02 December 2007

Joe Maloney

We lived next door to the Maloney family, Joe, Jim and their parents. In the 1940s, we played together; he was four years younger than me. One time, Joe’s mother bought him an archery set with blunt-tipped arrows. Joe was excited and went into the back yard and shot an arrow straight up; it came down and hit his brother in the top of the head. No real damage done, but that was the end of archery at the Maloneys.

Joe’s father worked as a night guard for the Rochester Psychiatric Hospital (the Insane Asylum, in days of yore), and Joe was used to going there and wandering around the complex. One day, Joe “borrowed” his father’s revolver and headed to the Pinnacle hill area, a wooded, hilly unpopulated tract on the southern edge of Rochester, where he wound up shooting himself in the hand and falling down a cliff. The firemen were called, by whom I don’t know, and rescued Joe. That was the end of “borrowing” his father’s revolver.

Joe worked at many jobs, including handling dynamite, or at least he boasted of it. He had been to Ireland to visit relatives and had kissed the Blarney Stone, so it was difficult to determine fact from fiction. I did find him at work at Haloid Xerox in a paint spray booth in the early 1960s. At one time he told me that he had had his colon removed and offered to show me his colostomy bag, but I declined.

He and I double-dated at one point, he with his fiancee, June, and I with a cousin of his from Ireland. Joe stood a little over six feet and June was about five feet four. They always seemed to get along well when we were together, however there was another side to Joe that I never saw. To read about that, go to http://www.dun-laoghaire.com/michael_maloney.html for the rest of the story.

2 comments:

Ronabear41 said...

I certainly didn't expect to find that web page! Good thing you didn't hang out with him for long.

Demo said...

I met Joe in 1956,he was a regular visitor ti my Uncle Larry's auto shop on Clinton Avenue. even then there were many stories about Joe and his apparent predilection for BS. Ther was always something "exciting" going on with him and always a wild story to accompany the event. I think he was a pathological liar. As a 16 year old kid I was kind of enthralled with his stories he was 4 years older than I was and claimed he had dropped out of medical school. I might add that he knew all the jargon and once diagnosed measles when I had the very first symptoms.
Yes I came down with full blown measles and twilight coming through the windows of my sleeping area was blinding.
At the time my Uncle Larry was building a house way down on South Clinton ave in Rochester. His property suddenly started showing signs of vandalism.
Joe Volunteered to keep his dog (that looked to me like a German shepard) which he claimed was German Shepard and Siberian Wolf.
Dont get me wrong he was a fine dog and we became fast friends - but Siberian Wolf? I don't think so - but that's the way it was with Joe ,if something he said wasn't a downright lie it was absolutely embellished to make it special and unique as it related to him.

The dog was placed in the cellar of the unfinished home - but the vandalism continued.

Joe suggested that we go to the house with guns after dark and hide
out near the front perimeter of the property. So Uncle Larry, Joe, myself and somebody else I don't remember went out there - hid behind piles of dirt and some brush
and waited -- semi silently.

Joe brought a couple of guns - a shotgun and a rifle. Joe had the shotgun and Uncle Larry had the rifle. I had a rock.

After about half an hour Joe exclaimed, "Look! It's the Shadow of a man!" I heard a gun throw a shell into a chamber and knew immediately Joe was full of it.

There was no shadow of anything - it was dark but had anyone been standing or walking near the back of the house their silhouette would have been clearly visible.

I dropped my rock and crouched lower behind the dirt pile waiting for the shotgun to go off ---- I held my breath - surprisingly nothing happened. But Joe insisted
someone had been there. We left shortly after - I think Uncle Larry
knew as well as I did that Joe was full of crap. Neither he nor I ever contradicted Joe. But Joe told the story over and over again to anyone who would listen. By the way there was no more vandalism after that night.

I could go on and on with Joe Maloney stories but before I close I want to say a few words about that beautiful Dog who's name I no longer remember. One evening I was playing with him in the cellar of that house he was now guarding. I had an old shoe and was letting him grab it in his teeth as I tried to pull it out of his mouth - I actually almost lifted him off the floor trying to get that shoe away from him. Once as I was pulling hard he opened his jaws for an instant trying to renew his grip on that old leather thing. Befor he could re close his jaws the shoe came out and the tension of my arms
snapped it back into my face - it was almost like being punched in the nose. I involuntarily dropped the shoe and put my hands up to my face in pain. The dog seemed to understand instantly what had happened and came over to me almost apologetically licked my face and hovered around me until he knew I was OK. Whatever he was he was a damned good dog.

As far as Joe goes I think he is probably dead by now. His brother Jim married a girl I knew from High School, he went to work at Xerox in the maintenance department - soon the was in charge of the entire department - he lived a full and successful life and died in his sleep a few years ago. Not to long after Jim's death his wife moved back to the Rochester area. She makes frequent trips to California to visit their children and grand children. According to her they never heard from Joe even after he was held in Ireland in the 80s - By the way Joe was profiled both on Unsolved Mysteries and Americas Most Wanted.
Dean Morgan