The Claude News (Claude, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 14, 1960 Page: 6 of 16
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Richard S. and Leah Morris Memorial Library.
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PAGE BIX
CLAUDE, ARMSTRONG COUNTY, TEXAS, THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1660.
THE CLAUDE NEWS
• -Dally N ewj Staff Photo by GENE SHELTON
Claude's p.ofessional grave digger, Charley McClure, perches on the baggage
rack of the motorcycle he constructed from bits and pieces of bicycles, motors
and other miscellaneous junk. The cycle is McClure's proudest possession. He
says it's not too handsome, "but it's a lot better than walking."
Markets for holes keeps
Charley busy digging
WHEN WE WASH YOUR CAR, IT'S CLEAN!
We clean your car from top to bottom, inside as well as
outside—and you'll be proud of its sparkle. As members
of the national Texaco Dealer family, we've trained to
service your car better—and always with an eye to
your safety. Come in!
By GENE SHELTON
.. Sunday Amarlllo News-Globe ..
Regional Staff Writer
There's a man at Claude who
really makes the dirt fly.
Charley McClure is a grave dig-
ger. He averages 25 graves a year
for a total of approximately 475
in the 19 years he has lived at
Claude.
A wiry little man with hazel
eyes, McClure, who is half Choc-
taw, does not limit his talents
to grave digging. He also digs
cellars, cess pools, or almost any
marketable hole in the ground.
He has been making his living
with a shovel—and an attitude
that work won't hurt anybody—
sincc the age of 14 "or so" when
he went to work for the 'Frisco
Raillroad in Oklahoma.
He worked for the raillway for
14 years, then went into business
for himsellf. "I stay pretty busy
in the summertme," he said,
"but I just make a living in the
winter."
Though McClure can neither
read nor write, he knows some
things that a lot of well educat-
ed city slickers don't know and
probably don't have any desire
to learn.
For example, he "knows all the
tricks to that shovel" and even
cuts weeds with it.
McClure figures he has dug
"around 200" cellars and cess
pools since he has lived in Claude
"If I had all the cess pools
I've ever dug strung together,"
he said, his wrinkled face break-
ing into a grin, "I'd have mc a
pretty nice oil well there."
"I've dug a lot of them 25 feet
deep," he said, "and due one
that was 12-by-14, by 7 feet deep
and it took me just about a
week."
The little digger is honest with
people. For example, he said "I
can drive a tractor, but I don't
know how to farm. There's no
use telling a lie about it, because
they'll catch me in it.
"If you were to ask me if I
could farm, and I said 'yes' and
you hired me, you'd know quickly
that I couldn't. And I'd lose
friends.
"And friends are worth a lot
more than money," he added phi-
losophically.
What better place to philoso-
phize than in the bottom of a
freshly-dug grave?
McClure, a 5-8, 135 pounder, is
generally seen wearing a battered
red corduroy cap and soiled kha-
kis. Every third day he is seen
with a three-day growth of beard.
He goes putting down the road
from one job to another on his
homemade motorcycle, his most
prized possession.
He built the cycle from bits and
pieces of bicycles, motors and
miscellaneous junk. It is powered
by a three-horsepower Briggs &
Stratton engine and "will hit 40
or 45 miles an hour wide open."
"I started with a bicycle frame
and worked from there," McClure
said, "and did most of the work
myself. I had most of the weld-
ing done and got the engine from
Pampa."
The cycle, which is built on the
principle of a motorbike, is e-
quipped with an automatic clutch
which McClure built and installed.
A box on the side of the ve-
hicle, which McClure calls his
"Lincoln Six," carries his work-
ing tools—one shovel, a sharp-
shooter. a pick and a modified
grubbing hoe.
"It doesn't look so handsome,"
he said with a grin, "but it'll get
me there and back, which is a
lot more than some mighty hand-
some cars will do—and it's a lot
better than walking.
"I'm mighty proud of that ma-
chine. It sure has saved me a
lot of steps," he said.
One thing bothers Charley
though—it "cost five and a half
bucks to register that thing," he
said wistfully.
McClure comes from somewhere
near Durant, Okla. His mother
was a Choctaw Indian, and his
father was Scotch-Irish, he said.
He first came to Claude in
1938 and has lived there since
that time, except for about three
years when he was "just knock-
ing around the country."
He was born Dec. 22, 1905,
which "makes me about 54 years
old, doesn't it?" Frankly, it's hard
to tell how old he is when he is
working. McClure never seems to
get tired and "throws dirt like
a gopher" when really pressed
for time.
"They gave me just four hours
notice on one grave," he said,
"and you've really got to make
like a gopher to get one finished
that quick. You've sure got to
get high behind."
In addition to digging miscel-
laneous holes, McClure takes care
of the cemetery. "I'm just what
you call a genuine over-all flun-
<I#l8
.
mm, mm
I Dub Stockman, Mgr. ^
Vj,:i 'W;,1 "-<■ '■ •' s
TEXACO
Ws
I 4mm
Merchants Are Wise, They Advertise
-Dally News Staff Photo by GENE SHELTON
The casual passerby might see this f lion by Claude's self-styled gopher, Charley
McClure. The 5-8 digger is obscured by the depth of the seven-foot pit, whicli
McClure is digging in the back yard of the Sullivan home in Claude. But it is
perfectly obvious that McClure's in there. The wiry little man specializes in dig
ging graves, but also digs ccss pools and cellars.
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Waggoner, William J. B. & Waggoner, Cecil O. The Claude News (Claude, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 14, 1960, newspaper, April 14, 1960; Claude, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353714/m1/6/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Richard S. and Leah Morris Memorial Library.