The Abilene Reporter-News (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 218, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 21, 1960 Page: 1 of 30
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COOL
The Abilen
05 MORNING
SAV 3103
_________________________"WITHOUT OR WITH OFFENSE TO FRIENDS OR FOE: 60 9908 xe 03 25m VORLD EXACTLY AS IT GOES"—Byron
79TH YEAR, NO. 218 Associated Press (AP) ABILENE, TEXAS, THURSDAY MORNING 331A83S *1 IRTY PAGES IN TWO SECTIONS
PRICE DAILY 5c, SUNDAY 15c
rc
ictirr
Found Ali
:
Held
DEATH IN A LONE CARTRIDGE—Police Det. Sgt. George McGee holds .22 rifle
which Mrs. Grady Anderson of 1749 N. 6th St. says killed her husband accident-
ally Wednesday afternoon. Sgt. McGee sits on desk in police headquarters. (Staff
Photo by Bill Nelsen)
Father, 22, Shot
Fatally at Home
Warmup Due
Gradually;
Power Halls
Abilene is due for a gradual 1
warmup through Friday after 1
more than 40 hours of below- 1
freezing temperatures during the ’
past two days and a 16-degree
reading Wednesday, the lowest
this season and the coldest Jan.
20 in 20 years.
Slowly rising temperatures are
predicted for Thursday and Fri-
day. A high reading of 50 degrees
is predicted Thursday but another %
freeze is expected Thursday night '
when the mercury is expected to C.
drop to a low of 25-30. The high
Friday will be in the 50s.
Temperatures dropped below , %
freezing shortly after 6 p.m. Mon-
day and stayed there until around
11 a m. Wednesday when they rose S
to 32. The mercury stood at 41 7
at 6 p.m. Wednesday then dropped L
to 32 again by 7 p.m.A
Temperatures have been below
50 degrees since last Thursday al-1
though they climbed to 46, the cat
high for the day Wednesday. .
The Weather Bureau at Abi- 1
lene’s Municipal Airport recorded
the 16 degree reading at 7 a.m.
Wednesday. The previous record
low here this winter was 17 de- E
grees last Nov. 17. The reading
was the coldest for Jan. 30 here'
since a 13-degree reading Jan. 20,
1940.
DR. ROBERT SPEARS
Wirephoto
. . . taken into custody by unidentified agent
By TOM REYNOLDS ,
Reporter-News Staff Writer
A 2-year-old baby’s happy pull
at the trigger of a loaded rifle
quickly ended the life of his father
— Abilene truck driver Woodfin
Grady Anderson of 1749 N. 6th —
police were told by the mother
Wednesday night
The father, 22, had been unable
to work the past couple weeks
after losing the ends of three fing-
ers in an accident. He had been * ,
sheet metal worker, more re-
cently driving a truck for Mc-
Alister Trucking Co. J.
A bit of candy on his cheeks. •
little Woodfin Grady Anderson III
played innocently with crayons
Wednesday night atop a desk in
police headquarters — while har-
ried police sought to conduct an
investigation of the reported acci-
dent. A tearful aunt watched the
Winds which have been bringing
cold air from the north shifted
the south about * a.m. Weather-
men said the warmer southern
winds should have the effect
causing a warmup.
2 Years Given
lad, whose light blond baby hair
was neatly combed and parted
He is the couple's only child.
The tragedy shattered the mod-
est rear - apartment home on N.
6th about * p.m. Wednesday, Mrs.
Former Dallas
Ex-Con Caught
PHOENIX, Ariz. (AP)—A heavily insured ex-convict
presumed to have died in one of two suspicious airliner
crashes was found alive and seized in Phoenix by the
FBI Wednesday.
Dr. Robert Vernon Spears of Dallas was held on a
charge of transporting a stolen car interstate. But he also
was being questioned about the crash of a National Air-
lines plane, on which he was listed as a passenger, into
the Gulf of Mexico, Nov. 16. All 42 persons aboard
perished.
Spears, 65, was located, living under an assumed
name, at a resort motel, as federal authorities in Wash-
ington were investigating =
the possibility that both the ■
Gulf crash and one in North ■
Carolina were caused by ■
bombs. ■
Spears drove to Phoenix in al
car belonging to William Allen I
Taylor of Tampa, Fla., a former 1
prison acquaintance suspected of ■
substituting for Spears on the D
Gulf flight. ■
Spears also is reported to have 1
known Julian Andrew Frank, New 1
York lawyer insured for *900.000 ■
and named as a possible suicide K
bomber on the plane which fell in F
North Carolina Jan. 6, with the -
loss of 34 lives.
However, the Civil Aeronautics
Board and the Senate Aviation :
subcommittee, both of which are
investigating, have not establish-
ed that a bomb was responsible
for either crash.
As Spears was led to jail in
Phoenix, a reporter asked him:
"Did you bomb the plane?"
He laughed and replied:
"No. I may make a statement
tomorrow.”
Newsmen were not permitted to
talk with him further, and the
FBI refused to say whether he
had shed any light on the Gulf
crash.
Spears’ Dallas attorney said the
naturopath-sort of a healer who
uses neither drugs nor surgery-
During the coldest part of the go
morning, 6:33 a.m. to 7:39 a.m.,
hundreds of homes in the ACC IB CAI MIDAMA
Hill area and in northeast Abi- TT T W
lene went without electric power “ " M ,
for 57 minutes due to a break
in a primary distribution line serv-l By DON NORRIS Barnes, who helped set up the "I don’t remember which.’’
ing the area. The power failure1 Reporter-News Staff Writer equipment. , The stocky, white-haired Spears
caused central heating equipment A 42nd District Court jury as- At one point during the trial, waived preliminary hearing on a
to fail in an approximate 300 sessed L. B. Mayhew, 51, two Caffey asked Mayhew: You charge that, while he had per-
square block area, a region al-years in prison Wednesday for ac- were willing to take *250 for what mission to drive Taylor’s car from
MX most one mile long and about one pun, , S250 bribe to leave the----------------- - ------—
1 and three-fourths mile wide, cepuns a $230 bribe to leave the
was insured for $50,000 or *100,000,
DR. JOHN A. CURTIS
... formerly at State School
Ex-Abilene
‘Doctor’
Goes to Jail
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP)—An
Abilene, Tex., man was convicted
today of practicing medicine with-
out a license.
John A. Curtis, 39. also was
fined *25 and costs on two charges
of giving worthless checks. Un-
able to pay the fine, he went to
jail.
City Judge Eugene Loe convict-
ed Curtis of practicing medicine
without a permit, but postponed
sentence until Friday,
Curtis, who pleaded guilty to
the bed check charges, insisted he
had received a medical degree
and had once been a medical of-
he had done to your daughter?" Tampa to Dallas, Tex., he brought
“Yes sir.” Mayhew replied, "aft- it to Phoenix illegally.
er you told me there wasn't any Spears was held under *36,000
other charge I could bring." bond, unusually high for a stolen
Mayhew also admitted turning auto case, at the request of the
over to Mrs. Gomillion two let-FBI
ters from her husband to his Agents did not say how they
daughter for her to use as evi- learned Spears was in Phoenix,
dence in a divorce proceeding. Spears had just checked out of
Character witness for Mayhew the Bali Hi Motel and was climb- ficer with the Veterans Adminis-
was Silvin A. Lamond, paint con- mg into a cab when two agents tration.
tractor of 2129 Lowden Ave., who grabbed him.
has the three Mayhew children -
in his home. Their mother is in
, . . , jail, also charged with soliciting
$250 was for reimbursement for and accepting a bribe,
telephone calls and expenses of Jim Jeffrey was court-appoint-
returning his daughter here from ed attorney for Mayhew.
Charleston, S. C. ------
state and avoid testifying before a
% Cause of the break had not been grand jury.
1 determined although engineers
, IIC waD wV D H Ay WILICBD UC"
j said it could have been due to fore the grand jury against a 29.
i the extreme cold.. year-old man accused of kidnap-
1 Abilene firemen made runs to ping Mayhew's 15-year-old daugh-
□ three houses in the area after ter.
1 smoke developed from central . % uru „„i„ ahimt
, heating units but damage was al- The jury deliberated only about
s most nonexistent 6 30 minutes before reporting its ver-
E most nonexistent dict to Judge J. R. Black.
He was to be a key witness be-
bond, unusually high for a stolen
‘PULL THE TRIGGER, SUGAR — Little Woodfin
.uc ... u Grady Anderson III, age 2, was held in the arms of
"She gave Del. Sgt. George Mc- the father for this year-and-a-half-old snapshot. On
Gee the following account Wednesday, his mother said that the tot playfully
The Andersons and the baby pulled the' trigger of a loaded rifle, killing his father,
were st home The dead man jokingly told the lad to pull the trigger,
Anderson, the son of a late she said.
Methodist minister, picked up his
.22 automatic rifle. He began peer-
Anderson told police.
Gee the following account :
ing through the telescopic sight,
“fooling with it,” Mrs. Anderson
told Det. McGee.
Anderson sat down on the liv-
ing-room couch. Mrs. Anderson be-
jumped up from beside him and
grabbed her busband frantically,
she told Det. McGee. Then she
Abilene residences and business-
es used 33 million cubic feet of HE
gas from * a.m. Tuesday to s the ehardepanafeontend a that “
a.m. Wednesday, about 15 per cent ne eharse convened mat
more than the maximum usage in
a single 24-hour period of 1959.
Mayhew, a painter-paperhanger
at a CAB meeting' The city contended Curtis did
Testimony at a CAB meet ng not graduate from an accredited
See SPEAKS, Pg. 6-A, Col. 5
THE WEATHER
The widow told Det. McGee that
the baby had been allowed to play
with the gun before.
...... __"On occasion in the country, he
Anderson was dead on arrival had let the baby fire the gun -
. . . , , at tin cans in target shooting,"
at Hendrick Memorial Hospital at Det. McGee said Mrs. Anderson
called a Kiker-Warren ambulance.
Sweetwater
Car Theft
Suspect Held
He was convicted of accepting . ..
the *250 from Mrs. Helen Gomil Cox Asks Revisions
lion. Grande Lodge, estranged wife • _ DLL
of Frank N. Gomillion, 29 Go-In Insurance Plan
million had been charged with kid- AUSTIN (AP)—Jack Cox, for-
napping 15-year-old Judith Marilyn
at the time and was awaiting
grand jury action. The grand jury
which indicted Mayhew also no-
billed Gomillion on the kidnapping
charge.
mer state representative who says
he is running for governor called
Wednesday for revisions in the
U.S. DEPARTMENT or COMMERCE
WEATHER BUREAU
(weather map, DE. 13-A)
ABILENE AND VICINITY (40 mile ra-
dius) — Fair Thursday, partly cloudy
Friday, with slowly rising temperatures
both days. High Thursday 50, low Thurs-
day night 25-30, high Friday in the 50s.
NORTH CENTRAL EAST and SOUTH
CENTRAL TEXAS-Clear to partly cloudy
and continued cold Thursday and Fri-
medical school and consequently
is not eligible to practice medi-
cine in Alabama.
Curtis was charged with admin-
istering drugs to a Negro.
(Dr. Curtis was relieved in Abi-
lene last June of his $10,220 posi-
tion of clinical director of Abilene
State School because he did not
have a license to practice medi-
cine in Texas. He had been in
the position 11 months when he
was discharged
fin Abilene, "Dr. Curtis had been
employed with the understanding
that he would obtain a reciprocal
license to practice medicine in Tex-
as through having been licensed in
another state." Raymond Vowell,
executive director of the Board of
State Hospitals and Special
Schools, said. This was in compli-
ance with a decision by the State
„ . NORTHWEST and SOUTHWEST TEX
“so-called safe drivers insurance AS - Clear to partly cloudy Thursday
„ and Friday with slowly rising tempera-
plan. ture
Cox blamed Gov Price Daniel Wed. a.m. TEMPERATURES
for what Cox said was lack of 21
side him. ________
"The baby came up and start- 5:24 p.m. He never uttered a told him.
ad begging for the gun, Det. Mc- word, only gasping once or twice. Police found no other cartridges
Gee said, quoting Mrs. Ander- _
son. Anderson gave it to him. News INDEX Lt. F s. Isbell. They were still Wednesday to pick up Warner million about the money and ask-Jahnten
Mrs. Anderson told Det. McGee NEW J IINUEA looking for the fired cartridge. Conrad Parker, 26, who has been him "What would happen if Johnson raised
she hadn't known the gun was SECTION Mrs. Anderson related the charged with car theft. I’m not in Taylor County for the WASHIINGTON (AP) - Rep. Ecil
loaded. events late Wednesday night to Parker has also been charged grand jury." R' King (D-Calif) taking issue
Little Grady nl held up the gun Food news ............5 Dets. Isbell, McGee and Sgt. C. V at Dallas and Fort Worth on car Mayhew said Caffey "told me
—pointing it, at his father, she Obituaries ...........7 Strickland, theft complaints, said Martin that if I was here I would have
said. Oil news........12, 13 Little attempt, at the moment. Koonsman of Abilene, special to testify but that if I was not
SECTION B [ was being made 10 question the agent of the National Automobile here he wouldn’t do anything -
2-year-old. The child can scarce. Theft Bureau, who worked with about it.” qualifications.___________
Women's news ........3 ly pronounce two connected words Lambert and Sweetwater Highway He also said that Caffey told
% at his age. Wednesday night he Patrolman Herman Seale in break- him: "Well, it's just up to you IN COTULLA JAIL
7 chattered pleasantly, waiting for ing the case." 1 — ′— - "124—--
7s his mother Koonsman said Parker is accus-
17 Justice of the Peace H F Long ed of stealing cars, changing their
ordered an autopsy. His coroner's appearance and then putting them
verdict pends. into commerce. said
Anderson reportedly urged the
smiling lot: "Go ahead and pull
the trigger, sugar." _____________
The bullet struck Anderson in Sports ...........
the left chest, in the area of the Editorials .........
Amusements ........
n Comics .........
The father fell back against the Radio, TV logs ......
back of the sofa Mrs. Anderson F.rm and markets
Hermleigh Girl
Dies of Burns
HERMLEIGH (RNS) — Betty
home. She was in the eighth grade
qweRAmO e Mayhew also told the jury that
- — SWEETWATER Sheriff R. S. he contacted Dist. Atty. Wiley
the fairly new rifle, said Det. Ted) Lambert went to Dallas late Caffey before contacting Mrs Go-
back into commerce He said
Anderson married Iva Lee (Bon- Parker operated from a small
me i Bryant, now 20, in Anson on garage he had leased in the east
July 7 1955.
leadership.
...... 1:00
2:00
:::::: 188
......5.00
......6:00
......7:00
Wed. pm
40
I don’t feel you have a (kidnap-
ping) case strong enough against
him. My personal opinion is that
if you have a job in Albuquerque.
N.M.. that you better take it."
Wednesday morning Mrs. Gomil-
lion told the jury that Mayhew
part of Sweetwater.
A 1955 graduate of Abilene High Parker was arrested Saturday______
night in Corsicana. He was charg. her husband
ed in Sweetwater with theft of
School, the victim came here in
September 1954. He had lived at
called her Dec. * and asked for
*250. promising to leave the state
and thus "drop" the case against
Childress and Estelline.
She testified she later contacted
1957 Ford from Edwin L. McCabe officers who planned a meeting for
Athey, 14-year-old Hermleigh girl, as me nermreign SCUVUL. is. , M And-ehn who
died at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Funeral arrangements are pend- 2 9
the Loraine Hospital from burns 1----*"-"- -----' “---ivives. The father died Jan 8 12
suffered Monday morning when
her gown caught fire from a gas
heater at her home here.
Her gown caught fire when she
at the Hermleigh school
Born in Big Spring on May 14, of Sweetwater Nov. 3, 1959 The her with Mayhew and put a tape
1937, he was the son of the late
Rev. Woodfin Grady Anderson
car was recovered in Corsicana recorder in the Grande Lodge
last week.
lit the heater after getting up
She ran outside with her cloth-
ing at Wells Funeral Home in, a , ,___, . _
Roscoe where the body was taken Anderson belonged to Grace
Wednesday night. She has a broth. Methodist Church.
er in Andrews and a sister in Survivors include the wife; the
Monahans but their names had mother, of 51* Elm: a sister,
not been learned by the funeral
POLL TAX
BOX SCORE
ing ablaze.
The girl lived with her aunt.
Mrs Bertie Athey, who operates
Bertie’s Cafe, next door to the home reported.
home
Mrs. Athey had raised the girl
since infancy. Both of the girl’s
parents are dead, the funeral
Mrs Emmette Toponce of 51*
Elm; and the maternal grand -
mother, Mrs. L J. Loter of Child-
ress.
Funeral was pending at Kiker-
Warren Funeral Home.
..........11:00 ......
.....12:00
and low for 24-hours
I* and ’*
and low
with California’s Democratic Na- Hus -no wow * ...... .... - .___, ,
Committeeman said p.m. 46 and 16. , Board that all unlicensed doctors
uonai Committeeman, said High and low same date last year: 736 thenitole
Wednesday that Sen. Lyndon and 20. . be dismissed from state hospitals
Johnson of Texas has many presi- T»; sunder coin ami: 202 : by July of 1960."
Aantial Analiinatiane Barometer reading at s p.m.: ww ' -
Humidity 9 p.m.: 70 per cent.
Committeeman, I
Wednesday that Sen. Lyndon
ending 9
Red Missile
Captured C-City
Youth Hangs Self
Misses Mark
WASHINGTON (AP)—High U.S.
military authorities said Wednes-
day night a Soviet missile had
been fired into the Central Pacific
body of Armulfo Flores, 16, of Funeral Home in Colorado City but it apparently missed its target
Colorado City was returned to , oee by several hundred miles.
Colorado City for burial follow- and funeral, arancements will The base for the launching of
ing his reported suicide in a v
Cotulla cell Tuesday afternoon
COLORADO CITY (RNS) — The His body is at Kiker and Son
Flores was sent to reform school
in Gatesville in 1958, following his
apartment to record the transac-
tion.
The officers furnished her with conviction on burglary charges in
$250 which she testified she gave Colorado City and Sweetwater.
Mayhew, Mayhew gave her a re- He was attending a butcher’s
ceipt for it. school at Waco and escaped from
Poll Taxes Paid ............5,743 Detective Lt F. S. Isbell said authorities He was apprehended
Exemptions Issued ........2,650 that he searched Mayhew as he and placed in jail at Cotulla. The
1969 Polls, Exemptions ... 13,414 left the apartment and recovered Mitchell County Sheriff's Depart-
1966 Polls. Exemptions .... 17,312 the $250 in marked bills, meet was notified Tuesday that
1962 Polls. Exemptions 21,135 The recording of the meeting Flores had hung himself.
JUST 11 DAYS LEFT was introduced and played for the Flores was born to Colorado
Payment Deadline, Jan. 31. [jury by city electrician Alvin City Sept. 17, 194S.
be announced there. the missile was belived to be in
Burial will be in the Mitchell the vicinity of the Caspian Sea.
near the southernmost boundary
County Cemetery near the southernmost Doundary
county cemetery .. of the Soviet Union with Iran
He is survived by his parents. There was no further word on
Mr. and Mrs Sahas Flores of details of the firing. U.S. authori-
Colorado City; two half-brothers, ties, however, appeared satisfied
Domingo Vargas of Colorado City the shot had been made and had
and Anastacio Vargas of Weather- deviated from its target by at
least several hundred miles.
field, England; four sisters, Mrs
Emilio Lujon, of Colorado City, -
Mrs. Oralia Rodriquez of Forsan, Pacific have been keeping a close
Mrs. Olivia Evaro of Shafter. 4 " *
Calif. and Mrs Obdilia Anaya,
U.S.S.R.
U.S. naval craft in the Central
watch on the target area an-
nounced some time ago by the
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The Abilene Reporter-News (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 218, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 21, 1960, newspaper, January 21, 1960; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1671469/m1/1/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Public Library.