Paris, Illinois seemed to be the source of a lot of our problems that had nothing to do with the insureds, the town or anything else in the area. The Cincinnati Boiler Inspectors got all rattled up there, one time also.

It was customary for us to wire the Boston Office if, for any reason, our travel plans were changed while we were away from our home base.

On the occasion that I refer to, Maurice (Buck) Sloan was over in Illinois and was going to have to stay another day, so he wired Boston as follows, AM IN PARIS ILL. STOP BUCK, meaning, of course, that Buck Sloan was in Paris, Illinois. The people in Boston, however, couldn’t interpret anything as simple as that, so they called Harold Canavan, Buck’s Supervisor in Cincinnati, telling him to get to Paris at once and find out what was wrong with Buck.

Now that was another trip for nothing, because by the time that Harold got to Paris Buck was well on his way back to Cincinnati. When Harold finally gave up trying to find Buck in any of the health support facilities in Paris, he called the Sloan residence, in Cincinnati, thinking that perhaps Mrs. Sloan might know what hospital Buck was in, and Buck answered the phone.

Needless to say, Harold was unhappy with the whole thing, but as I recall, unhappy was not the expression that Harold used to describe his feelings at that time.