Madison Trivia: Bascom Clarke And The Car Siren

This came my way via email from a descendent of Bascom Clark who was a colorful and vital part of Madison’s history.  B.B. Clarke Beach on the isthmus is named in his honor.

I talked to my cousin Tim over the holidays.  He said grandpa (Hiram Hynum) used to talk about Uncle Bascom.  He doesn’t remember him being a chauffeur but he was a young man when he came up from Texas so he probably did a variety of tasks.  He said grandpa said Uncle Bascom had a car early on and told him a story about Uncle B’s dislike of slow poke drivers.  He was so annoyed that he went and got a siren put on the car.  However, that displeased a number of people including some on the city council.  There wasn’t a law against regular citizens having sirens at that time so they started working on writing one.  So Grandpa sneaked in one night, removed the siren and put on a long, loud horn.  Uncle Bascom was angry at first but then decided he liked the horn better.  I asked my cousin if he knew what year this took place and he said no.