In 1972 my father, Frank Olive Sr., was an employee of the New York Telephone Company. At some point during the year another employee of the company was transferred from a Brooklyn office to my father’s office in the Bronx. Afraid of being mugged in the street or on the subway, the man from Brooklyn carried a homemade protective device similar to what is known as a “Slap Jack” or a “Black Jack.”A Black Jack is a leather-covered bludgeon (usually a lump of lead) with a short, flexible shaft or strap, used as a hand weapon. According to my father the Brooklyn man’s version had been made by simply sliding a bar of Life Boy soap inside one of his dress socks. When used to defend oneself the sock would be held at the open end and swung around in a whip-like motion. This is done as to strike the attacker with the bar of soap inside the closed end of the sock
