Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2022 13:21:05 -0400 From: James Karvonen Subject: The Pine Island Industrial Farm For Boys Chronicles: 1. G S Cc Thank you for all the positive comments I received on my last series, Trailer Park Chronicles. I thought I would go ahead and start a new series called, The Pine Island Industrial Farm for Boys. This series takes place in 1931 during the Great Depression, so it would come under the Gay Historical Category. This series will be about a 12 year old delinquent boy named Bobby who ends up at the Pine Island Industrial Farm and School in Pine Island New York. This series will include the following tag lines, b/b, M/b, bondage. Hope you enjoy the story and if you can, please donate to Nifty to keep this website going... ------------------------------------------------------------ -PINE ISLAND INDUSTRIAL FARM AND SCHOOL FOR BOYS CHRONICLES 1. The clanging of the bell meant that a train was coming. Eleven year old Bobby Rumph stopped peddling his American Flyer bicycle, straddling it so that he could watch the approaching train pass by. Bobby was a handsome boy with curly wheat blonde hair, sporting an unruly cowlick, snub nose and blue eyes. He was on his way home from the the city park in Middletown, New York where he had been playing baseball with his friends. Middletown, was a small industrial city located about fifty five miles from New York City. Standing about fifteen feet from the railroad tracks, Bobby watched as the gateman slowly down the spiral staircase from the Gateman's tower.to crank the crossing gates down too stop the traffic on main street from crossing the railroad tracks so that the train could pass by. He was an elderly man with white hair and a fritzy beard. In the distance Bobby heard the soft moan of the whistle and the steady chugging of the locomotive pulling the train. Bobby could tell that the approaching train was a heavy freight train by the loud chugging sound that the locomotive made which echoed throughout the surrounding area. If it was a passenger train, the chugging would not be so loud, sounding more like a rapid woof.then a deep chug The train was an eastbound probably heading for Weehawken New Jersey on the Hudson River about 60 miles away where the railroad termimated. The name of the railroad was the New York, Ontario & Western railroad. Two other railroads served Middletown, the Erie Railroad, and the Middletown and Unionville Railroad which was a shortline that connected too the Erie Railroad about a half mile away. Bobby knew these railroads by hard, because he loved trains and would make it a point to watch any train passing through Middletown whenever he got a chance. He watched as the gateman hobbled to the first crossing gate, slowly cranking the gate down. The distant whistle was getting louder, and sometimes Bobby wondered if the gateman would get the two gates cranked down before the train arrived. Already the traffic was beginning to build up though there were a few vehicles that tried to cross the tracks before the crossing gates were cranked all the way down. The gateman crossed the tracks and managed to crank the second gate down stopping all vehicular traffic. By now the headlight of the approaching train could be see as well as the huge plumes of white and gray smoke bursting high into the air from the hard working locomotive. The train was moving around twenty five miles per hour. Then it's whistle blew again, a loud deep moaning throaty sound, Two long blasts, one short blast and one last long almost deafening blast just before the locomotive passed through the grade crossing. That was the whistle code for trains approaching and going through grade crossings. Bobby watched as the locomotive crossed the Main Street.grade crossing. He was right, it was a heavy freight train. The grey and black locomotive pulling it was a 2-8-0 which was the wheel arrangement for the various locomotives classes that the railroads owned. Bobby had to shield his eyes from the flying cinders as the locomotive passed by. Where he was standing straddling his bike, he could feel the heat from the locomotives firebox. Steam hissed from the locomotives cylinders drenching him in a warm wet cloud of moisture. The chuffing was so loud now that Bobby had to cover his ears as the locomotive passed by. Inscribed on the locomotives coal tender was the New York, Ontario & Western logo, which was simply a large O with a W inside the O. Once the locomotive and tender passed by, the freight cars clattered by. There were box cars, gondolas, a couple of tank cars, several refrigerator cars and coal cars. Each freight car had the name of the railroad that the car belonged to. Bobby liked to say the names of the railroads out loud. "Lehigh & Hudson River, Santa Fe, Erie, Delaware, Lackawanna and Western. Southern Pacific, Lehigh New England, American Refridgerator Company." All total Bobby counted sixty two cars on the slow moving freight train, that looked like it was slowly grinding to a stop. Bobby had to chuckle inwardly about that, because it wasn't unusual for freight trains to stop and hold up traffic for a unspecific amount of time.That made a lot of people angry. Already he could hear cars, and trucks blowing their horns. Of course the engineer running the train couldn't hear all that commotion, but nevertheless it was taking place not that it mattered. Finally the train started picking up speed. A few seconds later the red wooden caboose with the O&W insignia passed by, and the gateman started cranking up the gates so that the backed up traffic in both directions could once again cross the railroad tracks. As Bobby was standing there he noticed an old man dressed in rags standing on the end of the platform in front of the red brick monolith O&W railroad station across the tracks. The old man had not been there before the freight train had passed by but he was there now. Just as Bobby was walking his bicycle across the railroad tracks, the old man looked at him for a brief moment before motioning him over as if he wanted talk.to him. "Yes?" Bobby asked, pausing in front of him "Good day to you sonny." The old man said in an Irish brogue. "Can I help you sir?" Bobby asked. "You're a good looking lad are you not. I was just wondering if maybe you could direct me to a place where I might eat. I've been traveling the rails for the past month, trying to get to New York City me lad. I guess I could have stayed on that train, but I be hungry not eating for a couple of days now." The old man tried to explain. "Are you a hobo?" Bobby asked, having never met a hobo before. "I guess I be a hobo if that's what you call someone who rides the rails in freight cars instead of passenger cars. I'm from Chicago, having got on this train in Oswego two days ago." "Oswego is on Lake Erie isn't it?" "It's on Lake Erie, now a place for me to eat, that's what I really need right now." "Oh yeah, there is this place called Mama's Kitchen. You walk down Main Street for two blocks, to Tenth Avenue. The place is small but the food is good. Before my papa left for California two years ago we use to eat there once a week. They got the best hot dogs and baked beans in Middletown." "Your father is in California?" "Yes sir. He lost his job shortly after the Stock Market crashed in 1929. He couldn't find work here in Middletown, so he moved to Bakersfield California and promised me, my ma, and little brother Ryan that as soon as he found work and earned enough money, he would send for us and move us to Bakersfield California to be with him." "I can relate to that because I lost my job after the Stock Market crashed also. Been riding the rails ever since. I pick up a few jobs here and there, but that depends on what city or town I am in and whether or not they have work." "It must be a hard life riding the rails." Bobby said. "It is, but that's what I do boyo. That's how I make my living, speaking of which, you wouldn't know if there are any jobs available in this town. Would you now laddie?" "No' not really." "Does your mum have a job being that your papa is in living in California?" "She works odd jobs on and off. And I work also. Sometimes I'll mow someones lawn or do other things for families in our neighborhood, but still we have very little money. There have been many nights when me and my little brother have gone hungry.because we had no food to eat, but we manage." "Tis a shame, but maybe Roosevelt will do something to help us out of this depression, But anyway, it's been nice talking to you. I'll head to Mama's place right now to get me something to eat." "It's been good talking to you, well I got to go or ma will start worrying about me." "Well then, you take care laddie and I hope your pa does find work in California. By the way, my name is James Keiran, though other bo's call me Irish Jim. That's me monicker." "What's a moniker?" Bobby asked mainly out of curiosity. "A moniker is a nickname us bo's are given when they ride the rails, and your name is?" "My name is Bobby Rumph. I live over on Bolton Road about a half mile from here. With that having been said, Bobby mounted his bike and started peddling down Main Street toward his home. He couldn't' believe that he actually talked to a real live hobo. He wondered if he would ever see Irish Jim again.It had been fun talking to him anyway, he thought It didn't take long for Bobby to reach home. It wasn't much of a home. Before his father left two years ago to find work in California, they lived in a small house near the company that his father had worked for. When his father had lost his job, they could no longer afford the morgage on the house so they had to move out of the house to a three room apartment on Bolton Avenue. It was a small roach infested apartment on the second floor of a two story wood frame house that had been built sometimes before the turn of the century. The house was located in a not so good neighborhood, but it did have indoor plumbing. That was about the only luxury they had. Three other families lived in that house, one other family on the upper floor, and two families on the ground floor. The biggest inconvience was that they had to share the same bathroom with the other family that lived on the upper floor next to them. Bobby set his bicycle to the side of the house next to the trash cans then headed up the stairs on the side of the house to their apartment. He was hungry and looking forwards to a good meal. One thing about his mother, when they had the food available, she could whip up a good meal. Opening the door he shouted, "I'm home mom!" It was Randy, his little eight year old brother who greeted him. He was shirtless and barefooted wearing one of his old patched up jeans. "Mom's sleeping." Randy said. "Has she started dinner yet?" Bobby asked. "We only got a couple of potatoes to eat. She said that she'll boil them when she gets up." "Boiled potatoes, that's all we have to eat tonight.?" Randy nodded. "We had boiled potatoes yesterday and some turnip greens, but that was it. I don't even think we have any turnip greens left for tonight." "I know Randy." Bobby sighed. "It's been a while since we had any meat." This was very frustrating for Bobby. He was hungry, his little brother was hungry, yet there was no food to be had except for the few boiled potatoes that they had. It had been like that for a while. Every now and then they would have a good wholesome meal, but that was only when he or his mother was able to earn money doing any odd jobs that were available in the neighborhood or town. He had to do something about this and the situation that they were now in. He never broke the law before, because his parents had taught him the difference between right and wrong, but he was going to break the law tonight. These were desperate times and they were in a desperate siituation. It was a tough decision that he had to make but he wanted to make sure this would be one night that his family wouldn't go hungry. He was going to get them some food for tnem to eat tonight one way or another. "Bobby, you home?" He heard his mothers voice coming from her bedroom. "Yes ma! I'm home." Bobby answered. "Did you have a good day today?" She walked into the small living. Bobby noticed that she wasn't looking all that good. She looked tired and worn out. Ever since his father left, she had been going through some tough times. "Yes ma, I played some baseball with my friends at the city park but if I had known that we only had a couple of potatoes to eat for tonight's dinner, I would have been looking for work instead of playing baseball." "Oh Bobby, you're only an eleven year old boy, you don't need to work all, the time like you've been doing." "But we need money to buy food with ma." Bobby protested. We need more food then just a couple of potatoes to eat and that's all." "I know son, but if I wasn't so tired today I would have found some work." "Ma, you're wearing yourself out, working as hard as you do. Have you heard anything from dad. He hadn't sent us any money in quite some time." "No, not lately. I'm sure he is doing his best to find work, so that he could find us a place in California to live" "It's been more then two years. When was the last time we received a letter from him?" ...."About two months ago." "And he's still living at fifteen Pacific Heights road in Bakersfield?" "That was his last return address on the letter that he wrote us two months ago. He said that he was still struggling but he was hoping to have something soon, and once he gets established he will send for us." "But that was two months ago. He should have written us another letter since then." Bobby frowned. "He'll write us when he can." "Sure he will, I'm going out for a little while. I'll be back before dinner." "Where you going?" "See if I can find something else that we can eat tonight besides just potatoes." "Where you going to find us some food.?" "Don't worry about it ma." Bobby answered. He walked into the small bedroom that he shared with his little brother and grabbed his school book bag, slinging it around his shoulder. He concluded that he had to have something to put the food in, once he was able to steal the food from the grocery store. Leaving his bedroom he walked through the main room heading out the door, then down the side stairs. Walking over to his bicycle he mounted it then started peddling towards Middletown. He never stolen any food before from a grocery store but in the situation that his family was in right now, he really had no other choice. If he was going to get away with it he was going just going to have to be really careful and make sure that he don't get caught. If he got caught, no telling what that would do to his mother and little brother. It took about five minutes to reach downtown Middletown.The A&P grocery store that he was going to visit was located on the corner of Broad Avenue and thirteenth street. It was 5:00 in the afternoon. Bobby was hoping that this wouldn't take all that long. All he wanted to do was run into the store, get some bread and canned food and maybe some sausages if there were any on display, put the food into his book bag and leave. He set his bicycle up against the side of the building then walked around too the front of the A&P grocery store. He walked into the store and looked around. Because it was late in the afternoon the store wasn't all that crowded which was a plus on his part.Two cashiers were at the grocery counter checking out the customers. He headed down one of the aisles coming to the bakery section. Looking around to make sure none of the customers were looking at him, he opened up his bookbag, grabbed a couple of loaves of bread, and stuffed the bread into the book bag. He headed down another aisles where there were canned goods. Making sure no one was watching, he grabbed a couple of cans of soup and further down the aisle, a couple of cans of spaghetti. Finally he headed to the meat section. There were some sausages hanging up on display. He managed to get a couple of link sausages into his book bag, which was now getting pretty heavy. Still no one had spotted him stealing the food. So far, so good, Bobby thought. Now came the crucial part. Getting out of the store with his book bag full of food, and getting over too his bicycle was the real challenge. This is where he would have to be really be careful. Once he got to his bicycle he would be home free. He made his way down the aisle to the check out counter where the two store clerks were busy with their customers. The entrance to the store was just beyond the counters. He could hear the cash registers ringing. Making away around the two counters Bobby quickly headed toward the the two doorways at the entrance. And then he heard the voice. "Hey boy, hold up there!" He turned and saw the store manager, a fat red faced clerk with a white apron on. Now Bobby had a crucial decision to make. Should he run or take a gamble and see what the store manager wanted. "Boy, I said hold up there!" He was making his way over to him. ."Yes." Bobby meekly asked. "What do you have in that book bag?" The store manager asked. "Books." Bobby lied. He was getting really nervous now. Sweat beaded on his forehead. "If that's all you have,then you wouldn't mind if I take a Iook?" The manager said. He was almost ontop of him. Run, a voice in his mind said. And that's exactly what he did. He darted towards the entrance hoping to get out of the store before he could get his fat grubby hands on him. "Stop, thief!" The manager shouted at the top of his lungs. He started waddling after him. Bobby darted out of the store onto the sidewalk. His bicycle was just around the corner. But so were two policemen from the Middletown Police Deparment carrying tommy knockers who were standing on the corner.walking their beat. Shit, Bobby thought to himself. If he tried to run around the corner to get too his bicycle he would run right into them. "Stop, thief!" The store manager shouted The two police officers suddenly focused their attention on Bobby who was found himself pinned between the enraged store manager and the two police officers.with no place to run. "Where you going boyo?" One of the police officers asked. He walked over towards him. He started hitting his tommy knocker on his hand. By now the sweating store manager had waddled around the corner, facing the two police officers and Bobby. "That boy robbed my store!, Check his book bag! Check his book bag!" The store manager insisted. "Lemme see your book bag boyo." One of the police officers said. The other police officer moved besides him. He had his tommy knocker ready in case just in case there was any resistance. Bobby had no other choice but to hand the police officer his book bag. "Well let's see what we got in here." The police officer said opening up the book bag. He pulled out the string of sausages, held it up then dropping the sausage back into the bag, pulled out a couple of cans of soup and spaghetti. "I knew it. I knew he had food in that book bag of his. This isn't the only time my store has been robbed. People especially kids now a days think they could just step in someone's place of business and take whatever they want without paying for it, but it ain't going to happen this time. I'm pressing charges! I don't care how young or how old the perpetrator is. He's not going to rob from me again!" The store manager rambled on "I don't blame you sir, you have every right to press charges. Jackson, how bout giving the station a call, we just caught ourselves a little thief" "Yes sir." The other police officer said. He crossed the street where there was a call box. Opening up the call box up, he took out a phone then called the police station. "We're taking you in boy. Why would you steal from these good folks anyway?" Tears entered Bobby's eyes. "Because, because we, we needed food." He stammered." "So just because your family needed food kid, you think you could just go into any grocery store, take what you want and leave without paying for it. If everyone did that there would be nothing left on the grocery store shelves for those hard working people who work hard for a living in these depressing times to buy. Earn some money. Go out, mow some lawns, or do other odds and ends to earn that money, that's what you need to do, instead of stealing like you just attempted to do.You'll probably get some time for this kid, and have a juvenile record, but hopefully whatever time you get will teach you a valuable lesson between right and wrong. Now put your wrists together behind your back." The other officer who had just called the police station walked back across the street to join his partner and the store manager. "The paddy wagon is on it's way." He said. Beginning to cry now, Bobby slowly placed his wrists together behind his back. The police officer who had just lectured him, handed his partner his Tommy knocker to hold then unhitched his pair of handcuffs from his utility belt. He wasted no time cuffing Bobby's wrists behind his back. "I'm placing you under arrest kid for attempting to rob a grocery store. You have a right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can be used against you in a court of law About five minutes later the paddy wagon arrived. Bobby was helped into the back of the paddy wagon by the two police officers. After the back door was closed then locked, the paddy wagon puttered away towards the jailhouse next to the police station and county courthouse...