Caddo- My Home Town

Ben Siegel

 

Big Snake

The Caddo Herald

August 12, 1927

Big Snake in Caddo

A velvet-backed rattlesnake measuring six feet in length and having six rattles and a button was killed on the Turnbull place nine miles east of Caddo Tuesday and exhibited on the street here Wednesday.

Lon Moran killed the reptile with a club. He was in the act of setting his foot down within six inches of its head when he discovered the snake.

 The snake’s skin has been stuffed with cotton and bran and is now on display in the front show-window at McIntosh’s drug store.

Crops

As many of you may remember, my grandfather was a “truck farmer” and raised mostly potatoes, tomatoes, watermelons, peas, and corn. It is difficult for newer Caddo residents to understand that most of the pasture land around here was once under cultivation for some sort of crop. I remember acres and acres of cotton, corn, peanuts, and vegetables. Those days are gone, but the papers are filled with reminders.

 

The Caddo Herald

August 12, 1927

Bokchito Ships Cantaloupes

The tenth carload of cantaloupes was shipped form Bokchito Saturday. Each car contained about 150 crates and the growers received an average of $1.75 per crate.

Mr. Davis, manager of the Bryan County Truck Growers’ Association of Bokchito, says that next year they will ship tomatoes, carrots, eggplant, and other truck.

Township Fair at Bokchito

September 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd are the dates set for Bokchito’s township fair. A large amusement company has been secured, and in many other ways the fair promises to be worth a visit.

 

Frank McBride

The Caddo Herald

January 21, 1927

Frank McBride Shot Wednesday Evening 

Frank McBride was shot and killed in the road about a mile from Matoy late Wednesday afternoon.

Mayfield Fanning phoned the sheriff’s force that he had shot a man and for them to come get him, he would be at home. V. V. Ware came and placed Fanning in jail to await developments.

McBride is about 50 years of age, has a wife and ten children; he lives in the forks of Cowpen and Boggy creeks east of Caddo. He is a well-known character.

Fanning lives in the Clear Lake neighborhood, for the past four years on the Pierce place. He was known as an industrious farmer, forty years old, has a wife and three children.

Information is meager, no details being available. There is only conjecture as to causes, as both men were peaceable, not given to quarreling.

Only one shot form a 22 rifle was fired.

Front Page, 1927

The Caddo Herald

February 26, 1927

 B. B. Wade Dies

B. B. Wade died at the home of his son, Will Wade, near Freeny Chapel Monday night and was buried Tuesday afternoon in Caddo Cemetery, Rev. J. H. Miller, pastor of that church officiating. Mr. Wade was a member of Freeny Church and lived with his son. He was nearly 74 years of age.

Honsinger House Burns

Saturday morning, about 3 o’clock the Jake Honsinger house, near the grammar school, was destroyed by fire. Nobody lived in the house. Mrs. Jim Alexander moved out of it a few months ago. Origin of the fire is unknown. The structure was wrapped in flames when the alarm sounded. The building being many years old its property value was not very high.

Theatre to Open Saturday

Mr. H. F. Bassett, owner and manger of the Bassett Theatre, says that the theatre will be near enough completed to open for business Saturday, taking for granted that nothing will hinder the workmen between now and that date. When complete the new theatre will be very attractive and comfortable. The initial program is sure to be entertaining and Mr. Bassett invites the patronage of the public. 

Rice Tourist Camp

C. H. Rice is constructing a tourist camp on the lot where his store burned a few months ago. The camp is to be composed of baths, cottages, car sheds, and a repair shop for automobiles, the latter to occupy a part of the old wagon yard building which is now partly occupied by a general store. The store is to be enlarged and will make special efforts to attract tourist trade. Mr. Rice hopes to have the camp in shape for business by the last of April. He intends to spend about $2,000 on improvements. 

Trade Was Good Saturday

Last Saturday was not an ideal day for good business considering the bad weather, but merchants report that they sold quite a lot of goods, especially groceries. Not many people were in town, but most everybody bought something.

Caddo Loses 2 Games

Monday night, on the local court, the Caddo basketball teams suffered two defeats and won one game. The Caddo All-Stars, boys, lost their third game of the season to the Durant Ruf-Necks, the score being 11 and 10. The Caddo girls, playing against the Murray Aggie girls, were defeated by a score of 21 to 13. The boys’ second team beat Post Oak 21 to 14.  

Fires, fires, and more fires...

One has to wonder after reading so many accounts of so many fires each year, how the citizens of Caddo managed to support each other in times of loss. Some homeowners had insurance, but in the meantime they had to have places to stay, food to eat, and clothes to wear. Most of the time friends and relatives took them in and the churches helped feed and clothe them. But 1927 must have really tested the resources of everyone, because in addition to these and other business and residential fires there were at least 20 homes and barns destroyed by the twister that hit Caddo in April. The Durant paper reported sixty homes damaged. I don’t know where they moved to after this fire, but the Harve Phelps home is one of those listed later as demolished by the twister.  

The Caddo Herald

February 26, 1927

Fire Destroyed Gear Home Here Saturday

Saturday afternoon, about 4 o’clock, the old W. T. Craghead home place, one block north of the Catholic Church, was almost completely destroyed by fire. Mr. and Mrs. Jess Gear were living in the house. They, with the assistance of neighbors, succeeded in saving most of the household goods which were damaged considerably by fire and water.

Joe Turner, barber at the Franks’ Barber Shop was boarding at the Gear home and everything in his room save a shirt and scarf was burned.

At the summons of the fire whistle the fire boys arrived on the scene early and aided by volunteer fighters did good work in confining the flames to the roof and interior of the building so that the walls and lower rooms were left standing.

A norther had just blown up and the strong wind made the flames wild, endangering other houses close by.

The dwelling was a fairly nice house and was among the oldest in town. Its valuation was near $1,000.

The fire caught in the upper part of the house and is thought to have been started by Mr. Gear’s four-year-old son who was playing in an upstairs room.

Mr. and Mrs. Gear have moved into the Frank Craghead bungalow, first house north of where they did live.

The Fire Whistle Did Blow

Wednesday evening about 3 o’clock the fire whistle blew and the crowd broke for the home of R. S. Sands. In burning grass about his house, Mr. Sands lost control of the fire which was about to burn up a cow shed. He extinguished the blaze however before the fire-fighters arrived on the scene.

Thursday morning about 4 o’clock, just when everybody was sleeping the soundest, “the wild cat broke out” again and ruined a good night’s sleep for a lot of folks. One of the little shacks east of the railroad near the viaduct was being consumed and as nobody lived in it not much damage was done.

March 25, 1927

Harve Phelps Home Destroyed by Fire

 Wednesday night about eleven o’clock the home of Mr. and Mrs. Harve Phelps, in the northeast section of town was destroyed by fire.

 The building and all of its contents were a complete loss. Mr. and Mrs. Phelps were away from home and the blaze was not discovered in time for neighbors to save any of the household goods. The damage is estimated to be close to $4,000 with insurance to cover.

Mystery surrounds the origin of the fire. The most likely solution is that it started from a faulty light wire.

The fire carts were called out, but too late to do other than prevent spreading of the flames. A light breeze was blowing out of the northwest and burning shingles were carried several blocks endangering other buildings.

The Phelps house was one of the oldest in Caddo and was a nice dwelling. Mr. Phelps just recently put a new roof on it and was doing other repair work.

News of Yesteryear

The Bryan County Genealogy Library & Archives has a new book available. I bought a copy of “Caddo, I.T. - News of Yesteryear, 1901-1902” and I’m very pleased with it. I’ve already found some information and an obit that will be helpful in my family research.  Rozell Sangster Thomas did the extractions and her work is always careful and accurate.

Here is a sample of the great articles in this new book:

May 16, 1902

Caddo three years Ago

A Comparison or Two by the Editor

It has been three years since the editor (J. S. Hancock) came to Caddo the first time and as our mind carries us back to that time, and we think of what our town is today , we are prone to say, the world do move”, paraphrasing, it would be, “Caddo do move.”

Three years ago Buffalo Street contained only five brick stores, and about a dozen wooden shacks, most of the business was done on Main Street.

The store of W. H. Ainsworth is the only one of the larger, better buildings left which was here then.

On Main Street we had the stores of G. W. Phillips, D. McCoy, W. H. Masterson, C. A. Hancock, W. H. Ainsworth, P. W. Arnold House & Health, Livery Stable, The Caddo Courier, Opera House, The Caddo Herald, and in the Hampton building near the Masonic Hall was the store of W. J. Moon.

 

On Buffalo Street were the establishments of W. T. Smith, F. S. Harvey, Franks Bros., E. T. Hamer, Ben Siegel, C. A. Manning, Homer & Elting, Dr. Long, R. T. Lynch, H. T. Ahrens, F. F Bryant & Son, E. O. Harrison, Smith & Sweeney, Farmers & Merchants Bank and The Racket Store.

Where Moon’s large brick buildings are now was almost a swamp, a two room residence occupied the lot on which Smith’s Pharmacy now is and where the Choctaw National Bank and the Dunlap Roberts buildings, A. S. Rutherford & Co. and John Droke are was a large deep pool with the McCoy Gin behind it. A. C. Pace and Smith & Belote occupied the iron buildings now occupied by Smith Cobb & Pace. Where W. T. Smith, W. P. Booker, Arnold & Attaway, Abney & Allen and the Herald now are were vacant lots with only the stone foundations laid.

There’s considerable change now; we have only one part of a block of the original frame buildings; others being replaced by imposing substantial bricks. We have a large number of new firms and new enterprises. We then had only one gin; now we have four. We had no telephone system, no graded streets, no adequate title to lots, no national bank, no power printing presses, no prospects for electric lights, no free schools, no 1500 population, not as good market for hay, grain, provisions, cotton or live stock. All those things have been added unto us in the last three years and we hope the next three years will bring us much more improvement.

 

We have other improvements than mentioned above; the new blacksmith shop of B. F. Self, and the brick shop of Peter Bloom. Leeper & Chiles were the only lumbermen. Others have come and gone. Now Arkansas Street has two fine yards, that of Leeper & Chiles and Rockwell Bros. & Co.  J. F. Lamb was in the undertaking business but had not yet added furniture to his stock.

During these three years we had a cyclone, hail storm, green bugs, red bugs, humbugs, bad crops, good crops, fires, rains, drouth, heat and cold, yet we prospered.

Verily Caddo is a good place to live in, to work in, to thrive in. Our prospects are as good now as ever and progress is our forte. We predict as great progress the next three years as we made the last three.

 

Fire and Recovery

Again, people do not realize how totally different Caddo was in past years. I have four more fire articles sitting on my desk and many, many more in my files. Houses, businesses, barns, churches, and schools have all vanished from the landscape of this community and county because of fires.

The Caddo Herald

January 7, 1927

Rice Store burns Monday Morning

Monday morning at 6:30 o’clock the store of C. H. Rice was destroyed by fire. Nothing was saved of the stock of groceries.

Loss on store and building was about $6,000. Insurance $2,000.

There was but little breeze stirring during the fires, else another story would have been told as a south wind would have spread the flames to the business part of town and might have destroyed all buildings on the south side of Buffalo Street.

Mr. Rice built this room about four years ago, and has conducted a general merchandise business.

March 11, 1927

C. H. Rice builds a Nice Tourist Camp

On the ruins of his store building, C. H. Rice is erecting several nice cottages for campers. He also is setting out shade trees and fixing other conveniences of those who travel in cars. Located on Main Street which also is the No. 75 Highway, this place is handy for all tourists.

It is close enough to town- just one block- for those who camp there to do their shopping easily.

Charlie Rice also has a good stock of groceries in the shed toward town, making it convenient to shop there. He has a filling station too, so that when all is completed the place will be very attractive to anyone.

Caddo has long felt the need of such a place close-in so that tourists would stop and trade in Caddo. Every encouragement should be given Mr. Rice for his enterprise.

Mr. Rice plans to make a nominal charge for use of his tourist camp. Most tourists prefer to pay a little and be assured of reasonable protection than to patronize a free park where protection is lacking.

There are others in Caddo who could emulate the example of Mr. Rice by doing something to attract people to the town.

Methodists, 1932

The Caddo Herald

September 16, 1932

Methodist Church Has New List of Officers

 

Rev. R. O. Callahan, presiding elder was in Caddo Sunday night and held Fourth Quarterly Conference at the Methodist Church at which time all new officers were chosen for the year, beginning Nov. 1^st.

J. N. Nation, W. E. McIntosh, M. C. Bevens, and L. M. Nettelton were selected as stewards.

U. S. Markham, S. S. Supt.

H. W. Sargent, lay leader

Mrs. Nation, Golden Cross

Mrs. O. R. Smith, Stewardship Chairman

While finances are behind, it was found the church is in fine condition otherwise.

Rev. S. E. Henderson has as pastor served the charge well during his stay here.

Promotion Day Program

Song…congregation

Prayer-Anns…Rev. Gurley

Intorductory…J. C. Davison

Song, Come Thou Almighty King…class

Introduction Beginners Dept. …Superintendent

Welcome…Yvonne Gurley

Song, O! I Love Jesus…class

Song, Beulah Land…Peggy and Bubbah McCalman

Solo, Everybody Ought to Go to Sunday School…Ruth Cochran

Introduction to Primary Dept. …Superintendent

Story, birth of Baby Moses…Jean Cochran

Reading, The Restless Boy in Church…Carroll Harris

Story, How the Bible Came to Us…George Smith

Introduction and recognition of Juniors…Superintendent

Reading, What is Home Without a Bible?…Tommy Gail

Reading, A Teacher’s Prayer…Dorothy Harris

Duet, Break Thou the Bread of Life to Me…

Reading, My Duty… Iona Smith

Story, What the Bible Does for Us…Mildred Jean McCreary

A Helping Dime…Seven Girls

Piano Solo…Lucille Adair

Reading…Anita Harris

Canning, 1932

The Caddo Herald

July 15, 1932

Community Canning is Now on in Full Swing

Community canning has been on in full blast at the Legion Hut since the people have found out the simplicity, not counting the actual labor, of such an endeavor.

The writer was a visitor at the place Wednesday and he found much activity. W. J. Dowd is in general charge of this activity and is ably assisted by the ladies of the Home Demonstration and Canning Club. We are informed that something over 6,000 cans of corn and green beans will have been canned by Saturday night with a prospect of the first estimate of canning being doubled by the time the season is over. This means that something like 20,000 No. 2 cans will be canned for consumption.  

All people using the equipment are asked to put one can out of twenty into a chest, the contents of which will be used by the Lions Club this winter to give to the poor and unfortunate who will need it. This is a worthy project and meets with the whole-hearted approval of those who have used the canning equipment.

On last Tuesday 571 cans of corn were put up and with the season at hand we feel that the first estimated production will be doubled too.

Quite a number of users are trying to take advantage of the offer in that they are asking for the use of the equipment to can some 500 or 600 cans for one family. Mr. Dowd has asked us to state that it will be impossible to permit use of the equipment to one family for the canning of more than 200 cans in any one day in one family. Later on after the peak of the season has passed this will be permissible, but it is impossible at the present time.