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Below is January 5, 2006 to January 26, 2006.
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January 19, 2006 Circulation over 5,000 Vol 10 Issue 469
Last week I had another terrible time trying to get all my T&Ts to go out. This time there was a problem with cableone restricting the number I could send out at one time. They said they have corrected the problem, so we'll see how things go this week. Anyway, on with the show....
Ardmoreite Charles Smith sent in some interesting history this week. In last week's T&T Mailbag there was a picture of the Paoli, Oklahoma bank. When Charles saw the picture, it reminded him of the story his mother told about the bank robbery. Below is the details in her own words. But first here is a picture of the bank building as it stands today that Charles sent it. Click Here
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This is the story of the Pendley Bank Robbery of Paoli, Oklahoma as told by my mother, Georgia Ann Reeves Smith, January 24, 2004:
Dee and Marie Pendley and their three children, Alma, Bernice, and Junior, owned the Paoli Bank. Dee made loans to area residents strictly on a promise and a handshake and often helped my father, Sam Reeves when he was down. They lived in a big two story house out by the Paoli Cemetery.
Alma Pendley was my best friend. I often stayed over at Alma's house when I was in high school at Paoli because it was to difficult to get into town from the farm SW of town. Alma and I were very involved in school activities and often had to go back to the school in the evenings.
One day two men came into the bank and robbed it. Marie Pendley was taken hostage by the robbers and driven to the Turner Falls area where they all stopped at a café. Marie asked to go to the restroom while the robbers went into the café. Marie met another woman in the restroom and asked her to call the police and tell them that she had been kidnapped by bank robbers. Marie then went into the café with the robbers. As they all left, the other woman in the restroom came into the café and made the call to the police.
They were all caught a short time later and Marie freed..
Marie called her husband, Dee. He and the two girls immediately left to pick up Marie. The son, Junior, was away at college. Meanwhile, My mother and father, Sam and Laura Reeves, left the family farm in their wagon, 2 ˝ miles SW of Paoli for the Pendley residence. All of the town folk had come out to the Pendley's home to greet Mrs. Pendley when she returned home. The Pendley's arrived safely back home by sundown.
I asked Marie later if she was ever afraid? Marie replied that yes she was afraid.. She was worried that the robbers might take her somewhere way off and leave her and she wouldn't get to see her family again. I remember that my friend Alma cried hysterically and I remember hugging her and trying to console her.
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A few weeks ago we talked about an elderly mystery man who could whistle like a song bird who visited Brown Springs on a regular basis. I just found out the man is Charles Stoffels of Lindsay, Texas. Lindsay adjoins Gainesville on the west... you all know... and is where the BBQ Smokehouse is located! And yes, he did make a CD recording of his whistling. In fact, in a few days I will have his CD and will put one of the songs on my website for listening to along with info if you want to order one for yourself. There is about 10 gospel songs on his CD. Now, back to Brown Springs.... Charles Stoffels just kinda fell in love with the place in Love County several years ago, and every two or three months he travels from Lindsay, Texas to Brown Springs, Oklahoma (about 25 miles) with his weedeater, trash bags, etc., just to help keep the place clean. Charles Stoffels is way over 70 now, and is slowing down a little on his travelling, but if you happen to see a man whistling at Brown Springs (that's south of Marietta, OK) then you know its Charles, so stop and say hello. I'll have more about the CD next week!
Talk about CDs, I received a song on CD written by Greg Laumbach of New Mexico and it centers on the 1931 shooting of the nephew of the President of Mexico here in Ardmore. Greg has titled the song "What Almost Caused a War". Click Here
This last week I got to wanting some of that great brick chili from Farmers Market on Mill Street here in Ardmore. At only $1.99 a pound its hard to beat! I've been told that Harrison's Grocery at 3rd and P NE makes their own chili too. Next time I'm over in my old stomping ground, I'll stop by Harrison's and check out their block chili (also known as brick chili). Click Here
I received a welcome email this week for Ernie Wallerstein in Lakewood, NJ. Most of you will remember Ernie lived for a while in Ardmore back in the 1950s when Ardmore had a baseball team called the Indians. Ernie has told us how the people of Ardmore treated him and his other baseball team members so wonderfully during their short stay here. Here is Ernie's email:
"Dear Mr. Bridges, a little bit of nostalgia on my part, but I have to share this with you. On my 76th birthday my children gave me a replica of the uniform I wore when I played in Ardmore, I am sending you the photo, it was very special and very emotional for me. I just thought you would like to see it. yours, Ernie" -Ernesto Wallerstein
Below are links to photos Ernie sent of the replica on his Indians baseball team uniform, and some great pics of the patches and emblems and even one of Ernie with all his bunch gathered around him celebrating his 76th birthday! Happy Birthday Ernie! I hope a lot of you out there will send Ernie a happy birthday wish... it will surprise him to no end! Ernie has not lived in Ardmore in 50 years, but he really loves this town. Here is Ernie's email: mewa1723@optonline.net Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here
SOME LETTERS FROM THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG
A reader recently wrote that he remembered the Chickasaw district, which still exists. I am copying a brief history of the Arbuckle Council from the official webpage for information. For a short time, there was a Chickasaw Council. See below:
"The History of Arbuckle Area Council
The Congress of the United States of America granted the charter to the Boy Scouts of America on June 15, 1916 with the signature of President Woodrow Wilson. Small scout troops in southeastern Oklahoma were formed and existed on and off for years prior to the development of a great scouting movement. In 1918, the Ardmore Council, BSA had a membership of 67 scouts in three troops. R.F. Beid was the Scout Executive and attended training at the Raccoon Mountain Conference at Chattanooga, Tennessee.
In 1920, a high school teacher named D.T. Bradshaw headed a Boy Scout Troop in Ada, Oklahoma. The troop had 22 members, including Drew and Bennie Page; Joe Hargis; Dick Simpson, Jr; Henry and William Roach; Glen and Dean Spencer; J.M. and Browall Coffman; Carmen Hargis; and Bill and Claud Smith.
By June of 1920, area citizens in Ada launched a drive for $6,000 to support the scouting movement. Civic clubs, ministers, and schools backed the movement. The Ada News headlined it with a Page 1 top story and advertisers pitched in to help. The result was the formation of the Pontotoc Council, BSA on July 8, 1920 with Orel Busby, president; L.M. King, Robert Wimbish and M.F. Manville, vice presidents; M.R. Chilcutt, treasurer and P.A. Norris, national committeeman. Tom Steed, who would later serve in the U. S. Congress, was writing an article about scouting for the Ada News. Harry Miller was recruited as the first Scout Executive for the Pontotoc Council, BSA. Miller was a 1903 graduate of the Princeton School of Theology and a strong advocate of youth development. The scouts built a lodge near Wintersmith Lake in Ada and by October, 1920 had grown in membership to nearly 500 boys. The first Eagle Scouts from Pontotoc Council, BSA were Richard Walker Simpson and Drew Page.
In 1922, the Garvin and McClain County Council was organized with W.A. Wilcoxson as the Scout Executive. When Wilcoxson resigned in March of 1925, the counties were transferred to the Ardmore City Council and they renamed the council to Red River Council which served Murray, Garvin, McClain and Carter counties. In 1930, the name was changed to the Chickasaw Council, BSA.
The Arbuckle Area Council, BSA was formed in 1945 when the Chickasaw Council, BSA and the Pontotoc Council, BSA merged. Scouters in the old Pontotoc Council, BSA wanted to name their district after their esteemed leader, Harry Miller, and the new Arbuckle Area Council, BSA formed into an administrative unit of three districts which are the Chickasaw District, the Harry Miller District, and the Washita District--each of which still exists as an active District in the organizational structure of the Arbuckle Area Council, BSA. The Arbuckle Area Council, BSA currently serves nearly 2,900 youth with over 1,000 adult volunteers. The Earl Q. Gray Scout Center was built in 1983 in Ardmore, Oklahoma and serves as the Arbuckle Area Council Office. The Ada Service Center Office was opened in 199__. The Arbuckle Area Council, BSA continues to serve youth in a nine county area which includes Pontotoc, Murray, Johnston, Garvin, Coal, Atoka, Carter, Love and Marshall counties."
In addition to this history, I am including a link to the Arbuckle Council web page that individuals interested in Scouting may wish to access.
http://www.arbucklebsa.org/
Arbuckle Area Council Home Page
Leonard R. Mitchell, Past President
Arbuckle Council #468
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"Butch, I must have missed the previous question about Chickasaw Council of Boy Scouts. As I understand it, there actually was a Chickasaw Council. Way back there were many smaller councils. When Arbuckle Area Council was formed, Harry Miller Council and Chickasaw Council were combined and they became the two districts now known as Chickasaw District and Harry Miller District. I don't know when Washita District came into being. It may have been at the same time. The three districts now make up the Arbuckle Area Council with 9 counties. More information can be found on their web site."
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"Butch, here's some more southern Oklahoma historical trivia. My grandfather, Charles E. Merrill, Sr. was selected in 1906 to represent Ravia, I.T. at a Johnston County meeting to select the county seat when Oklahoma became a state. Ravia's argument for that honor was the Frisco Railroad. However Tishomingo was chosen because it was the largest town in the county and the Chickasaw capital building was already there. C.E. owned a hardware store in Ravia and had migrated by train with his wife and 6 children from Virgil, Ks. My dad was the baby of the family." -Rella Helms
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"Does anyone have a picture, or better yet, a picture postcard of the 4th ward Jefferson Elementary School? I have ones before the explosion (2 story red brick) and then ones afar it was rebuilt due to the fire in the 1980's (approx.) I would love to have a picture as it appeared when I was a student there (fall,1964-spring 1972).. Can anyone help? A scan would be great. Thanks in advance!" -Tom Arnold meddletea@cox.net 918-664-1705
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"Hey Cuz, When I was growing up in Davis it was said that there were two entrances to the Bitter Enders cave (as we knew it back then). The entrance that we were accustomed to using was the one just south of Hennipen. You turned left at the old Richard Morton home on the south side of U.S. 7 and drove for about a mile or so where you would get out and walk a 100 yards or so back to the East where you had to look closely to find the entrance to the cave. I remember that the cave was so hot that in the summer when you came out of the cave you could see your breath like when you would walk out of a warm place and into the cold. We could only get down about 50 feet or so because that was as far as our ropes would allow. We made several attempts to go deeper into the cave but never had enough rope and when we did, we would get to a point to where you had to be very small to squeeze into the hole to continue down. I enjoy reading about the old caves in and around the Davis area. I went into Google.Com and even found a beautiful photo of Turner Falls which I now display proudly as a screen-saver at home. Have one here in the office as well but its not of the quality as the one at home as the work CPU does not allow us to down-load some items on the government computer. Hope this helps answer some of the inquiries you receive. Was nice to see the article on "our" Uncle as well. I never knew that was how he lost his arm." -Ralph in Korea
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"Butch, there was a school house in Thackerville that matched the description given by Jerry Brown. He thought it was located near Brown Springs. My mother attended the school in Thackerville. I think it burned or was torn down many years ago but I remember passing it on our way to visit relatives or go to Gainesville. There could have been one near Brown Springs also but I never did see it. There was a school somewhere in that area called Jordon (or Jerdon), My aunt taught there but I don't know what the school looked like. I didn't think it was brick but may have been. I remember people talking about going to Jerden Hill. People back then did not always pronounce names the way they were spelled. I was grown before I realized that my aunt's name was Etta and not Etter. Dorothy was usually pronounced Dorthie. My grandmother's name was Emma but everyone caller her Emmer. I will ask my brother and some of my cousins about the schools down that way. My cousins grew up around Addington Bend and Thackerville. My dad was born at Bob, IT now called Bomar." -Frances Dunlap
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"Plans are being made for the annual Berwyn School Reunion at Gene Autry. The reunion will be held at the old school house in Gene Autry. This school is now the Gene Autry Museum. Not only will people have a chance to visit with old friends but they will have the opportunity to tour this great Museum. The reunion will be held on the Fourth of July week end, Saturday, July 1, 2006. We are attempting to locate everyone who ever attended school there, lived there or was a friend of those who lived there and would like to attend the reunion. Invitations will be mailed out in late May. If anyone would like to be placed on this invitation list please let me know and you will be notified of all details. You may contact me at RHHaney@Verizon.net I will be looking forward to hearing from you and seeing you at our reunion." -Richard (Butch) Haney
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"Mr. Bridges, I ran across your website the other day and found it very interesting, just to give you a little background on me, I grew up in Wilson and Rubottom Oklahoma, I went to school at Turner for 2 yrs and then went back to wilson and graduated from there my family still lives in Wilson, my husband is also a wilsonite in all of your stuff posted on your site I seen nothing in there about places like the Derrick Drive-In that used to be out at the healdton wilson y, that place brings back alot of memories, there used to be a store outside of wilson on the highway going to ardmore called the log cabin store it looked just like a log cabin, there was also a little store on the other side of wilson going down the south highway called hoss harveys that place was open for years, I miss those days they were simpler times then, well thinks for listening from a fellow okie and Wilsonite."
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"My daughter used to get "LAZY DAZY" meat pies at A & W drive-in at Weatherford OK back in the 60s and her mouth has been watering for one ever since she thought of one. If you or anyone has the recipe - we would be eternally grateful for a copy of it. THANKS!" -Jack D. Semon, Oak Point, TX
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"Was up to Stillwater yesterday and got a few fresh shots of the Stillwater Central passing the Wig-Wag located between Stillwater and Glenco, Okla on a county road crossing. The Wig-Wag wasn't working at the time and unfortunately shooters love to use it for target practice." -Dwane Stevens, Carter County Okla, Wild Fire Central http://community.webshots.com/album/223983275uAMTrh
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Free on-line topographic maps:
http://www.lostoutdoors.com/newmap.html
http://www.topozone.com/
and of course, there's
http://maps.google.com
for satellite pictures, street maps, and hybrid overlays.
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Paoli, Oklahoma. Six businesses shown .... from left to right:
W.H. Howard Blacksmith Shop
John Isbel's Restaurant
T. J. Dobyn's Store
G. F. Riley & Ernest William General Store
F. D. Pendley's Hardware & Grocery
The Bingham Meat Market
Click Here
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"The wild fire that raced across parts of Carter County yesterday (01-12-06) and last night claimed not only numerous homes and structures but also a rare piece of equipment of historical value to Southern Oklahoma especially Carter County. Located near Pooleville on the old Brady Ranch was an Oil Field Power House operating several rod line style pump jacks. Some of the pump jacks were of the "Oklahoma" style pump jack. This type of equipment dates back as far as the 1920's and 1930's and once was very numerous in and around the oil patch. Most power houses and rod line pump jacks were removed many years ago making this one a very rare example of such early day oil field technology still in regular operation. This particular power house contained a "Black Bear" single cylinder engine which originally operated about 14 oil well pump jacks. It was electrified in later years but the old Black Bear engine was still sitting on it's original platform and it's large flywheel and the associated large bandwheel with it's flat belt system was still in operation after all these years. The flywheel was driven by an electric motor but otherwise everything else was still being used as in the early days of Oklahoma's Oil Boom. The original building was blown down by a storm several years back and a new painted steel building was erected over the equipment at the original location. A great loss to Oklahoma Oil Field History Buffs. I've attached to this message some "before" and "after" photos of the old Historical Power House. I'm also in the process of posting these and additional photos on the net of the Power House and equipment that I shot before the fire in late 2004 and July of 2005 as well as photos of the Power House after the wildfire today, 01-13-06." -Dwane Stevens onmp@juno.com Click Here Click Here Click Here Click HereThe extra photos will be available shortly at the following link:
http://community.webshots.com/album/121270328UdxJhT
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"Butch, This is a very good site for history of Tulsa. You probably have seen it but if not you can spend about two hours here. Retro Tulsa Internet Museum, Tulsa Historical Society." -Lee Wages, Ft. Worth, TX. Click Here
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"Phillips Petroleum, a well documented Oil Company from Oklahoma, bought out a company called Paraland and Paraland used a gas called Gladiator. We think Gladiator was a company Parland bought out earlier and used the name for a short time. That's all we know about Gladiator."
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Trivia and History buffs will love this fun website, which is chock full of fascinating and esoteric facts. Useless Information is filled with ?stuff you never needed to know but your life would be incomplete without? Click here
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Schools of the Five Civilized Tribes. Click here
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"I happened onto your Oklahoma bell site through another search and was delighted to see a picture of one of our bells. That bell was donated by the Moss School District when we built our building in 1988. I don't think anyone knows when it was cast, but it was cast by the C. S. Bell Company in Hillsboro, Ohio. The bell in our tower was also donated in 1988 by the Arnett School District. Arnett acquired the bell in 1932, but no one seems to know where it came from originally and I think the school it was in burned in 1973. I've attached some photos of it if you'd like to use one. FYI, we're at 28th and Lincoln (Oklahoma City)." Click Here Click Here
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First State Bank of Davis, Oklahoma Click Here
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Have you ever been on our Marshall County web site? Take a look! You may want to list it here at OklahomaHistory.
Marlene Bebo, President
Marshall County Historical & Genealogical Society
Madill, Oklahoma
Click Here
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"Butch, You never cease to amaze me. this is the marker of my grandfather. the last time I was there I was 8 years old with my father and my mothers uncle. I will be 76 Feb 20, 2006 that was 68 years ago. he is buried in McMillan Cemetery. I have two nieces who live there in Ardmore and three nephews and one niece in Ada, one nephew in Oklahoma city and one in Texas all pretty close to you. Thank You." -Paskell Poindexter in California Click Here
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"Hi Butch, Your T&T was most interesting this week too, especially the "black sheep" story about your uncle... I felt so bad for him though. He was such a cute little guy in that photo with his dogs. My dad always said he was the black sheep of our family and he probably was. He wasn't quiet as much of a "black sheep" as your "black sheep" though! What a terrible life yours must have had. So many musicians got on "dope" back then (and still do). I'll bet he was a nice guy even though he was in prison and all that. Those prisons back then were awful bad and, I think, I would have been unable to be a model prisoner if I had been in one. Think about it...him in prison with his arm gone given very little, if any, medical attention! The shoes he was destined to wear in life, did not fit him well! I see "goodness" in his face in the photo of him as an older man." Click Here Click Here
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"FYI, in the early '60's, you could not pick up a copy of Popular Electronics magazine without running into an interesting construction project article written by Jim Kyle, amateur radio callsign K5JKX. His most famous was a hi-fi speaker project series of articles called "Sweet Sixteen", where he showed how to construct a great sounding hi-fi speaker system by mounting a 4 x 4 matrix of relatively inexpensive cone speakers into a large wooden enclosure. I appreciate all you do for people interested in Oklahoma history." -Donald G. Gwynne, Jr. Arlington, TX
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"Butch- Several have commented recently about riding the "Dinky" from Ardmore, Provence, etc. to somewhere east of Ardmore. I lived less than 1/2-mile of the track when I was a youngster in the Springdale community. It was always interesting to see but unfortunately I never had occasion to ride it. Maybe this 1930 map will help someone identify their home or the home of a friend. Highway 70 and Third Avenue are identified as is Mary Niblack School." -gsimmons@brightok.net Click Here
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"One aerial pix is of our property near Pooleville, Oklahoma with ponds looking down on the grass fires last weekend. Other aerial pix is of our property on lower right and upper left is Brady Ranch which was also spared. Other photos are of forest service tanker which was dumping water on the fire before nightfall." Click Here Click Here Click Here Click Here
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"Mount Williams, the big hill north of Interstate 35 and Robinson Street at Norman, is in the process of being removed to make way for future business development. Work began Friday and is expected to be completed by the end of this week."
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Be nice to people on your way up because you might meet 'em on your way down. -Jimmy Durante
See everyone next week!
Butch Bridges
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
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January 11, 2006 Circulation over 5,000 Vol 10 Issue 468
I was thinking this week how sometimes someone will send me an email asking about a certain picture or history mention I had or they heard I have on my website. After nearly 10 years of building my webpages, even I can not remember everything that's been posted or pictures I've uploaded... now over 8,000 photos. When someone emails me with an inquiry, even I have to go do some searching my computer or website. This week a visitor to my website notified me of some bad links to a set of photos I took back in 2000 of the American Flyers Memorial in memory of the crash near the Ardmore airbase in 1966. 83 young men died that night. I dont know how long the links have not worked, probably several years, maybe even since the Spring of 2000. So I made the corrections and since probably 99% of my T&T Readers and website visitor have not seen this set of photos, I will post them in this issue of T&T below.
On Monday, March 7, 2000 I took the following two photos of the crash area on Goddard's Ranch:
The main area of the crash looking east toward Highway 177. Since this is on private land, no one is allowed on the property without permission, so few have seen a photo of the actual crash site. <----- Click Here
Looking southwest down the valley toward the Ardmore Airpark and the NE to SW runway they were trying to reach. <----- Click Here
Here's a photo I took of the site at near the airpark entrance weeks before the monument was set. <----- Click Here
Some photos I took the week before the June 17, 2000 Dedication:
Photo Number 1. A close up of the memorial site with the Memorial stone covered just before the dedication service. <----- Click Here
Photo Number 2. A distant view of the memorial site. http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/photos/memcov4.jpg "> <----- Click Here
Photo Number 3. One of two granite benches with Donors names on it. <----- Click Here
Photo Number 4. A picnic table that is not quite finished. <----- Click Here
Photo Number 5. This is Doug Gray (center with back to us) and others setting the Charles M. Gray Memorial. Doug made it in Houston and brought it up here to install at the site. The person in dark clothing is Tuck Wilkinson (holding clipboard), who provided all the landscaping for the memorial site. <----- Click Here
Photo Number 6. A close-up view of the Charles M. Gray Memorial. <----- Click Here
A Reader wrote in this week telling about their black sheep of the family. I am always reminded of a story my mother told me in the 60s of our black sheep. She said said her brother, Harry Carmon, was the our black sheep. About 1950 or before, he stole a car here in Ardmore, and drove it to Madill. While over there, he stuck out his arm to make a left hand turn, and a car coming the other direction side swiped the car and took his arm off. Harry went to prison for auto theft, and died in 1951 across the street from Washington school at my great grandmother's house on H NE. He tried to convince everyone he got on heroin while in prison, because of the need for pain relief from the arm amputation. But my mother said he got on it when they were in high school.... he went across the street to the Mulkey Hotel and bought the dope. But on a positive side, friends told me, including my family members, Harry Carmon could sure play a mean saxophone. Who would have dreamed this little child with his 2 dogs by his side would grow up to be our black sheep of the family. <----- Click Here
This is our black sheep probably a few years before his death. He died in 1951. <----- Click Here
This week I received a song on CD written by Greg Laumbach of New Mexico and it centers on the 1931 shooting of the nephew of the President of Mexico here in Ardmore. Greg has titled the song "What Almost Caused a War". I have not had time to listen to it or anything, but promised to say more next week, and hopefully let everyone hear it from my website. <----- Click Here
A few months ago I mentioned a "mystery man" who can whistle like a song bird and visits Brown Springs often, so I've been told. The locals in Love county call him "the whistler". This week I leaned there is just such an elderly gentleman, and where he is in north Texas, and yes, he does have his whistling on CD! More next week.
SOME LETTERS FROM THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG
"I need to ask if you can post a query in your newsletter next time. I am trying to find information on Allen Craighead or Craghead who was suppose to be staying in Carter County around 1890-1900. Or if there is any descendants that know him still in that area. If you can't post a question in your newsletter do you have any suggestions on how to find him? I think I have just about exhausted all my avenues. Thank you for your help." -Helen glswings@pacfier.com
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"Butch: A bit of South Oklahoma historical trivia. My Dad, William E. "Bill" Davidson, died December 7, 2005, at age 104 years. In the 1920's his father, Mord Davidson, was in the dirt contracting business with a Purcell businessman, John Abernathy. They used teams of mules to draw slip-fresnos, graders, dirt movers, etc. My father was a teamster and "powder monkey" to dynamite tree stumps, rocks, etc. They built the roadbed for Old Highway 77 from Noble to Lexington in 1923-1924." -Don Davidson, Brenham, Texas
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"Butch, My Mother ( Britta Faye Holley ) who was born on the Holley homestead on " Tater Hill " ( 1915 ) used to walk to Provence and ride the Dinky to Ardmore. She was embarresed being from Tater Hill. I know that my Grandfather, Jiles Vaxter Holley, is buried in Provence cemetary and my grand Mother Maude ( Lassiter ) Holley is buried, I guess across the highway in another cemetary....don't know why. Might be the other way around, but I know they are not together. As I have mentioned before , the old Holley cemetary is about now where the new road runs north-south on the east side of Tater Hill. There is a mobile home right on the corner of that new road and it might even be in the yard of that mobile or under the road. I went there as a kid in the '60s and saw the old Holley cemetary and it was east and barely south of the top of the hill. Hey' to all my Kin there.... Need to hear from Joe K. though." -Kirk Holley Smith kirksmith@earthlink.net
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"There was a Glass Plant at Randolph bottom at one time."
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"i suppose every one has someone in the family tree they could do without. as i was reading stories about paoli, oklahoma i could not help remember my dad talking about his cousin. he robbed a bank in paoli in the late 1930s he was convicted and sent to leavenworth where he caused more trouble and was sent to alcatraz. he was not real bright and was envolved in the riots in 1946 that resulted in the deaths of 3 or 4 guards. he was convicted of these crimes also and was executed in 1947 along with two more convicts. one more thing about this story connected to okla. there was a young convict named clarence carnes from oklahoma that was convicted of this crime at alcatraz he was given a life sentence because of his youth and was later paroled."
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"Butch, I think I remember a large two or three story, perhaps brick, school house a bit east of Brown Springs. Is that my imagination or is there a building like that in that neighborhood? Perhaps it was somewhere else in Love county but I think it faced South and was just a short distance North of the Red River. It had a lot of very large windows and big double doors in the front of the building. There may have been a half basement as the doors were several feet above the ground. The bldg was roughly square. Does that ring a bell with anyone? Maybe a school for girls or perhaps Indians." -Jerry Brown
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"Does anyone know the exact directions to Bitter Enders cave behind Turners Falls?"
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"Butch, I don't think that it was me, but I did mention to some others that the car was probably a REO, which were the initials of Ransom E. Olds who created the Oldsmobile as I recall. I saw a REO sold at auction here in Perry about 15 years ago. Many antique and unique cars have been in our area partly because there have been so many folks around here (in the past) who had a lot of "oil money" and were interested in showing off their wealth by owning unusual automobiles. Within 50 miles of here is (to my knowledge) the only remaining "Geronimo" automobile. They were built in Enid. And I think that just last week I saw either a "Carmine" or the only "Alisha" automobile built here in Perry (by Pete Deadwiley). Pete still lives here and has been restoring (and building cars of his own design) for many years. I've been privileged to see a "Star" (made many years ago in St. Louis, Mo.), an Aston Martin (the "James Bond" car), and other rare cars that he has worked on for folks from all over the world. Some of them have been restored for movie actor, George Rice who lives here in Perry and has several vintage vehicles (including an Orange County, California fire-truck) on display. George periodically travels from his home here in Perry to Hollywood (or wherever the filming location happens to be), completes the acting assignment and looks around for a restorable vehicle to bring back to Perry and spends part of his salary on it (or them) and either loads them on a trailer or has them shipped by what ever means necessary. He likes to bring them back himself to make certain that there won't be any damages done in transit (and to keep folks from "borrowing" any scarce parts from them)." -Roy Kendrick
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"Hi Butch, Sending this picture along for your records. Photo dated about 1922 to 1924. School picture taken around Maysville, Oklahoma somewhere. Does anyone know where this school was located? Elvin Carpenter attended this school. Does anyone recognize anyone else in the photo?" -J.L. Johnson Jaybird150@wmconnect.com <----- Click Here <----- Click Here
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"I found in my parents papers a stock certificate for 10 shares of Gladiator Oil Company purchased 5/10/1919. I was curious about oil company and found a mention of Gladiator Oil Company stock on your web site. Does anyone have any info about it?" jbendres@sbcglobal.net
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"I always thought the Reo was named for Ransom E. Olds, who was a pioneer car maker."
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"It wasn't me originally, Butch, but the correct spelling is "Reo" which were the initials of Ransom E. Olds, originator of the Oldsmobile. He got squeezed out when GM took over his company, and created the Reo firm to compete. The company was still making heavy trucks in the 1940s, but I never heard of their passenger car before." -Jim Kyle
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"To the reader who inquired about a Chickasaw Council of Boy Scouts in Oklahoma: There is a Chickasaw DISTRICT within the Arbuckle Council, but I know of no Chickasaw Council."
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"The Arbuckle Area Council is the Scout Council for eight counties around here. There are three districts within the Council, one of which is the Chickasaw District (Ardmore Area). This is the way it was when I was a kid [back in the '40s and '50s]."
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"Here is an article about a very early school in Marshall County, the Burney Academy near Lebanon. Rather sad that the old building is in such poor repair." -Elizabeth http://www.cumberland.org/HFCPC/schools/BurneyAcademy.htm
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"Butch, In the 1940's a company came to Ardmore, and made a short movie using local "talent". The movie was shown in Ardmore several times. The film was owned by the Lowensteins, owners of the Tivoli and Ritz theaters. Does anyone have a copy of this movie that one could see and copy? It would be fun to see it again. I was one of the "stars" as many Ardmoreites were." -Bill Spearman
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"Butch, here is the story as told by my mom.... "My daddy and three young men went to a house in Ardmore that every body said was haunted. Well, daddy and the men with him went in the house to spend the night, they went thro shutting and locking all windows and doors, upstairs and down stairs. Around midnight, the windows and doors upstairs open and shut!! All four went upstairs and look around and found everything like they left it, so they went back down stairs and soon it all happen again. So they all went back to the upstairs and found nothing wrong again,.. about that time, all the windows and doors downstairs open and shut, the men all went back down stairs and look around and found nothing wrong. In about a minute after they sit back down, All the windows and doors started to open and shut even in front of them. So the men split up and one man and his son went back upstairs while my daddy and his other friend check things out down stairs. The next thing that daddy and his friend knew they heard the father and son coming in hurry back down the stairs, when they saw the son he had WHITE HAIR!!!! He did have black! Well, daddy and his friends couldn't get out of the house fast enough!" I had ask mom what made the boys hair turn from black to white, and she said, "Daddy and the other three ask him and the boy would never say." Hope you enjoy this story as I have over the years, the story took place somewhere in Ardmore when my grandpa was visiting there in 1880." -Vera Jones
------------------------------------------------------------------------- "In 1903, Buck Colbert Franklin and his wife Mollie Parker Franklin moved to Springer, I.T. Both were teachers, and they also farmed. Mr. Franklin studied law via correspondence courses, passed the bar examination, and opened his Ardmore law office in 1908. The family moved to Rentiesville, Oklahoma, in 1912, and later settled in Tulsa. One of their sons is the noted historian John Hope Franklin, now a professor emeritus at Duke University. The information about the family's Ardmore connection comes from Dr. Franklin's recent autobiography, "Mirror to America". One of the photographs in the book is of the Franklin law office located adjacent to the "Munzesheimer & Daube" general store." -Mark CoeNote: Here is a photo of the old Munzesheimer and Daube General Store on Main Street Ardmore <----- Click Here
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Davis, Oklahoma ............. First State Bank, Davis, Okla. <----- Click Here
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"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
See everyone next week!
Butch Bridges
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
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January 5, 2006 Circulation over 5,000 Vol 10 Issue 467
For some reason last week, dozens of emails to two Internet providers bounced back to me..... sbcglobal.net and swbell.net T&T subscribers. Sometimes these internet email servers do some strange things with emails. Hope ALL of these two groups of T&T Readers gets this weeks issue.
Ardmoreite Chuck Carter was over at the old Randolph School (Randolph bottom) between Madill and Tishomingo last weekend. Some of you will remember we talked about the old Randolph school last May and a ton of emails came to the Mailbag with stories about the area the very next week. To refresh everyone's memory below are some pics I took last May. But first here is a map I made showing where the area is located. <----- Click Here <----- Click Here <----- Click Here <----- Click Here
Here is the text of the email Chuck Carter received and forwarded on to me this week.
"There was a guy named Bob Rogers & his wife, that lived at Randolph, where the track from the west tied into the north/south line. They lived on top of the mountain, east of the intersection. In 1947 they skipped the country, in the middle of the night. Older people use to use the term "The Hoot Owls got them". They owed the Madill National Bank, $10,000. No one has heard from them since. Even their kids never heard from them. They left everything they had plus all their hogs. That's where all those wild hogs came from that roams the Washita bottoms."
"Randolph, Oklahoma - Was located in southern Johnston County, 5 miles SW of Tishomingo. A post office from Sept 5, 1901 until June 30, 1919. It was named for Thomas Randolph, Frisco Railroad official. Randolph was a small town on the Washita River at the junction of the Frisco and Rock Island railroads. It was 7 miles north of Madill, the nearest banking point. J.B. Chastaine moved to Randolph before statehood. He bought a general store from a Mr. Craig. Soon he also built a modern five stand cotton gin, a large saw mill and planer, a large grist mill, where he ground flour and corn meal. Later he bought up many existing buildings in Randolph and built others. These included the post office, a hotel, feed store, pool hall, blacksmith shop, drug store and a small building used as the subscription school."
"The Frisco railroad ran north and south. The Frisco section house was on the east side of the tracks. North and east of there, was the Rock Island section house. It burned about 1914 and was not rebuilt. Later in 1914 the Rock Island had a large train wreck. Two of the cars were filled with dynamite. They did not explode. Inside the point of the triangle where the two railroads came together and crossed was the depot. It served both railroads. North of the Frisco section house was a round table used for turning the engines around to return south. This was later moved and a cattle yard and loading chutes were built at this location. A new hotel was built near the railroad station. It housed the Post Office and a cafe. There was a steam driven merry-go-round in a clearing about a mile west on the north side of the Rock Island tracks. The clearing was used for picnics, baseball games and carnivals. The war came in 1917 and several young men from the community enlisted or were drafted. Hobos were quite numerous. They usually asked for a job in exchange for food. Even with all the strangers and hobos coming by, there was no vandalism. The houses were never locked. In 1926 an oil rig was set up in a 10 acre cotton patch about 500 yards west of town." -From a story by J. B. Chastaine, Jr. in Johnston County History, 1979
I was going through some old photos in a box in my garage this week and found an interesting poster on a kinfolk of mine by marriage. My great grandmother, Ida Murphree Miller, was married to an H.C. Miller for a short time back in the early 1900s. H.C. Miller had a son by a previous marriage named W.H. Miller. This W.H. Miller was a candidate for the New York City Typographical Union No. 6 (typesetters) which held a convention in Houston, Texas in 1930. The poster announcing his candidacy made interesting reading when I stumbled across it this week. Here is a scan of W.H. Miller's announcement. The poster was legal size, so I had to scan it in two parts. <----- Click Here <----- Click Here
T&T Reader Ken Hinkle sent in some pics he took of the grass fires going near Calera, Oklahoma the past few days. It is so dry here in Oklahoma, we need rain so very much. <----- Click Here <----- Click Here <----- Click Here
1963 Ardmore Physicians, MD
John R. Adair
Chaude H B Brown
Hoyle J Carlock
Frank W. Clark
C.D. Cunningham
Paul W. Dickinson
J.M. Gordon
Ray B. Graybill
W.A. Heflin
Author A. Hellbaum
Malcolm Horne
Lawrence E.C. Joers
Thornton Kell
Loyd L. Long, Jr.
Clifford Lorentzen
Don Mannerberg
Ethel M. Walker
W.R. Mote
J.N. Moxley
R.W. Murphy
John R. Pollock
Roger Reid
Tom Sparks
Hobson J. Veazey
Lyman C. Veazey
Kenneth L. Wright - "Anesthesiologist full time from mid 1950's to 1965 half time to 1967 when he moved full time to Denton, TX in 1965 to 1967 he covered Ardmore, Gainesville and Denton. Initially lived at 212 4th SW then moved to a house his father built on property he purchased from "hamburger" Brown at 1902 Cloverleaf Lane that the city later changed to 2002 Cloverleaf Lane. The address sign I made in Mr. Dunn's shop class in Junior High I believe 1963 before we heard in band class JFK had been shot. Hamburger Inn Mr. Brown also raised hunting dogs and trained them. Owned a large tract of land questionably his farm that an entire neighborhood was made from. Millers Pond was just down the block from us. 212 4th SW had a chicken coop that had a feed storage area that opened on either side of the coop great for hide and seek. At 216 4th SW lived 2 sisters that wrote children's books had a goldfish pond in their backyard and a great climbing tree. Unfortunately one became senile before we moved. The 212 house had a candlestick phone with phonebox when we moved in. It was replaced with a 1930's style deco phone, mind you this was the mid 1950's and we only had basic phone service." -Michael Wright1963 Ardmore Physicians, DO
G.W. Beckett
A.H Cockerell
H.W. Kenaga
Newton McBride
Helen L. Montano
Robert Patzkowsky
H.E. Williams
A Reader wrote in a couple weeks ago added to the info about the two old cars photos Bob Kerr had in his collection. There was mention that the "Rio" was actually spelled another way?? I lost the email when I had to restore my computer last weekend. So whoever you were, please resend your email about the "Rio".
A friend, who will remain nameless to protect his professional reputation, and I was talking about how to make a door bell out of some discarded parts. We threw out this and that idea, but one idea did stuck. Making a door bell out of an old smoke alarm. So after our conversation, my friend put together what I call the "Okie Buzzer". lol <----- Click Here
SOAPBOX: About 5 days ago a 4 year old Bartlesville, Oklahoma boy was mauled to death by a pit bull dog. And last November another Oklahoma boy's leg was mauled requiring two surgeries. Only through the intervention of an adult passerby, did this boy not die from the attack. The video is graphic. <----- Click Here
SOME LETTERS FROM THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG
"I found your website by doing a search on my GGG-Uncle James Elbert Lamb - someone had written in asking if you had any info on him. (He killed a man in 1886 near Lebanon, IT & was hung by the famous "Judge Parker" in Arkansas). Small world, who would've thought this google-search would pull up a fellow Ardmoreite!" -Melissa
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"Does anyone know if there was a Boy Scouts of America Council known as the Chickasaw Council in Southern Oklahoma or North Texas? I think there was, but that name is now being used in Tennessee/Mississippi. If readers know for certain, I would appreciate hearing from them." -Joe Leonard, Gainesville
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"When researching some more of my folks I came across one of the Law officers memorials about a cousins husband. Louis Hervill who was killed along with a constable W. Arthur Hood in Addington 28 Jan. 1928. The 1920 census list Louis with wife Laura two children and his father in law Jim Blalock my great uncle. I not being that familiar with the area didn't find a News Paper with any stories of the shooting or where there was a trial. Do you know what papers I should try. I have a photo of Louis and wife on their wedding day,but it is on a tape and converted to DVD and I have never taken a photo from a DVD to print. I would be glad to furnish that portion of the DVD to the Historical folks if they wish. I would also like to make contact with who ever gave the information to the Historical Society about him." -Taylor F Crowe floydcrowe@yahoo.com
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"A lady asked about McCall's Chapel School. I used to volunteer there when I was in college in Ada. This should get her started to what she might want to know." http://www.mccallschapelschool.com/our%20history.html
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"Provence was a small settlement East of town and close to where the Provence Cemetery is now. Third Avenue and Springdale Road come together just North of where the Provence Church is now but I believe the Provence Church was once known as 'The Shed" because it was a brush arbor when it was first started and it was further East than where the church is now located. My mother and father, Henry McNeely and Sarah Butler were married at Provence, December 29, 1912 and lived there for awhile but I do not know how long. My father's family lived there on a farm at that time and my grandfather died there after having a heart attack while chasing his cattle out of his corn patch. My father, mother, grandmother and grandfather McNeely and grandmother and grandfather Butler, and some aunts and uncles are all buried in the Provence Cemetery. The "Dinky" train was running between Ardmore and Mannsville some time during that era but I don't have dates. There was a small building by the side of the track that was used by the people who wanted to ride the Dinky from Provence to Ardmore. When I was small and riding the bus to Dickson, the Dinky was still running but I don't remember it running for very long. Part of the little shed was still there when I graduated or someone had fixed a place for the kids in that area to stand in when it was cold while they were waiting to catch the bus. It was the same spot that the small building stood. I know that some of my mother's family lived out there too but not sure if it was my grandparents or just aunts and uncles."
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"Here is a picture of Smith' Grocery and Station located just outside the Air Base gate at Gene Autry. Robert and Gussie Smith ran the station and store. Gussie sold the little punch board, remember you paid money and punched out little prizes." -Doug Williams <----- Click Here
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"Butch, As a teenager in the early 40's Our family rode the Frisco "Puddle Jumper" to visit friends who lived outside Hope, Arkansas. It took all day and we carried a picnic lunch. Seemed like it stopped at every cross road to pick up a milk can." mkpat@cox.net
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"I remember Paoli, Oklahoma well. Back in 1965 this was the old route (Highway 77) we used to come back home when we lived in Woodward. At that time there was one stop light in town, the car in front of us stopped, we stopped and a guy daydreaming never even touched his brakes. We were all jammed together and guess what, we all had State Farm Insurance."
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"I use to take my deer meat to Muenster and have that type of summer sausage made but I've found a closer place right out north of Madill on the east side of the hwy. These people moved up from Brownwood, Tx several years ago. They had a processing plant down there."
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"Hi, my name is Bonnita Sue Mendonce (Bunny). I am Bill Guess great granddaughter. My Mother was his granddaughter and her Mother Juanita was his daughter. I have lots of stories about him and we still have his gun and badge. We also have all the documents concerning the shooting of the president of Mexico's nephew. There are only a few of the family left and we are concerned that the stories are accurate and true. If you or anyone has information or questions please contact me. We are interested in any and all information concerning him. I look foreword to exchanging information. Thank You." -Bunny mendonca@antelecom.net
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"Hello Mr. Bridges, I am writing to inquire of your knowledge of history. I live in Omaha NE and am working on a house built in 1933. In the house I found a old item of interest and I am tying to find out if it is worth something either as an antique or to someone who knows about it. The item is a brick about four inches tall and six inches wide and two inches deep. It has a picture of a warehouse building in fine detail with the name Carter Transfer and Storage on it. The only reference I can find on the web is in your This and That articles listed in 1919 as a business with the address "301 East Main", along with many references to Carter county in other letters. This item is a neat historical piece which was perhaps an award or an anniversary item - its well preserved, but I know little about it. I would like to figure what it is and if it is worth anything. Perhaps you can help with any info, enclosed is pics of it." -Nebraska <----- Click Here
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He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever. -Chinese Proverb
See everyone next week!
Butch Bridges
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
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