1971

A few years after a Rio Grande locomotive left the yard on North Mill Street for the last time work began to clean up the area for new development.  Plans were in place to move the old Station building to Ruby Park and the city and developers alike were jockeying for their opportunity to develop the land.

My father was hired to clean up the area including long ago discarded trash and railroad maintenance supplies.   The soil was contaminated after a century of industrial use and the project was expected to take all summer.  Aside from the regular crew my father also hired a number of “laborers” to assist in the project.  Two of these came from some far off land like Oregon or someplace like that.  They were an odd bunch but they worked hard.

A few weeks after the project had completed an agent of the FBI approached my parents.  It seemed that one of the laborers, by the name of Paul, had been wanted by them for some time and they were “hot on his trail.”  After a brief discussion the agent moved on but not before promising my parents that they would update them on Paul’s status when and if they caught him.  For whatever reason my parents chose not to tell the kids the story of Paul and for the most part life went on without another passing thought.

That was until one day while working in my dad’s garage when the phone rang.  I was the only one home at the time so I answered the call.  A man identifying himself as an agent of the FBI asked me to let my parents know that Paul had been arrested and was in custody.  I am not sure how the conversation went from their as I was immediately wondering why the arrest of Paul was a good thing.  The only Paul I knew was a favorite relative of mine and one of my father’s closest friends and his first cousin, by the name of Paul Beck.

My parents arrived home not long after the call, although it seemed like hours to me.  With a panic in my voice I informed them that the FBI had arrested “Uncle” Paul and inquired as to what he had done.    After a good laugh, I am certain at my expense, they explained the story to me and who the “Paul” in question was.

We never did hear anything more about Paul and his FBI connection but he was certainly not the last character my father hired over the years with an interesting past or present.