Tales from the Morgue

Take the High Ground

April 22, 1953

Contingent Of Hollywood Stars Takes Part In World Premiere Here

By Sim Myers
Times Amusement Editor

A couple of news stars were created, a new color process easier to watch and at least as effective as Technicolor was introduced, and thousands of persons participated in the Monday activities which signified the gala world premiere here of “Take the High Ground!”

Elaine Stewart and Russ Tamblyn, both of whom appeared here in the all-day festivities which introduced the big Dore Schary-produced M-G-M picture of infantry training, gave performances in the film of stellar character.

A stage show in which the stars spoke and gave brief acts ended the day’s activities which were a result of co-operation between film executives, stars, Ft. Bliss officials, Army representatives, civic officials and officers of Texas Western College.

Two of the three showing of the picture and appearances of the stars at the Plaza Theater were sold out and hundreds of persons milled around in Pioneer Plaza and stood in line before the theater hopeful of getting tickets or of seeing some of the stars.

The movie itself, filmed in the main at Ft. Bliss, was an effective production which took advantage of the local scenery and the heart-warming routine of Army training.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s new Ansco-Color proved to be one of the biggest assets of the picture, seeming much easier on the eyes than and as satisfactory a process as the standard of the industry, Technicolor.

But the activities of the day began early Monday with the arrival at Union Station of the contingent of stars from Hollywood. That a group was preceded by Miss Elaine Stewart who arrived from Atlanta and a personal appearance tour of the East on Saturday.

Arrival of Richard Widmark and Tamblyn, stars, Dore Schary producer, George Murphy, master of ceremonies, and other Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer officials touched off activities which began at 9:30 a.m. in Hilton Hotel.

At that press conference breakfast, stars, City officials and Army officers talked with representatives of press, radio and television before making a six-car escorted cavalcade to Ft. bliss.

At Ft. Bliss, the stars visited Maj. Gen. Stanley R. Mickelsen, commanding general, and then were given military escort to the Memorial Flag Pole were Dore Schary was presented the Army Citation of Achievement.

Gen. Mickelsen made the presentation in a ceremony which included playing of “Take the High Ground” march by the combined 62nd and 65th Army Bands, a salute by the 531st AAA Bn. Which stood at attention during the ceremonies, and presentation of the stars of the film.

The citation stated in part “… Mr. Schary made significant contributions toward enhancing the prestige of the Army through the medium of motion pictures. By his faithful portrayal of the unselfish, patriotic devotion of American citizens serving the cause of freedom with the United States Army, Mr. Schary and the studio he represents succeeded in creating a better public understanding of the Army and its aims … His service in the national interest has been of great benefit to the Army and merits the recognition of his fellow Americans who wear the uniform of the service.”

Also on the speaker’s stand was Brig. Gen. Frank Dorn, Army deputy chief of information, who arrived here from Washington for the premiere.

Following the outdoor affair, M-G-M entertained the touring group, Interstate officials, city officers, Army and Air Force officials, Texas Western College officers, the press, and other El Paso leaders at a cocktail party and luncheon in the Officer’s Mess.

At that time, Richard Widmark was made an honorary sergeant, Chris Fox of the State National bank introduced prominent El Pasoans, and George Murphy introduced the stars and executive of the movie.

Dore Schary, vice president and production chief of M-G-M told the audience that he considered “Take the High Ground!” a significant contribution which pictorially has captured the spirit of the Infantry training and the reasons which make such training so necessary to our present way of living.

Introduced during the program were Maj. Gen. Bryan Milburn, Gen. Dorn, Gen. Mickelsen, Brig. Gen. John Hewett, Brig. Gen. Bill Waters, Tom Rogers, president of the Chamber of Commerce of El Paso, Sheriff W.O. (Jimmy) Hicks, Dorrance Roderick, president and publisher of The El Paso Times. W.J. Hooten, editor of The Times, W.W. (Woody) Wilson, general manager El Paso Chamber of Commerce, and Col. Cyrus Shelton.

Immediately following luncheon, the stars were taken to KROD-TV for a television appearance, and thereafter made the first appearance on stage at the Plaza.

The picture will begin its regular run at the Plaza Tuesday while the Stars and studio officials will continue through Texas making four additional gala openings.

The picture will not be in general release for about a month.

Click here for more photos of the gala premiere.

HUBBY TAKEN TO RECRUITING POST BY LOYAL WIFE

August 5, 1918

She Wanted to Tell Officer She Was Willing to Make Sacrifice

__

Sunday evening 250 letters addressed to 250 business and professional men of El Paso were mailed by the Kiwanis committee appointed to assist in the recruiting campaign of the El Paso company of the First Texas Infantry. Each letter urged the recipient to donate $10 to the campaign fund for the organization of the company, to prepare it for federal services.

“It is the sacred duty of the men of this city to support the movement,” said H. P. Hadfield, one of the committee. “The two lieutenants appointed to organize this company have been ordered to have their compliment by August 15, which gives them 11 days to get their men. They expect to do it, and I believe they will, but it will be a record breaking accomplishment, and one which will add much to the luster of El Paso’s reputation in war work. Every man who receives one of these letters is urged to dispatch his check to C.M. Harvey at the Security Bank and Trust company immediately. Don’t wait to be called on.”

__

Eleven men enlisted in the El Paso company of the First Texas Infantry Sunday, the day following the commencement of the vigorous advertising campaign of the recruiting officers. All Sunday morning applicants lined up before recruiting headquarters in San Jacinto plaza, keeping two men busy filling out enlistment blanks and swearing the men in. Nearly all of the men were El Paso boys who had resided here all their lives, and whose principal object in enlisting with the Texas infantry was to get an organization where they know their comrades and officers.

Inspired by a phrase in an advertisement urging women to bring their men to the recruiting station, one woman appeared before the recruiting officer Sunday afternoon with her husband, and intimated her entire willingness that he enlist.

“I love my husband as much as any woman,” she declared, “but neither he nor I are slackers, and I want to see him able to hold his own with other men after this war. If the women of France have been able to take car of themselves during this past four years, I guess I can.”

First Sergeant John O’Connell arrived in El Paso Sunday morning from Carrizozo, N.M., accompanied by Mrs. O’Connell. Sergeant O’Connell has been appointed senior non-commissioned officer of the El Paso company, and was at Carrizozo when the word reached him leaving for El Paso immediately.

E.M. Huffer of Deming telegraphed to the recruiting station on the plaza Sunday morning, begging that a place in the company be reserved for him, and saying that he will be in to enlist Monday the 12th.

‘I’ll Feel It Later’ Says Wife As Friends Cheer Lee’s Win

Fred Albers wrote an article about Tony Trevino, Lee Trevino's son, this weekend. You can read it here.  Below is the June 17, 1968 article on Lee Trevino's U.S. Open win. The photo is Trevino celebrating after winning the Cadillac NFL Golf Classic June 25, 2000. (AP Photo/Daniel Hulshizer)

Pandemonium reigned in El Paso golf centers Sunday as Lee Trevino charged to a record-tying victory in the USGA National Open tournament at Rochester, N.Y.

Trevino, a pro-owner at Horizon Hills Country Club and a popular favorite for his showing in his first year on the tournament rail and for his voluable and open personality, fired a fourth sub-par round with Sunday’s 69 for a record-tying 275. He was four strokes in front of defending champion Jack Nicklaus, whose record of a year ago he tied.

And El Paso fans, gathered around televisions sets through the city and at local courses, whooped and hollered with each successful stroke.

Claudia Trevino, his slim blond wife, watched at the Horizon Hills clubroom and said afterwards “I just don’t feel a thing. I’ll feel it later, when I’m alone and can think about and can cry all I want to. But right now I just don’t feel a thing.”

Mrs. Trevino was surrounded by some 400 Horizon members and friends who were celebrating the victory of “our boy.”

Don Whittington, who with cousin jess Whittenton, the ex-Green Bay Packer star, shares ownership of the Horizon club with Trevino, said everyone went crazy.

“We’re celebrating with an hour of free drinks and the bill is going to be over $1,000 but isn’t it great? He’s a great man,” enthused Whittington.

(Whittington made no reference to Trevino’s nationally-quoted statement about an entire evening of free drinks if the stocky swinger won the championship.)

Don said Trevino plans to go to Toronto Monday to compete in the Canadian Open, and Mrs. Trevino added that his plans call for him to play in the Cleveland open June 27-30 and the Buick Open at Grand Blanc, Mich., July 4-7 before returning to El Paso.

Many fans were anxious to start a movement to greet the new champion on his return to El Paso, but everything seemed held in abeyance until Trevino’s schedule could be determined.

“He said he was going to the Canadian Open,” Whittington said. “But that man! – He might come here tomorrow, you can’t tell.”

At Ascarate Golf Course another large group watched Trevino’s play in color in the “little club room” of Ascarate Golf Course Association, cheering each shot and shouting praises and encouragement for the champ.

There were prayers that Trevino would set a record, and then cautions to “win the tournament, forget the record” when problems arose on the late holes.

“He’s just playing it commercial,” commented Manny Martinez, new winner of the Rayburn’s tourney at Ascarate, as Trevino missed the last two greens. “He’s four strokes in front and can afford a bogey here. A double bogey would be worse. He’s just going for the fat part of the green and trying to putt.”

His analysis was accurate, but it also seemed unimportant to the gathering. They were happy. Their boy was winning the biggest one of all, and they were riding with him.

Slain Star Once Lived In EP, Attended Irvin

Sharon Tate was murdered August 9, 1969, by followers of Charles Manson. Here is an article about the recent search at his ranch.

Actress Sharon Tate, the movie star who was found murdered in her home in Los Angles Saturday, was a former El Pasoan and had attended Irvin High School her junior year.

Her parents, Mr. And Mrs. T.J. Tate, Miss Tate and two younger sisters, resided at 9303 Roanoke. Tate who was then a captain in the army, was later reassigned to Verona, Italy, and the family moved there in January, 1960.

El Pasoans recalled Miss Tate as a very “vibrant, happy and beautiful young lady with very strict parents.”

Mrs. Buck Rogers, 3009 Zion, said that her older son, Tom Rogers now of Dallas dated Miss Tate during her high school days in El Paso.

“Tom went steady with her and only had kind words for her,” Mrs. Rogers said. “Apparently her parents were very strict because Tom had to bring her back by midnight after a date,” she said.

Mrs. Rogers also said that when she and her late husband first toured Europe, they visited the Tate family in Verona.

Mrs. Susan Rogers King said that Miss Tate had been a frequent visitor in the Rogers home. Even when she moved to Italy, she corresponded often with the Rogers family.

“I recall a letter she wrote one time in which she told us all about her introduction into the movie industry, Mrs. King said. “It seems that she was walking down the street in Verona one day and two producers, one named Ransahof, had discovered her and started her in the movies.”

Mrs. C.L. Hatchel, 7608 Parkland, the former Miss Pam Stratton, said of Miss Tate, “Sharon was a real sweet girl. We ran around together and spent the night at each other’s home,” she said. “After her family moved to Italy, our friendship sort of dwindled and I only got a couple of letters from her then.”

Manuel Gonzalez, a math and drafting teacher at Irvin recalled that he used to see Miss Tate go up and down the halls every day. “She seemed like a vibrant and happy girl,” he said.

Mrs. N.E. Desper, 9305 Roanoke, and neighbor to the Tates, said that Sharon used to babysit for her two children, Steve and Cindy. “We enjoyed the Tates very much. Tate and my husband served together in the Army in California before our assignment in Ft. Bliss,” she said. In 1964, we visited them in San Pedro, Calif., but Sharon was in Los Angeles at the time.

Senator Kennedy becomes colonia’s godfather

May 24, 1989

Kennedy picks up dust, cheers in Juarez

By Janet Perez
El Paso Times

Walking through the dusty streets of the colonia Felipe Angeles, Sen. Edward Kennedy wearily made his way through the last leg of his four-day Mexico trip.

Dozens of colonia residents – many shouting enthusiastic greetings in Spanish – trailed Kennedy and the covey of well-dressed U.S. and Mexican officials who kept him moving along the streets.

The Bostonian from the most famous family in modern U.S. politics was dressed in a heavy gray coat, which quickly was covered with a think layer of dust, and was visibly wilting in the 100-degree heat.

Kennedy had little to say during his Juarez stop, unlike previous stops in Mexico City, Monterrey and Oaxaca, where he had spoken of the need for U.S. help to reduce Mexico’s foreign debt.

Economic policy meant little to the crowds that gathered to see a Kennedy.

“We love the Kennedy family,” said Natividad Lopez, a resident of the colonia.

Later in the day, Kennedy quietly handed out copies of a photograph – art least 25 years old – of himself as a young man and his to older brother, Jack and Bobby.

Kennedy ended his hurried whistle-stop tour of Mexico Tuesday morning and crossed the border to visit an amnesty education center in El Paso. He left for Austin shortly after noon.

At the colonia, the senator stopped by a family planning center that serves as the heart of the community. With dogs playing at his feet, Kennedy listened quietly as interpreters explained the center’s programs and scores of onlookers gazed curiously from a respectful distance.

He approached about 10 youngsters sitting on a dirt mound drawing pictures and tried to start a conversation. The children glanced up briefly and went back to their drawings.

The real enthusiasm for Kennedy came from the older colonia residents who clamored around him and told of their love for his brother, Jack.

One old woman made her way up to Kennedy and asked in broken English if he would be the padrino – the godfather – of the colonia. Kennedy smiled a hesitant, embarrasses smile and said “Yes.”

A half-dozen little girls shyly handed Kennedy bouquets of flowers, which he accepted with a Boston-accented gracias before being rushed away.

Inside a small dim brick building that is the clinic, Kennedy asked residents about the community’s programs while gazing absently at the crush of people in the hot little room.

“It is quite clear that we’re looking at people willing to help themselves,” Kennedy said.

After leaving the colonia, Kennedy and his entourage, which included his sisters Eunice Shriver and Jean Smith, were taken to the Integrated Family Development, or DIF, office just outside Downtown Juarez.

He tried to teach the children the popular children’s song, “Itsy, Bitsy Spider,” complete with hand motions that imitate a crawling spider.

Kennedy then went to the Benito Juarez Park in Downtown Juarez to place a wreath on the monument of Mexico’s first president.

A crowd of Juarenses gathered under the hot sun eagerly, awaiting a word from the senator. But after placing the wreath, Kennedy hurried off to his car – leaving the disappointed throng behind.

After crossing the border, Kennedy was taken on a short tour of amnesty classes at St. Anne’s Center, 600 S. Piedras in South El Paso.

Accompanied by enthusiastic applause, Kennedy praised the center for helping to bridge the gap between the two nations.

As the Kennedy motorcade headed for the airport, Maria Cepeda clung happily to an autographed poster of a younger Kennedy campaigning for senator and marveled at her good luck at having shaken his hand.

“I feel real happy,” she said, “and I cried with joy.”

`Archie' artist draws aaahs

By Christina Ramírez
El Paso Times

John Caldwell, an eighth-grader at St. Clement's Episcopal Parish School, didn't believe his art teacher when she told them they were going to get art lessons from an El Pasoan who drew the "Archie" comics.

"I didn't believe someone like that lived here," said John, 13.

He and 27 classmates who are studying cartoon drawing in their art course received a treat Thursday when Tom Moore stopped by to give pointers and draw a few "Archie" characters.

Moore, 72, was the talent behind the popular "Archie" comics from 1953 until his retirement in 1988.

Today, a team of artists and writers is responsible for producing the comic series, but back then Moore did it the old-fashioned way - all by himself.

Students and teachers "ooohed" and "aaahed" as Archie, Reggie, Jughead and Betty came to life in their classroom.

"He makes it look so easy," said Caldwell, who had attempted his own drawing of "Archie" in his sketchbook. "I think Archie is the easiest to draw, and Jughead is the hardest."

With flawless ease Moore turned an average letter - C - into the not-so-average comic book character - Archie.

"It's important to create characters that can adapt to anything, but whose personalities are consistent," Moore said. "Establish that, and don't deviate. Betty doesn't act like Veronica, and Charlie Brown doesn't act like Lucy."

Elizabeth Ibarra, 13, said she and her classmates were excited at the chance to meet a celebrity.

"I think he's made us better artists," said Elizabeth, an eighth-grader. "I probably won't be a professional cartoonist, but it's a fun hobby."

Lately, Moore has been teaching computer-generated art part time at El Paso Community College.

A 1946 graduate of Austin High School, he became a cartoonist while serving in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, when he was called in after drawing a caricature of his captain and reassigned as the staff cartoonist.

He served his time, used the GI Bill to attend art school and signed up with what is today called Archie Comic Publications in New York.

In 1961, he and his family left Long Island to return to El Paso, where he continued to do the comic book until his retirement in 1988.

Moore was also an illustrator for "Snuffy Smith," "Underdog" and "Mighty Mouse."

Jet Airliner Hijackers Captured In EP

UPDATE: Here is a sneak peek at a coming El Paso Times' video feature related to this story. This video was produced for a coming feature called "Keeping It Real," which will focus on real El Pasoans. Jerry Reynolds took photos when the hijacked plane landed in El Paso.

SunCityCynic this one is for you. This country's first commercial airline skyjacking occurred August 3, 1961.

Father, Wanted To go Live In Cuba

By MEL GEARY
Times City Editor

A $5.4 million Boeing 707 jet – reportedly constructed for Cuba but never delivered when Dictator Fulgencio Batista failed to pay for it – nearly went to that island Thursday.

An Arizona youth and his father attempted to take off in the hijacked Continental Air Lines Jet from International Airport early Thursday.

The plane played a silent drama as it rested on a runway from approximately 2 a.m. until an attempted take-off about 6 a.m.

During this four-hour period the crew stalled as it refueled the plane. Baggage, trailers, trucks, ambulances and armed officers swept about the plane to block take off.

However, clearance to fly was given at about 6 a.m., and as the plane swept along the runway officers opened with machine gun fire at the tires. The plane slowed and stopped. Vehicles and armed officers again surrounded the plane.

With tires flattened and bullet holes puncturing the sides and engines of the mammoth craft, officials sought for nearly six hours more to negotiate for the safety of six crew members and four volunteer hostages.

The two gunmen – Leon Bearden, 38, and his 16-year-old son, Cody – finally captured, were charged with kidnapping and interstate transportation of a stolen craft, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover advised.

One of the passengers on the plane who volunteered as a hostage was Border Patrol Official Leonard Gilman. After all other passengers and crewmen had been released, Gilman slugged the elder Bearden. The terrific blow sent Gilman to a hospital for treatment of a fracture hand.

El Paso FBI Agent-In-Charge Francis Crosby, who went aboard the plane to negotiate, acted instantly to jump the youth, overpowering him.

The gunmen had made their move 20 minutes before the plane arrived in El Paso.

They took control of the pilot’s cabin, but the plane had to land in El Paso for fuel.

This began the 10 hours of tense drama – pleading, stalling, maneuvering.

PUNCTURED

It was punctuated by the sharp rattle of machine-gun gullets when officers shot up the plane’s tires in a chase down the runway shortly after sun-up.

Extent of the damage to the plane was not established. The jet will be flown to Los Angles Friday for repair work, after an engine is replaced. Continental officials said.

Passengers became aware of the hijacking when they saw the guns carried by the two men.

Pilot B.D. Rickards of Los Angeles, tipped El Paso control tower with a coded radio word that his plane was hijacked.

Mary Ellis of San Antonio said she was “pretty scared. I thought we were going to Havana, and I didn’t want to go.”

Mrs. Bell Knapp of Beaumont, Tex., who with her two small children was one of the first to step from the plane, said “I saw a very young man, I was very frightened.”

After landing in El Paso, the hijackers ushered most of the passengers off the plane.

The hijackers called for four volunteers to remain as hostages. Gilman, not revealing his identity, was one of them.

Another was Army PFC. Truman Cleveland of St. Augustine, Fla., on his way to a new assignment at Ft. Bliss. Cleveland traded his Army uniform for civilian clothes from Edward Holtman, 19, of Grants Pass, Ore.

Jack Casey, a Continental employee, elected to stay, as did Luis Evrives of Los Angeles.

DE-PRESSED AREAS

Crewmen were Capt. Rickards; 1st Officers R.C. Wagner; 2nd Officer Norman Simons; director of passenger service, Lou Finch and Stewardesses Toni Bassett and Lois Carnagy, all of Los Angeles.

As the finale came, crewmen who leaped from the plane were first believed to be the hijackers. A crewman was knocked down and handcuffed. Authorities handcuffed all but the stewardesses as they came form the plane.

The stewardesses identified the men as passengers, and they were released.

Thousands of spectators leaked through police roadblocks at entrances to International Airport. City police claimed press identification offered was insufficient, although they allowed some newsmen into the immediate area of the airplane, while barring others.

The Bearden father-son team showed little emotion during their arraignment before U.S. Commissioner Henry C. Clifton.

Both prisoners, their hands cuffed in front, were lead into Commissioners Court on the third floor of the Federal Court House by federal marshals and FBI agents at 2:45 p.m.

Cody Bearden, clad in a long-sleeved dark brown sports shirt, blue denim trousers and brown cowboy boots, sat quietly in the front row of the spectator section, smoking a cigarette.

His father wore a light sports shirt and brown slacks. He sat between two officials as he awaited the arraignment, and looked straight ahead.

Reporters were not allowed to converse with the defendants before or after the hearing.

Handcuffs were removed as the two were led to the bench to face Commissioner Clifton, who held two complaints filed before him by Asst. U.S. attorney Larry Fuller.

ASK NAMES

After asking both men to state their names, Clifton read the first complaint, charging the Beardens with transporting a stolen airplane from New Mexico to Texas, which violated the Dyer Act.

The commissioner read the other complaint, charging the two with kidnapping, and both entered not guilty pleas.

Clifton set bond at $50,000 on each count on each man, making total bond $200,000 for both men.

U.S. marshals replaced handcuffs and went to the elevator with the men, followed by several reporters who tried to interview the Beardens.

Harry McCormick, a reporter with The Dallas News, told the two suspects “you have a right to talk to reporters,” but he was pushed aside by FBI agents and marshals.

McCormick tried to enter the elevator repeatedly, but was pushed back, and finally, a marshal got off the elevator and held McCormick, so the operator could close the door.

Officers and the defendants walked at a fast pace, followed by newsmen and photographers, to the Kansas Street entrance of the Sheriff’s department, where they were booked into County jail as federal prisoners.

El Pasoan buys Cornudas

Val,

This is the most recent article on Cornudas.

September 08, 2007

El Pasoan buys Cornudas site for amusement park, camping

By Vic Kolenc
El Paso Times

An El Paso entrepreneur has purchased property east of El Paso where a Florida developer had proposed putting an Old West resort.

Tomas "Thomas" Rey, 39, said he purchased the 129-acre Cornudas township from Jerry Wallace, a Destin, Fla., condo developer, for an undisclosed amount last week.

He also bought the El Rancho Escondido restaurant at 14261 Montana from Wallace, and plans to re-open it Sept. 18, he said.

This means Wallace's multimillion-dollar Wallacetown resort dream is gone.

Rey instead plans to put a fish pond with campsites, and an amusement park on the property 60 miles east of El Paso on U.S. Highway 62/180. He also plans to operate a group of Old West buildings assembled at the site by Wallace, and to reopen the Cornudas Cafe.

"I'm talking with one major theme park company right now, and a couple of traveling amusement parks that need a place to settle down," Rey said. He would not divulge the name of the theme park company. "I just want to get something going for (El Paso area) families."

Wallace said he sold the property because he lost millions of dollars from four proposed condo projects he had to cancel in Mississippi and Florida due to Hurricane Katrina.

"I sold it because I have too much on my plate right now" and because of the Katrina-related losses, Wallace said.

Wallace said he invested about $3 million in Cornudas, including the price of the land. The sales price of the Cornudas site, which Wallace bought in May 2006, was never disclosed. In 2005, the proposed price was reported at $1.3 million. The Cornudas site will retain the Wallacetown name, Rey said.

Rey is a former engineer at the Delphi technical center in Juárez, and now is an international sales consultant for the automotive division of Tesa Tape Inc., manufacturer of adhesive tapes.

He also plans to make a second run for the East Side county commissioner seat.

Patrolman Stops Serious Runaway at Plaza.

I wish I had a photo for this one.

April 05, 1908

DRAGGED UNDER HOOFS

___

Patrolman Stops Serious Runaway at Plaza.

___

Calisher’s Delivery Wagon Pulled by Frightened Horse Almost Runs Down Pedestrians in Early Evening Crowd – Patrolman Hangs to Reins While Animal Drags Him Fifty Feet.

___

Patrolman Woods of the plaza beat last night stopped a runaway at the entrance to Little Plaza, just in time to prevent an accident in which a number of people might have been injured. The officer was dragged by the horse for a distance of fifty feet, but pluckily kept his hold on the reins, and finally stopped the runaway, only after his uniform had been torn and hung in shreds.

A Calisher’s delivery wagon got away from its driver on North Oregon street, and the horse chased at rapid speeds towards the plaza. It was about 8 o’clock, and the crossing by the Sheldon and the plaza was crowded with pedestrians.

No one caught sight of the runaway until the horse was almost at the crossing. Even then the pedestrians were leisurely making their way in the street, and only the officer seemed to have recognized the danger.

He just had time to grasp the rein, behind the saddle, as the conveyance was passing him. The check turned the horse slightly, and Woods fell almost under his hoofs, still hanging to the rein. On the ground he was dragged to the Little Plaza corner, just by the Santa Fe office, before the frightened horse stopped.

The people made quite a demonstration over the patrolman’s act, and cheered for several minutes in appreciation of his nerve. Wood’s trousers were literally torn off by the scraping on the pavement, and for the remainder of the night, his costume was hardly up to regulations.

Cheater Bella

Jean mentioned Cheater so here is an article from  2003  about Cheater Bella.

March 13, 2003

Helicopter pilot goes down with CEO of Amazon

By Jim Conley
El Paso Times

Famous El Paso pilot Charles "Cheater" Bella, who helped rescue El Pasoans whose plane crashed two years ago south of Juàrez, has survived a helicopter crash near Alpine with only "a little scratch on his head," his wife, Carrol Bella, confirmed Wednesday.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com chief executive officer, and two other people were Bella's passengers on the flight last Thursday, the Texas Department of Public Safety said. No one was seriously hurt.

Cheater Bella, 57, who was acquitted of any wrongdoing after he was forced at gunpoint to try to rescue several inmates from the New Mexico prison at Santa Fe in 1988, was flying Bezos and two other passengers last Thursday when "they caught wind shear, right by a cliff," Carroll Bella said.

The Gazelle helicopter was destroyed shortly after taking off at an airport south of Alpine when a strong wind blew it into trees, Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger told Reuters news agency.

The helicopter then crashed in a nearby stream, Carrol Bella said from the Bellas' Bear Aviation office in Northeast El Paso, where they live. She said her husband has "flown off" for a few days and was unavailable for comment.

Bezos was treated for minor cuts at a hospital and released. Elizabeth Korrell of Seattle suffered spinal compressions, for which she was also was treated. The other passenger, Ty Holland of Fort Davis, suffered only minor injuries, Vinger said.

"Everybody was OK," Carrol Bella said. "But the helicopter? It was totaled. I don't even want to talk about it."

Amazon had no comment on the crash, though spokesman Bill Curry said of Bezos, "He's fine; we are business as usual." CNBC reported Wednesday that Bezos might have been in West Texas looking at property.

Cheater Bella came to El Paso with the military as a young man and earned his nickname, he said, by racing cars on the East Side. If you beat other drivers, they figured you were cheating, he said in 2001.

But his fame grew in the 1980s. He's helped with films made in El Paso, including Chuck Norris' "Lone Wolf McQuade" and Nick Nolte's "Extreme Prejudice."

He piloted his Aerospatiale Gazelle helicopter in "Rambo 3." It was the same one he flew in a botched 1988 prison escape when he was kidnapped.

 

More Cheater Bella photos.