The Barclay Blog

Judging by the above article, one would have thought the prank was for April Fool’s Day. However, the article was published on page 1 of the Daily Reporter-Argus on August 19, 1906.

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Philander Barclay opened his own bicycle shop at 138 Lake Street, in March 1906. [1] Due to lack of space, he relocated his business to the Masonic Building at 133 Lake Street and reopened on July 23, 1906. [2] Barclay was on his own, dealing with all aspects of his business, including figuring out who tricked him.

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The location of the “imaginary automobilist”—Lake Street and Euclid Avenue—who had broken down and needed ignition batteries is a bit suspicious.

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In 1903, Oak Park began constructing its Municipal Building at Lake Street and Euclid Avenue. By the time of this prank, the new building housed police and fire departments.

During his lifetime, Barclay’s friendship with people in both departments had been documented in newspapers and in his own (unpublished) writings, now archived at the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest. Some examples of this:

• One of Barclay’s good friends was James Edward “Happy” Bullis, who served as a volunteer fireman in the 1890s and, later, as “one of the first police patrol drivers.” [3] Many years later, Bullis, who didn’t have much money near the end of his life, resided in the apartment that Philander shared with his sister Luan. “Happy” died there in 1934, after a brief illness. [4]

• On one occasion, Barclay ended up as observer to an attempted house burglary. Barclay was at the police station one evening, when a call came in. He jumped on his bike and left the station at the same time as the officers, who were on foot. Barclay arrived “several minutes” ahead of the police and “watched the burglars from a shadow” until the officers showed up. (The burglars were unable to enter the house, fleeing as the police arrived.) [5]

• In 1906, when Barclay had his own shop, he gave the Oak Park Police Department a bicycle to get to crime scenes faster than on foot. [6]

• Barclay was a frequent visitor at the Marion Street firehouse. He hung out with the firemen and was allowed to take pictures of their living quarters on the third floor. (The photos are in the Barclay Collection at the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest.) If Barclay happened to be at the station when an alarm came in, he would join the firemen on the call. [7]

• Barclay’s first historical wax cylinder recordings in 1905 were the ringing of the fire bell from the Marion Street station. He made those records with assistance from a few firemen who had been at the old station. [8]

• Barclay served as best man when Oak Park fireman Frank W. Troester got married in the hall at the Ridgeland fire station. [9]

With Barclay’s friendship and involvement with the police and fire departments, one wonders whether a fireman or officer (or a group of them) decided to “initiate” the wheelman to the world of store ownership, on a quiet August evening. Of course, this is pure speculation, on my part.

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At least, Barclay got a free brick of ice cream for his trouble that evening. [10]

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It wasn’t the last prank in which Barclay was involved. The next one, reported just nine days later (on August 28, 1906), involved a two-ton safe. This time, Barclay wasn’t the intended victim, just the innocent bystander whose Masonic Building shop served as the hiding place for the safe—without his knowledge. [11]

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