THE TELEPHONE COMES TO
LEVAN
(Charles Mangelson is Von Christensen's great grandfather)
Edison’s 1879 wall-mounted phone (left), the candle stick
design common in the 1920’s and 1930’s (bottom), and a 1937 “cradle” telephone,
a style popular since 1890 (on the right).
On August 25, 1903, the first telephone line reached Levan and
the first two telephones were installed.
Alma Dalby and Charles Mangelson, who was the Constable, had the first
two telephones. Thus connecting this
little town with the rest of the world.
At this same time when Juab was a rip-roaring frontier town,
it had three saloons and always managed to produce its share of rough
characters.
One particular time, Antone Brown, one of Juab’s saloon
keepers, called Charles on the new-fangled contraption they called “the telephone,”
and was able to talk to him clear over in Levan, if you can believe that ! He told Charles that there were three men
drinking heavily and causing trouble and asked Charles to come and arrest them,
but that he should bring plenty of help because these men were real hard
characters, and that he had better bring a wagon to haul them off to jail in.
When Charles arrived and Antone pointed them out to him, he
went up to one of them and said, “You have been disturbing the peace, and I
have to arrest you and take you to jail in Nephi.” The man sneered at him and said, “You’re not going to take me anywhere!”
Charles warned him that if he didn’t come peacefully that
he would have to put handcuffs on him.
Again the man sneered and disrespectfully asked, “Why
don’t you just do that?” So
Charles grabbed him and forcefully put the cuffs on him and he immediately
slipped right out of them. His wrists
were so large in proportion to his hands that the cuffs slipped right off when
he put pressure on them! The handcuffs
were just a game for him.
Charles warned him that he and his two pals were going to
jail one way or another, and as he spoke, he was quickly drawing his pistol.
Staring into that large black hole at the end of the barrel
of Mr. Colt’s equalizer, the three tough guys meekly climbed into the back of
the wagon and they headed for Levan.
Ordinarily he would have taken them to Nephi, but the hour
was so late Charles took them to his home in Levan. Eliza got out of bed and stoked up the
kitchen stove, and cooked them a nice late supper, and then Charles bedded them
down on the kitchen floor while he slept on the cot across the room in the
kitchen. It was a short night but they
were all up early and Eliza cooked them a nice breakfast and then it was off to
jail in Nephi. Charles had a way with
people, even the rough ones and those three never caused him any more trouble.
