1674-2 Richard Carney • UNI 4A
SUNDAY,NOVEMBER 10, 1940
ALONG THE WATERFRONT
Captain Carney Really
Teller of Tali Tales
Dean of Miami's Waterfront Can Do Wonders With
Just a Shred of An Alleged Fact Or Mere Idea
/2
By GROCER lis I.,
aLraL ataft Writer
ilWriter
Many in the newspaper businee become irritated when laymen
broach that bromide about"you meet such interesting people.'
The fact is,though,you do meet®)
' many interesting people on the'
• waterfront or, rather, you get to
know them. From time to time,
some of these people will be pre-,
seated here. T t off there is I ,
Capt_ Richard •
He's been written up dozens of „,.'
.times, but he properly leads the I
list •St ,for he is the dean of our water -
s ent„Mlamianr s about him,only - '°r
recently his picture covered the I y • "r' ,y .
whole front page of the d when
ra e I .-� _
tire section of The Herald when he , ,`�.
',posed as a rope splicer. 1
They have read about his arrival
-as one of the original coconut plant.. 4/1pr
ers on what is now Miami Beach i
they know him through the refer- + -
- cores to him by the late Commodore
Ralph Monroe in the Coconut Grove
classic "The Commodore's Story;'
they have read about his playful)
performance-in mixing up a couple I
of babies at a Saturday night'dance
In the old Peacock Inn which,was I ' i
immortalized in The Virginian.
Good At Embroidery ', -,
To those who are constant assn- /..r - .
dates,Captain Carney shows many CAPTAIN ftICIL1RD CARNET
traits that endear him to them.
-Oddly enough one of them is an city docks is his current title.But
astounding dexterity at embroidery;iit isn't. these th!nga that make
another is his skill at legerdemain
ti', He can take the tiniest fabric of I him one of the interesting people
'truth and weave marvellous pat-.mmeet or know.It is his compound-
, terns of fancy.This is not to call 1t personality, and the word is
shim merely an accomplished tall- .mpounded.
tale-teller for he is more than that. . -- _
He Is an artist in what he stitches
with the threads of fact.His accom-
plishments In legerdemain chiefly
-take that form of transferring aril-
- des in your possession to that of
-^ethers or vice versa.Watches,pens,
notebooks,knives,indeed anything
transportable is fair game.His in.
nocent expression is a sight to be- 1
hold
One version is that Captain Car-'
ney kissed the Blarney Stone be.1,
fore he could toddle. That is not '
true. Indeed, it is so untrue he t
probably started the story himself. i
Actually he was.just born that way. .
He is reputed to have originated
' - the expression"sand in your shoes."
The story is that in the real old,
days of Miami he was one of those tt
who carried mail on foot between I
Juno(now Palm Beach)and Miami.
Walking in the beach sand is very
much like walking in snow; for
every step forward you go back
two.So Captain Dick Invented the
sand shoe on the principle of the
snow shoe,and that allegedly'staart-
ed the term"sand in your shoes.”
Carried Man"By Air^
That isn't an.Sand shoes weren't
fast enough.He had long seen peli-
cans and gulls circle and soar.That I.
gave him the idea of wings. He
didn't claim to be smarter than, -
Leonardo de Vinci and think he
could flap artificial wings.He con.
t tved gliders.He would climb a tall
palm tree. leap off, glide to the l
next, climb up again, and glide
again.
The glider tale illustrates why
Captain Dick makes life Interest.
ing.If you doubt it,go to the library!,
and study local history and improve
your store of knowledge,learning l
there were no tall palm trees In I
-hose days,it is true he carried the
mail. I
Since 1900 Captain Dick has been,
associated with yachts,mainly with'
those of William L. Mellon. He
staved months in the German yard
- - where the last Vagabondia was
�� built.Assistant yacht master at the-'