Many Princeton families raised animals for food and one of the most popular was the pig. Most families had a pig pen where they kept the animals until the time came to slaughter them. Some of the pork was used for roasting or frying and the slabs of fat were salted and cured and used when cooking other types of meat, fish or poultry. Cal Prince’s uncle Sam Prince raised black and white pigs known as razor backs. They adapted really well to the harsh Newfoundland climate.

On occasion animals would get out of their pens and wander away. The animals were usually found safe and sound and returned to their pens by their owners. After the railway opened in Princeton in 1911 the track became a dangerous place for stray animals. During the period when the Reid Newfoundland Company operated the railway in Newfoundland one of Uncle Sam’s pigs got out and found its way onto the tracks. The pig was struck and killed by the train as it traveled down the Bonavista Branch Line which passed through Princeton. Uncle Sam was not pleased and he decided to write the Reid Newfoundland Company and seek compensation for the loss of his pig.

Uncle Sam was a very intelligent man and had a knack for expressing himself in verse and the letter went like this;

Dear Sir:

My razor back, went on the track, a week ago today

And number nine, came down the line, and snuffed his life away

The little pig, no fault of mine, he broke the garden gate

Could you please send me, the sum of ten, his life to liquidate

Signed Samuel Prince

A few weeks passed and Uncle Sam finally received a reply from the Reid Newfoundland Company. Instead of a payment for the pig the envelope contained the following letter;

Dear Mr. Prince:

Your razor back, went on the track, as everybody know

When little pigs, go on the tracks, their bound to meet their foe

No swine kind, was in our mind, the day we built the track

It was for number nine, we built the line, and not your razor back.

Signed Reid Newfoundland Company