Old Missoula

1 Arm Motorcycle Guy – 1955

Growing up I used to see an interesting guy driving around Missoula on what looked like a really old Harley Davidson motorcycle. He even had a little shop, I believe, on Hickory Street where it curved around in a goofy little alley before it meets W. Beckwith St. What was unusual about him was that he only had one arm. I’m quite sure he was probably a veteran. In discussing him with friends I’ve been asked for a description of him – which arm was he missing? – for instance. I can’t remember that. I seem to remember that he smoked a lot. He actually rented a little house in the back of my parent’s place at one time, but likely not for very long, I don’t think. In the mid-1950’s, maybe.

I would say he was about 5’6’’ and not a slender person. Speculating as to how he managed to drive his cycle with one arm and shift gears & use the brake & throttle is an interesting topic, if you are mechanically curious. I have no idea how he did it. Not like I did for a while, I’m sure. I had a little scooter once that I had to drive with one hand, because I broke the throttle cable and didn’t refrain from using it when I should have. I had to reach back and pull on the carburetor throttle with a coat hanger in one hand. It actually worked pretty well. At least this worked OK when I was blasting around my neighborhood and up and down alleys. It didn’t work very well though when I was coming down Waterworks Hill with my buddies one day. I got to find out what it felt like to fly. An Evil Knievel right over the handlebar when it jackknifed. How dumb is that? No helmets in those days. I don’t know why I didn’t break anything.

It was one of many accidents I had. It would take me a long while to tell you about them all. I put my finger on a bicycle chain one day and just watched it go around the sprocket with my finger inside of it. That kind of thing kept me from having a normal childhood, I guess. I remember a fairly large dog, approximately in the same neighborhood as the one-armed guy’s shop. The dog would chase me on my bicycle whenever I came by. I decided to give him a good kick one day, when he showed me why some dogs don’t seem to leave kids alone. He grabbed my pant leg and quickly down I went in a heap. Somebody, somewhere, called their idiot friend a ‘genius of accidents’ & that was me, I’m afraid.

Anyway, the gentleman with one arm hasn’t seemed to spark anybody’s memory that has been in contact with me lately, so I’m putting it on my website to see if anybody can help me out. I’m sure there are other people who remember him also, and could probably tell you something about him. If you can do this, I’d appreciate it if you would get hold of me. I’ll keep your name a secret if that’s the way you want it, or not, your choice.

An article in The Daily Missoulian mentioned Clifford Helwig/Helvig of Missoula, who lost his left hand as the result of an accident at Buckhouse Bridge in 1949. He came from a long time Missoula family and was the son of William H. Helwig and Nell Gluyas, according to a Missoulian obituary of 6/7/1913. He died in Helena, Mt. in 1977. P. J. Helwig was an early automobile dealer in Missoula beginning in 1929.