Tales from the Morgue

1976: President Ford Swoops Through El Paso

April 11, 1976

President Ford swooped into El Paso and out again Saturday afternoon on a quick campaign visit that saw three speeches delivered and a few hundred hands shaken and perhaps, if the President succeeded, a measurable number of new believers in his candidacy and the Republican party.

Ford was cheered by almost all of those who turned out on a warm Saturday afternoon to see a President and see him dedicated a war memorial to 203 American servicemen from El Paso who died in Vietnam. The crowd was estimated at 8,000 to 10,000 by the Secret Service and at 5,000 to 6,000 by the El Paso Police Department.

The President placed a wreath of red roses on the memorial, a project of the El Paso Chapter of the American Gold Star Mothers, in City Hall Park, a small patch of grass and marble on the corner of Kansas and San Antonio near the Federal Courthouse.

City Hall Park had never looked so good.

The grass was painted a rich, dark green.

Red chairs from the Civic Enter were set in net rows to be filled with invited guest whose red badges got them past the Secret Service and police cordons.

The quasi-Corinthian columns of the Federal Courthouse hadn’t looked so clean in years, but maybe it was just the hot, bright blueness of the day and the easy breeze. Or maybe it was the rich blue banner draped over the side of the building, commemorating the bicentennial.

U.S. Rep. Richard C. White, who addressed the crowd a few minutes before the President arrived, said the war memorial dedication was “one of the most moving incidents in the history of El Paso,” and “the culmination of the efforts of men and women of good will and great patriotism.”

Ford’s speech was greeted with overwhelming enthusiasm – even the screams of teenage girls – but also present were isolated indicators of dissent. Two red, white and blue signs shot up the instant Ford stepped to the podium, reading “Jobs Now!” and “Veto Ford.”

Evidently the presidential visit put Mayor Don Henderson in a pleasant frame of mind. “This is truly a historic day for all the people of El Paso,” the mayor said.

“I was telling the president how warm and how gracious the people of the city are – how they really are,” Henderson said. “He can go all over the United States of America, but there’s no place that ‘mi casa es su casa’ means more than it does here,” the mayor said.

“Mi casa es su casa” is a Spanish phrase “my house is your house.”

Henderson presented Ford the key to the city and said it “comes from the hearts of the warmest people and the friendliest people in the U.S.” The mayor also gave the President the Conquistador Award, a framed scroll described as “the highest award given by the City of El Paso.”

Earlier, Henderson gave Ford two other gifts. At a 11:30 p.m. reception in the Civic Center for about 650 campaign volunteers and invited dignitaries, the mayor gave the President a cowboy hat (he called it “a real ten-gallon hat”) and a pair of Cowboy boots, made in El Paso. Henderson said the boots were “hand made by Tony Lama” and that they were “about five hundred and some odd dollar boots, how ‘bout that.” The mayor told the President, “We’re gonna make you a cowboy.”

Ford reached into the hat and pulled out a slip of paper containing a statement which he read aloud. “Like hell it’s yours!” The note said. “Put it back.”

Ford jokingly referred to Henderson then as an “Indian giver.”

Gil Rendon, leader of a mariachi band that played at the reception, serenaded the President personally, singing a popular Mexican tune, “Cielito Lindo,” and then shaking the President’s hand.

Ford told the campaign volunteers he is counting on them to deliver four delegates pledged to him from the 16the Congressional District in the May 1 Republican primary.

“I know that you can, with the effort that can come out of this group, elect those four delegates to the national convention in Kansas City,” Ford said.

“I’m going to be watching you,” the President said, “and I’m going to count on you, and we won’t let you down.”

The reception crowd kept shouting “Viva” and “Ole.”

U.S. Sen. John G. Tower, a Texas Republican accompanying Ford, praised Ford’s El Paso campaign workers as “probably the most spirited volunteers you have in America,” then rephrased it to say “the most spirited volunteers … in quality and energy and intellect and dedication. I can promise,” Tower said, for Ford delegates from this District.

Ford said he is the underdog in Texas but said, “We’re going to win.”

He told the volunteers he has some “conversation points” they can use to persuade voters to vote for him. These were listed as a reduction in inflation from 12 per cent when he took office to 6 per cent now and an increase in employment of more than 2.6 million jobs.

Ford’s El Paso trip was kicked off with a brief press conference for local news media at the Transit Terminal of El Paso International Airport. Then the president addressed a convention of the Texas Grain and Feed Association in the Civic Center Theater and went directly from there to the reception.

In the hour or so between the time Ford left the reception and showed up at the war memorial dedication, the President was in a private room in the Civic Center, on what a press aide termed “staff time.” The President, the aide said, probably used the time to “freshen up.”

1949: College Becomes ‘Texas Western’ Today

June 1, 1949

Registration For Summer Term Opens

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Registration for the first session of school under the new name of Texas Western College will begin at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The old name of Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy passes out of existence Wednesday and the official name will become “Texas Western College of the University of Texas.”

The name change was made by the 51st Legislature in order to better recognize the wide curriculum at the college.

The change marks a new milestone in the growth of the college as a coeducational, liberal arts and engineering college.

No special ceremony is planned by the college administration Wednesday.

In step with its new name it was announced that Texas Western will offer during the summer session a number of new courses, workshops and clinics. Twenty-eight departments of the college will offer 200 separate courses in the two six-weeks summer terms.

Created by Act of the 33rd Legislature in 1913, the school was made a branch of the University of Texas in 1919. Since that time citizens of the Southwest have seen the college grow from a small mining institution with only a few students to a liberal arts and engineering college of more than 2500 men and women.

Degrees offered by the college include Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Music, Masters of Arts and degrees in mining, metallurgy, geology, civil electrical and general engineering.

Thousands Attend Opening Night Of Plaza Theater

September 13, 1930

Beautiful Building Views With Screen and Sound Attraction for Attention of Audience

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El Paso was “Plaza-minded” last night as one of the most representative audience ever assembled here celebrated a premier performance by filling the most beautiful and modern theaters in the Southwest, The Plaza.

Long before 6:30 p.m., the hour for the doors to be thrown open, the waiting crowd stretched almost around the block, and at 9:30 when the “first nighters” poured out of the theater they found another throng eager to get a glimpse of El Paso’s new center of amusement.

“The theater, which seats 2,400, was completely filled for both performances, and shortly before 10 o’clock when the doors were closed there was still a large crowd waiting to get in.

Evening of Surprises

Those who were fortunate enough to be a part of last night’s celebration wee treated to an evening of surprises – surprises at the beauty of the new theater from the dazzlingly lighted entrance through the moonlit patio, the lobby, the artistic foyer into the spacious and glowing auditorium where, under the stars twinkling through lazily drifting clouds, they sat in a great Spanish garden, flower decked and with evergreens and Lombardy poplars overhanging.

Surprise No. 2 came with the presentation itself – splendid projection which brought out every detail and sound effects registered distinctly in the most remote corners of the auditorium.

Rogers congratulates City

The national anthem brought the audience to its feet; Buddy Rogers stepped upon the screen and in a little speech congratulated El Paso upon its new theater and introduced with a bang the stars of Paramount who will entertain many an El Paso audience.

The news reel with remarkable clearness brought incidents from all parts of the world including the first-shown and vivid depiction of the sinking of the ill-fated steamer Tahiti.

The feature film, “Follow Thru,” rollicked through its story. Entirely in Technicolor, it is a beautiful production. Centering about the efforts of Nancy Carroll to keep the country club golf tournament cup from an outside female competitor. It has just enough plot to weld it together and serves to introduce some tuneful music, good dancing, sparkling episodes, clever liens and a wealth of comedy.

Good Acting

Jack Haley as Jack Martin, the terrorized woman-hater; Zelma O’Neal as his pursuing nemesis and Eugene Pallette as the rotund girdle salesman, bear the brunt of many funny situations, while the romance is safely left to the seasoned art of Buddy Rogers and Nancy Carroll.

A comedy, “Brat,” featuring the old-time favorites, Oliver Hardy and Stanley Laurel, brought the performance to an end in a burst of merriment.

Publix officials from all parts of the Untied States stood in line last night with John Paxton, city manger, and Carlos Frias, manage of the new Plaza, to greet the great crowd as their guest.

An efficiently trained corps of ushers guided the audience with quietness

1960: KTSM Starts Operation Of Ranger Peak Tramway

February 24, 1960

El Paso Tuesday became the third locality in the country to boast a public aerial tramway when KTSM-TV’s Ranger Peak tramway was opened for business.

The other two aerial tramways open to the public are located in Estes Park, Colo., and at Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire.

KTSM-TV’s Ranger Peak tramway will be open to the public daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Officials of the television station have reported that as the weather warms night trips will be scheduled so that El Pasoans and visitors will have the opportunity of going to the top of Ranger Peak to view the magnificent panorama of lights which are El Paso and Juarez at night.

The daytime view from the location has been hailed as a thrilling experience by persons who have already made the trip. In addition to commanding a complete view of El Paso, Juarez, and the Upper and Lower Valleys, one can see east to the Hueco and Guadalupe Mountains, southward far into Mexico, westward to the Florida Mountains near Deming, and north and northeast to the rugged Organs and often snow-capped Sacramentos.

The aerial tramway was originally constructed by KTSM-TV to haul material to its new transmitter location and to provide a means of transportation for station personnel to and from the isolated location. Interest proved so high that KTSM-TV officials decided to open the tramway as a service to El Paso residents and as a tourist attraction.

El Paso County Board of Development listed it as a major tourist attraction in a half-page tourist promotion ad in the current issue of Coronet Magazine.

Around Town Apr 29, 1893

I have them; you want them; latest improved gasoline stoves. R.W. Symons.

The Franklin club has had a new oak floor laid in its gymnasium room.

The Southern Pacific and Santa Fe passenger trains did not get in until late last night.

The wheat crop in northern Chihuahua, and particularly along the Carmen river, has been very heavy the past season.

Alberto Cabral, the young Mexican who fired a pistol ball through his left lung Tuesday morning was removed to Juarez yesterday.

Mirth, music and song will constitute the treat offered the patrons of the Ladles Hospital fund at the opera house next Tuesday evening.

There are eighteen federal prisoners in our county jail awaiting trial and the United States court has been adjourned until the October term.

A rise in the river of fourteen inches passed Rincon yesterday morning, and another rise of two inches passed the same point in the afternoon.

The police are now hunting up every person in the city having an unlicensed dog, for the purpose of prosecuting them – the persons, not the dogs.

The McGinty club is now issuing very elaborate and expressive traveling cards to such members as desire to take in the outside world during the spring and summer months.

The concert to be given Tuesday night for the benefit of the Ladies’ hospital promises to be one of the most enjoyable of all the high class entertainments of the season.

The new band organized to give concerts in the city park two or three evenings each weak during the coming season will give its first musical treat in the park next Wednesday evening.

Mrs. T. J. Beall, assisted by her daughters, yesterday entertained a score or more of ladies at High Five. The prizes were both unique and handsome and were won by Mrs. Cherry and Mrs. Morehouse and by Mrs. Loomis and Miss Hixson.

Rafael Romero, who some time since fired a Winchester rifle ball into the side of his wife, pleaded guilty yesterday of assault with intent to murder and was sentenced to two years in the penitentiary.

Jim Burns appeared before U.S. Commissioner McKie yesterday, waived examination on the charge of violating the revenue laws, and was bound over to the U.S. grand jury in the sum of $300.

W.J. Glenn, the well known civil engineer and local capitalist, will next week begin the erection of a brick tenement building 34 feet deep and fronting 78 feet on the west side of Utah street, between Third and Fourth, divided into twelve compartments.

Gus Herman, a large sized African, came up El Paso street yesterday afternoon pretty drunk, and just as he turned into East Overland he gave a roar like a fog horn. In an instant Officer Ross was at his side, and last night Gus was lodged at the expense of the city.

Lieutenant Col. Hunter, assisted by Past Captain Capell, installed the following officers of Canton del Paso No. 4, Patriarchs Militant, I.O.O.F. last night: J.R. Montfort, Captain; John M. Hammer, Lieutenant; William H. Fett, Ensign; J.C. Burge, Clerk, and W.E. Sharp, Accountant.

That accomplished railroader and gentleman, T.H. Sears, who succeeded H.U. Mudge as superintendent of the Rio Grande division of the Santa Fe, has been promoted and goes to Denver, much to the regret of railroad men and the public. He will probably be succeeded here by T.J. Easley.

The Southern Pacific is laying the twelve miles of track up the hill from Rodgers to Strauss with new 90 pounds steel rails, preparatory to putting on fast trains. Later on the grade will be changes.

A valve was left open or a water pipe burst in rear of the El Paso Steam printing house last night and flooded half a block up to Overland street and out to Utah street, running several Mexican families out of their jacals along the acequia.

The firemen’s ball at Forestville hose house last evening was a grand success, the attendance being unexpectedly large, the music good, and everybody enjoyed themselves hugely.

Lew Gasser, the young pugilist, made an exhibition of himself at the firemen’s ball last night. His conduct in the presence of ladies was so outrageous that the mangers ejected him from the building; soon after which he returned with a big six shooter to “get revenge,” when Officer Saunders disarmed and arrested him.

Forty Hoosiers, County Judge Hunter, Acting Mayor Badger and members of the city council and board of trade will be at the Santa Fe depot at 1:30 this afternoon to greet Minister Gray.

Former Members Mourn Passing Of El Calvario

03/07/0790 CHURCH EVACUATED - El Calvario Catholic Church at 4000 Durazno and formerly under the direction of the Rev. CMF Francisco Pacheco, appears in near ruins as it awaits the demolition crews which will remove it from the path of the new North-South Freeway, now under construction.

February 21, 1970

“The North and South freeway and its gleaming steel and concrete overpasses and underpasses will grace our fair city sometime in the near future, but the former site at 4000 Durazno street will always bring tears to many old timers who built the church with their hands,” states Mrs. Anna Manley of 4110 Leeds street, former member of El Calvario Church.

It was founded by Rev. Francisco Pacheco in 1933 after he had just arrived from Spain. Money for the building was raised through donations, bazaars, enchilada dinners, theatrical shows and magic shows. It was built by hand by congregation members. The last service was held in October.

“What some of the old timers ask, is, why did their church have to be torn down? During the depression when neighborhood men went every morning to look for work and couldn’t find any, they would return to the church and pull themselves up on ropes to the top of the rock walls and with their pastor, put in their day’s free labor for the House of God. In their hearts, El Calvario Church will always be a beautiful shrine of love, faith and hard work,” Mrs. Manley said.

Juarez Men Send Congratulations to U.S. On Peace

November 12, 1918

Congratulations on the coming of peace to the United States were officially conveyed by the Juarez Chamber of Commerce to the El Paso Chamber of Commerce in a communication signed by Ambrosio Escudero, president, and Rafael Lozano Saldana secretary, yesterday. The letter is as follows:

“Taking in consideration that the end of hostilities between Germany and her allies, and the United States of America and the co-belligerents on the other side, marks a new era I the international relations of all the world’s peoples upon the basis of equality and fraternity. In this great contest Mexico could stand neutral, but could not appear indifferent, because as a people young and a lover of liberty, was desirous of expecting the triumph of democratic ideals. Between the United States and the Mexican United States every day the reciprocal interests are greater and the commercial amity has to be more effective that their frontier does not divide, but is a limit on which the aspirations of the two nations are joined with high ideals and similar tendencies in favor of humanity, and that particularly the relations between Juarez and El Paso must be joined like two water cities animated by mutual sentiments of friendship and progress.

“It is resolved by the Juarez Chamber of Commerce, that greetings be sent to the El Paso Chamber of Commerce on this day of peace and glory, and that we have the honor to communicate to you the most enthusiastic congratulations."

This message was forwarded to the El Paso Chamber of Commerce by Angel Martinez and Raymundo Garcia, fraternal delegates from the Juarez commerce organization to the El Paso Chamber of Commerce.

Las Crucen recalls role in U.S. lunar missions

July 20, 2004

T.S. Hopkins
Sun-News reporter

Remember 1969?

It was the year of the first major U.S. oil spill off the California coast, the year "Easy Rider" opened, the year of Woodstock, the year of the first draft lottery since 1942.

And it was 1969 ‹ 35 years ago today ‹ when an Apollo 11 astronaut first walked on the moon, carried there by rockets that were tested right here in Las Cruces.

"I relive that moment every day of my life," Las Crucen Archie Beckett said Monday. "I'm proud to have been a part of it."

Beckett, now 77, was a young mechanical engineer and a graduate of New Mexico State University when he came to work at NASA's White Sands Test Facility east of Las Cruces.

With eight years' experience at a petroleum company, Beckett came to the NASA site because he wanted in on the ground floor of the space program.

"We were doing testing on the rocket engines at the NASA site before there was a ground floor," Beckett joked. "I started with NASA in Las Cruces in 1964 when they were just getting ready to build the LEM's (Lunar Excursion Module). There were all kinds of glitches, but we overcame them."

Crews at the site made the first test firing of the Apollo project's large service propulsion engine in September 1964, according to information from NASA spokesman Ray Melton.

Beckett worked with a team of 20 engineers and technicians that performed those tests on the mesa east of Las Cruces.

"We had a schedule and tasks to complete every day," Beckett recalled. "We were working 20-hour days and never thought about it because the tasks had to be completed."

Beckett said his boss called him one night about midnight to tell him to sleep in, have a good breakfast, go to church and be back at the site by noon.

"That's the way it was, but we didn't care," Beckett said.

Beckett credits the space program for developing the miniaturization of components to fit into the space capsule, the development of computers and many everyday items like cellular telephones.

Through the years of the space program there have been tragedies, including the Challenger launch explosion in 1986 and last winter's Columbia shuttle that burned up on re-entry over Texas.

Beckett also recalled the launch-pad fire in Apollo's early years that killed three astronauts.

"I was the chief investigator in the death of Virgil Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee in 1967," Beckett said. "I went to the Cape (Cape Canaveral) to see the capsule."

Beckett said the hatch on the capsule opened inward to create a tighter seal on the door, but made it impossible to exit in a hurry.

"I had just built my kids a T-bar slide attached to a 30-foot pole," Beckett said. "I changed the design some, but we attached a cable from the capsule to be used in an emergency and all the astronauts had to be trained to slide down 489 feet from the top of the capsule to the ground."

Beckett chuckled as he recalled talking with astronauts about the cable.

"One of them said, ŒYeah, I'm going to space, but I'm never sliding down that cable again.'"

According to Melton, 19 current NASA site employees were a part of the Apollo Program between 1963 and 1972.

The site will mark today with an informal display of Apollo memorabilia for employees and those who were involved in the program through the years.

T.S. Hopkins can be reached at thopkins@lcsun-news.com

In observance

€ The New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo will mark the 35th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon mission with special exhibitions and free admission from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday.

€ Among the exhibits is the model of the moon used by Walter Cronkite to point out the landing to a world television audience and many photos of men on the moon for the first time.

First Trinity Site test was weeks before A-bomb

August 16, 2004

Courtesy of White Sands Missile Range

The first atomic bomb was tested at Trinity Site on July 16, 1945. Most people are familiar with this and the fact that the National Historic Landmark is on the north end of White Sands Missile Range. However, most are not familiar with the Trinity Site explosion weeks earlier on May 7, 1945.

At 5:30 a.m. on July 16, 1945 the world was ushered into the atomic age with the test of a plutonium-based bomb at Trinity Site.

The other Trinity explosive test was initially proposed in 1944 as a way to provide testers with a full dress rehearsal for the real thing and as a way to calibrate blast and shock sensors.

It was accomplished by building a 20-foot heavy wooden platform. On top of this soldiers placed 100 tons of high explosives (HE). The amount of HE and its height above the ground were scaled to simulate a four to five kiloton nuclear blast. (The July 16 test took place on a 100-foot tower but had a higher yield of 20 kilotons).

Many of the instrumentation sites used for the real test were operational for the 100-ton test. For instance, 11 quartz blast gauges were installed at ground level and nine records were obtained. Also, six geophones were used to measure earth motion and all gave satisfactory readings. In addition, all three Fastax cameras running at 1,000 frames per second from 800 yards away provided excellent photographic coverage.

Some of these instrumentation sites were constructed to accommodate the 100-ton test. For instance, the west 800-yard bunker has a view port facing the real ground zero and another facing more to the south where the 100-ton test was conducted.

The 100-ton test took place southeast of the real ground zero at a spot just east of the current Trinity Site parking lot.

The test was scheduled for 4 a.m. on May 7 but was delayed 37 minutes.

One obscure aspect of the test was the use of a radioactive slurry in the stack of HE. To measure the distribution of radioactive debris from the explosion, a radioactive slug from Hanford was dissolved and run into plastic tubing in the HE stack.

After the explosion the same methods were used to measure radiation on the ground that were planned for the July 16 test. For instance, a lead shielded tank drove into the small crater (about five feet deep and 30 feet in diameter) to take soil samples.

One thing learned from the test was the need for better roads to get people around quicker and reduce dust. By the time of the real test, more than 20 miles of the site’s roads were blacktopped.

Unlike the real test, the May 7 action went pretty much unnoticed. The flash of light was seen at the Alamogordo Bombing Range headquarters area by an observer who was told about it. Other than that, no one seems to have noticed the explosion.

This column is provided by White Sands Missile Range’s Public Affairs Office. For more information, call the office at (505) 678-1134.

Photo Caption: Photo courtesy White Sands Missile Range

The stack of 200,000 pounds of TNT at Trinity Site for the May 7, 1945 calibration test. The explosion seems to have gone unnoticed in southern New Mexico.

1985: County scrambles to fix broken windows in jail

March 19, 1985

By David Landis
Times staff writer

Many of the 205 county jail windows broken almost two years ago by rebellious inmates have not been replaced, and the county is rushing to finish the job before state jail inspectors arrive in April.

“(Former Sheriff) Mike Davis claims we were the first big jail (in Texas) to be certified, and I don’t want to be the first big jail to be uncertified,” Sheriff Leo Samaniego said Monday.

Samaniego said 176 of the windows have not been replaced but must be if the jail is to retain its certification. The state inspectors will arrive either April 15 or April 23, he said.

The $32 million jail, which began operation in July 1983, features impenetrable glass windows instead of traditional iron bars. The window consist of a poly-carbonate substance sandwiched between two glass panes.

Although inmates have not been able to penetrate the inner substance, they discovered soon after moving in that they could shatter the outer glass and make it difficult for guards to see into the cells.

The jail was certified by the state jail standards commission last April, with the provision that the shattered windows be replaced. In January 1984, commissioners ordered the installation of a steel mesh screen on the windows to prevent further breakage, but they never replaced the broken windows.

“I think (the Sheriff’s Department) just got busy and never got around to it,” Commissioner Charlie Hooten said.

Monday, Commissioners Court voted to set aside $54,000 to replace the broken windows. Hooten said the actual price probably will be closer to $32,000. The higher price was for a chemically treated glass that is harder to break, he said, but that kind of glass probably would not be necessary on most windows now that the screens are in place.

In other Sheriff’s department developments, Samaniego said 12 secretaries and clerical workers who were certified as peace officers during Davis’ administration have been decertified or reassigned to law enforcement duties.

Samaniego said he has been critical of their certification because he believes secretarial and clerical jobs should be filled by lower-paid civilian workers.