A Glimpse Into The Past
The Daily Ardmoreite, April 5, 1928
Franz Kim, county attorney of Marshall County, was shot and killed April 3, 1928 by Sheriff Edd Long, after an argument during a commissioners meeting. Kim said a claim submitted by Long was too exorbitant. After a few minutes of argument, Long was alleged to have drawn a gun and starting firing. The sheriff later surrendered to M.E. Ewing, justice of the peace. Before he was shot, Kim went to his office and donned a suit of steel armor, and armed himself with a pistol. Then he returned to the meeting area, according to witnesses, he pointed the gun at Long. Long told him to put the gun down. Kim didn’t and Long fired. The bullet ricocheted from the armor into Kim’s abdomen. Franz Kim, county attorney of Marshall County died in Sherman, Texas. Burial at the old home of Mrs. Kim in Missouri.
https://okgenweb.net/~okmarsha/kim.html
It was brought to my attention the other day there is no place in my newsletters to subscribe to my newsletter. I inserted a subscribe box at the very bottom of my newsletters. Of course a person can Opt-out anytime, no human intervention needed, the computer does it all. lol
Join us in celebrating the monarch butterfly, Saturday Septemper 10th! We honor this endangered species with a day of conservation awareness and family fun. Learn how you can help the dynamic monarch thrive for future generations. Enjoy activities, pollinator plants and caterpillar giveaways, a food truck and more!
-Chickasaw Cultural Center, Sulphur Oklahoma
https://www.chickasawculturalcenter.com/experience/2022/events/monarch-butterfly-day/
I didn’t notice until last week, that my Grocery Stores webpage was all run together, no paragraphs or breaks. Extemely hard to read. Its been that way since my website was converted from HTML to WordPress last Spring. Anyway, I have it fixed now. Please check it over for mistakes, and also let me know of any grocery store that might need added. Be sure and scroll down a little to reach the actual text.
https://oklahomahistory.net/ardmore-and-carter-county-grocery-stores/
A paver I sandblasted a couple days ago. It will go in the walkway on the west side of the Carter County Courthouse.
These 3 plants were given to me by a friend about a mile from me several months ago when our drought was so BAD. I watered twice a day during the drought. There is a Four o’clock, Moon Flower and Petunia. They made it. And with the rain this week, they should be fine.
I’ve been told by several that the Moon Flower plant will take over like a weed. Well, can’t be any worse then the Acorn Squash Jill planted about 3 months ago from just a few seeds. lol But I will say we got some great acorn squash.
Q. Where in Oklahoma can one make a 1.5 mile trek through the mountains to a beautiful waterfall?
A. The gorgeous mile and a half hike through the Wichita Mountains is perfect for hikers of all levels. You will be lead past beautiful waterfalls and scenic views that are some of the most coveted in all of Oklahoma. Lace up those hiking boots and head to the majestic Wichita Mountains in southwest Oklahoma.
https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/oklahoma/wichita-mountains-hike-ok/
Q. Where in Oklahoma is one of the biggest remote dark sky Parks in the world?
A. Answer in next week’s newsletter
Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG….
Once again……keep on writing that “GREAT” Newsletter!!! I wait for it each Thursday.
The snippet on phone etiquette last week’s newsletter reminds me of my 1st job in 1966 with SW Bell at 126 C St NW, Ardmore.
On the ground floor was the Wire Chief’s office which housed all the equipment and dispatch for repair and installation. The “toll’ (long distance) department and operators were housed on the second floor.
I worked for the Wire Chief, Ed Marler, along with Mary Alice Beck. We were the only women in this department on the first floor. In our office was dispatch manned by Jerry Follis, Wood Selvidge and Tom DeBerry.
I answered the repair service line for southern Oklahoma (covering Ardmore, Marietta, Healdton, Wilson, Madill & Kingston area).
There were strict guidelines for answering the repair line:
(1) calls must be answered by 2nd ring,
(2) every other call was recorded for quality control,
(3) you always stated “I am so sorry you are having this trouble” not matter what the problem
(4) you gave a 2 hour repair time AND the repairmen always met that deadline!!!!
(5) This was when you “had” to use the telephone company’s equipment for a small fee
Some of the problems reported were….
- There are bugs coming out of my phone so I sprayed it with bug spray & it doesn’t work now
- My husband got mad and pulled the cord out of the wall
- My dog or a rat chewed the cord
- It rings at night and I can’t sleep
- The cord isn’t long enough so wires came loose
- I think I’m being stalked because every time it rings there is no one there
IT DID NOT MATTER THE PROBLEM, I would say…. “I’M SORRY, WE WILL HAVE A REPAIRMAN COME FIX IT”!!!!!
FYI, In 1952 we moved to Ardmore. When you picked up the phone the operator would say “number please”. Oh those were the good old days with a party line. You would gently pick up the phone and listen. Our phone number was “800”, then when we got rotary dial and it became CA3-0800, which became 223-0800. Side note……..after I moved back to Ardmore and my parents had passed, I kept the number for my fax line.
Oh yes the times have changed….. operators, party lines, box phones, mobile phones. cell phones & live streaming!!! Thank you Ma Bell! -Jadean
Just a little sidenote: back around 2000 when I worked at the courthouse in IT once day our internet quit to all the buildings on the block, and across the street to the Bogus Check division. Several of us spent days trying to run down the problem. Checked Ethernet lines. Checked routers in basement. Checked City Hall. Checked the library where the original signal came from. Switched out devices. Nothing. Finally after several conversations with Southwestern Bell they found the problem. It was a “Ethernet card” in one of their Server Banks in their building at 126 C NW that Jadean mentioned above she worked years ago. What an ordeal we went through only to find out it was not on our end. SW Bell told us repeatedly it was not on their end. The Ethernet card that went out there controlled 4 lines at once, but ours was the only one that went out. SW Bell replaced the card and everything was back to normal. The things IT people go through.
The murder article in Johnston county is intriguing! I agree it’s hard not to follow up. My Dad (James Cloud) would have loved all this! An avid Oklahoma historian who worked tirelessly on surveys and trails through Oklahoma. He would have very certainly loved this newsletter you speak of. I’ll link to the Historical Society audio interview with him from 1972 (just for kicks) if you are fascinated by Oklahoma surveys and trails. -Lisa Dickerson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjJLdeKG_m4
Below is from my Vol 3, Issue 125 September 11, 1999 newsletter:
This week I had the need to buy a paper from the nearby town of Marietta, Oklahoma. It was Saturday and I thought…. Where can one buy that weekly newspaper in Ardmore, Oklahoma. My mind flashed back to the 1960s when the bus station was across the street east from City Hall. The buses would bring in newspapers all over th U.S. and stack them in neat little piles on the floor in the southwest corner of the bus station. After making several calls around town, now I know those days are gone. They call it progress.
I forgot to tell everyone last week when I traveled down Oswalt Road there is one thing that stands out. One quarterhorse farm after another. I’m talking about nice spreads too. If you ever want to buy a quarterhorse, just travel west a couple miles from the I-35 and Oswalt Rd exit. The exit is 12 miles south of Ardmore. Down that road are plenty of quarterhorse ranches!
One more thing about Oswalt Road west…. it is a beautiful rolling hills countryside. On some of the hilltops a person can see several miles!
Last week I told about the Ella Hunter building on Caddo Street here in Ardmore. The date at the top of the building is 1933.
Below is a heart touching email I received this week. Mel Clark was on my Emergency Medical Technician Association board back in the mid seventies and represented the Oklahoma Panhandle. Besides operating the funeral home in Beaver, Oklahoma he also operated the ambulance service. He had a passion to help people… always striving for better trained EMT personnel onboard Oklahoma’s ambulances. Here is the email I received this week……
“Butch, Thanks for all of the issues of This & That. I have my late husband, Mel Clark, to thank for all of these great weekly events past and present for my enjoyment. Mel was a true Okie from the day he was born in Cherokee, Oklahoma until his death this past year. Mel has traveled all over Oklahoma, with him being not only a funeral director and embalmer he was also on the American Heart Association among many other things. You have mentioned so many things that triggered his memory on lots of things that took place during his travels. He would relate these thoughts and so my life was enriched even more so just because of all his memories. I just want to send a special thanks to you for bringing forth so many happy thoughts to him and giving him sort of another chance to relive all of his experiences. For myself, I am a transplanted Texan from the great state of Arkansas, but have lots of family living in and around various parts of Oklahoma. Mel enjoyed reading all of your weekly news and although he himself said he was computer illiterate would go into any and all of the websites that you posted and it brought back great memories for him. I have just this year started reading all of your news and I now understand why he enjoyed them so much. I generally clean house on Friday nights and so I have taken up the habit of taking a break just at the time that you send your weekly out. Makes my break really enjoyable. I just wanted to tell you that you are doing a great job and to keep em coming. We Texans enjoy all of these memorable things that you write about. Thank You.” -Pam Clark in Texas
As I mentioned above, Mel Clark lived in the Panhandle of Oklahoma, at Beaver, Oklahoma to be exact. It was called No Man’s Land because 100+ years ago, it was a lawless area of Oklahoma. Even today it is an almost forgotten part of this state. It least it seems that way sometimes. Years ago the people who lived in the Panhandle even thought about de-annexing from the state and become a part of Kansas or Texas. I had one friend who lived in Guymon, Oklahoma… thats just before reaching Colorado. She and her husband transferred to Guymon from south central Oklahoma for his job continuance. She told me a couple of years later, “Butch, there is nothing up here”. To even find a descent movie theater, shopping mall, or big hospital, they had to travel 100 miles south to Amarillo, Texas. It’s wide open country…. where you can drive 50 miles and not see a house. I wont forget my friend Mel Clark, who lived in Oklahoma’s No Man’s Land. I’ll see you in that big round up in the sky old buddy.
Another side note: A highway patrolman friend told me in the 80s that if a trooper really messed up, he was assigned to the Oklahoma panhandle, patrolling miles of nothing land. lol
“Butch, I just saw the letter from the man that was talking about the old skating rink and pool in Whittington Park. Don’t know if this is the information he wants or not but this is what I know. My parents were the last owners of the skating rink. Their names were Louie and Faye Cummings. They bought it from Jack Floyd in 1953 when I was 18 months old. Mom said it was run by Mom and POP Floyd for years. They did not have it very long before the old building was condemned. She thought it was torn down shortly thereafter probably around 54 or 55. She doesn’t remember the pool being used when they bought the skating rink. She said Bob Lee and Pete Dennison’s brother worked for them. She doesn’t remember the Dennison boy’s name but they all called him “nothin”. I slept in a bassinet in the corner of the concession. She said it was amazing that I could sleep thru all that. Daddy fixed some skates that would not roll for me and the kids would take me out to the center of the rink and let me “skate”. When they condemned the building, They did not have another place to go so they did not open up another skating rink anywhere. She said it was not too long tho until Ray and I don’t remember his last name, opened a skating rink out at the old armory. Mom is going to see if she has any pictures to send to you. We really enjoy reading your articles everyweek. Keep up the good work.”
“Here in Gainesville, Texas they have moved a portable building (like they use at schools for extra rooms) next to our depot for the passengers to wait in if the weather is bad. It’s only temporary until they get finished with the depot. Which looks like that will take forever!!!!”
The ladies at the DA’s office here in Ardmore are excited over the 7 new computers the Oklahoma District Attorneys Council installed for them this week. The new computers on a Windows NT Network allows them access to email and the Internet.
“When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property. -Thomas Jefferson
See everyone next Thursday!
Butch and Jill Bridges
236 Timber Road
Ardmore, OK 73401
580-490-6823