Hudson something of a croc

0 0 May 30, 2025 Edit this post

by Bill Buys

THE Hudson Motor Car Company started life in Detroit in 1909, but the brand’s association with Trouble began in 1916.

It was then that William Carpenter, a young entrepreneur of St Petersburg, Florida -- bought a 1913 model.

He embarked on four-month tour to the west, promoting the ‘Sunshine City of St Petersburg’ – and Trouble, his two metre-long pet alligator -- was right behind him.

Carpenter was known throughout Pinellas County as the Alligator Man, a ‘can-do’ kind of man who spent almost seven decades there in various occupations.

He farmed strawberries, delivered groceries, then operated the city’s first theatre.

He also sold real estate (land was 50c an acre at the time, downtown lots $50 and a house cost $500) and was an active promoter of the city and of alligators.

For almost a decade, Hollywood stars filled the screen and vaudeville acts appeared on stage at Carpenter’s 350-seat Royal Palm Theater.

Tickets were 10 cents.

Most patrons avoided the caged alligator outside the theatre, but one drunken fisherman stuck his hand in to pat the creature -- and lost his lower arm.

Carpenter later opened the Royal Palm Gift Shop, where customers could buy live alligators and other exotic items.

"He used to ship (alligators) all over the country for $1.50 each guaranteed," Winifred, his wife recalled.

"He had as many as 1000 little alligators in pens back of the store."

Backed by the Board of Trade, Carpenter and his friend, Joe Honey, went on a promotional tour in 1916.

Atop supplies in the rear was Trouble, housed in a tailor-made canvas bag.

"To the Sunshine City, St. Petersburg, Fla. -- We are going, come along," read the side of Carpenter's $1700 Hudson touring car.

The Hudson travelled 14,042 miles (about 22,500km) through axle-deep sand, clay mire and rock-strewn desert.

"The trio amazed Blackfoot Indians in the Dakotas, cowboys in Yellowstone and even doubting Canadians," journalist June Young recorded.

Carpenter believed Trouble would be a sensation, and he was right.

At venues en route he would free Trouble and spar with the beast, then turn him over on his back and lovingly rub his stomach.

Afterward, promotional pamphlets were distributed, a hat was passed around and orders for baby alligators ($1.50 each) were taken.

Trouble's earnings totalled $2000, a lot of money at the time.

Carpenter and Winifred, who was his assistant for 35 of the 49 years they were married, retired in 1972. He died in 1973 at age 91. They had no children.

And Trouble?

Despite some reports claiming he, like many an alligator, eventually ended up as a wallet or handbag -- they are not true.

He was killed by another alligator at a local farm and a distraught Carpenter had his saurian friend mounted, and the trophy is with a relative.

His Hudson was a Model 37. It was high-quality medium-priced car in the period and well regarded for its performance and quality construction.

It had a 4.6-litre four-cylinder engine and a three-speed gearbox.

Carpenter modified it with a running board storage chest to hold travel gear and presumably assorted alligator treats.

The company reached its peak in 1929 with annual production of 300,000 cars.

Like other manufacturers during World War II, Hudson suspended car production from 1942 to 1945.

It switched to buildig Invader engines for the Navy, as well as various aircraft parts and eventually shut up shop in 1957.

The Alligator Man should not be confused with another William Carpenter in the US.

He was an English-born printer who had his own troubles.

He was an advocate for the Flat Earth movement and published a book One Hundred Proofs That The Earth is Not a Globe in 1895.