The Messenger Boys

In 1915, my great uncles Charlie (18) and Sherman(16) along with a friend Horace (16) rode bicycles from Indianapolis to the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco at a time when there were not roads, as we understand them today, that connected the cities in the United States. This is an account built around the actual letters and postcards they sent back home as they made their way across the country. It is a story of ambition, determination, and teenage dreams of doing something big with the shadow of World War 1 and life in general looming over them.

Charlie had a life altering injury in 1911 which changed his life trajectory. Sherman was ambitious and wanted to be an entrepreneur. His youthful ambition put him at odds with his father which led him to leave home at 15. Horace's abusive father was shot and killed when he was a young child. He became the keeper of his younger brother and jumped at the chance to go on an adventure with his best friend, Sherman.

The three teenage boys planned their trip to the extent their skill and life experiences would allow. They worked as messenger boys, or anywhere for that matter, if work was available in the cities they visited along the way. They also sold postcards of themselves to help pay expenses. They had to use resourcefulness and creativity to feed themselves at times.