907 Al I j son Dr.Lansing, Mi. 489.l0 - Pleasemake checks payable to HoratioAl ger Soci ety.

I still have some Algerbottl es for sal e. The pri ce i s$l 2. 00 pos t pa'id . I f you wou I dI ike one send your check toCarl Hartmann. Returnal be forful I refund i f not sati sfi ed.

9

N FUq ROY SEPTEMBER 1972

more. t^Ihy shoul d he get a f i rst ed'i ti on

of Ragged Dick for a couPle bucks?

But on the other hand, oPPonents

of Alger pricing are just as vehement

i n thei r opi ni ons. They assert thatfor the begi nni ng col 1 ector as wel I

as f or themsel ves -- 'it i s extremelyhard to improve thei r col I ecti on wi th-out spending a small fortune. The

ardent A1 ger enthusi ast who once had

hopes of bui I di ng a spl endi d col I ecti on

with a minfmum out'lay of money' now

realizes that thanks to the listing ofA1 ger val ues , hi s dream i s i rreparablyshattered.

Al so, these cri ti cs reason, "ldhY

shoul d A'lger pri ces be publ i shed? IfI go to all the trouble of investigatingand finding out how much a book is worth

and the other guy does not want to spend

the time, why shoul d he be gi ven the 'in-

formation for free on a siIver platter?"

And fi nal lY, theY bel i eve thatthese A1 ger pri ces are grossly i nfl ated '

As they sadlY bemoan the fact thatthey'1.l never again come across a row

of sparkling Lorings or Porter and

Coates books at fifty cents apiece, they

are also of the conviction that $200-

$250 if bY far too much to PaY for a

first edit'ion of Ragged Dick, and that$20-$25 is even too way out of line forthe eas i er to f ind ti tl es . \-'l

Al though I real i ze that practi cal Iyall of these arguments can be refuted by

the proponents and/or opponents of eitherside, I make no attemPt to dwell uPon

these. I Ieave it for each HAS member tomake up his own mind and thereby come

to hi s ovvn concl usi ons.

a:k*

I made a mi stake 'in the last i ssue

of Newsbo-y unl_l ask al I of you to correctyour copi es. The vomF i n

our letterhead of the August issue should

b. W, NOT Volume 10

Number 1 1 .

1*t

Al though I obtai n a number of \'/prospective HAS members from book

col I ectors' magazi nes , i f you know ofanybody who might be interested in our

Society, please give me his name so an

appf icatibn blank and information can be

sent to him.

Belout is a

duri ng themap of New York Ci tYyear I 898.

MapB ol New York aad Vlctalty.

10

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