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tomers into Erie primarily for entertainment--that is, when there was no legitimate business excuse. The Cost Department Picnic was a similar institution, described on P34 of the 1931 account. On the occasion I'm about to describe, I first received a letter from D.P.Orcutt of Exide saying that Messrs. Kelly and Sharpe, the latter from Australia, of their Company, would be in Erie the following Thursday and wanted to be initiated into LETC. Maurice and Andy were to be away and Cash would be tied up so I was elected to do the honors. Kelly and Sharpe arrived on schedule accompanied by Bill Hamilton, Orcutt having resisted temptation and stayed home. Arrangements were made to have the initiation at Johnny Knoll's famed roadhouse at Harbor Creek where drinks were available for a consideration and if Johnny knew the parties involved, Johnny's was also noted for superb food although high priced (maybe $3 for a steak dinner). In addition to Kelly, Sharpe and Bill, the affair was attended by Bob Devlin and Jim MacKenzie of Industrial Locomotive Engineering who apparently already knew the Exide men. We started off with a few drinks at the Lawrence Hotel and then repaired to Johnny Knoll's where the imbibing continued for awhile, Mr. Sharpe passing out but all the rest of us okay. After dinner, in an effort to revive Sharpe, we took a drive around the Peninsula and then returned to the hotel for a nightcap--then I went home and to bed. Sharpe's downfall was attributed to his lack of previous exposure to American whiskey; were it not for the fact the rest were all right, I'd have thought maybe he got some bum hooch, always a possibility during Prohibition. As a matter of fact, I felt considerable pride in the fact all the Americans had been able to handle their liquor so well. But even Sharpe seemed to agree afterward that it had been a memorable party.
   The next day, Fred Butt arrived, "Buttsey" being one of Bill's men and a specialist in locomotive mechanical design, and I had them in tow all day. We put Kelly and Sharpe on the 1:21 p.m. train for Buffalo and then went to Bldg.60 to get a ride on a Pennsylvania P-5 freight unit we'd brought into Erie for tests--I believe it had been built in Altoona. But the P-5 wouldn't run because a voltage relay was out of order. Bill, who was a rabid direct current man from Milwaukee days, said sneeringly, "I never saw one of these AC jobs yet that would work!" So we went to the hotel where we consumed a pint of Maurice's "Chicken Cock" whiskey, had dinner at the Reed House and made X-4 literally by inches. It had been a tough 28 hours for me and I must say that I felt a bit depressed in spite of having enjoyed the affairs while they were going on. In fact, I knew that liquor wasn't a good influence.
   That same day, Gerard Swope was in Erie and gave the boys a talk which I missed because of Bill and Buttsey. I was told that Mr. Swope wasn't at all optimistic and left everyone in an apprehensive frame of mind. And he evidently knew whereof he spoke because 1933 was to prove to be a scraping of the bottom of the barrel, with nobody's job assured.