Tales from the Morgue

1959: Hot Words Fly At Meeting of City, County Officials

November 24, 1959

City-County Health Unit Pact Debated

A joint meeting of City and County government officials erupted into hot words Monday night.

County Judge Woodrow Bean charged Mayor Raymond Telles with failure to take action in a case involving an employe who allegedly received money from the City-County Health Unit for work not performed.

The charge came after a long debate between the two about a contract for operation of the City-County Heath Unit, which Bean said had terminated. Telles, however, said it was an agreement that should be continued but with some changes.

Bean proposed that a new contract be drawn up which would allow three appointees to the board by the County, three by the City and a seventh to be appointed mutually, or by the board.

When the County threatened to withdraw support of the joint unit, Telles said the City would be forced to comply with the County rules. However Telles asked that present board members be continued in office until their terms expire in May, 1960.

Bean said the joint operation was illegal, but he would take responsibility for the action of the County, since the expiration of the contract. Bean read a letter to the joint meeting from A.J. McKay, County auditor, which said the agreements had expired Aug. 5, and that he would not approve further expenditures for the joint operation until the legal requirements are fulfilled.

Bean then said he planned to appoint W.D. Palm, Richard Sparke, and Dr. John D. Cherry to the board.

APOLOGIZZES TO BOARD

Dr. Turett L. Maddox, a member of the board, said:

“I have never seen such a disgraceful show in my life. I’ve served on the board nine years and I don’t care about staying on the board, but we are people and we do have feeling. You are just trying to get your picture in the paper.”

Telles apologized to the members of the board for the conduct of Bean and said he regretted all of the personal insults they had suffered during the meeting.

Telles charged Bean with headline hunting and said the matter referred to by Bean about a check that was questioned was being investigated.

He then asked Bean when the check had been received by him and Bean said he received it Monday afternoon.

On the other prime question the meeting was called to consider, juvenile bridge crossings, there was more harmony. Bean said he was informed by federal authorities that they could not stop anyone from leaving the country.

Marcus T. Neelly, district immigration director, said he was powerless to act under the federal statutes.

TELLS OF TALKS

Telles told the joint meeting that he again deplored the fact the case was being tried in the newspapers and said that anyone sufficiently interested in the problem could have consulted him and found out what has been done by the City in regards to the problem.

Telles said he already has held two meetings with the new mayor of Juarez and that co-operation is being maintained between all law enforcement agencies. Telles said 126 youngsters have been arrested for curfew violations, and that hundreds more have been arrested for other law violations during the year.

In his statement about the co-operation between law enforcement agencies, Telles said:

“We have a captain of police working liaison fulltime with Juarez authorities. We have been having meetings with Juarez authorities and we have held joint meetings with the FBI, Army, Air Force and County law enforcement authorities.

“El Paso’s delinquency rate is no worse than that of any other city of its size, but we are doing everything within our power to lower it.

“We can not stop youths from going to Juarez, except after curfews.”

A woman in the crowd asked Telles what per cent of the law was being enforced and what about youths going around after football games. Telles told her she was welcome to see the report and Bean told her that youths attending school and church functions were exempted from the curfew hour, if they were going directly to their homes.

Ending the joint meeting on a note of harmony, Bean and Telles pledged mutual co-operation on joint problems.

1959: Famous McGinty Cannon Located

October 14, 1959

By Art Leibson

The McGinty cannon, whose mighty roar served as El Paso’s town crier for many years around the turn of the century, has been located in a private museum here.

Every so often, Southwestern historians have come up with new stories about the famed cannon, telling how it was fired for the first time on the border, during a celebration, and shattered dozens of downtown windows. Or they tell how it went off to war in the Mexican revolution when it was on loan to Pancho Villa.

Recently an inquiry came to The Times from Mrs. J. Paul Taylor, of Mesilla, N.M., who is taking time from the raising of seven children to do research on Southwestern lore. What had become of the cannon, Mrs. Taylor asked and was it by chance the one now facing out from the American Legion Home?

The inquiry brought a quick answer, locating the cannon in the extensive museum collection owned by Paul Howell, of the Austin High School staff. It is in Howell’s converted garage where it has become the top show piece of a display that includes one of Villa’s hats. Both the hat and cannon came from the same former owner.

DEAL MADE

Howell had tried for years to acquire the cannon, well aware of its romantic connection with El Paso History, but the owner, now remarried and moved away from the border, refused to sell. He had given up hope of every acquiring the treasure when there was a call form the woman suggesting he drive down the valley and see her. He wasted no time.

She was leaving the city, the cannon’s owner said, and would like to have the McGinty remain with someone who would appreciate it. A deal was made, after Howell identified it as the original by a telltale brand stamped into the barrel, although it has been rigged in a different holder.

Reading Mrs. Taylor’s letter, printed in Times Editor W.J. Hooten’s “Everyday Events” column, Howell wrote and told her in part what he knew of the cannon’s pedigree. It probably came from a Spanish or Portuguese galleon, he said, and for a number of years it was used as part of an old Spanish custom in summoning El Pasoans and Juarez residents to start the Sunday promenade, a custom that still prevails in parts of Mexico. It also was fired to draw the people to the plaza for an important announcement.

LOANED TO VILLA

A friend of Villa’s obtained its loan for the revolutionary leader, after which it was returned to its owner, known, to Howell only as “One-Eye Tom,” owner of the old Coney Island saloon, prominent drinking spot. It was Tom’s daughter who turned the canon over to Howell, after fighting a threat of a lawsuit some years ago to prove her ownership.

Mrs. Taylor added her own bit to the collection of McGintyism in a reply to Howell. She told how her mother remembers the day Villa staged a “great, pompous” parade to mark the cannon’s return to El Paso. Mrs. Taylor has a museum of her own and is researching a book on Mesilla’s history.

The hat that came from Pancho Villa has another story behind it. One day villa and a group of his men went down the valley to see One-Eye Tom and – well-fortified with rum before they set out on their social call – they rode their horses into the house, doing considerable damage in their boisterous visit.

The next day Villa was back, with a beautiful horse as a gift and – as a mark of contrition took off his hat and with a sweeping gesture presented it to the ladies who were present, before riding off bareheaded.

So the McGinty has been found, its base decked out in red, white and blue, a two-pounder weighing around 175 pounds, with a blast that probably once rocked the mighty deep, and certainly rocked El Paso.

1957: 99-Year-Old Prospector Begins New Life As Salesman In El Paso

March 5, 1957

Bryan Woolley
El Paso Times

Hubert Tecumseh Miller, after an 89-year quest for gold, turned his bearded face toward El Paso in search of a new career.

“I’ve gained and lost grubstakes from the Sierra Nevadas to the Bering Straits and from the Andes to Outer Mongolia,” said Miller Monday. “I’ve been a prospector most of my life, and I’ve found some good mines.

“But every time I found one some damned lawyer or confidence man got it away from me. I guess that’s the usual luck of a prospector.”

So, finally giving up his prospecting in 1953, Miller, now 99 years old, deserted his California old age pension last November, and headed to El Paso for a fresh start.

He is now a salesman for The Monroe Co. Inc. of Cleveland selling “a fine line of building maintenance materials.”

NO SALES

“I haven’t made a sale since I started a month ago,” Miller said. “I fell from a curb the other day, and I haven’t been outside much. I’m 99 years old now, and that’s getting pretty close to old age.

“I’m willing to go into a partnership with a good salesman. I don’t know how to sell things, and I would be willing to give my partner over half of the earnings, because he would be doing most of the selling.”

Miller, the son of a Union colonel, David Miller, was born in St. Joseph, Mo., Dec. 4, 1858, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, he of the “march to the sea,” was his godfather. His family moved to Yuma, Ariz., while Miller was young, and the boy “started prospecting those hills” before he was 10 years old.

The old prospector’s cool blue eyes, now partially disguised by thick eyeglasses, sparked alive as he described the life of a miner in Virginia City, Hangtown, Bullfrog, Goldfield, Eldorado and other towns whose names have become Western legend.

LIFE A CYCLE

“My life revolved in pretty much of a cycle – 12 hours in the mine, six hours loafing around the saloons and gambling halls, six hours f of sleep and then the same thing all over again. When I’d worked long enough for a respectable grubstake I’d quit and go prospecting again. Pretty soon I’d be back in the mine.”

Miller lived in El Paso once before, near the turn of the century.

“I opened a place for the Ingersoll Sergeant Co. here in 1906 – ran it until the Madera revolution broke out. A stray bullet from over the river caught me in the leg and the company got a new man to take my place.

“After the leg healed, three of us took off for Northwestern Canada on a prospecting trip. We went over the spots where they’ve found uranium and cobalt up there now, but, of course, we didn’t know anything about that stuff.

“The mining camps weren’t like you see on television – those fellows use enough ammunition to supply the whole Army – but the camps were plenty rough.

You’d give a man something to eat, and the next thing you know he had a gun in your ribs, wanting what little gold you’d got. I was on the vigilante committees of a lot of counties in California and Nevada. At what’s now Placerville, Calif., we hung so many men from a tree there that the town was known as Hangtown.

“A man didn’t have a choice. If he wasn’t on the committee he was considered to be outside the law, and I worked too hard to be outside the law.”

Miller, who has outlived his wife and five children, said he quit mining in 1951 “when I lost my eyesight. After I got my sight back I went prospecting, but couldn’t climb the Sierras anymore.

“I was on a pension for a while, but the welfare people started bossing me around, and I decided to do something for myself. That’s when I came to El Paso.”

1889: They all say no. Opinions on the subject of a new county

February 20, 1889

To be Sliced Off of El Paso County – Views of Representative Men – They Are Opposed to a Division

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The TIMES reporter circulated himself among the people yesterday to discover how they stood on the proposed dissolution of the county, and took especial pains to call on county officials who are well posted as to what would be the effect on both ends of the county in case the seceders should secure the passage of their new county bill. Here is what the people have to say on the subject.

President Morehead of State National Bank – We want no division of the county. As she now stands El Paso county can grow prosperous and by reducing her indebtedness, reduce her present low rate of taxation to still lower figures, and thus enhance the value of her real estate, and make it a more desirable investment for capital. But to divide it would increase debt and taxation at both ends and depreciate the value of our real estate in the El Paso end, and so burden with taxes all property in the territory of the proposed new county, as to force property owners there to sell out for what they could get. No, we do not want any division yet.

President Bronson, of El Paso National Bank – It is an absurdity. Why the would-be seceders haven’t people enough in their territory to support a county government – scarcely enough to fill all of the offices. The population of that end of the county embraces five or six merchants, a few miners an stockmen, and last a few light, very light, outside tax payers who thirst for official milk. And as I understand these are the men who are agitating division. I know that the merchants, the businessmen, do not want a new county. We of this end of the county would loose the dividends now received from the railroad lands lying in the territory which the division men want, and which are quite an item.

County Treasurer Julian – I am certainly opposed to any division of the county. I discovered the move for a division about a month ago and argued against it. I went to C.R. Morehead and together we telegraphed Stevenson, asking him to look out for the division bill and to try and defeat it when it put in appearance. Aside from the taxes paid by the railroads I do not collect a sufficient amount of other taxes in the territory to support a sheriff’s office. The proposed new county would have to assume its portion of the present indebtedness of El Paso county, which added to the expense of establishing and running a new county government would be more than the people could stand.

Judge Blacker – A division at this time would be entirely premature. A practicable division of the county with a view to allowing the seceding territory property and people enough to support a county government without entailing bankruptcy would be to throw Ysleta into the proposed new county. But that is prohibited by the law, which plainly states that the lines of the new county shall not come within twelve miles of the capitol of the county from which any part of the new territory is taken; and the town grant lines of Ysleta are only eight miles distant from El Paso. The division is impracticable, and I do not think it is urge by any respectable portion of the people of El Paso county, as such a move would pauperize the seceding territory.

Cashier Kaufman of First National Bank – I have not given the matter any thought, as I deemed it entirely too absurd to ever materialize into anything like a formidable movement. The proposition shows on its face that it is in direct conflict with the best interests of the whole county.

Count Assessor Fink – I am opposed to any division. It would tax the new county people to death and badly cripple El Paso county proper. It would take from the taxes of the big stock ranchers; the $9,119 we now receive from Texas & Pacific roads and also the $5,500 on the Harrisburg & San Antonio mileage.

Dr. Yandel – The division bill will never pass this year, and in the next county coming it will be made an issued by the agitators; and the man who makes the race for the legislature as a “division candidate” will be eternally sit upon.

Editor Rule – Don’t you think the scheme may be to secure a division, and then apply for annexation to some other county for judicial purposed, hoping in this way to escape paying taxes? If not, then the tax payer residing in the territory of the proposed new county is an idiot to favor a division unless he expects to make more out of office than he will lose in increased taxes.

Judge Falvey – I think they will divide the county unless there is opposition, and very forcible opposition. But a division would be a great misfortune to the county. The population in the other end is too small to support a county government. And there is no necessity for another county, as the railroads afford the people ample accommodation and convenience for coming to El Paso to attend to their county business.

District Clerk Larrazolo – You can just put me down as against it. Under present financial circumstances a division would work great hardship and injury to both ends of the county. And as a general proposition it is a question of the graves importance, such as should be acted upon only by the people that it affects, after cool and deliberate reasoning of its advantages and disadvantages and not by a set of disappointed politicians, either for motives of unsatisfied ambition or humiliated pride.

County Clerk Thomas – Of course I am opposed to any such an absurd move. Just ask those people who advocate division on the ground that it takes them two hours to ride here on the cars to transact their business, to take a day off and figure on the cost of coming to El Paso to court as compared with the increase of taxes they would have to pay to bare the entire expense of erecting public buildings and supporting a county government.

Let the agitators digest the opinion expressed above. They are the opinions of representative men who have studied the question.

1952: Famed McGinty Club Most colorful Organization In history Of City

October 5, 1952

(Editor’s Note: This is the seventh article on early El Paso history by Cleofas Calleros, El Paso historian)

“We didn’t allow women to come to our meetings or parties. The fact is we didn’t want them. We were strictly a men’s club – organized for fellowship and to entertain the people in town. And, sir, we had good times.”

Those are recollections of the famous old McGinty Club of El Paso as recalled by one of its secretaries and first members, James J. Watts. Watts, born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1870, came to El Paso in 1884 and, with his uncle, Sylvester, and brother William and Edward, operated the Watts Water Works.

He, like every other oldtimer, remembers with a great deal of pleasure that musical organization which flourished here between 1896 and 1900. It was a good club, he says, the official “Greeter Committee” for the city. Dignitaries, convention delegates, and just casual visitors received a flaring, musical welcome from it, that they didn’t soon forget. No one has forgotten the band concerts in Plaza Park every Sunday afternoon or the enjoyment they afforded.

There were about 200 members composing eight complete musical organizations in McGinty Club – The A Concert Band, Brass Band, Choir, Orchestra, Drum and Fife Corps, Typical Orchestra, Banjo, Troubadours, and Maennercohr. Each had its own director and manager.

The members were local businessmen, playing for their own pleasure, for self-improvement, and for the town’s benefit. Good music, the better things in life, meant much to them ... those early hardy pioneers, who could play the cithara or mandolin or violin as adeptly as they could build a city.

Their group was unique, paying no dues, receiving no salary, threatening no strikes, endorsing no political parties, recognizing no religious or social barriers within itself, and blissfully, wonderfully oblivious to the different nationalities and races of this number.

ONE INTEREST

There was Carl Pitzer, a German; Du Remer, a Frenchman, and a man name Soufle; also some Mexicans, some Irish, some Italians, some Chinese, Paso del Norte residents comprised a part of the Brass Band. These men were friends, very much disinterested in one another’s business and personal affairs, but wholeheartedly joined by one common bond – music.

If there was any pressing business of a financial nature the hat was passed. Each man donated whatever he could, or thought was worth it; nothing if he couldn’t. No one cared. How the money was utilized was immaterial to all concerned, since they knew, whatever the use, it was a good cause. Each member paid his own fee for trips out-of-town; the City Council financed public programs. There was complete harmony.

McGinty Club commanded El Paso’s respect and received it. The musicians were, for the most part, family men, and all were gentlemen of the old school. Whatever the performance or occasion, whatever the season, each man appeared in full, appropriate dress – a three-piece suit. His shirts were stiffly starched, with high linen or colloid collars and French cuffs and link. No one would have dared perform before the public without his tie, his favorite bow tie usually.

“We had fine parties,” Watts relates. “They were nearly always big picnics at Orn’s grove, or Hart’s Mill, or Woodlawn Park (Washington Park now). We all would bring our instruments and play by the hour. There were never less than 10 kegs of beer, but everyone know he was to watch himself. I never saw a man drunk at a McGinty Picnic.”

“Another fine thing about McGinty was that we held one another in high esteem. Now you find people who condescend to tolerate each other only because they belong to the same group. With us it was respect rather than tolerance.”

It was an appreciative audience for which the McGinty men played. El Pasoans were a sedate lot – not really a horde of offensive bruisers, painted women, notorious gamblers, and Billy-the-Kid fans. A somewhat refined gentry, really, regardless of what the fiction writers would lead you to believe. And they sported McGinty Club all the way.

CLUB DIED

It was unfortunately disbanded about 1905, dying an entirely natural death. There was no discord right up until the end, but only an increasing lack of interest and patrons as other diversions were offered. The following officers of McGinty Club, performed a real service for their city:

D.W. Rieckhart, who was the only president the club ever had; James J. Watts, secretary; E.H. Offley, choirmaster and leader of “all voice” groups; W.H. Watts, treasurer, who kept no books, but was the faithful keeper of funds; Charles Merrick, orator, who provided speakers for official welcomes; M. Hester, musical director who had charge of co-ordinating all musical activities with the club; Carl Piftzer, leader and director of the Concert Band.

F. Grandover, captain of the Light Guards and keeper of the two Cannons; Edg. Shelton, chairman of the musical committee, Edward Watts, commissary general, responsible for the “eats and drinks” at all functions; Al Lamour, chief pyrotechnical artist, who was in charge of all the illumination and brilliant spectacles held at Fort McGinty; G.E. Nemmaun, manger of Orchestra; F.W. Edlesten, head rain producer and weather prophet (if there was no rain, he always managed to have a fire hose); H. Ward, Librarian; Harry A. Moss, sketch artist. He was the clown of the club; he was clever in his drawings; Guy Orme, astronomer – his job was to provide good weather for all outings, and believe it or not, he was most successful.

Louis E. Behr historian. (The club did have a nice library and Louie kept an album. If anyone knows of its whereabouts the author would appreciate your kind advice.) James Longwell, drum major, Drum and Fife Corps. Jimmy was one of the tallest men in the club and his 36-inch high hat made him the most handsome in the group; R.C. Lightboy, general of the Plug Hat Brigade. He was in charge of the marching unit of the “white hats,” an auxiliary to the Light Brigade; P.S. Jenkins, general of the stiff Hat Brigade. This unit was made up of members who did not belong to a "military marching unit,” and wore dark silk hats.

MANY JOBS

A.C. Wheeler, surgeon – he had the easiest job, since no one was ever known to need medical attention at any function or initiation; The Rev. J. Milne, chaplain. Every member of the club was reverent in is religious practices; Chas. Layer, manager of the Typical Orchestra. This particular unit was the talk of the town for their delightful renditions and good taste; Charles Keifer and Z.T. Merrill, commanders of the Fambeau Club. This group was the “brains” and the boosters of planning the entertainment to be accorded visitors; Captain Jack Crawford, poet lariat – this position was unique, a sort of jester, not in the sense of clowning; William O’Brien, general of artillery. As the title implies, he managed to keep the cannons well supplied with ammunition.

Warner Gibb, manger of the Drum Corps – every detail and upkeep of the corps came within his province; he certainly kept them well dressed; Frank Tusten, manager of the Fife Corps. He tried to out-do Gibbs, but both kept abreast in all their activities; both were excellent managers and El Paso was proud of both corps; Dr. “Dad” Spencer, chief of Quarantine Department – he had a ticklish job to perform when the Club would venture to and from Juarez; O.F. Heckelmann, official scorer – in addition to his duties at games, he took care of the side bets; W.B. Merrick, drum major, Brass Band – he used to give Longwell lots of competition.

T.R. Teustis, chief listener to members’ troubles – he did nothing, since no one was ever known to have any troubles; J.D. Ponder, scribe – he was the reporter who furnished newspapers with current items (and he was a good one); Charles Reed, foreign diplomat – he took care of international relations and arranged for El Paso-Juarez activities; Will. R. Brown, manager of Brass Band – he was the best provider in the club (the only thing he didn’t give away was the Santa Fe depot). J. Allen, manager, Banjo Troubadours – this musical organization was the pride of every member; Charles Rokahr, manager of Maenercohr – this 20-man choir was in great demand at all festivities; William Edelsten, collector. He was what the name implies and always brought the dough.