Pages past, Sept. 24: Biggest bargain in town – a library card

On this date ...

1934: A Santa Fe railroad conductor was seeing “decided improvement” after suffering burns on his hands a week earlier.

S.K. Cotton was tarring his roof, at 818 Gidding, when he saw 5-year-old Bobby Miller, whose clothes had caught fire. The boy had been playing in the yard near the fire where the tar was being heated. Cotton attempted to save the boy, severely burning his hands in the process.

Bobby Miller died. Doctors said it would be months before Cotton could use his hands again.

1951: A 13-year-old Tucson, Ariz., boy was in the Curry County jail pending an investigation into the theft of a car belonging to Archie Baker of Ranchvale.

The car was taken from the parking lot where Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus was performing. The child was arrested after he failed to make a curve near Grier, hit an embankment and blew out two tires.

1967: “The biggest bargain in Clovis right now is not in stores,” according to a library column in the Clovis News-Journal. “It is in the Carver Public Library, where patrons in good standing may now get a reciprocal borrower’s card.

“If you never check out books,” the column said, “please do not ask for a plate since you might deprive someone else of a card.”

Those who received cards were urged to use them often.

“Mothers, encourage your children to use their cards instead of watching television as much,” the library column implored. “It really is the biggest bargain in Clovis.”

1971: Clayton Reed, one of Clovis’ earliest settlers, had died at a local rest home.

He was 90.

Reed and the late Charles Steed moved to the area in 1905 from Olathe, Kan.

Reed was a corn farmer whose land included much of the downtown area in what’s now Clovis. He was working in his field in 1906, approximately where Restoration Baptist Church is located today, when he was approached by a Santa Fe Railway official about selling the land.

After selling to the railroad, Reed and Steed went into the real estate business.

In 1907, Reed opened a dairy on what later became Grand Avenue; for 40 years, he milked up to 75 head of cows per day.

He was the last remaining charter member of one of Clovis’ first service clubs, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which formed in 1907.

1975: Mark Dayhoff, a 5-11, 190-pound freshman from Bonne Terre, Mo., was attracting attention as a kicker for Eastern New Mexico University’s football team.

Dayhoff already had kicked two field goals and 13 extra points in three games.

The Greyhounds, 3-0, were No. 6 in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics rankings.

1976: A teenage driver crashed his car into the Radio Shack building at 121 Purdue in Clovis.

No one was injured, but the impact left two holes in the building’s south wall.

1977: A 1926 Model T Touring Ford owned and driven by Andy Tipton of Clovis won first place in the 1920s antique car division at the New Mexico State Fair in Albuquerque. Tipton won for the fifth year in a row.

Tipton said the car cost about $400 when it was manufactured, but had a current value of more than $10,000.

He reported it was still “as good as new” and could be counted on to get about 25 miles to the gallon on occasional slow drives around Clovis.

Top speed was 35 mph.

1990: An effort to raise money for Clovis-area fire victims turned controversial.

The Clovis Firefighters Association hosted an “Afternoon with Disney,” presenting the Disney movie “The Sword in the Stone” at the Lyceum Theatre.

Problem was promoters had said “The Fox and the Hound” would be shown.

CFA President Ray Westerman said the organization raised about $3,500 from the movie, but quite a few people walked out when it wasn’t the one advertised.

A spokesman for the company that provided the movie said there was a mixup. “My distributor just did not have the film that was publicized,” said Bill Pearman, president of Show Pro Productions.

Firefighters were making plans to show another movie at no charge to “make up the disappointment,” Westerman said.

Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:

[email protected]