The old record box II; Poor Lost Souls

The following program is distributed by the national educational radio network. The old record box. This program consists primarily of selections played Crum so under record Addison chronographs frequently called talking machines. These records were issued in a period extending from the late 1890s to 1929. Your host is a red herring to who. The records presented under the title poor lost souls may lack somewhat in artistic achievement both musically and historically. They have this in common at one time they claim the attention of a segment of our society. Not too long past. Under no circumstances should the listener attach

religious significance to the expression lost souls. The first number Casey Jones might be classed as a Polk ballad. The song here played is a version revised and refined from earlier farms known to have been sung by negro rushed about working on the levees of Memphis and other Southern parks. There was an engineer named Jones killed in a train wreck Sunday April 29 1900. The train left Memphis Tennessee for a destination in Mississippi and crashed into the rear cars of a freight pulled onto a siding. Critics question that a 6 8 wheeler and Mrs. Jones is said to have denied the implication in the last stanza. The origin of true ballads may be lost in the past.

This one the death of Floyd Collins was not. And commemorates the well documented episode of Modern Times Floyd Collins was a native of Kentucky and living in the Mammoth Cave area in one thousand eighteen. He discovered the great crystal cave which few visitors patronized then because of poor accessibility. On Friday January 30th one thousand twenty five. This an educated but experienced caver entered say in cave and about 70 feet below the surface. His left foot knocked a projecting twenty five pound stone loose which fell and locked his foot tightly in a crevice and held him. On Saturday his lunch and coat were discovered at the cave entrance and shouting contact was made. Father Lee and brother Marshall worked diligently to no avail and by Sunday were exhausted as neighbors and country folk offered help and advice.

Am I Am i am. You. Why are you right now.

We see the word spread city folks you find the local populace bootleggers offered plenty of moonshine and soon there was a drunken brawling crowd which didn't help a bit. Radio offered its first big human interest story. William Burke Skeets Miller of the Louisville Courier-Journal later received the Pulitzer Prize for his on the spot reporting. Harnessed to lift flaws out only caused severe strain and pain. Conflict was building up between local residents and the outsiders. Nice I say. I see you were saying I

dare you. Why do you think expert stone cutters ready to cut a rescue shaft went home because of local abuse. A false announcement of live rescue appeared in The New York Times on Wednesday. Fireman Robert Byrd and Skeets Miller lowered a string of electric lights for light and wore a crowbar and wooden wedge blocks but could not move the stone. One big stone and a dirt slide stopped the work inside the cave. The tunnel roof crumbled. Fire.

By Thursday the National Guard was called out to restore order among the drunken mob that Harris qualified workers frequent radio bulletins kept the nation in foreign. One New York Daily sold 100000 extras. About 20000 spectators milled around 150 reporters sought stories and made up some on their own lunch wagons ran out of food profiteers offered hotdogs apples and pop pitchmen hocked patent medicines shell game operators thrive even in a tenement preacher muscled and now for the moral. Floyd Collins was found dead on Monday February 16th. Because of

lack of health the cave was filled in and it was only after his brother raised two thousand eight hundred dollars by telling the story involved veil and singing an earlier version of the song it was his body removed and buried in the grand canyon of crystal cave which he discovered and explored his headstone bears the legend greatest cave explorer ever lived. And now an equally sad but quite on authenticated story burnin down hard popular and successful ballad singer. Pictures this pathetic case as well as the Floyd Collins numbers are. God

was. You. Now my sad George our poor lost souls have long been

laid to rest and we can look forward to more pleasant thing humans from the old record box in the near future. This series was produced in the studios of WBEZ and this is the national educational radio network.