Tales from the Morgue

1928: Flagpole 'sit' starts today

August 29, 1928

Champion Sitter Shins Up Hotel Hussmann Flagpole At 2 o’Clock

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The state is all set for Ben Fox, world’s champion flagpole sitter, to shin up the Hotel Hussmann flagpole this afternoon at 2 o’clock, for a “sit” of 100 hours.

Workmen yesterday completed lengthening the pole to a height of 50 feet. Fox was on hand and immediately went up the pole for a “tour of inspection.” He announced the pole in perfect condition and said that it had about four feet of sway.

Hundreds on the street below thought that this youthful daredevil was getting ready for his 100-hour perch when they saw him going up the pole, and performing a few “limbering up” exercised on top of it.

“I am certainly glad that Mr. Hussmann lengthened the pole,” Ben said. “That gives me a better view, and affords a better view for the people over the city. Too, making it 15 feet higher gives more sway, and that’s what I like. The higher the wind and the more sway to the pole helps me pass away the time.”

Fox will ascend the pole from his roof in the presence of Harry L. Hussmann, C. Frank Meyer, Mayor R.E. Thomason, J.R. Moffett, Robert Price, J.B. Blaugrund, T.G. Magg, Matt Jure and others.

Chief of Detectives Joe Stowe will also be on hand to handcuff the stunt artist to his 100-hour perch. Enough play in the chains will give him an opportunity to “crawl” all over the top of the pole and perform his stunts.

Fox announced Tuesday that he would spend the first 30 minutes on the pole entertaining the crowd below with stunts. He is in perfect condition, his wife-trainer says. She keeps tab on him herself, being a registered nurse.

Workmen were still busy at a late hour last night installing two powerful beacons, which will be trained on the “sitter” during the night. Three large amplifiers have already been installed at advantageous points of the hotel by the Radio Electric Service company. Through these Fox will talk with the people below.

How he will sleep is a question frequently asked, though on the Hussmann pole he will have little chance. With the powerful beacon lights being played on him constantly throughout the night and the gigantic 60-foot electric sign on the hotel roof, he will probably be glad to see morning come.

Arrangements have been made for those who wish to visit Fox to go to the hotel roof.

Robert Price, of Price’s dairy, has agreed to furnish the 105-pound champion all the milk he needs to drink. He has only two meals a day, subsisting mostly on milk and ice cream. Billy Regan of the new Toffee cafe, Juarez, has invited Ben to have his first “heavy” meal at his place.

“I have found that this is the only safe way,” Fox said. “when you overload your stomach on a flagpole, you are sure to get sick, and for that reason I east mostly ice cream and drink milk.”

Matt Jure, manager of the Mistletoe creameries, told Fox that he could depend on Mistletoe ice cream being sent to him daily, through the Renfro-Cordell drug store in Hotel Hussmann.

Arrangements were also completed Tuesday afternoon for Fox to “sleep off” his stunt in the Stanton street windows of the American Furniture company.

Fox says that he is going to treat El Paso to more thrills in the 100 hours he spends on the pole than they ever before witnessed. “I have many cards up my sleeve to play, and I think I’ll be safe in saying that El Pasoans are going to see things they never before thought a man had nerve enough to attempt,” he said.

If another wind like the one of Monday night blows up, El Paso will be treated to a real thrill. Fox says he relishes strong winds and hard rains.

Realizing that he would need a suitable change of outer clothing, Fox found all the necessary garments included in the Leadall line of clothing manufactured by Haymon Krupp and company.

During the day he will wear Leadall “Snugglers,” blue denim trousers with an elastic waistband, which will add to his comfort. The new Leadall shirt Fox hailed as a discovery, it having a cleverly arranged “packet” pocket. Fox is a smoker and this will prove an ideal place for cigarettes while he is performing stunts.

At night Fox will wear Leadall trousers of corduroy, or moleskin with the new aviation type weather-jacket. The latter garment is designed to provide warmth and comfort, and gives complete freedom of movement.

In discussing his wardrobe Fox said he got the idea somehow that Haymon Krupp and company made only overalls. He soon learned, however, that they make “not only a complete lien of utility clothes, but that among their garments there are several so well adapted to my purposes, that I intend carrying a supply with me when I leave El Paso.”

September 03, 1928

Upon the advice of two physicians, Ben Fox, world’s champion flag pole sitter, failed to perform his sensation headfirst rope slide from the roof of the Hussmann hotel to the street level.

Fox, who completed his 100-hour sit, came down from the pole shortly after 6 o’clock yesterday afternoon while thousands in San Jacinto plaza and the street below had gathered for his daring feat, which he had announced he would perform.

 

1952: Huckster Combines Sale of Bananas With Philosophy, Confounds Customer

12/25/1952

Insist Tropical Fruit Is Ready a Berry: Gets New Ideas, Hangs Signs on His Wagon

John Lucas, 72, Is a short, weather-beaten man with thinning gray hair and a ready smile. Like his ancient Greek forebears he is a philosopher.

He also is a seller of bananas. His red horse-drawn wagon may be seen any day in the downtown or Five Points areas.

Huckster Lucas combines his philosophizing and banana selling.

When a thought comes to him he paints it on a sign and hangs the sign on the back of his wagon. That attracts attention and quite-often causes people to stop and buy bananas.

Right now his wagon sign reads: "To sale bananas is not so easy. Hard to please everybody. John Lucas. Mind Header."

He got that thought after a rather hard day of trying to please his customers.

'Some say my bananas are too green," Mr. Lucas recalled, "Some say they are too ripe. They are too this or too that. It is not so easy to sale bananas. 1 must be a mind reader to figure out what they want."

Not long ago Mr. Lucas had what seemed to be a happy inspiration. He hung out a new sign that read, 'Bananas is not fruit but berries

This caused motorists to stop They demanded that he prove a banana was a berry instead of a fruit. Some would argue that a few banana is a flower, while a few thought it was a vegetable Patiently Mr. Lucas would peel a banana and mash out, some tiny seeds.

"Just like strawberry seeds!" he would exclaim triumphantly. "That proves a banana is a berry."

But be had to change the sign. "I spent all1 my time explaining why bananas are berries," he said ruefully. "I was wasting them. I wasn't selling many."

Survived Earthquake

Stirred by a shipwreck that made the headlines not long ago Mr. Lucas' painted another sign. It read, "Flying Enterprise."

Emigrating from his native Greece in 1901, Mr. Lucas wandered around the U. S. as a section hand and a waiter in Greek restaurants.

He survived the San Francisco earthquake in 1908. For years he operated an ice cream factory in Nogales. He came to El Paso in 1919 and opened a fruit stand in South El Paso.

But like the philosophers of ancient Greece Mr. Lucas liked to movie around while he thought. So he bought a. huckster wagon and a horse.

He has been driving the same wagon for 33 years and has sold nothing but bananas. Several times he has had to change the iron tires and wheels on his wagon, and he has worn out several horses.

His present horse, Nellie, has been the subject of one of his signs It read, "One horsepower motor.”

Now and then Mr. Lucas leaves Nellie and the wagon in the street and enters a nearby refreshment stand. "The more beer 1 drink the better I think," he explained.

One day he left Nellie's head pointed toward a traffic signal.

"The light changed from green to red and Nellie went on down the street," he said. "Alter that I always parked her with her head pointing away from the traffic signal. She is a law-abiding horse.'

Mr. Lucas has four children, all under five years old.

"I'm a sound man," he boasts "I'm not sure yet but I think another baby is on the way. That's why I have to work all day long now. All us Greeks live long. My father lived until he was 105. A spiritualist fellow told me I wouldlive to 95. I still have time to raise a large family."

John Lucas photo gallery

1955: Photographer, Inventor and Musician Records Life in El Paso for 50 Years; Enjoys Self at 94

07/19/1955

Invented Machine With Television Effect

MR. AND MRS. BERNARD in their first new car, a 1907 Reo, in front of their studio at 609 East San Antonio street. (Photo by O. C. Bernard.]

 

Oscar C. Bernard, photographer, Inventor and musician, is enjoying life at 94.

His bulging scrapbook records life in El Paso for more than, half a century. A garage workshop is filled with automatic stereopticans patented in 1913 by Mr. Bernard. The machine flashes a series of pictures too a cabinet screen like television.

Two Beautiful Girls

He came to El Paso in 1900 after a varied life during which he toured the country playing with the Queen's Royal Brass Band of Hawaii and the Dodge City Cowboy Band, and spent a year in Mexico working as a photographer.

"My brother was working for the railroad in El Paso," Mr. Bernard said, "so I came to visit him and stayed to open a photographic studio.

"We lived just across the hall in a rooming house from two very beautiful girls. They were sisters who were dressmakers. I courted one and married her in 1902. She is the former Catherine Shoptaugh, the most beautiful girl I ever photographed."

The couple operated a studio at 609 East San Antonio street until 1935 when they retired.

34-Inch Screen

"I was in the business to make money to put into my inventions," he said. "I really had something there with that sound-picture machine. My rapid coin changer was a good thing, too."

The sound-picture machine was built into a console cabinet. It has a screen 30 by 20 inches on the front. A rotating wheel of glass slides was geared to drop the slides down in front of a bright light while appropriate music played.

"If the music is 'Silver Threads Among the Gold,' a picture comes on of an aged couple." he said. "Thus the combination appealed to both sight and sound. It starts and stops automatically, regulated by means of a synchronizer."

A cashier drops change into the top of The Rapid Coin and the customer lifts the lower part of the gadget with the palm of his hand. The money drops into the hand.

That's especially good if you happen to be wearing gloves," Mr. Bernard said. "It would be good in cold countries, too, where it is difficult to pick up change from a smooth surface when your hands are cold. It eliminates the necessity of groping about for change."

He also invented a machine which cast a picture on a screen outside his house of business to advertise his studio.

He is the only surviving member of the famous McGinty Band of El Paso, Mr. Bernard believes. He played a cornet.

"I don't play any more," he said. "I can't see to read music," "I don't make pictures any more, either."

His lack of vision is his only infirmity, and even with his lack of sight, he is able to go downtown frequently and do shopping and marketing at the Fort Boulevard shopping center near his home.

He has two sisters, Mrs. Laura B. Smith and Miss Mary Bernard, both of Dallas.

Mrs. Bernard is active in the Pioneer Circle of Women's Society of Christian Service of Fort Boulevard Methodist Church and the Women's Division of the Chamber of Commerce.

Her brother is John R. Shoptaugh, a professor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and her sister is Mrs. Grace Wylie of Gordin, Mo.

The couple have no children.

On Mr. Bernard's 94th birthday July 14. two neighbors, Mrs. Buford Forbes and Mrs. Ralph Hotter, planned a surprise party. They invited all the residents of the 3100 block of Porter avenue and more than 30 persons called during the evening. The minister of the Bernards' church, the Rev. Lloyd Peters, and Mrs. Peters attended. Many brought presents and there was homemade cake and homemade ice cream for all.

"Be sure and write about the party," Mr. Bernard said. "Our neighbors are wonderful to us. We couldn't get along without them."

General opinion of the neighbors is that the 3100 block of Porter avenue would be a pretty dull place without the Bernards

1956: Prohibition Recalled By Photo

04/02/1956

During the mid-fifties the Times ran a Historical Photo Contest. They ran a photo in the paper and paid $10 to the person who wrote the best letter describing the photo.

This is the photo that ran April 2, 1956 followed by two letters received by the Times.

Prohibition Recalled By Photo

America never had a period o history which even approximated that of national prohibition.

For nearly 15 years (January, 1919 until December, 1933) the U.S. had no legal right to drink whisky or any alcoholic beverage more potent than “near beer.”

Along the U.S.-Canadian and U.S. Mexico borders saloons and liquor stores and distilleries did business supplying thirsty Americans, while those who could not reach a foreign country made home brew and bathtub gin or bought rotten booze from bootleggers.

In this week’s Historical Picture Contest, The Times publishes a photo of one of the better-known El Paso area Mexican grog-shops.

 April 4, 1956

 Editor,

 According to my recollection, on or about July 1897, El Paso and Juarez suffered the worst flood on record. The water on the Texas side extended from the Juarez Bridges to Washington Park, as well as to the downtown district of Juarez, all of which was caused by the Rio Grande backing up from Cordova Island. The river at that time practically surrounded Cordova Island. Through the efforts of Mayor Magoffin, permission was given by the Mexican Government to open a channel straight through Cordova Island, thereby relieving both cities.

The Hole-In-the-Wall was on the south bank of the Rio Grande as it ran in 1897, about 300 ft. from the boundary line of the two Governments near the south end of Eucalyptus Street. During the years 1917, 1918 and 1919, prohibition was in effect on the American side, and there was a well-beaten path between the end of Eucalyptus Street, through the old river bed to the Hole-In-the Wall, then known as the Cantina Colonia Colorada.

 O.C. Coles

 

April 4, 1956

Picture Editor,

An old adobe house made into a cantina was situated at the foot of Eucalyptus Street on Cordova Island. I remember I was driving cab for the old City Service Co. and we used to cut thru the old El Paso Foundry on Eucalyptus and the Canal to reach it.

Persons walked thru an old fence that divided the U.S. and Mexico, they were not bothered as long as they were American citizens as there were Custom & Border Patrol Officers and City Police there at all times.

On Saturday nights and all day Sunday when there was a big crowd of crossers the City Police would park the “Black Maria” near by and if you crossed “mucho borracho” they put you in it and when they got a full load they would take them to jail.

As this place was in Mexican Federal Territory after some protest from the American authorities the Mexican Government ordered it to close. People going to this place at night put themselves in danger on account of gun battles between Federal Officers and smugglers.

 Yours Truly,

Alfonso Mendez Sr.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1990: UTEP Women's Basketball celebrates 25 years

11/21/1999

By Matthew Aguilar

El Paso Times

A handful of fliers, a slippery floor and $1,000.

That's what the UTEP Miners women's basketball team started with back in 1973 when Don Lewis and Wayne Thornton decided the men's basketball team at the University of Texas at El Paso - already a powerful program that had netted a national championship seven years earlier - needed a complement. So Lewis and Thornton started a grassroots campaign to get the women on the court.

"I had just started college, and we started asking girls on campus (if they) wanted to play," Thornton said. "We had fliers, posters, and we got a good response from girls who wanted to get something going."

Twenty-five years later, the women's program compares favorably with the men's program, traveling extensively to big-time tournaments in places such as New York City, developing a core group of fans and regularly getting exposure and radio.

But back then, things were a little tougher for Lewis and Thornton, who was then barely out of Burges High School and only 17 years old. Thornton said he was painfully shy at the time and said Lewis was the guy who did a lot of the recruiting - working behind the scenes to get the program off the ground.

After scrambling to put a team together, the two arranged for a meeting with then-UTEP president Arleigh B. Templeton.

"He gave us $1,000 to start the program and we practiced in the old women's gym, which isn't even there anymore," Thornton said. "It had an ice skating rink for a floor and no nets, the walls were beaten up."

That first year, UTEP played New Mexico State, teams from Juàrez and Fort Bliss and even intramural teams on campus. The Lady Miners were 4-4 that season.

One of the team's first big breaks came when New Mexico State was put on the schedule. Thornton said then-head coach Karen Fey, now the Senior Woman's Administrator at NMSU, fearlessly scheduled the unproven Lady Miners even though the established Aggies had much more to lose.

"Her attitude was, `Let's play'," Thornton said. "You are our neighbors. It was the greatest thing in the world to walk on to that court and see something that started from scratch go against New Mexico State, which had uniforms, a sports information director and the works."

Thornton, who was assistant coach under Carol Ammerman for three years and head coach for one, stepped down after the 1978-79 season to take a job with the El Paso Parks and Recreation Department. He is now special promotions coordinator for the department.

He looks back at those early Lady Miner years fondly.

"My calling was with youth," he said. "That's what I was put on this Earth to do."

Gloria Estrada, who played guard for the Miners from 1974-78, said everything has changed since then, from facilities to scholarships.

"Back then we weren't on full scholarships so we had to struggle there," said Estrada, who is now an English teacher at Canutillo High School. "Some of us just played because we loved the game, not because we were on scholarship. Also, most of the people who played on the team were from the area. They didn't recruit from outside the area. I think maybe four people were out of the area."

Estrada said she still attends games when she gets the chance.

"Of course, we didn't have many fans when we were playing and now there are quite a few who follow the team," she said. "And, as far as the program, it has vastly improved."

Since Ammerman and Thornton, there have been four Miner basketball coaches: Janet Wood, Ken Weeks, Craig Roden and current coach Sandra Rushing, who took the job in 1990.

"I knew (then athletic director) Dr. Brad Hovious when I came out here, because I worked for him," Rushing said. "I knew about Coach (Don) Haskins because he's a legend; I knew about the Sun Bowl, but as far as the program itself ... I did a little research when the job came open, but I really wasn't too familiar with El Paso."

At the time, Rushing was 25 years old and fresh off a one-year stint as head coach at Millsaps College, a Division III school in Jackson, Miss.

She said the program has come a long way, even since then.

"I joke about it now, but I only had one assistant coach, and he was only getting paid $13,000 a year at the time," she said. "We had $5,000 in our recruiting budget when I came in."

Rushing said she saw a lot of potential for the program, but not a lot of money being put into it.

"I even remember saying to Dr. Hovious `I cannot put these kids in these uniforms,' " Rushing said with a laugh. " `And playing in Memorial Gym won't help recruiting'."

Hovious promised to move Rushing and her team into the Don Haskins Center (then the Special Events Center) after the first year, which she said was the longest of her life.

The team went 5-22.

"That first year, I cried. I really did," she said. "I was not used to losing. This was a big challenge for me."

Since then, Rushing has proven to be a winner for UTEP. She has compiled a 110-133 record at UTEP, her best coming in 1992-93, when her team went 18-10 and drew 7,000 people to a game against Brigham Young University in the Don Haskins Center.

The Miners went 13-12 in 1996-97 and 16-11 in 1997-98.

"I feel good about this year," Rushing said. "I see a turning point. My kids are great kids, enjoyable to coach and our recruiting class is doing well. I've talked to other coaches around the country, and it has taken them nine, 10 years.''

Other things have improved as well, such as recruiting budget, which is now $31,000 a year, and salaries. The assistant now gets $25,000 a year, while Rushing earns $54,000.

And with the new administration, Rushing is positive.

"I think all women's sports have improved since I've been here," she said. "I would like to really see a championship here, but who knows what the future holds."

 

1971: The Ice Man Was Vital Part of Early El Paso History

04/21/1971

By ANN CARROLL

READERS: Who'd have thought Chris P. Fox of the State National Bank was once "the ice man!" Follows, in two parts, his story of his boyhood job. It's El Paso history. The Route of the Consumer's Ice Company Wagon No. I...

Wholesale

By CHRIS P. FOX

To be a helper on this particular route in the wonderful year of 1913, in the city of El Paso, required a pretty fair knowledge of the-community, and equally so, a willingly strong body possessed of a back that could, when necessity demanded, take a 200-pound piece of ice up a 40 tread staircase.

Also, this person should be ready and willing to get up at 3:30 a.m. and walk from a residence at 1315 North Campbell street down to the Consumer Corral, which was on South Campbell street between First and Second streets and Florence street to the east.

When this young person sleepily got to the corral lot, he would get out the big span of Missouri mules. Pat and Mike, and give them a good brush and curry, put on their harness and hitch them to old wholesale No. 1 and drive it over to the ice plant loading dock, and carefully back it into position ... set the brake and wrap the lines around the brake handle and go into the office where-the general manager, Will Kellett, would be giving the driver, Earl McElroy, the orders for the day.

Then it was into the ice vaults and there followed the loading of thirty 300-lb. blocks of crystal clear ice for the first trip of the morning which got us away from the dock about 4:15 a.m.

Now it must be remembered that a neighborhood ice route was looked upon as being much more respectable than downtown wholesale route No. 1 ... they said it was on the neighborhood route, that nice people met a nice driver usually and always the wagons and teams were spic and span. Downtown wholesale No. 1 was just a workhorse of the deal that brought in plenty of good fat revenue.

The route that was traveled never varied, except when a new customer was obtained, or when an old one was lost. When the latter happened and if it was the routeman's fault, he would expect that Mr. Kellett would chew as hard on the driver as he did on his cigar stump.

On his route we had all the saloons, hotels and eating establishments that were customers of consumer's. Below I will name you a few and among them the most popular of the day.

The Lobby, which was always a good watering place, as was the Angelus Hotel Bar and the Palace at 205 San Antonio avenue and on the corner of Santa Fe street and San Francisco avenue was the fabulous Palm Garden, We are not forgetting the equally famous and or infamous, Wigwam at 105 San Antonio street, the bar on the street level, a bit of poker playing in the basement, and food on the second floor. In the same area was the equally famous notorious Coney Island, presided over by one Tom Powers, who was widely known.

And there was the Hotel Zieger Bar where good alcoholic beverages could be found, as well as good food and all presided over by one Charles Zeiger... we could go on naming them and their owners at length. Believe it or not, practically all of the many downtown bars were within an area bounded by Santa Fe, Main, Second, and Kansas streets. We had big ice customers in the hotels, private dubs and the eating houses, but the one we always liked, was the famous old Clubhouse Cafe, because we knew that a good breakfast awaited us there. It was operated by a Chinese group. The clubhouse had its drawbacks though. The Chinese insisted that you hoist 200-pound chunks into the upper deck of the big walk-in box ... they wouldn't take 100-pound pieces because they felt they would be short-potted. So it was, 200 pounds or nothing ... and up they went regard1ess, because they always took 1,200 pounds every morning. The Moose Club on the second floor of 211 Texas street was a straight shot that called for the best in physique and patience, at least 1,000 pounds every day up those 40 steps. You're wondering now, why these places used so much ice. Well, please don't forget that they operated on a 24-hour basis, and there were no mechanical ice makers.

 

More of 1913 E.P. Returns As Chris Fox Lugs the Ice

1969: Four Earthquakes Jar El Paso

05/12/1969

UTEP Seismograph Records Tremors On Richter Scale

Four mild earthquakes shook El Paso early today.

It is the first time in recorded history El Paso has felt earthquakes this strong. At least one house was damaged.

Dr. Harold S. Slusher, assistant professor of physics at the University of Texas at El Paso, said the quake apparently set a record.

Police were swamped with calls, most of them from residents in the northeast area.

The quakes were recorded on seismographic instruments at Kidd Memorial Seismographic Observatory on UTEP campus.

DR. SLUSHER said the quakes occurred at a distance of 28 to 30 miles from the UTEP campus, northeast of El Paso, outside the city limits.

The quakes were recorded at 2:26, 2:49, 2:51 and 4:39 a.m. today. Dr. Slusher said.

He said they were of a magnitude of 2.2 to 2.3 on the Richter Scale. For comparative purposes, the San Francisco earthquake was 8.4. The scale goes to 10.

"These were small quakes, just enough to be felt and do a slight bit of damage," Dr. Slusher said.

Mrs. Leona, Flowers, 4963 Rutherford drive, reported she was awakened at 2:30 a.m. by what sounded like an explosion. She found the plaster ceilings of her home covered with hairline cracks, and her cement driveway patterned with larger separations.

Several other residents called police to report hearing similar "explosions" and minor damage. Most of them thought the phenomenon was caused by an airplane breaking the sound barrier.

James Sibert at 9940 Burbon street in Northeast El Paso told The Herald Post the quake awakened him and his wife.

"IT WAS JUST as if the house had a foundation of jello," he said. "Dishes rattled, the bed shook, the beams in the attic creaked.

"We heard rumblings. It sounded like the blasting on the mountain, and the house shook almost the same way, except it was much heavier. We thought it might be Army maneuvers. Our house had a cement floor and it takes a force of some magnitude to make it shake like that."

Mrs. Ruben Garcia, 5641 Waldorf drive, said the tremor shook her house so hard the baby's crib and her bed hit the wall. "I thought it was dynamite," she said.

Policeman Juan Borjor, said the tremors were felt mostly in the northeast area. One resident in the Tigua area reported feeling a slight tremor.

Borjon said the quake was felt slight up to 5O miles to the north, but apparently not on the west side of the mountain or far south.

1931: Quake Danger Over In EP, Scientist Says

1931: Girl Tells How Quake Felt Thirteen Stories in Air