Small town fairs once attracted big crowds. It was the only game in town. Take a look at the crowd in this photo. It was given to me by my host family the Teeges. Can you spot the hermaphrodite?



Of course, rubes had to be ever wary of swindlers. County fairs were magnets for con artists and "macth stick" men. And worse...........



The chemicals they used to rid your home of bugs were highly toxic and addictive. Note the eyes of the man on the left (Rory McClane), paranoid, down cast. It is the faraway stare of the dope fiend. He cut his powder with baby laxative and shot the rest up himself. Taking intravenously, the powder produced an intense high but left the user feeling sick once the chemical had run its course. Which of course fed into an ever widening circle of addition until before long old Rory could barely get out of bed.

This photo is from his last county fair. Rory died a month after it was taken. His body was dumped in a cheap cemetery plot. There is seldom a stone to mark the passing of the dope fiend.