(Rehobeth, Somerset County)
When I was sixteen years old, I worked a summer job at Somerset Packing Company, then owned by William Jones. I ran a capping machine on one of the two lines and it was a steam-powered cast iron machine that installed and crimped the lids on cans filled with peeled tomatoes. The tomatoes were peeled by a crew of approximately 20 to 30 ladies wielding very sharp knives at a peeling table slightly upstream of my location. One day I was startled to see the tip of someone's finger, about a half inch long, floating in a can of tomatoes as it passed by my station. Unfortunately, the line was moving very quickly, and I could not retrieve the can before it was capped and moved on into the cooker. I often wondered about the poor customer who thought they were getting just a can of tomatoes, not expecting an extra bonus!
Your friend,
Slim
July, 1921
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Worcester Democrat
November, 1892
Balitmore Sun
*July, 2007
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Baltimore Sun
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