Ramsey: the last mule and cart man
Viewers who follow our weekly karaoke competition may have noticed that he is a regular member of the Tuesday night audience at Club Calypso. But Gilbert Wellington Ramsey, better known as just Ramsey, has a musical history that predates karaoke by at least a generation. Immortalised in song by Wilfred Peters, Ramsey was the last of a breed of “mule and cart” men who plied the streets of Belize City transporting everything from sugar to furniture. In 1987 Jacqueline Gray of the television show “Belize all Over” spent a memorable day with Ramsey and his mule.
Jacqueline Gray
“If you’ve ever walked the streets of Belize City, you can’t fail to have noticed him. His name is Ramsey, and ever since I was a little girl I’ve always wanted to know what it would be like to jump on his cart and beg for a ride. Today I finally got my chance.”
Ramsey
“One time it used to be lone carts that used to do all the jobs in Belize. They no had trucks, and bicycle carts weren’t around then and trucks and things didn’t do those jobs, it was just mule and cart. They used to call them drays, used to do all the jobs, all the transportation in Belize. Used to run lumber and cargoes and all kind a goods this cart used to run.”
Jacqueline Gray
Now looking at the mule and cart, where did you get the mule from?”
Ramsey
“Me and my dad bought the mule from Cayo road, fifty-eight miles on Cayo road from a man named Peter Banner. We went on a…we had to pass a river, I think it was either the Macal or Mopan River, because it was very stiff, stiff currant. And we went and bought this mule. We spent overnight and bought this mule.”
Jacqueline Gray
“How much did you have to pay for it?”
Ramsey
“Well at that time they had different size mule, so we didn’t pick a big one. Dah me pick this one…”
Jacqueline Gray
“Why wouldn’t you pick a big mule?”
Ramsey
“Because I didn’t like big mule, I just want a small one I could handle.”
Jacqueline Gray
“Does it mean there’s a difference in the work that it does or something like that?”
Ramsey
“Yeah. Well the big mule is stronger, but it can be dangerous. Because you would park your cart and sometimes the mule just bruk weh cause sometimes somebody might scare him and he bruk weh and run down the street and if they too strong you might can’t hold them back. So I didn’t want a mule that was too strong that you can’t hold, I want one I could control.”
Jacqueline Gray
“So how much did you pay for the mule back then?”
Ramsey
“Back then, you pay a hundred and fifty dollars for it.”
Jacqueline Gray
“And how long you have this one?”
Ramsey
“We have this mule now, twenty-six years. We get it after Hurricane Hattie.”
Jacqueline Gray
“Mr. Ramsey weh you use this mule and cart for?”
Ramsey
“Well I use this cart to sing on, preach on, work.”
Jacqueline Gray
“When you say work, what kind of work?”
Ramsey
“Run jobs, I run household things, some people want to move their house things, I move their things for them. Sometimes we run a boat on it. Sometimes I ker (take) a boat for some friends that go to Gales Point Manatee, some Grace Chapel Christian guys, and I ker the boat for them some Sunday morning. So I run all kinds of job on this cart. Sometimes I run pints for people, some people ask me to sell pints for them. I run all kinds of different things, as long as it pay off.”
Jacqueline Gray
“You know what I notice, this mule and cart have on car wheels, I know way back then they wouldn’t have had enough cars to give all the mule and cart wheels. How did you arrive at using that, what did they used to use back then?
Ramsey
“Well first they used to use some wheels, spokes. It built like a bicycle wheel.”
Jacqueline Gray
“Weh you use to get that from?”
Ramsey
“Well the spokes is made out of board, a tree called sapadilly tree, very hard wood. And they cut it and they beat it out and they make it into spokes and they put an iron…they get an iron and hot the iron and they put it over the wheel.”
Jacqueline Gray
“When you say “they” you mean you had to do it yourself?”
Ramsey
“No, you couldn’t do it, so my pa used to hire a man from Yabra to do it, a man named John King. He used to pay such money and he do the job for him.”
Jacqueline Gray
“Well Mr. Ramsey I know a lot of people in Belize City know you as the man who go around town singing on this mule and cart. Now do you sing because it was a childhood dream to become a singer?”
Ramsey
“From when I was young I used to like sing, but I just couldn’t learn the songs. Then in 1970, I get a vision from God. Once I was sitting in the house and it was raining and there was thundering and lightening. And a big lightening struck and burst in front of my chest, big thunder and lightening and a big ball of fire explode in front of my chest and I feel the heat and God tell me he want me to go and preach for him. So I receive it in my heart and from then I like to sing. God said, you’re made as you are, and since I work on the cart I just sing on the cart for people that are on the street side passing.”
Jacqueline Gray
“You know Mr. Ramsey, it looks quite easy to drive this mule and cart. You think I could get a try?”
Ramsey
“You good, just have judgement and stay in the traffic line.”
Jacqueline Gray
“So you think I could drive it now?”
Ramsey
“Yeah, just hold the reins. The left one when you want to go left, you haul left. When you want to go right you haul the right one and you could drive it.”
Jacqueline Gray
“You think I could take a try now?”
Ramsey
“Sure go ahead.”
(Jacqueline takes the reins)
Ramsey
“How it feel?”
Jacqueline Gray
“Well it feels okay so far, no problems.”
In 1992 the mule, named Frankie, became a crime statistic when he was shot twice in the chest by a pair of marauding gangbangers and died shortly afterwards.
