Police - The paddy wagon 1919 Postcard

Colourized photo from 1918 Original Title: Franklin Motor Car Co Photographer: Harris & Ewing Location: Washington DC It's sort of funny how words are placed into the lexicon. Every day words you see in a cartoon and think nothing of it. Take this one for example, the paddy wagon. The paddy wagon is a police van that takes the unruly to prison. It keeps the driver safe so they aren't hurt. But the term paddy wagon has a number of back tales of why they call it that. There is one theory, that its a derogatory term for Irish people, as many were hauled off from riots in NY. Horse carts would pick them up and haul them to jail. However others think it was because the police were Irish, as many of them were, and Patty is a nick name for the Irish, and paddy was related to that. What actually makes the most sense however is that they used to call it a P.D. Wagon (police dept wagon), which sounds a lot better, and was probably the truest of all. The term came out in the 1930's. Another name for it was the Black Maria, often seen as black or a very dark blue. This particular vehicle is a Franklin Automobile, a car company that existed between 1902 to 1934. Usually they made a luxury car, with an air cooled engine, and they were light and responsive. This however is not a luxury car, though the engine does look air cooled. The sides of the car has a cloth exterior but otherwise has a cross hatched mesh. The rest was made of wood.