Birney Safety Cars of Terre Haute.

In December of 1918, Terre Haute went under a little reconstruction of public transportation. In December of 1919, almost all of the city services was safety-car mileage. What use to be 26 transportation cars, was now replaced with 53 up to date safety cars. The old cars could only travel at 8 or 9 miles an hour but these new Birney Safety Cars traveled at a 10 to 11 mph pace. Allowing people to get to their destination faster than before. In the above photo, the man you see standing in the middle of the road, at the bottom of the picture, is actually a traffic officer. This officer stopped vehicles traveling on Seventh Street to give the right-of-way to the Birney streetcars on Wabash Avenue. Some of the stores on left side of the photo are: United Cigar Stores, Patsy Mahaney's Candies, the Crescent Theater, and Doctor Frank Anshutz, dentist.

Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown

Mordecai Brown lost most of his right index finger in a piece of farming equipment. Not long after, he fell while chasing a rabbit and broke his other fingers. The result was a bent middle finger, a paralyzed little finger, and a stump where the index finger used to be.

Mordecai led the Terre Haute Tots to the first ever Three-I Championship, posting a 23-8 record. Mordecai joined the St. Louis Cardinals in 1903. After joining the Cubs in 1904, Mordecai's record was 15-10 and his ERA was 1.86. Brown still holds the Cubs record for most shutouts, since 1900, with 48 and lowest career ERA of 1.80. In addition, Brown is the Cubs record holder for most wins a single season, with 29, in 1908. Another record He holds for the Cubs is the lowest ERA in a single season, with 1.04, in 1906. Mordecai's greatest years was with the Cubs from 1904 to 1912. He won 186 games and had six straight seasons, from 1905 to 1910, while posting 20 or more wins. During that time he led the Cubs to two World Series Championships.

His best year was 1906 when his winning percentage was .813. He pitched nine shutouts that year, and his 1.04 ERA is baseball's third best in a single season. The Cubs won a remarkable 116 games in 1906 but lost the World Series to their cross-town rival, the White Sox.

In 1919, Brown went back to Terre Haute to manage his former semipro team. Mordecai later owned and operated a gas station in Terre Haute.

Charles "Bud" Taylor is considered to be one of the toughest fighters to step into the ring. Charles became a professional fighter at the age of 17. Don't let his 5'6", 120 pound frame fool you. Bud Taylor fought 163 times in 11 years. He grew up here in Terre Haute and was a well known fighting machine. At the International Boxing Hall of Fame website, I found Charles "Bud" Taylor with a amazing record of 71 wins, 23 losses, 6 draws, 63 no decisions and 37 of his wins were by knockout. He was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005. Charles Taylor was a fighter that nobody wanted to face. When people say, big things come in small packages, Charles Taylor now comes to mind.