Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date …
1921: The headline across The Portales Valley News read: “Most revolting crime in history of Roosevelt County.” A secondary headline reported a father had shot his son and daughter-in-law dead while they were eating breakfast.
The newspaper reported Lewis Hawes was confined in the county jail, “as the result of a family row, facing the gallows as the result of his hasty temper.”
When law officers arrived at the death scene six miles south of Portales, Lewis Hawes admitted his deed.
“Father and son Clinton had some words … Lewis Hawes asked Clinton why he did not get a house in town, as they were so crowded,” the newspaper reported.
“Clinton replied that he wanted to stay till he marketed his hogs, and that he did not want to leave while his mother was sick. Lewis then said, ‘You won’t stay.’ He reached for his gun and as he fired, Clinton threw a table knife across the table, striking his father in the forehead.”
Lewis Hawes then fired again, witnesses said, a bullet striking Dona Hawes as she bent over her husband, “crying and praying.”
Doctors said both gunshot wounds were of the nature that they produced almost instant death.
Court testimony showed Clinton and Dona Hawes and their children had been staying with Clinton’s father for about 30 days and Clinton was being paid to help with farm work.
In May of 1922, Lewis Hawes pleaded guilty to both murders and was sentenced to 180-198 years in prison.
The newspaper reported he could have received the death penalty if the case had gone to trial and “cost the taxpayers of the county several thousand dollars.”
“While this murder was the most brutal in the history of the county, the action of the court will probably meet with the approval of the majority of the people, as the town and county will be saved the horror of an execution,” the front-page newspaper report on the sentence read.
“Hawes will have plenty of time to ponder on his deeds and if he has the brains and conscience of a flea, his punishment will be greater than if he was hanged.”
1940: A 13-year-old Clovis boy was being held in police custody after he and his 11-year-old sister were accused of shoplifting.
Police said the pair were suspected of stealing $15 to $20 worth of items they had given their parents as Christmas presents, including shaving supplies and an embroidered tablecloth.
The girl had been released to the custody of her mother.
1960: Kenner’s Drug, at 14th and Main in Clovis, was a headquarters for local hobby supplies.
The store offered a complete line of model airplanes — including motors, batteries and fuel — in addition to model boats.
1969: Highlights from local police briefs in the Clovis News-Journal:
• Tom Huerta, who lived at 316 Merriwether, reported his bike had been stolen. It was red with a purple banana seat. Its value was $34.
• Michael Grummel, a Cannon Air Force Base airman, reported someone stole 10 tape cartridges from his car while it was parked at a local drive-in. Value of the music was $70.
• Mrs. Larry Smith, who lived at 2045 Gerry, reported 30 decorative light bulbs had been stolen from her home. It was the third occurrence of this kind, she said.
• Allen Groth, who lived at 2400 Duckworth, reported vandals destroyed a Christmas display in his front yard and stole several lights, valued at $15.
1971: About 275 head of cattle on the Farr ranch near Fort Sumner had been found infected with scabies.
About 2,500 cattle were placed on quarantine as a result, according to Lee Garner, director of the New Mexico Livestock Board.
The Fort Sumner outbreak was the third case of the mite-caused disease in cattle in New Mexico in two weeks.
1971: Prisoners in the Curry County jail were decorating the main cell block for the holidays.
The inmates had hung a chain — created with more than 3,600 aluminum “pop tops” from soda cans — on the wall, along with a Santa Claus.
Jailer Monte Hamilton, who encouraged the Christmas spirit, said inmates spent two days building the chain.
They also decorated a table with candles, branches of pine and a Bible.
1975: Federal funding for a project to pipe water from Ute Reservoir near Tucumcari to Clovis-Portales could be slow in coming, lawmakers told The Associated Press.
U.S. Rep. Manuel Lujan, R-New Mexico, said Congress had a 30-year backlog of construction projects.
1977: The Eastern New Mexico Press Women held their Christmas party at the home of Glenda Balas in Portales.
Faye Plank, president, shared information about workshops in photography, management, and interpersonal communications that were being set up for the upcoming state press women's meeting scheduled for the following April in Clovis.
Balas was checking into the possibility of having a community writing workshop run by a member of the New Mexico Humanities council.
Mary Thompson of Portales was a visitor.
1982: Evelyn King, Bernell Moore, and Maurine Winkles, members of the Clovis High Plains Hospital Auxiliary, were among those involved in the organization's latest fundraiser project: a children's cloth activity book called The Bible Book.
The soft books, which cost $25 each, were designed to combine simple Bible stories with different activities for children. Beginning readers could "unbutton Joseph's coat of many colors, unzip Jonah from the belly of the whale, tie shoes, and tell time," according to the auxiliary members.
Orders were being taken and the books were also available in the CHPH gift shop.
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
