FREIGHT TRAIN FRANK & ONE EYED BAKER BOY
*Originally penned by Vinton Baker, found among dad’s personal effects. It details hijinks of Vin and my Uncle Carl, I’m guessing in the 40s to early 50s. The story is real enough. They actually hopped a train from Altus to Valejo, California looking for work. Youthful hobos, another story all together. This tale undoubtedly prompting their railway adventures.
“Freight Train Frank” and “One Eyed Baker Boy” are the only known alias used by these two. Tho never convicted, they left a path of destruction from Indiahoma to California that would make Jessie and Frank look like missionaries. Tired of herding turkeys for Big Time Operator, Mexican Pete, these two grew bitter and weary at an early age. They set up a pecan stealing scam devastating farmers, Indians, and even tough man Red Barger. Using their criminal skills and experience picked up from Mexican Pete, these two manipulated a chicken stealing operation that devastated such operators as Baker, Lindgren, and Yowell. They torched prairie lands of the Earl Cox spread, hit peach tree orchards, and plum thickets, manipulated cotton scales, loaded sacks with green boles and dirt, and continued to make relentless hits on Red Barger’s Filling Station.
Both Red and Deputy Ray Powell thought they had em dead in their tracks, but were smoothly evaded each time. For a time, these two were so powerful they claimed their own box car while traveling. As they mellowed in years, especially after One Eye’s encounter with Clyde, they appeared to go legit. Freight Train, with all his experience and knowledge of the law from the villain’s eye, even reversed himself and became a Lawman. One Eyed Baker Boy, who is now an honest used car salesman, fashioning himself in the style of the infamous Mad Man Madden.
So goes the Legacy of Freight Train Frank and One Eyed Baker Boy, a fearsome duo, but not yet a single conviction!”
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