Before Oklahoma became a state, Ben Collins was an Indian policeman for the Chickasaw Nation. He lived east of Tishomingo and 5 miles south of Milburn, Oklahoma. One evening around 10pm in August 1906, Ben Collins was standing on the porch with his wife, when he was gunned down by several men from out in the darkness. The Chickasaw Nation offered a reward of $1,000 for info leading to the arrest of his killers. In November that same year deputy marshals and detectives arrested Henry Pruitt, A. Washmood and Ben Tie for Collin’s murder. Three years later, at a mob lynching in Ada, Oklahoma on April 19, 1909 four men were taken from the jail and lynched. It would become known that these four men and the three arrested for the murder of Ben Collins were all accomplices that dark night in 1906 south of Milburn, Oklahoma. This band of outlaws had killed several people during those years, earning up to $2,000 per killing as hired guns.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7980072/benjamin-carter-collins
A man who hit town as a somewhat questionable persona and ended up in the ranks of conservatism was L. D. “Dude” Rickey. The year was 1908 and Ardmore, crude and backward, was not the ideal town for a roving man. Rickey belong to that fraternity known as “pitch men”, who sold such items as solid gold watches and snake oil, home remedies whose curative powers were nothing short of magic, to the public bored with dirt, poverty and daily living. Rickey sang in what was described as rather scratchy tenor voice and played a banjo, warming up his audience before going into his pitch.
In spite of all its drawbacks his stay in Ardmore was prolonged and seeing the possibility of all discoveries became the topic of conversation by local men, who share their knowledge with the popular entertainer, with the result that he packed away his banjo and show trunks and took up permanent residence. His notoriety, however, arrived from another source. His abilities as a naturalist became known, the fact that he had a keen knowledge of the habits and practices of wildlife. He begin to lecture to Boy Scouts and other interested groups, teaching them the ways of nature.
Rickey became state fish and game warden and was closely associated with Charles B. Goddard whose interest in big game hunting and establishing his own wildlife refuge gave the men a common bond. So much so that at the time of his death Dude Rickey was buried on the Goddard Ranch, as he requested. His tombstone reads:
Dude Ricky 1877 – 1939
A Lover of nature, a student, admirer
and protector of the handiwork of his Creator.
A life devoted to this service.
1935 state game warden 1937
Ardmore chapter, Izaak Walton League
Not far away lies Little Joe 1939 – 1971 Foundation sire of the quarter horse breed whose progeny were champions many times over. Little Joe and his descendants earned many trophies for the Goddard family.
-Sally Gray, Territory Town, The Ardmore Story published 2006
I stopped by here a few times in the 70s in the ambulance on my way backk to Ardmore for Fried Pies. This was in Pauls Valley, delicious friend pies.
Below is a link to my webpage of people I’m looking for with unclaimed insurance at the State Treasurers Office in Oklahoma City. Some I’ve made contact with, and others I’m still looking for. Maybe you know someone???
https://oklahomahistory.net/unclaimed-property-in-oklahoma/
HAM Talk by KC5JVT via Echolink
The Arbuckle 97 HAM radio repeater is located in the Arbuckle Montains near Turner Falls. If you are a licensed HAM we welcome you to use the repeater and also check in at 8:00pm on Sunday nights when our 97 Net is held.
From this week’s Mailbag
On the Arkansas/Oklahoma state-line east of Tulsa you’ll find this sublime Natural Falls. In 1961, a man by the name of Wilson Rawls wrote the American classic “Where the Red Fern Grows,” a love story about a boy and his two redbone coonhounds growing up poor in the Oklahoma Ozarks. In 1974, it was adapted for the silver screen and filmed in Eastern Oklahoma and part at Natural Falls State Park in Colcord, Oklahoma. 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the movie and the iconic spot where Billy Coleman found the inspiration for his puppies’ names, Little Ann and Old Dan.
Roller coaster cars full of smiling faces are seen in this 1956 photo of the Big Dipper, a large wooden roller coaster that was one of the major attractions at Springlake Amusement Park in Oklahoma City. Among other rides at the park were the Little Dipper, Calypso and Alpine Skyway. Springlake opened in 1924 and closed in 1981.
I knew Mr. Maurice Bridge, the Ardmore jewelry store owner of which Ms. Donna Tuttle Holt wrote to you about. I have enclosed a picture of the 1950 Ardmore Baseball Club where I am standing right next to Mr. Bridge. I won most popular player that year and Mr. Bridge presented me with a beautiful ring which my son now wears. I thought you would be interested in the photo. -Ernesto Wallerstein in New Jersey
Below is from my newsletter archives dated
September 11, 1999 – Issue 125
It’s been some time since I talked about the Tech Corner. The past month I bet I have received 50 emails from people telling me Window 95/98 is not Y2K compliant and the date is incorrect. Each email said everyone needs to check their “Regional Setting” in Control Panel and change the 2 digit setting to the 4 digit date so Windows will be ready for January 1, 2000. Hahahahaha. Windows ’95 and ’98 are both Y2K Compliant. The date that windows keeps ‘inside’ is a 4 digit date. It passes the 4 digit date (as well as accepts the 4 digit date) to and from applications. The “Regional Settings fix” is only what is displayed to the user within Windows. It isn’t a ‘fix’ for anything.
This week I had the need to buy a paper from the little 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 60s when the bus station was across the street east from City Hall. The buses would bring in newspapers for hundreds of miles around 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.
https://www.mariettamonitor.com
Below is a heart touching email I received this week. Mel Clark was on my Oklahoma 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. Below is that email I received this week from his widow……
“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
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/119934136/melvin_o_clark
As I mentioned above, Mel lived in the Panhandle of Oklahoma, in Beaver, Oklahoma to be exact. That part of the state 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 became 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.
“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!!!!”
“A friend sent me a copy of your newsletter, and i wish i could be on the mail list. Very interesting stuff. I’m glad i’m not the only one who thinks brown springs, up by thackerville is a strange place. About 23 years ago, me, my wife, and her brother, were riding around, and ended up at that place. Middle of the day, parked the car at the bottom of the hill where the water comes out. climbed up the hill, was only one faint trail into the woods, over the barbed wire fence, into the cemetary. the farther we walked in the trees, the darker it got. then we started noticing graves that were dug up. A few bones scattered. we got spooked and headed back to the car. Only to find NOW the trail was full of sticker patches, and i was barefooted. The stickers weren’t there going in??? then, the car wasn’t where we left it. It was down the road a ways.. can’t explain it, but we all remember it. got the heck out of there, haven’t been back. We still get chill bumps when we talk about it.”
The ladies at the DA’s office here in Ardmore are excited over the 7 new computers the Oklahoma DAs 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
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore, Oklahoma
580-490-6823
