Magyar News, 2006. január-május (17. évfolyam, 1-5. szám)

2006-04-01 / 4. szám

half-buried prow and figurehead of an old sailing vessel.

Then there is one of the artist's conception of Hillsboro Inlet. The era where, according to records, Barefoot Mailman Hamilton, his boat stolen, attempted to swim the inlet to get the mail through, and was never seen again. The three huge alligators are the artist's methods of getting across to the viewer what may have happened to Mr. Hamilton.

It is not definitely known the exact date the Barefoot Mailmen started delivering mail from Jupiter Lighthouse to Miami a distance of 100 miles, but it is assumed they started in the late 1870s or early 1880's. They traveled along sandy beaches infected with insects and reptiles often guiding travelers between these destinations. They were three days each way covering the route and averaged 7,000 miles each year.

They were paid $175.00 each three months by the Government at the Brelsford Port Post Office located just south of the Flagler Museum. There is a plaque in the Museum commemorating James E. Hamilton, who lost his life near Hillsboro Inlet, October, 1887. It is interesting that Barefoot Mailmen were not older than 20 years.

Here are five of Stevan Dohanos' paintings on the Barefoot Mailman. Unfortunately the painting of the Jupiter Lighthouse is missing because the viewing angle for photographing and the reflection from the skylight were not favorable

The delivery of mail changed with building the railroad. The railroad from Palm Beach to Miami was started June 12, 1895, and completed September 7, 1896, although the first train arrived in Miami in March of 1896. At that time, the railroad was renamed the Florida East Coast. The engine burned wood and the engineer

would stop along the route and purchase wood from natives who cut it and piled it along the tracks. The engineer gave a receipt and Mr. Flagler paid for the wood. In 1900, the engines converted to coal.” Thanks for the tour and information we received from Ms. Sasso on behalf of the very interesting Post Office. , „ ß

SUBSCRIBERS PLEASE READ THESE FEW LINES.

We have very limited possibilities to handle the administrative work that is part of publishing the Magyar News. We try to simplify it as much as possible. We started the Magyar News as the Hungarian newsletter of the Halsey International Scholarship. So it was organized within the time zone of the school year. Unfortunately after many successful years the University of Bridgeport closed the program. We also lost the weekly Hungarian radio program Page 6

because the new owners didn’t give any airtime. The Magyar News is free to take at the Hungarian churches and some businesses and in the beginning it was easy to handle the few who wanted to have it sent to their address. They signed up at different times of the year. Now that we have to send it out to 35 states in America, we had to to change the subscription time from January to December to simplify the work. Keep in mind that the MN is written and published by volunteers, the advertising covers the actual printing, cost, the subscription the postage expenses we have.

There are problems that occur. One is that we can’t handle every single check immediately, we wait till we have a few. Then we receive checks for two or more addresses. Eventually we send the renewal notice to the receivers address, not to the address on the check. I am sure that some other problems may occur. We will do our best to correct it.

If somebody in the neighborhood feels like chipping in with some help, we would appreciate it.

We listen to our readers and try to satisfy them all. Thanks for subscribing.