The white man was no more than an occasional interloper until 1934, when gold was discovered, and the Old Town, as it came to be known, began to take shape on the steep sides of the huge central rocks. Those, those were the days of the notorious Rex Cafe, cat and gaming houses, and log cabin banks, and then the raw mining camp began to attract those characters who have since become a part of the capital city's heritage. Among them, Burial Smith, town drunk and undertaker, who used to barrel through Yellowknife in a van that served as both a taxi and a hearse, a sign prominently displayed in the window: $15 lying down, $2.50 sitting up."
This happened over in Brooklyn, another Jack Ryan worked for the Parmelee system. The boys at the stand figured they would have a joke on him so they put big police dog in the back of the car while they were in for a cup of coffee. The fellow came out and didn't look in the back of the cab. He started cruising, looking for a passenger. One of the company's supervisors, seeing a shadow in the back of the car, called him over and accused him of riding with his stick up [i.e., without the meter turned on]. Then an argument developed between them and the driver indignantly denied a passenger. The supervisor threw the door open. "Look here," he said, and the police dog leaped out and scared the wits out of him.
There was a lady called up the Parmelle [sic] system for a cab. They sent out this call to the nearest stand. Well the driver, when he got to the door, rang the bell and the lady said she would be down in a few minutes. So he went to his cab and started to clean up. Whilst he was doing this a dog jumped in the back of the cab and he chased it out. So the dog ran up the steps of the house to the doorway and was joined there by another dog. Just at the moment the lady came out. The two dogs ran down the steps of ahead of her and both jumped in the back of the cab.
The lady got in. Thinking the dogs belonged to the lady, the driver closed the door. He took her to her destination and she paid him and thanked him. The two dogs got out and she went away and the driver went back to his stand.
This same lady called the company and asked for a cab again. She asked them please not to send the young man that drove her the day before. Although he was a very efficient and courteous driver she certainly didn't like the idea of driving around in a cab with a man who carried dogs around with him whilst he was working.
Campbell, Mrs. Patrick
Lillie, Beatrice
[Although a prolific novelist, Doyle is remembered more for his creation of Sherlock Holmes than anything else.]
The French are lovers of ratiocination. Accordingly there are to be found in that nation, many admirers of the works of Conan Doyle. Sir Arthur had once taxied from the station to his hotel in Paris, and as he left the cab the driver said, "Merci, Monsieur Conan Doyle."
"How did you know who I am?" asked Doyle curiously.
The taximan explained. "There was a notice in the paper that you were arriving in Paris from the South of France. I knew from your general appearance that you were an Englishman. It is evident that your hair was last cut by a barber of the South of France. By these indications I knew you."
"This is extraordinary. You had no other evidence to go upon?" asked Doyle.
"Nothing except," said the driver, "the fact that your name is on your luggage."
To ride in a cab at night, with others, indicates that you will have a secret that you will endeavour to keep from your friends.
To ride in a cab with a woman, scandal will couple your name with others of bad repute.
To dream of driving a public cab, denotes manual labor, with little chance of advancement.
Having a taxi -- Beware of jealous friends.
Riding in a taxi -- Will have success in your business.
Calling a taxi -- New interests and surroundings.
Riding in a taxi with another person -- Be on guard against false news.
Escaping from the path of an oncoming taxi -- Avoid rivals.
Marie Dressler used to tell the story of her first trip to Paris, when her French was one step removed from nothing. She was seeking the house of a friend, and the cab driver, whom she had hired to convey her there, was attempting to tell her that the address was directly behind the hotel where she was staying.
"C'est derriere l'hotel," the driver kept saying. Miss Dressler did not know the word and kept repeating, "Que signifie derriere?"
They exchanged these remarks futilely for some moments until at last, in despair, the cab driver shrugged his shoulders and said, "If Madame does not know the meaning of derriere, nobody does!"
[Dressler was a large woman.]
He probably was the brother of the gent who boarded a cab on 42nd Street, and pointing to the revolving electrical news sign on the Times Building, commanded, "Just follow that sign."
He reached the number easily by taxi and rang the bell. A rather stern-looking woman opened the door.
"Does Ex-congressman Carruthers reside here?" he asked.
"Yes," she answered coldly, "bring him in!"
Constable -- "'E were 'avin' a very 'eated argument with a cab driver, yer worship."
Magistrate -- "But that doesn't prove he was drunk."
Constable -- "Ah, but there weren't no cab driver there, yer worship."
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