Tales from the Morgue

Tom Ogle's investors

Randy, Mack Massey Jr. was an investor in Tom Ogle's invention. At the time of Ogle's death there were about 50 people who claimed a share of his invention.

There are a lot of twist to this story. In 1978 radio  personality Paul Harvey reported that Ogle had "disappeared." In 1981 he was sued by the government for non-payment of taxes. The same year he was shot and wounded outside a bar in Northeast El Paso.

If there is enough interest I will post some of the articles I mentioned above. For those who didn't read the original post on Ogle's invention you can read it and view photos of Ogle here.

May 27, 1977

More Claimants Surface For Oglemobile Share

BY MIKE CONNOLLY
El Paso Times

A local car dealer says that although he owns interest in Tom Ogle’s 100-mile-per-gallon auto fuel system, his patent attorney has advised him his share may be worthless in light of a similar patent allegedly held by General Motors Corp. since 1972.

Mack Massey Jr., owner of Mack Massey AMC-Jeep, told The Times with some reluctance that he and Buick-Opel dealer Travis Crawford “have had some involvement” with the Ogle invention.

The Times also has learned that another group of five El Pasoans, including two federal probation officers, claim they may hold as much as 25 per cent share in Ogle’s device.

Ogle said Thursday that his lawyers will be meeting soon with the claimants. He added that he and his partner, Jim Peck, are close to an agreement on their own division of any profits to be realized from the invention.

Asked about his involvement with Ogle, Massey said, “We’re not trying to get this publicized, and we’re not going to get into it until everything airs out. But we do have a binding contract with Ogle.”

Crawford would not comment Thursday.

Massey said he and Crawford are involved in the invention “for a good amount of interest,” but he would not say just how much. He said the contract with Ogle, signed last year, describes the invention in detail and is signed by all parties involved.

“Travis and I both had funds involved,” Massey said. “We spent more on the patent research too.” Massey said Ogle did some of the work on his invention at Crawford Buick Opel.

Massey said Ogle tested the invention enough to satisfy him that “it does work, although it needs more experimentation and study work. I don’t believe a hoax or fraud is involved in the fuel system’s performance.”

Physicist Robert Levy has told the Times he doesn’t think it physically possible for Ogle’s 1970 Ford Galaxie to get 100 per gallon, as its inventor claims. The 100-mile-per-gallon figure was established several weeks ago when a Times reporter drove with Ogle to Deming, N.M. and back on two gallons of gas. Ogle drained his gas tank before the trip, and poured in just two gallons with the reporter watching.

Massey said he and Crawford were associated with Ogle for about a year. But then a patent search indicated the existence of one invention that might supersede Ogle’s claim.

“Nobody has come up with anything like this, except for the possibility of that one patent,” Massy said, “although there were some others that were very closely related.”

Speaking with noticeable reluctance, Massey said the “one patent” that he felt was most similar, in that it was a vaporized fuel system that eliminated the carburetor, was obtained by GM in 1972.

The Times called GM Thursday but was unable to verify whether or not the nation’s largest automaker holds such a patent.

Ogle’s attorneys have told The Times their own patent search so far has turned up on serious rivals.

Massey said that he and Crawford are not involved with any others making claims on a share in Ogle’s invention.

Other investors besides Crawford and Massey have popped up since news of Ogle’s invention became public knowledge.

Mrs. Polly Snyder, administrative assistant of Alternative House, a federally-funded halfway house at 4910 Alameda, told The Times she is partner in an organization that may hold as much as 25 per cent of the royalties from the Oglemobile.

According to Mrs. Snyder, she became acquainted with Ogle after he was paroled to Alternative from the Robert F. Kennedy Youth Correction Center outside Silver Springs, Md., there he had served time for a federal offense he committed while a juvenile.

It was a few months after his release from the program, on a regular visit back to Alternative, that Mrs. Snyder said Ogle approached her with news of an idea he had to make gasoline-powered engines more efficient.

“He came in one day all excited over an idea he had and saying he just wished he could find somebody who believed in him.” Mrs. Snyder said. “He said he needed tools to get started and the he could get a good deal on some for $1,400.

“We’ll, I’ve been her four years and I’m still an easy mark for these boys so we jut went down and borrowed the money.”

Mrs. Snyder said she was one of five investors who had given Ogle “about $4,000.” Others in the group included Cecil T. Ming, former director of Alternative, attorney Bob Perel and U.S. Probation officers Robert Garcia and Bob Kirkland. Each holds part in a contract promising a five per cent chunk of Ogle’s final machine.

At the moment Perel is in India, Kirkland has been transferred to Idaho and Ming has apparently left town. Garcia talked with a Times reporter and verified much of the information Mrs. Snyder gave.

“We do have a contract,” Garcia said. “We gave him some tools and a place to work.

“He had an idea that seemed to us to be workable,” Garcia said. “We told him ‘See what you can do with it and we’ll help you out.’”

But Garcia said they later pulled out of any active involvement with Ogle, saying, “when it looked like it was over his head we decided to get professional help and he went out on his own.”

Garcia said the original group then formed its own group to look into a fuel vaporization process, Vap-Air Fuel Systems Inc. He said the corporation’s process is in no way similar to the Oglemobile.

El Paso attorney Dudley Mann, representing Mrs. Snyder and the other four initial investors, has steadfastly refused comment on the contract other than to acknowledge its existence and that “it will stand up in court.”

One question raised by the name on the contract has been the issue of a possible conflict of interest for the investors. All five initial investors had been connected with either the federal probation office, which supervised Ogle’s parole, or the federally-funded halfway house, at which he had been a resident.

“There is no way this could be a conflict of interest because we entered into the agreement with Tom months after he had been released,” Mrs. Snyder said.

Garcia also denied a conflict, saying “I was not actively involved and it was not taking up any of my working time.”

The supervisor of the federal probation office in El Paso, Arnold Rivera, said he had not given any thought to whether a conflict of interest could arise when he first heard of his officers’ involvement with the Oglemobile.

“I never dreamed it might bring any discredit to a probation officer,” Rivera said. “This is a unique situation. I have never heard of any similar situations.

“It never entered my mind that their ethics might be questioned.”

Man's best friend is definitely his dog

Diamonds may be a girl's best friend but here is proof that this man's best friend is definitely his dog.

February 2, 1921

WIFE HAS HIM JAILED; DOG, STILL FAITHFUL, IN SAME CELL

Castulo Bustamante works – but only occasionally, according to his wife. Most of the time he frequents “the bad places,” she says, and his fondness for tequila and the effects to be derived from that seductive distillation are such that when the favorite drink of Old Mexico is not available he will even condescend to drink the red liquor of the Americano. When he has absorbed either in sufficient quantities his conduct is such as to contribute to the miserableness of his wife and all humans with whom he comes in contact.

That is the story she told to Judge Pollock in corporation court yesterday and the telling through down on Castulo the severe condemnation of the court, along with a $25 fine, which means 25 days in the chain gang. There was no human sympathy from the court or the spectators for Castulo Bustamante.

But Castulo was not friendless. One there was in the courtroom whose heart was filled with happiness. Here was the joy of reunion with a loved one after a night of separation. Her dark black eyes looked lovingly at the forlorn figure standing at the bar and her voice gave expression to the delight at having found him after hours of search.

She is a little, white bull terrier, keen and alert, with her ears cocked straight up and her bobbed tail kept in continuous motion in anticipation of future joy in the presence of the one to whom she had given her life and allegiance. She followed the string of prisoners from the courtroom to the city jail, where the iron door again separated them.

The wife of Castulo is satisfied with the judgment of the court, which was to separate her for 25 days from her spouse, tried to persuade the dog to accompany her home, but the little terrier took her position outside the iron door and refused to leave. After a vigil of several hours the door swung open and the chain gang prisoners, who had been sentenced yesterday, were transferred to that section of the jail where they are kept.

This was her opportunity and before she could be stopped, like a streak, she went through the open door and Castulo, who had not yet recovered from the effects of a tequila debauch, and the one thing in the world that loved him were united.

Jailer Duchesne had observed the little dog and its actions and last night there was one prisoner in the city jail for which the jailer held no commitment. The little white terrier will accompany Castulo when he goes out on the chain gang this morning.

Kurt Russell Enjoying Best Of Both Fields

El Paso Diablos opening night is Thursday, May 8, at Cohen Stadium. You can read David Vasquez's blog about the Diablos here.

April 13, 1973

By Barbara Funkhouser

El Paso now has a bonafide movie actor in residence, and 21-year-old Kurt Russell appears to be enjoying the best of all possible worlds.

The handsome young man arrived this week to play infield with the Sun Kings and next week may go to the movies to see “Charley and the Angel,” in which he has a co-starring role.

Russell, at a noon luncheon in El Paso Club Thursday, avoided being cornered into a statement of whether he prefers movies or baseball.

“Movies take precedent in the winter and baseball in the summer . . . If I should get hit by a truck and my face was ruined, I will play baseball. If I find out I can’t hit that ball hard enough, I’ll make movies,” he said.

“Baseball is lots tougher than acting, a much greater challenge. Acting is really very simple. They give you the lines and you go out there and deliver them. Baseball is different,” he said.

He sad his presence on the team may draw a few extra people to the stadium for a while but then the novelty will wear off and he wants to be watched for his baseball playing rather than his film fame.

He did two seasons with the Hawaii Islanders and teams in Oregon and Washington before joining the Sun Kings and hopes this is one more step toward top in baseball.

May 17, 1973

Kurt Russell Given Release

Kurt Russell, the El Paso Sun King’s leading hitter until felled by a shoulder injury, has been given his unconditional release by the Texas League ballclub.

Kings president Bing Russell made the announcement Wednesday afternoon after learning that Kurt will be sidelined for at least the next eight weeks with severely strained rotator cup in his right shoulder.

But before the crying towels come out, it should be noted that Bing, Kurt’s father, gave the actor-turned-ballplayer his walking papers so Kurt could make a movie or two during the summer.

“If he can make a motion picture, we’ll let him.” Said the head King. “He can’t play for eight weeks, and then Dr. (Robert) Kerlan, the Angels’ team physician, says it’ll be another two weeks for him to get back in shape. That’s 10 weeks, so if he can make a movie, why not?”

Contacted at his Thousand Oaks, Calif., home, Kurt said, “I’m not discouraged about baseball, I’ve been a good arm all my live, I just hope I haven’t ruined it.”

Before his injury, Russell was leading the Kings in hitting with a .563 average. His best night came against Midland at Dudley Field when he had three doubles and a home run in five trips, knocking in four runs.

Chamizal Treaty

The Chamizal Treaty was signed August 31, 1964. The treaty granted Mexico 630 acres of what was South El Paso. September 25, 1964, Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Adolfo Lopez Mateos met on the El Paso border to formally exchange the territory. The Chamizal National Memorial, marking the settlement of the U.S.-Mexico border dispute, was dedicated November 17, 1973.

September 25, 1964

Chamizal Settlement, Freeway Bring Gigantic EP Facelifting

Settlement of the Chamizal dispute, and construction of the freeway through the heart of the city, will give El Paso its greatest face-lifting operation in history.

Most of the buildings in the path of the freeway already have been razed, the rubble piles waiting for the power shovels to begin digging a freeway trench in the next few years. The construction has meant major dislocations, of businesses as well as residences, sending hundreds of El Pasoans into new homes.

The disruption caused through carrying out the terms of the Chamizal treaty will be equally great. In each case there were valuable properties sacrificed, but a greater proportion of the improvements were old, often eyesores, and their loss will be El Paso’s gain.

Never before, nor in the future, will El Paso be in a position to dress-up its front yard as when the new river location is completed, by 1968 under present plans. By then, some $44 million in outside funds will have poured into El Paso in wages, property payments, for materials and construction.

The relocated Rio Grande will be concrete-lined for 4.3 miles from its take-off point southeast of the water treatment plant below Santa Fe Street. It will be 120 feet wide, with sloping sides and a 12-foot depth at the center. The concrete construction will allow dredging away all debris during periods when the river runs dry.

HIGHWAY PLANNED

Tentative plans call for highway construction on levees following the river on both sides, as El Paso and Juarez work ever closer together on the theme of an international city.

What will El Paso lose and gain physically in the land swap?

The state Department has never allowed any government construction in the Chamizal. For that reason the present Santa Fe bridge inspection facility was built by the J.E. Morgan family and leased for use of the inspecting agencies. It will go to Mexico and very likely become Mexico’s port of entry headquarters. A long block to the north, the U.S. will build its own structure, to cost at least $2.5 million and replace the lost facility.

It is expected that all soil excavated for the new river channel will be dumped in the old river bed and that Juarez will have a park and beautification program carried out in the area. New bridges, their cost to be shared by both countries, will be constructed north of present locations across the new channel. The agreement with Mexico provided that the present owners of the downtown bridges, El Paso City Lines, will continue to operate the new toll bridges. At Cordova Island it is specified that the bridge will remain toll-free, unless otherwise agreed by both governments.

When the breezes are wrong, Downtown and outlying El Paso areas have been subjected frequently to annoying odors from the Peyton Packing Co, feed lots. Recently this problem has been brought under control, but it will be eliminated completely when property-buying in the Chamizal is completed. There will be no more meat-packing there, as John Morrell Co., now owners of the Peyton plant, are preparing to move to a new location not yet announced and Mexico has given its assurance that the stockyards will disappear.

GO TO MEXICO

Also going to Mexico are the Ziegler stockyards, a molasses plant, warehouses, the Mine & Smelter Supply building that will be headquarters for the Chamizal project until the final land exchange takes place. A total of 32 buildings that will pass to Mexico, not counting those to be torn down along the right-of-way of the river channel.

All property is privately owned except for the Ramon Navarro School, comparatively new, on Hammett Street, border Patrol headquarters and a detention station, in the same area. The patrol and detention operations will be moved to a site near International Airport.

There were 3,750 residents living in the zone at the time a head count was taken in preparation for the exchange. Their citizenship will not be affected, but all must be move out before the property is transferred. Mexico has told its citizens that it is paying nothing for the return of the Chamizal. Nothing will be paid for the land and private banking interest in Mexico are paying for the improvements that will go to Mexico. They will be repaid as new buyers are found for the buildings, Mexicans under the legal requirement barring foreign owners within a fixed distance of the border.

Mexico will net 437 acres in the settlement, including 71 acres to the east of Cordova Island which, like the island itself, has never been in controversy. The U.S. will gain the top half of anvil-shaped Cordova Island, land that has remained Mexican by treaty ever since the meandering Rio Grande was straightened out to cross the narrow neck of Cordova instead of following its former course around the island.

The new river bed will run very slightly northeast, roughly along the 10th avenue to a point near Cotton Avenue where it will swing sharply northeast to cut across Cordova. At Hammet, approximately where traffic now moves toward the inspection stations, the river will swing gradually southeast toward the river, cutting though the present sludge beds of El Paso’s sewage disposal pant.

What will be done about providing water, sewage disposal, and utilities to the area being turned over to Mexico? That will be a problem for Juarez as services will be cut off entirely when the settlement is complete. All lines and mains will remain in place, but servicing them will no longer be the responsibility of local utilities – nor their source of income.

El Paso’s utilities will lose very substantial revenues from the Chamizal, as well as from properties taken from the freeway and the loss of taxes will be a jolting blow. It is as partial compensation for this loss that the City has asked special consideration in building a riverfront highway, covering Franklin Canal through the city, and converting the top part of Cordova into a national monument.

The Chamizal settlement is a tremendous challenge to El Paso. Many slum dwellings will be removed, along with other sub-marginal structures. The City can have a beautiful front yard, or a rubbish heap. All indications point to “Go,” and exciting years ahead.

Chamizal Photo gallery.