Pages past — Sept. 6

On this date ...

1974: Tickets were on sale to see Rare Earth, a Detroit rock group whose 1971 hit “I Just Want to Celebrate” reached No. 7 on the pop charts. The Motown recording group was set to perform Sept. 8 at Eastern New Mexico University. General admission tickets were $3, on sale at the Campus Union Building or at Taco Box in Clovis.

1945: A B-29 on a routine training flight careened through a telephone line, skimmed across a field, crashed and broke squarely in two just across the highway from Cannon Air Force Base. Officials said one crew member was slightly injured, but 10 others escaped safely. Harold Carpenter of Clovis said he saw the plane crash into a winter wheat field, then saw 11 men walk away before the plane caught fire.

1932: George Lancaster, 19, accused of killing his wife, Blanche Lancaster, 34, entered a plea of not guilty in district court before Judge Harry Patton. Attorneys Carl Hatch and A.W. Hockenhull asked jurors to consider the former high school football star’s mental condition and relationship with the woman “many years his senior.” George Lancaster’s attorneys presented a temporary insanity defense. They said he was a “boy who has not sinned, but who has been sinned against,” the Clovis Evening News-Journal reported. Jurors found him not guilty on Sept. 16, after less than three hours of deliberation.

Price check ...

1954: Mildred Marie Shop, at 110 W. Fourth in Clovis, was offering all summer dresses for $5 and $10. Those were values up to $49.90 before today.

What’s on TV ...

1964: Options for viewing today included “Bonanza,” “Ed Sullivan,” “Big Time Wrestling,” “Cotton John,” and “Deputy Dawg.”

Pages Past is compiled by Editor David Stevens. Contact him at:

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