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The Eagle of Boyce Street (Contributed by John Karonika) Even today, I chuckle a bit when thinking about the eagle. I don't remember what year it was - I guess it was around 1956 - when we first saw the "eagle" of Boyce Street. Raymond Erlanson, my brother Tom, and I were about 15-17 years old. It was one of those baking hot summer afternoons and we were watching TV when one of the boys who lived down the street came running up shouting that he, his brother, and some friends had captured an eagle in "the woods." These boys were around 10-12 years old - unfortunately I do not remember their names - and lived next door to the Leonard's ranch-style home which was on the corner of Boyce and Lathrop - directly across from Bo's service station. And, of course, you do remember "the woods"? It was the area south of Palestine & Larimer streets and is now an industrial area; back then it was "the woods." Well, these boys wanted us to go down to their house and pay them 10 cents to see the eagle. "There are no eagles around here. You have something else," we said. As we walked down the street we could see a big cardboard box - about the size of one of those standup console Admiral TV sets back then. The box was moving around and the boys were having a difficult time holding the box steady. As we got closer it was obvious that the boys had something really BIG inside the box. The box was moving and we could hear all kinds of strange noises and screeching sounds. The eagle was apparently not too happy and was flapping its wings and doing all kinds of things. It seemed to be one big bird! Since we expressed our doubt about it being an eagle they let me take a free look. The idea being that I could verify that it really was an eagle then the others would have to pay to look at "The Eagle of Boyce Street." Well, everyone held the box down and I took a look through an opening in the box top. It took a while to see anything because it was dark inside but enough light to see - the buzzard!! Yeah, an ugly, stinking buzzard! I fell to the ground laughing and when they asked me why I was laughing I barely was able to utter the word "buzzard." We laughed and laughed a long time - and, of course, kidded the boys. The boys were not so amused. At first, they argued that it was indeed an eagle and we didn't know what an eagle looked like. But finally they accepted the fact that instead of an eagle they captured a buzzard. How? Apparently while the "eagle" was enjoying a road kill or something in the woods the boys managed to get an old bedspread over the creature. They told us that it was not easy getting the eagle back home. As we walked slowly back to our house still laughing we watched as the boys removed the box and released the big bird. "The Eagle of Boyce Street" immediately flew away.
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