Cape Breton's Magazine

just boiling so, you know. He'd just put on the machine a little hotter, get in, grab a bun, put it in the oven. First thing it was brown, put the hot dog be? tween it, close it--here! That would be '35, '36, '37. (And you counted on that.) Oh, you'd back up on that. Oh, I--you see, it was two-way there. And if you were coming from King's Road in to the hotel, like I had to do, I'd shoot up there and stop there and get --in a minute I'll have my hot dog, and I'd have it eaten before I'd get to the hotel to get the call. Terrific, boy! (Those hot dogs were pretty important to you.) Well, Nick the Greek, I was in his place then, that night--the night he got murdered. He was the first man in Cape Breton to sell a hot dog. (Nick Marcos?) Glace Bay, on Commercial Street. He had a little restaurant. And he used to close it down at 9 o'clock. Take his Buick and go driving cab for awhile during the night. And Beckett murdered him. Beckett was from Fraser's Deli & Convenience Fresh Daily Home Baking Deli * Meats * Cheeses ONE STOP CONVENIENCE Union at Amelia • GLACE BAY • 849-2090 9 to 9 Monday to Saturday 224-3782 Rock • Folk ISTO?i?? J Country • Bluegrass ?r Fiddle and Newfoundland Music y Largest Atlantic Region Music selection in Eastern Canada. s Tap your toe to Cape Breton & Newfoundland Fiddle, J Accordion & Folk Music, & "Down East" Presentations. J Write or ask for our list of Newfoundland & Maritime Music. J ~ Available by Mail Order ~ J 2 miles south of CHETICAMP, on the Cabot Trail P. O. Box 516, Cheticamp, N.S. BOE 1H0 jS'mgss Newfoundland. (For details, readers should see "'George Alfred Beckett': Story and gpng" in Issug 42.) (You were just starting out in the busi? ness, and right away, 1930 or '31, Beckett kills Marcos for very little money. As a cab driver, did that make you nervous?) No. I was too young to think of that. (Beckett) got to Newfoundland, but he pawned (Mar? cos') watch. And that's what caught him in Newfoundland, was the gold watch. (Was driving cab ever considered danger? ous?) I'd say no. If there was going to be a murder, they murdered you. But as far as a holdup'd go, or a scaring or a fight, that was out. But--like Beckett murdered. It was done and that was it. (Before you went to the White Rose gas station, were you interested in cars? Was that an interest of yours?) Yeah. I'll tell you. Out home there on the farm, there was a neighbour, and they had a big sawmill. They sawed a lot of lumber, you know, sold it. There was the father and two sons. And so, the sons grew up. They were a lot older than me. And they didn't like working around the lumber. They went to Glace Bay, and both of them got driving for the steam motors. So the old man was left home with his wife. And they had a Model "A" car and a Model "A" truck. So the old man was get? ting up in years. He taught me how to drive it. Ten years old, I was driving his Model "A." Twelve years old, I was driving his truck. So, he thought the world of me --more than his two boys. So, he'd want to come to Sydney. And of course, then, when you went to Sydney in those years, you always got drunk, and take a keg of rum home, you know, to the country. He'd ask Mum if he'd take me to Sydney.' Well, that's what he wanted me, to drive around. And he'd let me drive in and drive home. When I was 12 years old--I was just through school--! was very smart in school. I took--the teacher--the country teachers.... There was no Primary then-- Grade One. I went to school that year. I would be enrolled in January, and this was September. And she put me through One and Two! Graded out of the two of them. The next teacher did the same thing: Three and ''' SHOOTERS LOUNGE FAMILY DINING Featuring Fresh l(iiilf@?' and Homestyle Cooking WE OPEN AT 7 A. M. Monday to Saturday 9 A. M. Sunday RESTAURANT OPEN till 11 P. M LOUNGE OPEN till 2 A. M. $1.99 Truckers' Special Breakfast Every Morning Live Entertainment Thursday, Friday, and Saturday j) Old-Fashioned Ceilidh Every Saturday at 2 P. M.! J) CAPE BRETON SHOPPING PLAZA 539-5247 Brian a'sCtsgrave SYDNEY RIVER