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Photo postcard of Robert “Bob” Sweeney with a burro, Garden of the Gods, 1907.

This sweet photo depicts 13-year old Robert “Bob” Emerson Sweeney sleeping with his head resting on a burro’s neck.  Bob mailed this postcard on September 3, 1907, to his aunt, Mary (Sweeney) Walker, wife of John Walker and sister to Bob’s father.   He writes:

“Dear Aunt Mary,   Thanks for the kerchief and postal.  We have hird (sic) from George, he is in Hamilton Montana.  How are all of you?  Hope you are well.  The picture is me and my favorite burro.  The picture is made through the Gateway of the Garden of the God (sic).  Good Bye.  Give my love to all.  Your nephew, Robert Sweeney.” 

(“George” may refer to his uncle George Sweeney, who married Evelyn Calvin in Park County, Montana, in September 1909.  George worked in Montana as a “rope man” in the mining industry for a number of years.  This was a highly skilled occupation, with responsibility for all the different types of rope, including wire rope, used in mining operations.)

At the time Bob mailed this postcard, it’s likely his family was living in Colorado Springs, their reported residence in the 1910 Census.   The fact that Bob had a favorite burro at the Garden of the Gods implies repeated visits, which are most easily accomplished if you live in the area.   

I was impressed that the reclining burro would allow Robert to sleep with his head on its neck.  I consulted the all-knowing Google and learned that a burro may sleep lying down if it perceives no harm from predators or if one or more burros are standing nearby.  I do note that there is an equine snout of a standing animal visible in the upper hand corner of the photo.  A warmer interpretation is that the burro trusted Bob.  I must say, though, that I’d have to be mighty knackered to sleep so close to those road apples! 

Bob, the youngest of six children, was born in 1893 in Hiawatha, Kansas, to Robert and Margaret (Walker) Sweeney.   By 1900, his family had moved to Boulder, and as stated earlier, by 1910 they were living in Colorado Springs, where Robert’s father worked as a carpenter.    Robert attended Colorado Springs High School and Colorado College.   In college he excelled as a pole vaulter. 

In 1916, Robert married Illinois-born Olga Brown.  Ogla had been a classmate of Robert’s at Colorado Springs High.   They had three children together.  By 1917, Bob had found work as a tool dresser, who I understand sharpens large drills, such as those used in construction, mining, quarrying, and well-drilling.    In 1919, he applied for a passport to travel to Tampico, Mexico, to develop oil properties, and by 1920 he was self-employed as the manager of an oil company in Colorado Springs.  Staying with the oil business, he eventually moved his family south to Texas, where he evidently prospered, at least as indicated by one undated and unidentified newspaper article in which his mother-in-law reports that he has “brought in a large commercial well in the Pioneer district of Texas, a short distance from Fort Worth.”  The well reportedly promised a steady production of oil.   At some point in time, Bob moved his family to Tampico, Mexico, to work for a Philadelphia-based oil company.   It is not known how long they were there.    

1924 finds the Sweeney’s in Fort Worth, and beginning in that year, one finds articles in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram newspaper touting the vaudeville troupe The Saxet (Texas spelled backward) Five, of which Bob is a member.  The articles indicate that he sang and took part in vaudeville shtick.  The “Five” were boosters of the Fort Worth Cats, a minor league baseball team.  At the time, the Cats were probably associated with the Indianapolis Indians, a triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates.  

The Saxet Five headlined at Fort Worth’s Majestic Theater, which at that time hosted the Southwest Vaudeville Theater Circuit.  The Majestic, a 1356-seat, lavishly adorned theater built in 1910 or 1911, reportedly contained the country’s first indirect stage lighting system.  Over the years, the stars featured there included Will Rogers, Walter Huston, Tallulah Bankhead, and Fred Allen.   

As late as the 1930 Census, Bob’s occupation was given as “Professional Entertainer.”     By about 1940, he and Olga had moved to Coronado, California, where Bob’s career took another turn, this time into the retail pet food business.  At the time of his death in 1952 at age 59, he had established pet food stores in both Coronado and San Diego.   Their home in Coronado, a small stucco house with a tile roof, was at 408 Fifth Street, which you can see if you go into Google Maps at https://www.google.com/maps.   Olga died in 1962 at age 65.  She and Bob’s remains are interred at the Cypress View Mausoleum and Crematory in San Diego.

 REFERENCES:

  • Google
  • Wikipedia at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Worth_Cats_(Texas_League)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolis_Indians

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