.
> >
> > The gentleman standing there is the taxi driver. His name is Verdie Akers, and the picture was taken in Scuddy Hollow, (pronounced "Scuddy Holler") Perry County, Ky.
> >
> > Does anybody have a clue as to the make of the car?
> > Howard
>
> The Webmaster's email address is at the bottom of the linked page. (Not the same car.)
>
> Misty"Well, you did say 'a clue'."Cat :-)

This is strange. I tested the link and it took me right back to Vertie and his circa 1928 car.

Anyway, you found one of the things that keeps me interested in the Hazard site. That Ford station wagon you saw was parked behind a hardware store that had an undertaking establishment in the back room. I am not making this up. The store was Engles (maybe Ingles) Hardware and Mr. Engle was an undertaker. The boxes in the background are shipping crates for caskets.

I bought my first bicycle in that store and my father's clothing store was right next door. About two steps to the right of this picture was the back door of "Julian's." My father used his first name because that was what every body called his first store about a block down the street. Keep reading. There's more.

Notice the sign on the door of the wagon? My father painted that sign for the owners of the radio station. He was the only sign painter in town who did work like that. He did all of the show cards for his own store and picked up a little spare cash painting sign for merchants all up and down Main Street. The picture was probably made about 1947.

So you're wondering: Why would anybody name a town Hazard? It was named for American naval hero, Oliver Hazard Perry. I am still not making this up. I don't know what kind of heroics Perry was known for, but he must have made some people proud about the time that Hazard became a town. It is the county seat of Perry County, which was also named for him. My mother once said, "If they were going to name the town for him, why didn't they name it Oliver?" For one thing, I would miss the reaction I get when I tell people that I used to live in Hazard.

Somehow, the name fits. Working in the mines of the area was hazardous work. The air was filled with coal smoke from the steam locomotives, which was hazardous for everybody's health. And gun fights were commonplace.

In fact, one such gun fight took place in the cinder parking lot behind my father's and Mr. Engle's stores. After the smoke settled, and the police arrived, my father eased out the back door. Mr. Engle was standing there watching an ambulance pull away. "Did you get any business out of that one Billy?" he asked the undertaker.

"No, it was just some minor flesh wounds," Mr. Engle replied. "They weren't really trying to kill each other."

People in Eastern Kentucky in those days knew how to shoot. If they tried to kill somebody, he was as good as dead.

I guess I got carried away on that one a bit, but I love talking about the good old Hazard days.
Howard