Historic City Memories: The trailer train wars

The trailer train wars

Slim McDaniel
starts an attraction

Part I

By Geoff Dobson

Chapter 11148, Section 15, Laws of Florida (1925) makes it illegal for a city commissioner to ride on a trailer train in St. Augustine without paying the same fare as that charged to the general public. Our early city fathers were wise beyond belief.

Every town has colorful characters. In St. Augustine, two of the most colorful were H. L. “Slim” McDaniel and Joseph C. “Joe” McClure, Sr. The two had squared off in the Trailer Train Wars.

When one thinks of wars and feuds between individuals, one may think of something like the Lincoln County War in New Mexico fought between rival mercantile interests for control of the dry goods business in Lincoln, New Mexico, or, perhaps one’s mind turns to the “Pleasant Valley War” in Arizona which lasted for almost ten years between the cattle-herding Grahams and the sheep-herding Tewksburys.

One of the most bitter of 19th Century feuds was the so-called Bone Wars fought between Yale University’s Orthniel Charles Marsh and the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences’ Edward Drinker Cope. The Bone Wars finally boiled into public attention when Professor Cope denounced Professor Marsh’s work as “the most remarkable collection of errors and ignorance of anatomy and literature on the subject [the evolution of the horse] ever displayed.” In one sense, Marsh did have a remarkable collection of errors. Over the years, Marsh had been lovingly collecting every perceived error that Cope had ever made.

The following week, Marsh responded in kind. Using his collection of errors, he claimed that Cope had committed “a series of blunders, which are without parallel in the annals of science.” Marsh indicated that when the two had first met in Berlin, he suspected Cope’s sanity. He compared Cope with a Russian scientist who “was at least stricken with remorse and ended his unfortunate career by blowing out his brains,” but, Marsh continued, “Cope still lives, unrepentant.”

Although firearms were not used, the Trailer Train Wars were just as bitter. For the most part, the Trailer Train Wars were fought behind the scenes — only occasionally bubbling to the surface. One such time was when Slim McDaniel, in his fury at not receiving a franchise to operate trailer trains, threw down $10,000 in cash on the City Commission table.

And like the current horse drawn carriage wars, the wars were as a result of one trailer train operator obtaining a dominant position in the market.

Prior to 1953, there were multiple trailer train operators. Each individual train was separately licensed. Gradually, over the years, St. Augustine Trains, Inc., of which McClure was president, accumulated all of the outstanding licenses and became the sole operator of tour trains in the City.

In 1953, St. Johns County constructed a new jail, north of town on Lewis Speedway. The old jail constructed about 1891 was then sold to Slim McDaniel who opened a tourist attraction known as the “Authentic Old Jail.” Gradually in his new attraction, McDaniel added various oddities designed to enhance the visiting experience. These included a three-man gallows from which three dummies in prison stripes dangled, a sweat box and a “bird cage” in which prisoners were alleged to have been kept.

McDaniel obtained a movie prop cannon used in Stanley Kramer’s The Pride and the Passion, based on C.S. Forester’s 1933 novel The Gun. The cannon, however, was faux and was much larger than the cannons actually used in the Napoleonic Wars. Initially, the cannon was displayed in the back of a truck. Also displayed was an alleged prison wagon.

In front of the jail was a small cacti garden which ultimately found its way to McDaniel ’s house. The house with a white gravel “lawn” was landscaped to look as if it was in the desert. McDaniel, himself, also looked the part. He would customarily be laden down with western silver and jade jewelry and looked much like the jewelry and gift-shop proprietor in Virginia City, Nevada, across the street from the similar “Territorial Prison Museum” which featured a “suffocation chamber” and an “electric chair.” [One could insert a coin in a slot and a red light would come on under the prisoner’s electric chair helmet.]

McDaniel soon discovered, however, a fly in his ointment. To a great extent, his gate was controlled by the trailer trains. Persons buying tickets purchased a package which included various attractions. The trailer trains controlled which attractions were included in the most popular package, i.e. the cheapest. If the wholesale cost of the tickets was too high, the attraction would not be included within the popular package and the attraction’s gate would go down. In essence, the Trailer Trains controlled the cost of admission to the various attractions.

Equally annoying to McDaniel was what he called “breakage;” that is, McDaniel would be paid only for tickets actually used. He would not be paid for tickets purchased but not used. There was also the fear by some attraction owners that if they did not advertise in the guide book distributed to passengers, the attraction would be, in essence, blacklisted.

Like many attractions, McDaniel s’ facility was also dependent upon a gift shop. St. Augustine Trains also operated gift shops at various stops. McDaniel came up with a solution. Since he had no license to operate a tour train and the City would not grant him one, he opened a “Free” tour of the city. The “Free Tour” had three stops, the Old Jail, the Speissegger Drug Store, and the Oldest House.

McDaniel s’ new business model provided that only when the passengers had spent sufficient time in his gift shop, perhaps as much as 30 to 45 minutes, would the train move on to the next stop and again give the passengers sufficient time in the Drug Store gift shop before moving on to the Oldest House.

When business was slow, McDaniel would send an individual in a conquistador costume to the Visitor Information Parking Lot to grab off passengers on tour busses coming into town. Tour bus operators of course liked the idea of a free tour.

This, of course, annoyed Joe. The City, however, was also annoyed at confrontation and hard sales pitches going on in the parking lot. Also, irking the City were complaints that the drivers on Joe’s trains were, perhaps, promoting certain businesses and not others and that the history of the town being given was less than 100% pure.

The City received reports that one driver described the statute of Juan Ponce de Leon in the circle at the east end of the Plaza as having a “Big Mac Attack.” One local citizen while walking down King Street near the Zorayda Castle was recognized by one of the drivers. The local was startled to learn that he was the “late” and had donated a rug in the Castle. Irreligious comments were made by some drivers as to the Cross at the Mission. As a result, the City put an undercover agent on some of the trains. Complaints were also received that the drivers of Slim’s trains would sometimes block Joe’s trains from parking or proceeding down a street.

Thus, the City Commission began a study of what to do about the trailer trains. The scene was set for a battle royal, in which each side brought in its hired guns in the form of lawyers. The War went on for five years.

Next week: Part II, The City passes an Ordinance and Joe and Slim square off.

Photo credit: © 2010 Historic City News – contributed by Ripley’s Entertainment

Geoff Dobson, a St Augustine resident for the past 33 years, is a western and Florida history writer and was former General Counsel for the Florida Department of Transportation. He is a former president of the St. Augustine Historical Society and a regular contributor of nostalgic memories to Historic City News. Before his parents moved to Florida, his father was a Black Angus cattleman. Geoff has written extensively on Wyoming history (“Wyoming Tales and Trails”). When Geoff was in high school, his family lived in the cattle country of eastern Sarasota County. The family spread, which his parents called “Wild Cat Slough,” was reachable only by a pair of ruts over the sand hills and through a snake and gator infested slough. Now, it is an area of four-lane roads, expensive subdivisions, shopping centers, and office parks. . His undergraduate degree is in history. Geoff received his post-graduate degree from the University of Florida. He may be reached at horse.creek.cowboy@gmail.com