Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories.
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It was Saturday afternoon, Nov. 30, 1968, and a Marysville man, Lawrence Dolan, was at work at the Conrad Monument Works, at the corner of Main and Fourth Street. He was working in a room at the back of the store, where they kept the company’s records. As he worked, he heard what sounded like the shattering of glass.
Thinking it might be an auto accident on Main Street, he headed toward the store’s front door to see what had happened. But before he could leave the back room, he got the shock of his life. He was knocked to the floor by a deer. Yes, a deer was inside the store. Can you believe that? He was flabbergasted. And to make matters worse, he had a badly bruised knee, thanks to that deer.
As Lawrence got to his feet, he tried to open the back door so the deer could get out, but that frightened deer was going bananas. It was jumping all over the place. So Lawrence couldn’t get to the door. The back room had a side window, along Fourth Street, and Lawrence saw a young boy walking by. He asked him to open the back door from the outside, which he did. The deer dashed out the door and leaped from the loading dock to the sidewalk. It was last seen running past the National Guard Armory on its way to Mill Creek.
So how, and why, did that deer get into the store? The “How” is obvious. It jumped through the display window in the front of the store. That’s what Lawrence heard. It wasn’t a car accident; it was the window shattering. But why did the deer jump through the window? No one knows for sure, but I’ll tell you why I think the whole thing happened. It’s all conjecture, but I would bet the farm that I am right.
I think the deer was just wandering along Mill Creek, when it got off track and found itself on Main Street. There wasn’t much traffic at the time, so the deer headed south. It crossed the railroad track and continued south. I think it was a young and inexperienced deer, a lot like a ten-year-old kid. It continued south, past the post office and then crossed Fourth Street.
At that point, everything changed. The deer was suddenly in the business district in the center of town. It was surrounded by cars pulling in and out of parking places and shoppers going in and out of stores. The deer began to panic. It was standing in front of the display window of the Conrad Monument Works. The window was a foot or so above the sidewalk. The lighting inside the store was perfect for the deer to see its reflection in the window.
When the deer saw its reflection, it thought it was another deer, and it immediately jumped through the window to join it. Maybe the two of them together could find their way back to Mill Creek. When that deer hit the plate glass window, I bet it was every bit as surprised as Lawrence was when the deer knocked him to the floor.
It has been nearly 60 years since all this happened. But over the years, I bet Lawrence Dolan never forgot about that crazy day in 1968. And I bet that deer never forgot about it either.
Those wishing to contact Bill Boyd can e-mail him at williamboyd514@gmail.com