Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 January 1905 — THE ORIGIN OF “KICKERS” [ARTICLE]

THE ORIGIN OF “KICKERS”

Supposed to Come From art Occupe- , Hon in the - Cornish Mines. "1 believe that the origin of the expressive bit of aiahg ‘kickers' mfry be .‘found.lb -the lowest form^of occupation any member of the human race fenoVvsV’ W. M. Robinson states in the St, Louis Globe Democrat. " Wormsleys and St Hel- ; eiM, in Cornwall, is an underground l canal connecting the lower levels of the coal mines‘at Wormsleys with the aurface station at St. Helens which JfihYh a great deal of money for the ‘'nilne owners in handling the coal, which is simply loaded on the bargee in the mines and transported by the canal under the mountains to the harbor at St Helens. Wtren the "canal was devised, however, how to provide for locomotion for these barges was a -problem. "Mutes couldn’t be u.ced„ and there were circumstances which made steam impossible, but an inventive genius , finally solved the riddle by suggesting that cross pieces of timber be placed along the roof of the canal which was very lqw, and men could lie oa their backs on top of the loaded barges and ‘kick' the vessels along. After the barge was once started this was found to be feasible. “The men could easily keep the load in motion by the means suggested, and it has ever since been in use. There 1 is no question about the low gradq of this sort of work, and even the men who follow it are constantly ‘kicking’ around the villages where they live. They were known at the mines especially as ‘kickers' because of their work and their vocal complaints, contlually Indulged in, caused every one at Wormsleys or St Helens, no matter what their station or employment, who indulged in complaints to be .called ‘kickers.’ I presume that the origin of the word, as we use it, is just what I have suggested."