May was a month of school events, Mother’s Day and Memorial Day commemorations. There were fifty-one high school graduates at Elk City and ten at Hammon.
Sue Atkins and Albert Lusby were married at the Merritt School track meet. Mrs. Lusby was to finish the eighth grade even though she was married.
A small twister passed through the area northwest of Carter. While it did not seem to hit the ground, Joe Backs said the suction got the best of his windmill and damaged his barn. The oil derrick under construction at Moravia was demolished. Walter Joyce’s buildings were completely destroyed except for the house, which was moved off its foundation.
The heaviest rain of the year accompanied by hail as large as eggs fell early in the month. A few days later a hard washing rain with high winds blew the rental house on Andrew O. Cain’s place to pieces. Cotton and other crops had to be replanted. Elk City Cotton Oil Co. sold 4000 pounds of cotton seed in twenty-four hours.
Lee Campbell, the fire chief who lived with his family in the front upstairs rooms of City Hall, discovered a fire at 3 a.m. in the City Clerk’s office. Their furniture was badly damaged as well as the clerk’s office. A touching incident happened soon after the fire was discovered. When Lee rushed back to his quarters to check on his family’s safety, he found little eight-year-old Marguerite on her knees praying.
City Council passed an ordinance requiring all vehicles to park at a forty-five-degree angle. Automobiles were to park at the curb and not in the center of the street.
John F. Streit changed the name of the Fountain Cafe to Streit’s Restaurant. It featured a special Sunday Dinner menu for fifty cents ($8.78 in today’s values): fresh radishes, new onions, chicken fricassee with corn fritters, roasted young hen with sage dressing, roast prime rib, au jus (choice of one meat), snowflake potatoes, new string beans, lettuce and tomato salad, Parker House rolls, angel food cake with vanilla ice cream, coffee, tea or sweet milk.
Roscoe Jester was killed in an automobile accident in Kansas City. He was riding with a friend when they stopped for a streetcar and were run down by a big Cadillac roadster. Roscoe was thrown through the window of the Chevrolet sedan and the car’s engine fell on his head. The driver of the Cadillac was charged with manslaughter and bound over for trial.
Bert Spencer of Grimes marketed 182 dozen eggs in Elk City representing the receipts for nine days. He had 400 Brown Leghorn hens, which netted him about $45 ($790) every ten days or so.
Years earlier, Captain James H. Story had a dream of what would happen if drilling continued in Beckham County. He had his vision, “Story’s Dream,” painted in oil on canvas and hung in the lobby of his hotel; there were gassers erupting in the distance and a refinery. Don’t you wonder where that painting is now?
The Baxter boys went on some coyote raids and dug out six pups in one day and nine the next, which cut down their population some. Unfortunately, Louis Baxter was seriously hurt on horseback while chasing a coyote in the pasture. He was unconscious for some time.
Trains from the east into Elk City were delayed from one to five hours due to the heavy shipments of strawberries and the time required to load and unload the crates along the track.
Elk City was cut off from the world for a few days due to railroad washouts. At Sayre, the flooding was so deep that it washed cars down the street and lodged them against the railroad tracks.
Camp Fire Girls and the American Legion sold $40 ($702) worth of poppies. “Take [the poppy], keep it, and protect it; If you crush it, it will bleed-For the crimson Flander’s poppy Was a Man’s blood in the seed.”
Luanne R. Eisler authored this article, which was taken from items published in The Carter Express, The Elk City Press and The Elk City News-Democrat; these newspapers can be found on microfilm at the Elk City Carnegie Library. Heritage Quest and www.dollartimes.com provided supplementary information.
