Jason Roberts wife's 92 year old grandfather had worked for
the Western Union downtown as a bicycle messenger when he was
12 to 14 years old. (picture of him and a few other young boys
that all worked there at the time). He had mentioned wearing
down three different bicycles during his tenure there. He would
buy the Pierce-Arrow's bikes with shaft drives instead of
chains at a shop over on Akard run by Smoot Schmid. He also
remembered that Ted Hinton would come by in the evenings on
his motorcycle and pick up his mother who worked as a bookkeeper
at the Western Union. He said that all the boys would laugh when
they'd see her sitting on the back of that motorcycle driving off.
He also sadly remembered having to deliver death notices to
families late into the night. He mentioned something about it
being required by the government to send these notices out,
even if the family had already been contacted by phone.
He mentioned having to work the late night shifts(10PM-4AM)
during the summers in rain/sleet/snow/or hail. He said that
Ted Hinton was a couple of years older than him and that he
had just left the Western Union to go work for the Special
Deliveries division of the Post Office which is why he had
a motorcycle. He didn't recall Clyde working there but he did
remember that the guy who owned the bicycle shop had a strange
name like Smoot Schmid, and that he later became Sheriff and
hired Hinton as a Deputy. In the photo is Jason's wife's
grandfather (third from left) with the other Western Union
Messengers (circa 1923). Clyde was born in 1909, Jason's wife's
grandfather was born in 1910 - about the same age. Jason's
grandfather-in-law couldn't remember the names of any of the
other boys since it was so long ago.