A Racing Car Romance
A simple trip to buy a racing car results in a sudden change of heart and ownership for two Hanford men.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Elmer Yoder and Clarence Berg went to Washtuena the first of the week to bring home a racing car of Mr. Yoder’s. On the way home, Mr. Berg fell violently in love with the racer and, before they reached Hanford, had confessed as much to Mr. Yoder. Whereupon a change of ownership took place and Mr. Berg and the racer are now one and inseparable.
“Mr. Berg fell violently in love with the racer and before they reached Hanford had confessed as much to Mr. Yoder.”
This charming vignette captures the early twentieth-century obsession with the automobile as more than a machine, but as an object of desire. It is a glimpse into the social life of Hanford before the town was erased by the Manhattan Project decades later.
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