Tales from the Morgue

Kennedy Assasinated; El Paso shocked, stunned

November 22, 2008 marks the 45th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

This is from an article dated March 21, 2002 about Kennedy's June 1963 trip to El Paso:

It is Kennedy's 1963 visit to discuss the Chamizal Treaty that is deeply ingrained in the minds of thousands of El Pasoans who saw the president just months before he was assassinated in Dallas. In fact, it was in the Cortez (Hotel) that Kennedy decided to make the fateful trip to Dallas, according to testimony provided to the Warren Commission.
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Below are articles on El Paso's reaction to Kennedy's death and links to photo galleries of Kennedy's visits to El Paso.

November 23, 1963

Border Closed After JFK Death

By BOB REYES

  A U.S. Immigration Service law and a new Mexican order were put into effect within minutes of each other Friday night allowing conditional pedestrian and vehicular traffic along El Paso-Juarez border.

U.S. immigration officials said that the Departure Control Law, authorizing the prevention of any alien or U.S. citizen from leaving the country, became effective shortly after 8 p.m. Friday.

An order dispatched to Mexican border officials by Lic. Luis de Chavarria, assistant secretary of the Ministry of Gobernacion (Interior) rescinded an earlier mandate which was received at 2 p.m. Friday (El Paso time), and which immobilized vehicular and pedestrian traffic through the three international ports of entry.

Chavarria’s latest order authorized Mexican residents with local crossing cards to enter the country. No foreigners were being permitted to enter.

Alberto Fernandez Colima, assistant Juarez immigration chief, said that American citizens who had been trapped in Juarez when the order was issued then were permitted to cross to El Paso after showing proper credentials.

He said the Mexican order also prohibited foreigners in Mexico to leave the country.

Under the U.S. Immigration Departure Control Law, which will remain effective until President Kennedy’s killer is arrested, gives American immigration authorities on the border authorization to prevent any U.S. citizen or aliens from leaving the U.S.

Some vehicles bearing Mexican license plates were allowed to cross from El Paso to Juarez, but only after a thorough investigation and proof of vehicle ownership was shown.

American citizens living in Juarez also were prevented from crossing into Juarez under both the Mexican order and the American law.

American citizens trapped by the earlier order, which was a security measure agreed on by both  governments, were able to cross from Juarez shortly after 8 p.m. Friday.

Pedestrian and vehicular traffic on Cordova Island free bridge was suspended completely. However, despite new developments. At the same time, traffic to and from the U.S. on the Columbus, N.M.-Palomas international road flowed freely.

Shortly after 6 p.m. El Paso time, some units of the Juarez Army Garrison were ordered to supplement the Mexican Immigration Service in Juarez, according to Maj. Gen. Tiburcio Garcia Zamora, commander of the garrison.

At one time, over 8,000 people jammed at both the Santa Fe and Stanton street bridges, with long lines of cars bumper to bumper as far as Paisano Drive.

Earlier, the U.S,-Mexico border from Matamoros on the Gulf of Mexico to Tijuana, was tightly closed by Mexico following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

More articles

Downtown El Paso Shocked

Leaders stunned by death

All Faiths Say Prayers For Kennedy

History Repeats Itself, Almost 100 Years Later

President Victim Of His Own Indifference To Personal Danger

Motorist, Police Mourn JFK

Bases Plan Memorial Services; Biggs AFB Denies Alert Status 

Photos

El Paso learns of Kennedy's death

John F. Kennedy in El Paso

Kennedy's 1960 visit to El Paso

 

1937: Rum-Flavor Ice Cream Sale Is Investigated By Pastors' Council

 

December 6, 1937

Action Taken After Petitions Are Circulated In Churches Against Alcohol In Frozen Refreshment

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The El Paso Ministerial Council today passed a motion authorizing the appointment of a committee to make a thorough investigation of the alleged sale of ice cream with alcoholic content in El Paso, Rev. Arthur Hyde, chairman of publicity, announced. Rev. Dubose Murphy is chairman.

The Ministerial Council executive board heard a protest circulation of a petition in El Paso from Mrs. R. J. Parker, WCTU president, who urged action from the council.

The action of the council followed leading churches yesterday by advocates of prohibition protesting the manufacture and sale, especially in places frequented by children, of ice cream with brandy or other alcoholic content or flavor.

Four hundred names were signed at the First Baptist Church following the 11 a. m. services when Rev. I. L. Yearby spoke on the harm of rum and brandy flavored ice cream and candies for young people.

Petitions were signed at the Immanuel Baptist Church and the Asbury Methodist Church. Petitions were circulated at Trinity Methodist Church.

Rev. Yearby and Rev. Roy S. Hollomon. pastors of the First Baptist and Immanuel Baptist Churches, voiced their objections to rum or brandy flavored ice creams as inciting children and young people to a taste for liquor.

 “We protest against the sale in El Paso,” Dr. Yearby said.

 Fears Taste Will Grow

“We know the youth of today has grown up without a taste for liquor,” Mt. Hollomon said. “The sale of rum flavored ice cream is a means of education them to like it.”

Rev. W.H. Mansfield, pastor of Trinity Methodist Church, said today that although he permitted a committee of women temperance advocates to circulated the petition he did not speak on the subject from his pulpit.

“I made a private investigation,” he said. “And two large ice cream companies here promised me that they would remove the rum-flavored product from their market and not manufacture any more. Therefore, I saw no reason for taking any further action.”

“The town has been thoroughly aroused,” Mrs. Parker said today. “But if the local companies have promised not to sell any more of this product, we are satisfied.”

Sold For Year

Mrs. Parker said that she asked the council to help in the “cause of righteousness.”

Price’s Dairy officials and officials of the Borden Co. today said they are withdrawing the names for their holiday ice creams which are found objectionable by prohibition advocates. They said they told Mr. Mansfield they were withdrawing the names.

“We have no apologies to make for our product,” said Bob Price of Price’s dairy. “The alcoholic content in these holiday ice creams is one-twenty-sixth of one percent by volume and one-thirteenth of one per cent by weight. It is perfectly legal and there is nothing harmful in the ice cream. We have been selling them for many years.”

Price said buttermilk has an alcoholic content of three-fourths of one per cent by weight and volume.

Borden Co. officials today said they are withdrawing the names of the ice creams found objectionable.

So Has Vinegar

“We use a rum flavor in our holiday ice creams in small quantities,” said W. A. Smith, company manager. “There is no test to make because the alcoholic content is so small it would be futile. Any appreciable amount of alcohol in ice cream would curdle it and spoil it. You can’t freeze it in eggnog nor bake it in a fruit cake. It disappears when you attempt to.”

Smith emphasized that vinegar has alcoholic content as well as buttermilk.

“The saliva in your mouth has alcoholic content,” he said.

No School Sale

Mrs. Mary Dewey, El Paso High School cafeteria manager, today said that she does not sell rum flavored ice creams or candy bars with rum flavor names.

“The names do not sound right for school lunch rooms,” she explained.

Mrs. Mabel Campbell, Austin High School cafeteria manager, said today she has withdrawn an order for date ice cream because she heard it contained the rum extract.

“The petition was circulated in my church yesterday,” she said.

1936: Wind, Rain Gradually Removing Ruins of Hart’s Mill

05/28/1936

Founder Fought Bravely During Mexican War In Chihuahua
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On the American bank of the Rio Grande near the viaduct just west of El Paso are the crumbling adobe walls of an old building, soon the remaining walls will be beaten down by wind and rain. A sleepy, melancholy atmosphere hangs over the old ruin. Motorists speed by on U.S. 80 without giving the place a thought.

But once the building was a famous southwestern institution. It was Hart’s Mill, the center of pioneer life over an area that extended from West Texas to Arizona and as far north as Santa Fe. In those days few persons passed it by. It represented hospitality, culture, and the necessities of life.

The mill ground flour for forty-niners, two-gun men, Civil War troops, Indian fighters, stage-drivers, and many others who passed through the ancient gateway of Paso del Norte.

It was established about 1849 by Capt. Simeon Hart, one of the city’s real pioneers.

BORN IN NEW YORK

Simeon Hart was born at Highland, N.Y., March 28. 1818.

With his family he went at an early age to St. Louis, Mo. He was educated to be a civil engineer. He also had literary tastes.

In 1847 he volunteered for service in the Mexican War. He became adjutant of the Missouri Horse under Col. John Ralls.

He was commended for bravery at the battle of Santa Cruz de Rosalia. While in Chihuahua he met a woman of intelligence and refinement, Senorita Jesusita Siquieros, daughter of a wealthy Rosales man.

He married her in 1850 and they had six children: Juan, Leonardo, Antonio, Catalina, Paulina and Corina. Juan was one of the founders of The El Paso Times.

Capt. Hart died Jan. 19, 1874, at the mill, and his tomb stands near by. Recently members of the family have considered moving the tomb to Evergreen Cemetery.

POWER FROM RIVER

Hart built the walls of the mill of adobe blocks, nearly three feet thick. For the roof he laid heavy sycamore beams across the top of the walls, covered the beams with peeled branches of willows, and on top of the branches packed four inches of adobe.

His power came from the river. The Mexicans – at that time Juarez (El Paso del Norte) was a city of 10,000- had built a dam across the river and permitted Hart to take out what water he needed for his mill.

“It was the chief industrial enterprise in the valley,” wrote W.W. Mills in 1858.

GIVES FT. BLISS SITE

After Col. Hart’s death in 1874 his son Juan Hart, took charge of the mill. Soldiers then were engaged in Indian campaigns and in 1880 Juan Hart donated a site adjoining the mill for a military reservation, and there Ft. Bliss was established. Two of the old army buildings are now used as private residences. The mill supplied the post with flour.

When the railroads came in 1881 they brought keen competition. New plants with modern equipment and steam power were established. By 1895 the old mill went out of business and the millstones were shipped to Mexico.

The late Brig. Gen. T.F. Davis, who married two of Col Hart’s daughters, lived for some time in the Hart homestead adjoining the mill. In 1934 it was rented to the Federal transient bureau. Now only a caretaker lives there.

1996: 20 years later, Tim Floyd retains vigor, class

12/23/1996

Bill Knight / El Paso Times

Tim Floyd sat calmly on press row, chatting with old friends, signing autographs. Children, young adults, older fans came politely up to Floyd, asking for his signature.

"Merry Christmas, Tim Floyd," he signed over and over and over.

Another victory was behind him. His basketball team was ranked fifth in the nation. He warmly, casually, confidently embraced celebrity.

Life is good.

Though Floyd seems to have that Dick Clark disease - he looks exactly the same as he did 20 years ago - much has changed in his life since his days as graduate assistant and then assistant coach for Don Haskins at UTEP.

Today he is the high-profile coach at Iowa State, Big Eight Coach of the Year last year ... runner-up for National Coach of the Year. Just a couple of months shy of his 43rd birthday, he is one of college basketball's hot young commodities.

Floyd came to Haskins in 1977 as a graduate assistant, fresh out of college, admittedly not knowing much, but ready to work. And work hard. In the beginning, he made all of $10,000 a year.

Smiling that familiar smile, Floyd said, "I got a raise up to $16,000 and thought I was doing pretty good."

Finally, after helping recruit UTEP to five straight 20-win seasons and regular visits to the NCAA Tournament, Floyd was courted by Abe Lemmons at Texas. So he got a raise to $28,000 a year.

Now, after successful stints as head coach at Idaho and New Orleans, Floyd commands more than half a million dollars a year. Long way from that $10,000.

Floyd steered his car into his beautiful home - a two-story affair in a wooded picture-postcard scene, a house nearly a century old - and Don Haskins cracked, "Tim, this looks just like the house you had in El Paso when you were making $10,000 a year."

Floyd obviously holds Haskins in high esteem ... just as Haskins did his old college coach Henry Iba.

"We do everything here the way Coach Haskins taught me," Floyd said. "Straight up man-to-man defense. What you're seeing is basic El Paso defense."

Floyd's team destroyed East Tennessee State 77-49 Saturday night in the Iowa State Holiday Classic. And Floyd knew Haskins was watching.

"I was on edge at the beginning of the game," he said. "I didn't stand up as much. I kept my butt on the bench, just like I did when I was in El Paso coaching for Coach Haskins.

"At about the 7-minute mark, I called a time out and told my guys `You're not just getting graded. My butt is, too. So if you don't play hard, you won't stay out there on the floor.'

"I'd love to lie to you and tell you I didn't know where Coach Haskins was sitting. But I did. I knew exactly where he was," Floyd said.

But Tim Floyd is no longer just Don Haskins' assistant coach. He has reached a degree of celebrity ... with prospects of greater celebrity well within his reach.

He won 23 games his first season at Iowa State, advancing to the NCAA Tournament. Last year, picked for the conference cellar, with no key players returning, he won 24 games - and the Big Eight Tournament.

Recently, Floyd signed one of the top recruits in the nation. Indiana's Bobby Knight wanted him. So did virtually every other coach in the nation. Floyd got him by visiting the player's family in Slovakia. He was the only coach to make that visit.

Promise fulfilled

That, though, has always been the Floyd way.

Not many people in El Paso ever saw him without either a suitcase in his hand or a phone plastered to his ear. He was always outworking everyone else, always traveling to see a recruit or talking to him on the phone.

Haskins grinned and said, "Mr. Iba told me once not to give up on that young assistant. He's gonna be all right. He's gonna be a good one. I told him I knew it. And he was right."

Sunday morning, Floyd pulled off his jacket and showed everyone his old sweatshirt ... a faded gray job with orange letters: "UTEP Athletics."

Floyd's wife Beverly said, "I remember when we got that raise from $10,000 to $16,000. It was so good. It seemed like more at the time than we got when we came here."

Life was good then. Now it is better than good.

Tim, Beverly and their beautiful 15-year-old daughter Shannon still have some roots in El Paso; many old friends.

It has been a long journey from El Paso to Ames. Yet Floyd retains three elements that always set him apart to everyone who ever met him - a devilish sense of humor, an untiring work ethic and class with a capital C.

A small boy walked up to the Iowa State coach and asked for an autograph. "Could you sign this other one for my brother? It's his birthday."

"Sure," Floyd said, flashing that big-league smile. "What's your brother's name?"

Celebrity fits Floyd so well ... far better than that old UTEP sweatshirt.

Bill Knight covers UTEO basketball for the Times.

1944: El Paso Mother To Receive Hero Son’s Award From FDR

Mrs. C. Jane Hawkins will leave Tuesday for Washington, D.C., where, Mrs. Roosevelt had advised her, the President will present her with the Congressional Medal of Honor, awarded posthumously to her son, First Lt. William Deane Hawkins.

The airfield, which Lieutenant Hawkins helped to take on Tarawa is named in his honor. As the leader of a scout and sniper platoon which he offered to match, 34 strong, against any 200 soldiers in the world, he landed ahead of the bombardment which opened the invasion, and paved the way for the capture of the airstrip.

He won his commission after serving in the ranks on Guadalcanal.

In her letter, Mrs. Roosevelt wrote: “I realize how hard it has been for you, but the war has been hard, as you well know, and I assure you changes are not because of anything unimportant.”

Mrs. Hawkins will visit her brother, Deane Moon, who lives in Louisburg, N.C.

The El Paso 20-30 Club will finance Mrs. Hawkins’ trip.

Lieutenant Hawkins was the only son of Mrs. Hawkins, whose husband died when her son was eight years old. He was a graduate of El Paso High School and College of Mines. Mrs. Hawkins, who lives at 1014 North Oregon street, is a teacher at El Paso Technical Institute.

“I think it will be a wonderful thing to received the medal,” Mrs. Hawkins said. “Of course, it could not take the place of my boy – a hundred medals couldn’t do that. But it is a signal honor and one any mother would be proud to receive.”

10/26/1944

Please note that there is language used in this article that we wouldn’t use today. I typed the article just as it appeared in 1944. Also the welder from El Paso Tech is mentioned by name twice, once as Cross and once as Gross, I’m not sure which is correct.

A Great Destroyer, Honoring An Heroic Marine, Now Afloat

By Eva Hodges

Back from the christening and launching of the USS Hawkins – the largest destroyer ever built – Mrs. Clara Jane Hawkins, 1014 North Oregon Street, has received  posthumously one more honor for her son, First Lt. William Deane Hawkins, USMCR, killed at Tarawa.

In ceremonies at Orange, Texas, Oct. 7, Mrs. Hawkins broke the traditional bottle of champagne across the ship’s bow, a moment before it slipped its moorings to join the wartime flotilla.

“It was a wonderful thrill,” Mrs. Hawkins said Wednesday. “I was covered with champagne from top to toe and even had a few splinters of glass in my shoe.”

Remnants of the shattered bottle were carefully packed in a mahogany box, made of the same timber of which the ship was built. The Consolidated Steel Corporation presented her with a heavy silver platter, bordered with the laurel wreath, symbolic of heroism.

The ceremonies also included reading of the citation made by President Roosevelt when he presented Mrs. Hawkins with the Congressional Medal of Honor, Sept. 30. An oil painting of the Marine will hang in the ship.

Mrs. Hawkins, a teacher at El Paso Technical Institute, was accompanied to Orange by J.T. Reynolds, director of vocational education at Tech, and Mrs. Adah Mott, tech teacher.

Among the crowd of Navy and company official which viewed the launching was Edward Cross, who had done most of the welding on the ship’s keel. Mr. Gross received his training in welding at Technical Institute. He is Mrs. Mott’s brother –in-law.

Coincident with the USS Hawkins’ launching, Capt. Walker Tynes, back from the South Pacific, told the Dallas Morning News:

“The story of Bill Hawkins is almost incredible – but I saw it. He was in the first wave to hit Tarawa. A pier jutted out from the beach some 300 yards and the Japs had a batch of machine guns hidden beneath it.

“Hawkins and a couple of others jumped from their boats to the pier to wipe out the machine guns. Suddenly there was a terrific explosion. The Japs had mined the pier and blew it sky high.  Marines were blown everywhere. Many had their clothes blown off. Hawkins sailed 50 feet and landed in the water.

“But he didn’t stop. He climbed into an alligator and went ashore. Then he loaded up with grenades and TNT and started for those machine gun nest again. He stood there and threw grenades and tossed TNT at them.

“The fellow knocked out 10 machine guns! It was magnificent. Then he sneaked over to some pill-boxes and calmly poured gasoline down the ventilating holes. He lighted matches, rolls of paper and weeds and tossed them. Burning Japs screamed.

“Twice he was wounded but he went on with his rampage. Next afternoon he was standing near a half-truck, directing fire at pill-boxes. He was standing out there in the open, blowing the daylights out of them.

“Finally Bill Hawkins got it. A sniper picked him off. He was a hero- every inch a hero. I saw him.”

That tribute and one which a Marine sergeant telephoned from Union Depot to Mrs. Hawkins – “He was my commanding officer, and I just wanted you to know the inspiration he gave will last us all our lives” – mean more to Mrs. Hawkins than all the medals, courtesies and silver in the world.

 

The following Medal of Honor recipients either lived or were born in the area:

•William Deane Hawkins, El Paso.

•Ambrosio Guillen, El Paso.

•Benito Martinez, Fort Hancock.

•David H. McNerney, Fort Bliss.

•Delbert Owen Jennings, Silver City.

•Alejandro Renteria Ruiz, Carlsbad.

•Joseph Rodriguez, El Paso.

•Silvestre Santana Herrera, El Paso.

•Paul Ray Smith, El Paso.

Source: Texas Medal of Honor Memorial; Homeofheroes.com; El Paso Times archives.

Before Sun City, El Paso was Sin City

January 13, 2003

By Leon Metz / Special to the Times

Across the centuries, El Paso has been known by several names and descriptions, and perhaps one of the best-known tags long ago was "Sin City."

You don't hear that expression too much anymore. The town has been settled and tamed. Where we now have churches, businesses, schools, and miles of quiet residential areas, we once had saloons, brothels, gamblers, shady ladies, and gunmen, the list of sin and sinners being almost as endless as it was colorful.

Editor Simeon Newman of the El Paso Lone Star newspaper, who considered himself a guardian of local and public morals, registered shock in 1883 at what he regarded as a display of foul language, the participants being men and women sitting in a carriage in front of the local post office.

W.W. Bridgers, a prominent El Pasoan who wrote about many topics, noted that "these were the days (1881) when gamblers sported heavy gold-linked watch chains and diamond shirt studs. Charlie Utter -- the golden-haired gambler of the Rockies -- wore a watch chain a foot long and as thick as your little finger. He favored a vest and a dazzling shirt front bedecked with glittering studs. When encountered on the street, one usually found him dressed in a Prince Albert coat, and a $50 broad-brimmed white Stetson. His boots contained the finest leather."

Most gamblers were transients. In 1902 an estimated 600 lived here, most of them making a living in 96 saloons.

But none of them in terms of style could touch Cy Ryan, the most colorful, flamboyant gambler ever to hit El Paso. Ryan opened the Mint Saloon at 207 S. El Paso Street, old timers remembering the location as the Alhambra Theater and later the Palace Theater.

Then Ryan went big time, opening the Astor House Saloon and Gambling Emporium at 107 San Antonio.

The gambling house ran wide open 24 hours a day. Celebrities passing through always made a point to stop in. Famed gunman and sports writer Bat Masterson spent time there, as did former world heavyweight champion, John L. Sullivan.

Loud in every sense, Ryan wore "expressive" raiment topped off with a silk stovepipe hat. When he spoke, the whole town heard him, and when he went to church, he dropped only coins in the collection box because they made such an impressive, noticeable clatter.

Every morning he threw open the doors of his saloon, tossing handfuls of coins into the street where boys would scramble for them.

Once each week, Pomroy Stables sent its finest hack to the Astor House, the horses shining and prancing, the driver dressed like a wealthy cab driver. Ryan's servants then trotted out with sugar, coffee, flour, meat, corn and whatever.

With Ryan looking like a European count, silk top hat never slipping, and with a crack of the whip, he and the coachman rumbled off in their chariot to distribute food to the poor in South El Paso.

The Astor House gambling emporium is gone, in its place a rather quiet parking lot alongside Pioneer Plaza, across the street from the Camino Real Hotel. Shoppers, businessmen, tourists and politicians stroll by with scarcely a thought to the showy events that once occurred there.

As for whatever happened to the colorful, high-stepping Cy Ryan, I have not the vaguest idea, but he brought a sense of style that's sorely needed today.

 

1929: BOMBS TELL ARRIVAL OF NATURAL GAS IN EL PASO

June 19, 1929

Mayor Thomason Shoots Roman Candle Into Gas Jet To Light Huge Beacon At Ascarate

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NEW FUEL WILL BE GREAT AID TO CITY

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Air Raid Shows Ease With Which City Could Be Razed; Steele Gives Nero Real Competition

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Bombs dropped from an airplane circling over El Paso last night heralding the turning on of natural gas here, revealed the possibilities of an air raid over the city and an imaginative mind could depict the destruction that might have been wrought had real bombs been used instead of toys.

Just before dusk last night the airplane, flying high above the city, made several circles over the city, dropping the bombs at will, causing flashes of fire and heavy explosions, though high in air. Tell-tale balls of smoke marked great areas over which the bombs were dropped, and exhibited the effectiveness with which El Paso could be destroyed from the air.

Had the detonators on the bombs been pulled on high explosives such as are used in real warfare, El Paso this morning would show wrecked homes, industries and building. Dead and wounded might be strewn about the streets as a result of the havoc wrought by one or two men, a highpowered airplane and high explosives.

This was not the case, however. Only tiny toy bombs were used in the “attack,” but they vividly illustrated how El Paso could be ravaged from the air.

Mayor Lights Beacon

Shortly after the air raid, Mayor R.E. Thomason, several miles down the valley at the El Paso Natural Gas company’s main gate plant, sent a tiny ball of fire from a Roman candle through a jet of new fuel, lighting a giant gas beacon as a part of the program arranged to celebrate the coming of natural gas to El Paso.

With a low rumble, almost like that of distant thunder, the beacon sprung to life, lighting the entire countryside with its brilliant glare.

Gas for the beacon was furnished from the newly completed pipe line stretching from El Paso to Lea County, N.M., a distance of more than 200 miles.

Hundreds of El Pasoans gathered at the beacon, located on the lower valley road at Ascarate, to watch the air raid and to see the mayor light the beacon. Automobiles filled with El Pasoans and visitors from the upper and lower valley, thronged the highway, while other cars were parked along the roadside to watch the memorable event.

Steele Is Nero

All state highway police officers were called out to aid in handling the crowds and to prevent a complete congestion of traffic. They did their work well under the direction of Officer Norman Chamberlain.

Nero didn’t have much on Ross V. Steele, director of the municipal band, who was at the ceremonies with the organziation. The only difference between Steele and Nero is that Nero played while Rome burned; Steele and his band played while El Paso was being bombed and that gas burned.

Natural gas was turned into the city mains at 4:45 o’clock last night, on schedule to the minute. There was a pressure of 47 pounds being maintained in the city mains last night. East of the main gates a pressure of 235 pounds was registered in the pipe line.

500-lb. Pressure Test

Completion of a 500-pound pressure test of the pipe line, constructed at a cost of $6,000,000 as made at 3:07 o’clock yesterday morning by H.G. Prost, of the gas company.

With the bringing of natural gas here, industrial and economic conditions are expected to be revolutionized. El Paso’s smoke nuisance will also be partially eliminated, and El Paso housewives are to have clean, cheap fuel.

Gas has been turned into the city mains, and El Pasoans will be notified when the new fuel reaches their home and district, officials of the Texas Cities Gas company, who will distribute the gas, announced last night.

EPNG photo gallery

1968: EPNG Annual Christmas Cross Lighting Began In 1955

December 5, 1968

 

El Paso Natural Gas Company’s traditional salute to the Christmas season will be on display starting Dec. 15, it was announced today.

Annually since 1955, the firm has outlined a giant cross with lights in the windows on the east side of its 16-story Main Office Building at Stanton and Texas streets. And since 1966, a 55-foot musical, “living” Christmas tree has stood on the northeast corner of the same building.

Employes will be setting up the decorations about the middle of next week.

The cross, which is visible from the air for as much as 100 miles, will stretch from the fourth to the sixteenth floors of the Main Office Building. It is created with 103 neon light fixtures, each contain three lighting tubes. The fixtures are placed in 49 windows to form a cross measuring 159 feet high and 72 feet wide. The lights consume some 12,240 watts of power.

The tree has an unusual lighting system which coordinated the colors and degrees of brightness of the tree’s 1200 lights with the musical notes of traditional Christmas songs and Carols. Because the lights are continually changing colors and intensity the tree becomes a multicolored, vibrant tribute to Christmas.

Through an electronic control, the lights “dance” with the music. Bass notes turn the lights blue; mid-range notes change the color green; and treble notes bring out red.

The tree has approximately 400 transparent, six-inch “glowberries,” each containing a red, blue and green light. A green, glass sprinkled garland has white berries, and a white star crowns the tip of the tree.

The tree will be turned on from dark to midnight, but the cross will glow 24 hours a day, company officials said.

EPNG photo gallery

 

Fines kept El Paso going in olden days

August 22, 2005

By Leon Metz
Special to the Times

The City of El Paso incorporated May 17, 1873, with a voting population of 72. And those voters were all men.

But since everybody knew everybody, there was hesitance to pass ordinances that might offend someone. So every week for two years, the council passed ordinances primarily relating to the acequia, the community watering ditch.

Otherwise, no records exist regarding the assessed value of any personal property. The city collected a tax total of $188.83 the first year.

Most of that went to improve the acequia (irrigation ditch), which brought pure, although somewhat brown, drinking water into town. And of course, the city had its delinquent citizens. The 1873 records showing $15.32 in unpaid taxes.

A dance license during this period cost $1.60, the town marshal attending all such public affairs. Someone had to collect the fee.

Ordinances were passed to suppress "frivolous and malicious complaints." So all complaints thereafter went directly to the mayor, although if any went to court, the complainant had to pay costs. Furthermore, he would be held in jail until the city got its money.

El Paso was a gambling town, gambling being so popular that card tables became a hazard to anyone walking or riding in the sidewalks and alleys. Over time, these sidewalk hucksters cut deep into the profits of "regulated" gambling establishments. Thus laws arose making it illegal to gamble in alleys, streets, on porches or in back yards.

Since brothels and gambling were illegal, gaming houses paid a monthly fine, one collected by the city marshal, who never bothered with receipts. Every month, gamblers and shady ladies faithfully admitted their violation of the laws by simply showing up at the designated legal office and paying their fees (er, fines).

Gambling and prostitution thus primarily supported the city during the first few decades of its existence.

Meanwhile, El Paso was so overrun with dogs that an ordinance required a $1 tax. However, the council made an exception to "visiting dogs," animals following their masters into town from nearby ranches. Visiting dogs might have been a nuisance, but their masters were in town to spend money, hence the exceptions.

On one occasion, the city closed a number of streets, selling the land to nearby homeowners who wanted additional property. The town had about 300 residents.

Then, in September 1875, El Paso went out of business as an incorporated community. But in late July 1880, with information arriving that two railroads were heading this way, El Paso revived and reintroduced its charter. And the old town has been rolling along with an established government ever since.

Solomon Schutz became the first mayor. Aldermen Ben Dowell opened a watering-hole (saloon) where the Paso del Norte Hotel stands today.

Other local officials, in no particular order, were Adolf Krakauer, Juan Ochoa, Antonio Hart, Sam Slade and Joseph Magoffin.

The administration levied a tax of one-half of 1 percent on realty values, and one-fourth of 1 percent on personal property. Furthermore, it passed ordinances making horse races illegal on Downtown streets.

Of course, since so many folks loved to race, that ordinance turned out to be quite a money-maker too.

Anyway, for the next few years, horse-racing fines, plus prostitution and gambling fees, literally supported city and county governments. And our modern government thinks it has improved over a fair system like that.