Edward French

by JAY ROGERS

Somebody remembered "Frenchie", the legless guy who lived in a shack in the 1940s along the LIRR right of way across from Dale Gardens. Edward French was written up every now and then in the Long Island Daily Press. I think he was the last legal squatter in Queens. All the kids would sneak off and talk to him after being admonished by their parents, never, ever go near Eddie French. He had a different story about who and what he was every time you talked to him. I don't recall the newspaper getting much further with him either. He remained a somewhat mysterious Kew Gardens legend after he died. Or, at least, I remember it that way. After he died, we ransacked the place looking for his buried gold. Actually it was just kicking around in a rat infested dump. Anyway, I found, had the presence of mind to keep, and still have, the legal document concerning his lawsuit against the LIRR. It is a short, but rich and true history of Edward French and the vicinity where he lived.

Deposition of Edward French courtesy of Jay Rogers. Photograph of the Mineola Stables in Richmond Hill where French worked as a young man from The Lucy Ballenas Collection courtesy of Carl Ballenas.

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