“I don’t know why we used to torment that
poor little woman like we did, but we did it a
lot,” said Dumplin’. “One Halloween we put
it up on blocks, and when she went to get in
it and it didn’t move, she couldn’t fi gure out
why. When she fi nally realized it was blocked
up, she had somebody come and take
them out from under the car, but when she
went to drive it away she realized it was still
chained to a tree and she pulled the whole
bumper off. Another time we put the car in
the back of Bill Presley’s old Army truck. He
had a big canvas cover on the back, so you
couldn’t see the car. Back then he had to go
to Tampa to get groceries for his mercantile,
which was located where the post offi ce is
now. He drove all the way Tampa that one
time, and when he went to load the back
with groceries, he found that car sitting in
there. One time we took the car and hid it
inside the walls of the Crowninshield House
… the yard was like a jungle, and they didn’t
fi nd that car for a week.
“Then there was the time we took that car
all the way down to Miller’s Marina, all the
way down the dock, and set it sideways so
it was almost impossible to get out of there.
On Halloween we would take everything we
could fi nd – including Miss Rachel’s car – and
block off the four-way stop in the middle of
town. One year we were all warned by the
sheriff’s deputy (who at that time was Johns
Knight) not to block off that road or we were
all going to jail. He went home that night
and went to bed, and the fi rst thing we put
in the middle of the road was his cop car. I’ll
never forget his face when he came up upon
that while he was on his bicycle, looking for
his car.”
September/October • 2021 • GASPARILLA MAGAZINE 59