Dear Duchess

Well! The afternoon thundershowers have hit here in SW Colorado. It has a been a wet, cool week. And ... the end of May and the original Memorial Day is upon us this weekend.

NW Okie's Early Girl patio potted tomato plant has little green tomatoes forming on it. NW Okie also planted some of those Sweet 100 tomatoes. They should come along later, since they got planted a few weeks later than the Early Girl tomatoes.

We have been seeing lots of birds feeding at our feeders. Such as, the Brown-headed Cowbirds, a couple of Doves, Bunches of Grosbeaks and of course the Pine Siskins are back. AND ... besides the gray squirrel that likes to pester and tease us Pugs, there are some birds we haven't identified as yet. BUT ... We will! Seems like NW Okie fills the two bird feeders every day with the southwest mixture for wildbirds of SW Colorado.

We hear the Class of '59 is meeting this next weekend, June 6, 2009 in Alva, Oklahoma for their 50th reunion. That is also the weekend of the 40th anniversary of the Nescatunga Arts Festival. Hope the weather turns out sunshine, clear weather for the class reunion and arts festival on the downtown square.

If you are out an about the weekend of June 6th, 2009, get some digital photos of the reunion and arts festival and share with the OkieLegacy eZine. Thanks!

Hey! Do you like to listen to the "Oldies?" Try out this link upchucky.com - '40s and upchucky homepage. It ranges from the 1940s to 1998.
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1936 - Skating Good In Perry, OK

A picture story in The Oklahoman dated February 19, 1936, page 2, with headlines that read: "The Skating Is Good In Perry," showed four young ladies enjoying the icy temperatures of that area around Perry, Oklahomam.

Perry, Feb. 18, 1936 -- (Special) -- "Old and young alike are enjoying prolonged ice skating in Perry this winter for the first time in several years as ice froze solidly over the city's lakes. Above are pictured four Perry high school girls enjoying a skate on the perry Golf and Country club lake after school. They are: Mary Alice Carmichael, daughter of Supt. and Mrs. Perry Carmichael; Priscella Thompson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. M Thompson; Sidney Lindeman, and Betty Plumer, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L. E. Plumer, all of Perry.
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1937 - Eleanor Roosevelt Visits Oklahoma

According to a news article dated March 11, 1937, on the front page of The Oklahoman, an Alva City group greeted Mrs. Roosevelt as she talks at Alva, Oklahoma.

Hostesses selected for the City's Festivities and assisting Mrs. Hugh M. Johnson as general chairman on arrangements were Mrs. W. P. Purnell, Mrs. J. L. Landrum, Mrs. C. E. White, Mrs. James E. Berry, Mrs. Ed Falkenberg, Mrs. Emily Gallamore and Mrs. John Vale.

Those in charge of the decorations were Mrs. Della Killough, Mrs. Homer Hurst, Mrs. Tipp Watts, Mrs. L. E. Ruble, Mrs. J. R. Dale, Mrs. Robin Knight, Mrs. Grace Campbell and Mrs. C. A. Pheian.

Hostesses for the luncheon and in a special reception room at the Biltmore were Mrs. James R. Armstrong, Mrs. Byrdie Chappell, MRs. Katherine Van Leuven, Mrs. Mabel Bassett, Mrs. Reford Bond, Mrs. H. C. Jones, Mrs. Claud Briggs, Mrs. D. E. Rodgers, Mrs. Nate Jackson, Mrs. William Martineau, Mrs. Grace Harris and Mrs. Laura Faye Rogers.

Mrs. Briggs and Mrs. Ben Fitzgerald were in charge of the sale of tickets to the luncheon in the Shrine lobby at both afternoon and night events. The tickets were $1 and sold only to those attending one of the speeches.

Plans took shape rapidly on that March day in 1937 as Mrs. Roosevelt arrived in Oklahoma City by train around 1 p.m. Thursday, en route to Perry, Oklahoma.

The Democratic National Committeeman, Scott Ferris, had talked with Mrs. Roosevelt in Fort Worth Wednesday afternoon and she agreed to come to the platform of her Santa Fe train during its five minute stop in Oklahoma City. She took a bow and said a few words. A committee of local Democratic leaders were on hand to extend official welcome and a bouquet of flowers.

Alva Was Agog ... Mrs. Roosevelt was taken by motor from Perry Thursday afternoon to Alva where an excited population was draped on the streets with bunting and prepared for one of the biggest days in its history. Mrs. Roosevelt made three speeches in Alva on Friday, at 10 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Mrs. Roosevelt's return trip to Oklahoma City Saturday was by motor car. Her Alva hosts brought her as far as El Reno, where she took part in a 10-minute dedication ceremony for the new National Youth Administration Center, the first completed in the state.

Mrs. Roosevelt arrived back in Oklahoma City at 11:15 a.m. with a motorcade of of approximately 10 cars which drove over to meet her as she lead the procession in a deluxe open-top job, in which Mrs. Roosevelt rode with Mrs. Reid and Mrs. J. Frank Martin, wife of the mayor.

When Mrs. Roosevelt returned to Oklahoma City, she was taken for a drive to points of interest before she was taken to the Biltmore hotel. The points of interests included the CCC-built Lincoln Park amphitheater, William Jennings Bryan school for crippled children where the bands were assembled outside and around the Civic Center.

Mrs. Roosevelt visited the Shrine auditorium in Guthrie at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., Saturday and a luncheon at noon Sunday in the Biltmore.

Mrs. Roosevelt left on the Frisco at 4:50 p.m. for Tulsa, where she was to speak Monday. She would fill another engagement at Muskogee Monday, and would speak at Shawnee Wednesday, March 17, 1937, and at Durant, March 18, 1937.

The article also reported, "Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt doesn't know it, but she is going to contribute indirectly to the rehabilitation of Emma Willis. Part of the proceeds of Mrs. Roosevelt's two speeches here Saturday under auspices of the Jeffersonian club will go to complete the business course being given the 19-year-old farm girl who was adopted by the club after she was acquitted of a charge of slaying her father last winter."

Who was this Emma Willis, a farm girl beauty from Eakly, Caddo Co., Oklahoma, who shot her father in the Winter of 1936?
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1938 - Highway Officer Stabbed At Alva

On August 30, 1938, page 3 of The Okalhoman, there was a story of a theater man arrested for knife attack of a highway officer stabbed at Alva.

As the story goes Henry Jones, 62 years old, was freed on $1,000 bail Monday, in August, 1938, when he charged with assault with a deadly weapon upon Strafford Duke, highway patrolman. Duke suffered seven knife wounds in the thigh, which he said Jones inflicted.

The disagreemtn arose when Duke was seen by Jones to stop a stranger in Alva and give him a ticket for lacking a tail light on his car. Jones intervened. Jones was connected with his son in the Jones Amusement Company, in Alva, Oklahoma, a theater firm. Preliminary hearing was set for September 12, 1938.
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1938 - Northwestern Gets Two Dormitories

As The Oklahoman reported, December 18, 1938, on page 24, the college at Alva was given $220,000 project for Dormitory work for boys and girls dormitories at Northwestern State Teachers College.

Actual work on the construction of two dormitories at Northwestern State Teachers College was expected by December 19, 1938, when Dr. Dr. E. E. Brown, president of the college gave the announcement.

The project was brought about by a public works administration grant and loan, involving $220,000. The two dormitories, one for boys and the other for girls, would give Northwestern its first college living quarters for students.

Private homes and apartment houses had been accommodating the 900 students at Northwestern in the past. President brown felt assured that dormitories would bring about an increase in the enrollment at Northwestern sufficient to fill the rooms in the two new buildings.

So ... I was trying to think back to the oldest dormitories on campus. Were the two dormitories Vinson Hall (on the Eastside) and Shockley Hall on the Westside of campus?
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1936 - Murder Trial of Emma Willis

It was December 21, 1935, that an abused young girl from Eakly, Caddo County, Oklahoma, fired a 12-gauge shotgun at her sleeping father, Iddis Henry Willis, a share-cropper near Eakly, Oklahoma. The Iddis Henry & Zona Willis family has lived on the 160-acre farm for a year since coming here from Idaho. Willis formerly lived near Hugo where Miss Willis said she was born. Emma Willis (18 years) was a sophomore at Sickles Union Grade and highschool near Eakly. Her sisters were Leona (13 years), Lena (12 years). Her brothers were Dee (8 years) and Danny (6 years).

Zona Willis was the second wife of Iddis Henry Willis. It was reported in news articles during the trial that Iddis Willis drove his first wife away from their four children and his first wife went crazy. It was reported that she was in an asylum in Vinita, Oklahoma.

Iddis Henry Willis, age 53 years, was a share-cropper near Eakly, Oklahoma, 32 miles northwest of Anadarko, Oklahoma at the time of his death. The family dwelling was a 3-room house near Eakly, Oklahoma.

Emma Willis told officers that she was tired of the abuse that her father did against her mother, herself and her siblings.

Emma Willis stated, "When I awoke this morning in the bedroom with my two little brothers and two younger sisters, I decided to stop his abuse. Mother was in the kitchen getting breakfast. I got the shotgun out of a closet in our room and went in and shot him. Then I waited for officers to come."

Miss Willis also stated, "See this scar on my forehead? He hit me there with a stick a long time ago. He wold strike at us with the first thing he could get his hands on. I think I was justified. I guess they'll hang me or put me in jail for life."

The family substantiated Miss Willis's claim that her father was abusive, Haskell Pugh, assistant county attorney said.

The Oklahoman, dated December 22, 1935, on page 13, with headlines that read: "I'd Do It Again, Says State Farm Girl, Held For Slaying of Father,"Staff Correspondent, Phil Edwards, wrote Anadarko, OK, Dec. 21, 1935 -- "An 18 year old Caddo county high school girl who faces murder charges for the shotgun slaying of her farmer father said in the county jail here Saturday night that her act was justified because he made me and the rest of the family suffer."

Emma Willis, admitted shooting her father at their home near Eakly, 32 miles northwest of Andarko, Oklahoma. Emma sat dry-eyed and said that she would do it again if there was no other way to stop him mistreating us.

Emma said, "Ever since I can remember he has abused and struck mother and me and the other children. Mother told me after this happened what they might do to me, but it was the only way I saw to stop it after all these years. I couldn't leave home and leave the rest of the family there."

The newspaper reported that the climax came Friday night when her father, Iddis H. Willis, refused to permit her to go on a date with a neighbor youth and also told the family he would not permit it to spend Christmas holidays with relatives in Hugo, Oklahoma.

On December 26, 1935, Emma Willis was arraigned, as she pleaded Innocent In murder hearing. The preliminary hearing of Emma Willis was set for January 9, 1936 after she pleaded innocent at arraignment on Thursday.

On January 10, 1936, The Oklahoman reported on page 18, with headlines that read, "Farm Girl Is Held Over In Slaying Case" and "Emma Willis Trial Likely To be in February." On January 9, 1936 eighteen year old Emma Willis was bound over to district court on a murder charge Thursday night without a word of testimony in her defense. Her defense attorney, W. H. Cooper, chose to withhold testimony until her trial, which county attorney Amos Stoval said would come in the next jury term of district court, probably in February.

Both defense and the state waived argument and the crowded courtroom heard only technical testimony of two officers at the January 9th preliminary hearing. Cooper indicated before the hearing he would fight the murder charge with a defense of temporary insanity, brought on by years of brutal treatment.

Sheriff Elmer Finley and Deputy Sheriff Joe Harp were the only witnesses called by the State. Both officers said Miss Willis had calmly admitted shooting her father as he lay asleep in the Willis farm home in the Eakly community. With that same calm, Emma Willis, the accused sophomore high school girl listened to the proceedings.

Emma was still attired in the plain dress she wore when she was placed sobbing in a jail cell, except that it (the dress) had been newly washed and ironed. The paper that day reported, "There was no chance that the young farm girl would have her wish fulfilled to quit the jail so she could go home and help her mother."

February 16, 1936, another news article in The Oklahoman reported that the trial of Emma Willis probably will be delayed until Friday, as it was learned on in Anadarko on Saturday.

Emma was scheduled to face a jury Wednesday, but the criminal docket was two days behind time as reported by Marvin Methvin, deputy court clerk. Emma Willis was expected to plead paternal abuse and persecution culminating in temporary insanity. Her mother, four brothers and sisters are expected to testify.

In The Oklahoman dated February 17, 1936, it was reported that Emma Willis feared the spotlight of publicity far more than she did the jury as she sat in her jail cell waiting for her trial on a murder charge in the slaying of her share-cropper father.

Emma was reported as saying as she sat and listened to a radio which friends had sent to her cell, "I do not dread the outcome. I feel that justice will be done. I do dread the crowds. I dread having to face a courtroom full of curious spectators. I am not a mean girl. I have a heart full of love and kindness. I haven't been disobedient, and I have always submitted to the will of my parents."

Since Miss Willis was brought to a jail cell after telling Sheriff Elmer Finley that she shot her father, she has received gifts from all over the nation. Included are five bibles, which she reportedly read frequently.

The story goes on to state, "The state will contend that the girl took a shotgun from a closet before dawn of the morning of December 21, 1935, went into a bedroom in the three-room farm home near Eakly and shot her father, Iddis Henry Willis, 53 years of age.

The Oklahoman dated Feb. 18, 1936, page 17, with headlines that read: "Emma Willis Case Is Up Wednesday, Caddo Docket Cleared For Patricide Trial." The newspaper reported that the Caddo county district court disposed of all the cases on its Monday docket so that the Willis vs. State murder case could start.

The next day, February 19, 1936, the headlines read, "Mother Will Help Girl In Murder Trial" and "State to Demand Life For Farm Girl," as written by Bill Kent.

Anadarko, Feb. 18, 1936 -- "A sordid tale of her share cropper father's cruelty will be told by Emma Willis, 18-year-old Caddo county high school girl." Emma made her first visit to a district court session to be the chief witness in her own defense which was temporary insanity brought on by the father's brutality.

Emma's mother Mrs. Zona Willis, a shy, thin little woman, followed her daughter tot he stand to corroborate Emma's testimony of the 53-year-old father's cruelty to his family. Zona Willis whispered that same afternoon as she sat next to her daughter in Cooper's office, "He beat me like he beat the children."

Emma's younger sister, Leona Willis, 14-years-old, and Emma's two small brothers, Dan (8 years) and Dee, 6 years old, had been subpenaed by Cooper and would testify, also. Mark Hubert, 21 years of age and a private at Fort Sill, and Emma's suitor would also testify for the defense.

Others to testify to Willis's alleged sadism practiced on his family while they lived in Hominy several years ago were Clint Shores, Bob Carol and Allen Gilhard.

Meanwhile, Amos Stoval, a young Caddo county attorney, had earlier announced he would not seek the death penalty for the girl, declining to explain his decision. He was recommending Life imprisonment.

On February 21, 1936, following selections of 10 farmers, a real estate salesman and dealer in patent medicines Friday afternoon as a jury to try Emma Willis on a charge of murdering her father, Will Linn, district judge, adjourned court until the following Monday.

The venire of 35 talesmen were exhausted when W. H. Cooper, defense attorney, passed the twelfth man, P. B. Gathers, of Lookeba, on his last premptory challenge. Amos Stovall, county attorney, waived the last two challenges allowed him.

It was also reported that the father's kin aided Emma Willis and Mrs. Zona Willis was seated at the defense table. Also seated at defense table was a cousin (Mrs. J. M. Gibson) of the slain man, Iddis Willis. Mrs. Gibson, Alfalfa, was nervously twisting the hem of her coat as she testified that Willis had driven his first wife insane. Mrs. Zona Willis was his second wife. Mrs. Gibson, stated, "He ran her away from her four children, and she went crazy. The last we heard of her she was in the asylum at Vinita." Her testimony was corrobrated by that of Trence Shores, Hominy, a nephew of Willis.

On February 25, 1936, experts testified in Emma's case. Amos Stovall, Caddo county attorney sought to impeach Emma's testimony and that of her slow spoken mother.

It was reported that Emma's mother, Zona Willis, testified, "One time when Emma was pumping water and wanted to quit in time to go to school, he hit her over the eye with a piece of stove wood. It cut a three-cornered gash over her left eye, and knocked her unconscious for two hours."

The mother went on to state, "About six months later when she was doing dishes and he wanted her to open the gate for him, he hit her with a heavy stove poker because she didn't drop the dishes and get out there fast enough. Because she wouldn't go down to the watering trough and chase a big bull away, he knocked her down with a club another time."

On Emma's return to the witness stand Stovall asked her why she hadn't obeyed her father, and the girl replied that she was afraid of the bull. Emma stated, "I was afraid of him. I tried to reason with my father, but he wouldn't listen."

Mrs Willis said that the spring of 1935 the slain man again hit his daughter over the left eye, and that Emma was unable to see for nearly two weeks.

Stovall and Pugh in cross examination attempted to show by her testimony that Miss Willis disobeyed her father, providing justification for the punishment he administered. All attempts of the prosecution to shake the mother and daughter from their story that immediately after the slaying, December 21, 1935, the girl was unable to speak or recognize anybody failed, as they stoutly stuck to their previous testimony.

When Stovall brought out that Mrs. Willis had never reported to authorities the brutalities she testified about, Cooper seized on the chance to ask her why she hadn't. Mrs. Willis replied, "I didn't file any charges because I was afraid to and I didn't tell anybody in the neighborhood because I was afraid he'd find out about it and kill us."

Trence Shores of Hominy, Oklahoma and a nephew of the slain share-cropper, testified he had seen his uncle administer severe whippings to his children, with a big switch.

On February 25, 1936, final arguments in the murder trial of Emma Willis were two-thirds completed late in the afternoon when Will Linn, district Judge, surprised a crowded courtroom by adjourning court until the next morning. His action came after Haskell Pugh, assistant county attorney, had demanded that the jury give the murderer the limit. W. H. Cooper, defense attorney had countered with an impassioned appeal for the girl's acquittal which had women in the audience sobbing and left some of the jurors moist-eyed.

Shortly before the arguments began Cooper asked Judge Linn for a directed verdict of not guilty, asserting that there was no evidence in the record to prove that the 18 year old girl had fired the shotgun shell which ended her father's life December 21, 1935. The motion was denied, but during his long speech to the jury, Cooper asserted that "only by inference" was any testimony introduced to prove the slaying was an act o of Miss Willis.

In The Oklahoman dated Feb. 26, 1936, the headlines read: "Sent to Hospital by Jury, Girl Soon to Ask Release" and "Emma Willis Freed of Murder Charge But Is Gloomy About Asylum Life." The news story stated, "Declared insane by the jury which freed her WEdnesday of a charge of murdering her father, Emma Willis viewed her incarceration in the hospital for the insane with foreboding."

Emma's happiness at the acquittal voted by ten farmers and two Anadarko business men, evaporated swiftly as her mother, Mrs. Zona Willis, and other members of the family, bade her goodby in her cell to return to their rented farm near Eakly, Oklahoma.

Elmer Finley, Caddo county sheriff, received commitment papers for the girl after the trial from Will Linn, district judge, and told her he would take her to Western Oklahoma hospital at Supply Thursday morning, which was 180 miles northwest of Anadarko.

It was Emma's attorney, W. H. Cooper, who convinced the jury that Miss Willis was insane at the time she shot and killed her father, Iddis Henry Willis, December 21, 1935. Cooper was planning to file a writ of habeas corpus petition soon afterwards and force an insanity examination. Amos Stovall, county attorney, felt she should be confined at least until her adolescent period was over, or until such time as it appears she will not be likely to endanger society.
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1936 - Edith Johnson's Column

The Oklahoman dated February 27, 1936, page 10, had this to say about Emma Willis and Mental Illness.

"Whether Emma Willis, tried for killing her father and acquitted in court in Anadarko yesterday, is actually insane, she hardly could pass through years of horror without being emotionally maimed in some degree. Other children in the Willis family, joint subjects of their father's unnatural conduct, his rages, and his outbursts of brutality may have come emotionally unbalanced also, if not so seriously affected as Emma may be. Nor will they be any the healthier mentally or emotionally for the experiences they have had since Emma killed her father. Every one of them may have a neurosis in the making, thanks to the horrible mental atmosphere they have known and the fear in which they have lived continuously.

"If Emma Willis is mentally sick, the father to whom she owes that affliction was far sicker. A man who abuses his children or permits an unnatural affection for one of them to develop is a mental invalid, one who ought not to be at large. Since Emma's father has passed beyond during in this world, one can only hope that his unhappy daughter may be healed and saved to become a useful member of society.

"Children of a brutal father or mother live in conflict and confusion, and they usually alternate between hysteria and self-control. In self-defense they build up metal resistance against the quarrels they bear or are drawn into, against the kinks and cuffs, the sharp rebukes and the punishments inflicted upon them. After a while they hardly can think of any but themselves, since they continually identify themselves with wounds and shocks inflicted upon them. Life or any one them is an endless tragedy even it it does not precipitate a killing as in the case of Emma Willis who in a moment of blind and terrified rage against her beastly father, seized a gun and shot him."
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1936 - Emma Willis Leaves Asylum

On March 27, 1936, The Oklahoman reported on the front page of the newspaper, with the following headlines: "Emma Willis Gets Writ To Leave Asylum" and "City Club Women May Aid Girl Slayer."

On March 27, 1936, Emma Willis was released from the Western Oklahoma Hospital for the insane at Supply, Thursday, by O. C. Wybrant, Woodward district judge, on a writ of habeas corupus. The petition was presented by W. H. Cooper, Anadarko, defense attorney for the girl who last month was acquitted by reason of insanity of the shotgun slaying of Iddis henry Willis, Eakly, Oklahoma share-cropper. Emma Willis had been in the hospital amonth to the day.

"Dr. John L. Day, superintendent of the Supply hospital, and his assitant, Dr. H. L. Johnson, testified that Miss Willis was sane when she entered the institution February 26, and was sane now (one month later).

"The state, through james G. Young, Woodward county attorney, examined the two physicians, who were the only witnesses at the surprise hearing, perfunctorily, and offered no objection to the girl's release."
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Anadarko, OK

Anadarko was the county seat of Caddo county. the post office established April 22, 1873. The name is a corruption of the Caddo word Na-da-ko, the name of one of the Caddoan tribes.
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Eakly, OK

Eakly was located in Caddo county, 13 miles west of Binger, Oklahoma. It's post office was established March 25, 1902. Named for Akly Montague, daughter of Charles Montague, local early day resident.
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Hominy, OK

Hominy was located in southern Osage county, 16 miles south of Pawhuska. The post office established February 10, 1891. Although there are several versions of the origin of the name, the word is probably a corruption of Harmony, referring to the Harmony Mission in Missouri.
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Alva High Class of '59 Reunion

Linda Beeler reports, "The reunion for the Alva High Class of '59 (June 6, 2009) is coming along well. Many are coming and a few that were not in the graduating class but have heard about the 50 year reunion for the class and have called to see if they could come. Lynn Martin is going to come and take a picture of all class members for us. Now a word about the Class Book. It is coming along well. We are still looking for a few people."
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Brown-headed Cowbirds

Cowbirds -- The Brown-headed Cowbird is a stocky blackbird with a fascinating approach to raising its young. Females forgo building nests and instead put all their energy into producing eggs, sometimes more than three dozen a summer. These they lay in the nests of other birds, abandoning their young to foster parents, usually at the expense of at least some of the host’s own chicks.

Once confined to the open grasslands of middle North America, cowbirds have surged in numbers and range as humans built towns and cleared woods.

Brown-headed Cowbirds are smallish blackbirds, with a shorter tail and thicker head than most other blackbirds. The bill has a distinctive shape: it’s much shorter and thicker-based than other blackbirds', almost finch-like at first glance. In flight, look for the shorter tail.
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Insight Into Grandma

This week's insight into John and Constance's true friendship takes us back September 20, 1904, from Altona, Illinois to Alva, Oklahoma Territory. Constance sent John a "beautiful, highly prized" souvenir. What was it?

It begins as usual with, "Altona, Ill, Mon. Eve, Miss Constance Warwick, Alva, Okla.

"Dear Connie, I found your picture. I did think sure that fellow got it. I'll bet it don't get out of sight again.

"I received that beautiful little souvenir before leaving QUincy. My roommate said I acted as though I prized it more than I did my shorthand. I won't tell you what I said. You would call me an idiot.

"I came home from Quincy, Saturday eve. Was glad to get home. I am reviewing my shorthand.

"I suppose you are teaching school now. Don't forget to tell me about that Nellie Corben affair. Well! I will close. Many thanks for your kindness in sending me the beautiful souvenir. I assure you I prize it most highly. Yours Sincerely, J. C. McClure, Alton, Ill."
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