Octobers past: Grady gunfight, folk singer gone

I collect historical tidbits that interest me from area newspapers. Here are a few from Octobers past:

• Oct. 2, 1933: Coleman De Laney, a 26-year-old farmer, was shot and killed outside the post office in Grady.

Officials said De Laney and his killer were armed and faced each other about 15 feet apart.

Sheriff A.J. Bell said there had been “some trouble” between the men. One arrest was made but the Tucumcari Daily News did not report whether the suspect was convicted of any crime.

• Oct. 3, 1983: Katherine Davalos Ortega was sworn in as U.S. treasurer.

She graduated from Eastern New Mexico University in 1957.

• Oct. 3, 1967: Folk singer Woody Guthrie died of Huntington’s Disease, an inherited disorder that results in the death of brain cells.

He was 55.

• Oct. 6, 1933: Two men accused of robbing a bank in Frederick, Okla., were captured by Quay County law officers.

Bob Brady and Jim Clark, described by the Tucumcari Daily News as “desperadoes with long criminal records and reputed as killers,” were captured on the outskirts of Tucumcari following a traffic stop.

Brady tried to flee and was shot by Sheriff Ira Allen. Brady was taken to Tucumcari’s Mercy General Hospital, where he soon recovered enough that he was transported to a state prison in Santa Fe.

• Oct. 10, 1933: Carl Hatch, a Clovis attorney, was appointed to the U.S. Senate by New Mexico Gov. A.W. Hockenhull.

He was the author of the Hatch Act, a 1939 federal law still in existence that prohibits federal government employees from engaging in some forms of political activity.

• Oct. 12, 1962: Jack Hull died.

One of Clovis’ best known newspaper editors in the 1930s and 1940s, he was also a state representative and state senator.

He is credited with beginning the Pioneer Days celebration, which started in 1935.

• Oct. 12, 1949: Charles Scheurich died.

Scheurich was one of Clovis’ first real estate agents after moving from Melrose in 1907.

He was instrumental in the formation of Curry County.

• Oct. 20, 1931: Hotel Clovis opened, instantly becoming the nine-story center of the city’s social activity.

It had 114 guest rooms, each containing a telephone, bathroom and hot/cold running water.

The hotel employed 55 people when it opened. It laid off 25 when it closed in 1983.

• Oct. 23, 1961: The Texas State Parks board of directors approved Texas Panhandle Heritage Foundation’s request to build an outdoor theater in Palo Duro Canyon.

• Oct. 27, 1908: Richard F. Rowley was born in Jewell, Kansas.

He began practicing law in Clovis in 1934. A two-term Clovis district attorney, he was president of the New Mexico Bar Association.

Rowley’s granddaughter, Andrea Reeb, is DA in Clovis-Portales today.

• Oct. 31, 1974: For the third straight year, Clovis News-Journal Editor Bill Southard reported, a woman estimated to be in her 80s was seen trick-or-treating in northwest Clovis.

“Well, in these days of sky-high food prices, we may see more like her on the trick-or-treat circuit,” Southard wrote.

David Stevens writes about regional history for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

[email protected]