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KNOXVILLE
SAND & GRAVEL
COMPANY
READY-MIX CONCRETE
Sand, Gravel, Lime and Cement
Phone 523-2147
Knoxville, Tenn.
HAMILTON
NATIONAL BANK
Member Federal Reserve System
Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Ten Locations in Knoxville
Two Facilities in Oak Ridge
The only difference in banks is the way you
are treated . . . Try us. We Welcome You.
BANK OF KNOXVILLE
“THAT FRIENDLY BANK”
Member Federal Deposit Insurance Coropration
Home Plate dafeteria
“Where Friends Meet’’
•
Cor. 7th and Cherry
Chattanooga, Tenn.
for Rome. Ga.—was fighting
against# great odds to prevent
an embarassingly premature
arrival of the stork.
Captain Siegel, to give him
his conductor’s title, was gal
vanized into frantic action and
madly rushed through a per
sonal canvass of the train in
quest of a doctor. No luck. The
kind ladv who had volunteered
to look' after the expectant
mother rushed up and told
Harry the woman was certain
to bring the baby into the
world before the next stop,
which happened to be Baxley.
Ga.
"She'll just have to wait until
we get to Baxley!” cried the
now-upset and excited Captain
Siegel.
Things panned out all right,
as things occasionally will. The
trained pulled into Baxley,
where an ambulance was wait
ing—not for the mother-to-be.
but for a corpse in the baggage
car.
So-o-o. as Ed Wynn used to.
scream over radio crystal sets.
Harry had the imminent moth
er put in the ambulance and
dispatched it to the Baxley hos
pital. There it was met by the
local Southern Railway physi
cian. who had been alerted by
wire from down the road. (In
case you are worried about the
corpse in the baggage car, it
was loaded on a truck.)
Another emergency had been
handled. Harry found out on
his next trip through Baxley
that the people there had been
extremely kind; they had even
made up a purse and they saw
to it that the mother and child
got safely upstate to Rome.
On the more serious side, an
experience came Harry’s way
in the early 1950s which com
bined the aftermath of tragedy
with the highest degree of
secrecy. It concerned the pass
age through Atlanta of a special
“sealed” train, bearing a hu
man cargo of Jewish people
who, during World War II, had
been liberated from GerirTan
concentration camps—and scat
tered into exile for their safe
ty’s sake.
By complicated prearrange
ment, this large displaced seg
ment of humanity had been
gathered, literally from all
quarters of the globe, in San
Francisco. From there, their
goal was Israel, for settlement
and the future. It was decided
to bring them East by train to
facilitate their departure by
ship for the Middle East.
For-security reasons, they
were not permitted to leavfe
the train at all on its transcon
tinental trip, nor was any per
son from outside (except rail
road personnel) allowed to
board the cars at any of their
necessary s t o p p i n g-points.
Word seeped out through th -
wrappings of secrecy, however,
and many people in Atlanta
and the South found out tha'
this train would pass through
Atlanta’s terminal on a certain
date.
A committee of Jewish lead
ers called on Harry Siegel, not
with any idea of transgressing
rules and regulations, but with
the hope of adding some joy
and comfort to their fellow
men, women and children on
their guarded migration from
captivity through exile to new
freedom in Israel.
As he always did in worthy
situations, Harry cooperated to
the utmost. When the long
train, using Southern Pacific
equipment, pulled into the
terminal plans already had
been perfected to do all for the
pilgrims that could possibly be
done under the restrictive cir
cumstances.
Newspapers, books, maga
zines, toilet articles and items
of useful clothing, as well as
fruits, candies and other deli
cacies were sent aboard to
cheer the trainload of willing
captives—whose only conver
sation with their benefactors
was from the train vestibules
or by sign language through
car windows.
Another mission had been
accomplished, another memory
for Harry to take with him as
he and Mrs. Siegel retire to
North Miami Beach in April of
this year to enjoy the sunshine
of their declining years. This
will happen just about the
time, on April 8, 1967, when
Harry celebrates his 71st birth
day. He will have many memo
ries to take with him to
Florida.
For instance, he will long
savor the words of praise print
ed in The Atlanta Journal by
Compliments of
KNOX Federal
Savings and
Loan Association
4%%
Insured Savings
Home Loans
610 SOUTH GAY STREET
KNOXVILLE, tf'ENN.
46
The Southern Israelite