A Streetcar Named Ananias

Imagine Stanley Kowalski yelling "Hey Stella!" while standing in the street, only the setting is not New Orleans, but instead Oil City; and the street car runs on Ananias (OC's former name), not Desire, Street. Naah, I can't either. (smile) 

However, in 1912 New Orleans street car conductor and aspiring author and playwright Christian Joseph (not "F.") Meunier  (1889-1946) did write a novel  in which the main character is from OC. Titled "The Minister Of Peace," it is the fictional story of Jack Truce, a local oil field superintendent, and his fight for worker justice that takes him all the way to leadership of organized labor and a meeting with the President of the United States. Author Meunier provides a plot synopsis in the article below..

Source: New Orleans Item 23-Sep-1912, Page 4

While it's not known if the work ever reached New York publishers, illustrator Robert Emile Heier (1887-1932), similarly a streetcar conductor, did later move to that city where he worked in a similar position for a Brooklyn railway line.

There is no explanation available why Christian selected Oil City as home for his hero. Census records indicate he lived in New Orleans his entire life. This was an era though of real and/or perceived oil company excess and exploitation, and the town was one of the preeminent sites of related activity at that time. He must have been quite a creator as in addition to the aforementioned novel, he later copyrighted a play, "The Sporting Woman," and held patents for inventions that included a combination pen-filling inkwell and fountain pen set and bank protecting device.

His home, mentioned in the article at 827 Poland Street still stands today.


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