TRANSCRIPT

"I would gather up a bunch of frogs from our pond and with straws I would blow them up, this would cause the darned things to roll around and act crazy like, they would hop and make funny noises; the neighbourhood kids thought our sideshow was great. I would charge two pins for admission and Mother did not know what to do with all those pins. So that frog show really was the first 'Casey Shows'. I remember very well those 'Red Coated Soldiers' returning from the Boer War, they were a jolly bunch singing 'Ta Ra Ra Boombe Yea', also 'We are Soldiers of the Queen My Lad, The Queen my Lad.' I followed their parades from the Railway Station to the Barracks downtown, some called it the drill hall, located at the Market Place, and there I would listen to soldier stories and jokes. I met some who served in the Spanish American War, also some real old timers from the U.S. Civil War. It was here I decided that someday I would become a soldier myself and look for adventure. The market place in Belleville was one of the favorite spots for Medicine Shows, and their cure-alls, these shows put on great entertainment to sell the 'Snake Oil' the cure everything from coughs and colds. Some of these Medicine Men would place a red hot poker in their hands to prove that their salve would make them better. I would always be in the front row so that I wouldn't miss anything."