I had a 1962 or so Schwinn Jaguar, which had a 2 speed rear hub and a
front shock absorber, in gold, whitewall tires. It weighed about 80lb.
My dad kept it, was in the barn, in near perfect condition. I got down
to the farm to clean stuff out, was looking forward to reclaiming it. I
was walking around and saw a piece of a broken Schwinn logo on the
ground pressed under some tire tracks. Ohsh*t. I went down to the barn
and lo it was gone, lock broken on the bin, along with my mother's green
Schwinn cruiser of maybe 1968, also in perfect condition.
I learned from the neighbor farmer my dumbass criminal cousin had been
there just a couple hours earlier, he had seen him and one of his boys
driving my dad's little JD diesel tractor around at 6AM. He stopped and
made them put the tractor back, noticed he had a couple of jet skis on a
trailer, which were supposedly his (I believe he had stolen them some
years before and had them stored in my dad's barn). He also noticed the
doors to the other barn were open, told him to close up and get out of
there. I rang him up and asked him about all that, he said he had not
seen any bicycles but he was pulling the trailer with an old Suburban, I
presume he had them stuffed in the back along with some other things.
He had stopped by to see his mother, my auntie whom I really like, so I
asked her if she had seen my bicycles, she said no but she had covered
for him in the past as a mother does. I asked him about the tractor, he
said his boy wanted to try it out (at 6AM!) so they just started it up
and he was driving it around. I knew the battery was dead on the
tractor, took some effort to get it going, so that was a lie too -- they
were trying to steal it, go stash it in the woods somewhere and come
back later to get it and take it to his buddy's place which was a few
miles away.
A coupla years earlier my dad's JD Gator, tools, air compressor, etc.
were stolen from the garage. The cousin had "borrowed" my dad's
trailer, which I had left in the barn, to go do something at that
buddy's. At that time I told his mother, my aunt, I needed the trailer
back, she knew where it was so I said I was going to go get it. Her
boyfriend said no he would go get it and bring it back. I figured he
had used it to steal the stuff, taken it to his bud's, and they were
going to sell it all or something. The auntie's BF did not want me
going there and finding the Gator, things might have transpired. I was
tempted to go down there anyway but figured firearms might become
involved, and I did not have any with me, so let it go. I tried to get
the Sheriff to do something, but they said without any proof they
couldn't just go on the guy's property.
Some year or two later the cousin ended up spending a year or so in
prison for burglary, theft, or something. I think the local poleeces
where he lived finally got tired of his behavior and just rounded him up
on various things. I had found silver, a big TV, and various other
things in auntie's basement, she said it was his stuff, he was
"moving." I figured he stashed stuff there. A coupla years before that
he got arrested for trying to smuggle some dope into jail for one of his
buds, he had it stuffed in his buttcrack.
Anyway, I still wish I had that bike, I loved it when I was a kid, it
was my first big bike and I rode it everywhere. The cousin appears to
have cleaned up his act, but he still owes my dad for his thieving.
--R
On 8/8/13 6:26 PM, Mountain Man wrote:
--R wrote:
...but still have my Schwinn 10spd in the garage I bought in high school,
trading in my Stingray i outgrew, which would be worth a fortune today.
I used to assemble Stingray bikes at the Schwinn shop. And, I still
ride my 1938 rear drop-out New Departure Chicago Schwinn balloon tire
bicycle - maybe it's also work a fortune today...
mao
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