From our inbox: I have an incredibly strange question and I hope the Historical Society is right place to ask it. 

My grandfather wrote a book about his life in Vermont and he told this hilarious but strange story about running out of gas in the middle of the night in Randolph in 1953. He told of being rescued by what he described as the “Town Watchman on a bike with a clock.” I’m including the relevant passage below. He had a footnote in this chapter saying he intended to write the town of Randolph and ask if his “guardian angel” was real. I don’t think he ever did, but I’m wondering if you could shed some light on this. Does the guy described below sound like a person/position that has ever been employed by the Town of Randolph? Was the man’s method of proving his wakefulness actually how somebody kept track of him?

I would love any information whatsoever about this or even slight confirmation of the veracity of this story. But if you can’t find anything, enjoy a snippet of my Grandpa’s storytelling.

I did not know anything about this story but I knew who might, the “You Know You Are From Randolph When…” Facebook group. This was what I relayed back to the man who emailed.

The man’s name was Dave Barcomb. He had one arm. I have not seen… if he has any direct living relatives in town but a few people claim to be related to him.

Apparently the system was such that YES he did wear a clock around his neck. Per one of the people in the group:

“The ‘watchclock’ was a large and heavy leather encased clock that had a paper tape in it. Each time he took a watchkey, that was attached to each ‘watchbox’ a matchbox sized cast iron box with a flip up lid that was bolted to the building, he turned the key in the clock showing he had been there. This way a permanent record was made as to when each business was checked. You can see the remains of these on several buildings in town. It was a round clock like the one pictured with the box and key.”

There are a few watchboxes around town still. I am attaching a photo that were shared. Here is a link to the website of the company, Detex, which made these devices.