Iron History

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04/15/2004 Entry: "4/16/04: Letter from Charles A. Smith to Joe Roark Jul 29, 1986"

Dear Joe,

Thanks for your letter dated July 18th and forgive me for not replying more promptly, but I have been in a real bad mood, not wanting to do anything that remotely resembles work- mainly because of the horrible heat wave we have been having- over 100 � and the luverly case of heat rash it has given me- making sleep somewhat difficult due to the itching. As a result I am in foul humor and don�t let anyone near me or he�ll have a problem.

The pile of correspondence twixt Jowett and Coulter grows apace and all sorts of skeletons are leaping out of the cupboards. In one letter George says that Liederman was so reduced by the 1939 [stock market] Crash that he was reduced to stealing bottles of milk from doorsteps for nourishment. In the very next paragraph he ells how Liederman has a job at thirty bucks a week- a considerable sum in those days- in a radio station.

But one thing really startled me and that was that Earle had been married before Miss Alaska. And had a DAUGHTER by that wife who proved to be a terrible disappointment to Earle in his later years, coming to his home with several kids and saddling herself on Earle who was already in straightened circumstances.

Another eye opener was when working for Hoffman- he got fired from there- and that was that Hoffman�s wife was hauled into court for drunk driving after hitting a woman. Whether this is so or not- but one of the tales George was wont to tell, one doesn�t know.

What he has to say about XXX blisters the paper and in fact one would be well advised to have a fire extinguisher and wear flame protective clothing during perusal. He obviously hated the guts of XXX- indeed �I often wonder how it is that no one has knocked XXX off long since. He, Jowett claims XXX [to be] totally without scruples and a coward to boot. That while XXX claims he beat Lurie up, it was the otherwise with the Flash chasing XXX down the street in an effort to have his guts for garters.

He also claims that Hoffman used WOODEN discs on his bent press, that once he barely managed to bent press 140 and had it appear in the papers next day as 300. Taxed by Harry Good- very religious- he ha ha�d it off. And so on and so on ad nauseam.

There is a terrible tragedy in that XXX affair. I understand that when the child was born, the XXX�s were still married. In that case XXX would be regarded LEGALLY as the father of the child and there was nothing he could have done about it- as many a husband has found to his sorrow after being away in the armed forces for four years= abroad already yet, come home and found his wife cradling a three months old infant. No wonder there was extreme bitterness on the part of XXX- also one has to take into account the climate of those times when it was not as liberally minded as it is today.

Don�t forget to give my very best to Pete [George] when you write him. Nice kid. One of the gentlemen in the Game � and there were so very few.

Kennedy tells me my piece on Weider is due out soon and he will send me a copy. To get a copy of IM containing my article on the Old Timers bash I had to send the Raders $2.50. No further comment.

I saw the copy of your pics of the [Todd-McLean] Collection. Why couldn�t I have sat up instead of slumping and looking older than I am. I was surprised that no nasty words were penned about me in the caption. Hate lingers long and spreads too and, like tar, sticks.

Illegitimus non carborundum,
Chas