Happy the Newsboy Drunk, Like A Jungle Lion

Olean, New York, 1922

GETS PLENTY OF LIQUOR AT $.25 A SHOT

However, two nips are two too many for "Happy" North Union street "sing song boy"

If there are any among the many "hootch hounds" of Olean who crave for action, and are of the opinion that the city is lacking in this "virtue," they of the doubt, may lay aside their worries and find plenty of the above mentioned action, and all for the sum of 50 cents. At least that's the opinion of "Happy" Calkins, a vendor of newspapers and a familiar figure on Union and State streets.

Happy told Judge Keating when arraigned in police court this morning on a charge of intoxication that he had obtained sufficient action in the Ross block in North Union street to last him for an indefinite period. "I only had two drinks of whiskey at 25 cents a drink," Happy stated, "and within 15 minutes after drinking it I felt like a jungle lion full of lust for battle, and believe me Judge, Jack Dempsey couldn't have knocked me out."

Pleading forgiveness for the offense, Happy, a very penitent prisoner, was permitted his freedom with a 60-day suspended sentence hanging over his head.

The next time he gets in jail it means a trip to Little Valley, Judge Keating warned the newsboy.

—Olean Evening Herald, Olean, NY, May 11, 1922, p. 4.