Bio: Garrits, Fritz
Posted by: Pat Walgamott
Email: pat2 ix.netcom.com

Surnames: GARRITS
 

HALLOWEEN OF THE MID 90's


 

The Old Band Hall
Playing Tricks on Fritz Garrits

(Excerpted from Einfeldt's Barn)

That old band hall back of the bank had a platform that was raised up to the heighth of the building entrance making about three steps up and down in the sidewalk.  These steps were wide and some boys (I was told about this. note: Smitty had nothing to do with this one ) got some boards and cut a couple of broomsticks for rollers and placed them under the boards on the steps and waited for someone to come along and it was not long until one Fritz Garrits came slough-footing it home. He had been somewhere. He navigated the steps up to the platform and then when he stepped down on the first step, he immediately went into a terrific spin and down on the back of his neck with a thud. There
are times when under conditions like this that a fall like this would not materially act to dispose of the individual and in this case Fritz arose and shook himself and started on and when he stepped on to the second board it took on the act of inertia and so he went down for the second time. By this time he was quite roiled but as no one was in sight, he turned and wandered on toward home up Stovepipe Alley and turned into the gate and soon the house was in darkness.

During this time some others were up in a certain haymow building a man-sized dummy that they took up the alley and stood it up just at Fritzs' gate and then proceeded to install a tick-tock on his window. Crossing the street with the string they proceeded to dangle those nails against his window. It was not long until out of the door came Fritz with a big blunderbuss of a 10-guage and tore loose at that dummy in the face and ribs and said, well,I killed a man in Germany and now one here, too.

Fritz was really a harmless man. He was of the typical old woodcutter type, but would not work at it longer than he had to. He was well educated in his native country and from what I can find out his family grew up under very adverse conditions and have done quite well. I can still see Fritz down on the bank of that grand old river with his old pole cut from the brush hauling out the old red horses and suckers. I would give a lot of bucks if I had about 25 feet of 8mm film of his sitting there.