Durant Weekly News and Bryan County Democrat (Durant, Okla.), Vol. 28, No. 38, Ed. 1 Friday, August 24, 1956 Page: 1 of 8
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Okla City Okla
HOME FRONT
FARM FRONT
WEEKL Y
COMPLETE
LOCAL
COVERAGE
HUY AN COUNTY
DEMOCRAT
and
Volume 28 Number 38
tliied llb The Bryan Coanty Remorrat Ort US 1l The liennlngtnn Journal Manh J 1WI7 and The adrfo llerahl !! 11 Durant Oklahoma Friday August 241956
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FLAMES CONSUME FACTORY — Firemen battled in vain with meager supplies of water in an effort to save the
main plant of the Durant Box Factory above as flames enveloped the big building housing the $100000 plant With
no water line available three pumper units were used to battle the blaze Fireman throwing a stream of water into
the flames is M J Spicer (Staff photo)
Bryan
County
Briefs
(Gleaned from weekly reports from
Bryan county communities by Democrat-News
correspondents)
ALBANY Mrs H C Sullivan
writes that she is wearing coats
and sleeping under blankets in
PI neville Ore where she Is visit-
ing her son A L Sullivap yk
LAKE WEST Mr and Mrs
Delbert Morrison of Seminole are
the proud parents of a son Kelvin
Euel born August 6 Paternal
grandparents are Mr and Mrs
W A Morrison of Boswell and
maternal grandparents are Mr
and Mrs Jake Miller of Lake
West
CAIER 4 O T Taber has re-
turned from the U S Army His
wife is the granddaughter of Mr
and Mrs Harry Guion of Calera
COLBERT Saturday was "work
day" at the First Methodist
church Volunteer woikers gather-
ed at the church to devote the
day to work on the new educa-
tional building which is being er-
ected Women served lunch on
the ground at noon Work on the
building is progressing nicely
CYPRESS Several local people
have been ill the past week
ALBANY Mrs V M Smith is
recovering from an attack of food
poisoning resulting from eating a
ham sandw’ich at a family picnic
near Boswell
KENEFIC Miss Jerry Ream of
Wnpanucka became the bride of
A-1C Clifton B Troutman son of
Mr and Mrs Voitel Troutman of
Kenefic recently
M4TOY Doc Hull killed a rat-
tlesnake in his yard Sunday It
had three rattlers
WADE James Keeling’s good
milk cow died Thursday night
LIBERTY Ben Bodine son of
Mis Fannie Bodine has returned
home after serving 30 months with
the armed forces m Germany Mr
Bodine married a German girl
while overseas and they have a
two-months-old son Billy Earl
M-s Bodine and son will join Mr
Bodine here in about two months
BOKCHITO A large crowd was
present for the showing of the
Oral Roberts film outside the As-
sembly of God church Sunday
night
ARMSTRONG Albert Long
who has beew a patient at Hill-
crest Memorial hospital ill Tulsa
with polio the past three weeks
was able to be brought home
Friday night He attended church
services Sunday night
ALBANY Word has been re-
ceived from M O Shull that ms
son R G who is in the naval
hospital at San Diego Calif is m
a critical condition Mr Shull has
Deen at his son’s bedside for many
weeks
SILO A revival meeting is being
held at the Silo Baptist church
wi'h Rev Dodson pastor of the
Mdbum Baptist church as the
evangelist The meeting will con-
tinue through next week
MATOY Mrs Ola Tidwell has
returned from Holdenville where
she visited her brother H M
Yeats and Mrs Yeats Mrs Yeats
suffered a partial stroke of paraly-
sis several weeks ago and had
been in a hospital She was able
to letum home Monday afternoon
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HELPS FIREMEN— The Democrat camera caught Chester Alford above just as he
thr ew a rock through a window at the box factory to make an opening for ’a stream of
water a fireman was throwing onto the fire Alford Pure Oil company employe dhcov-
?nSdehe firC and retlrned t0 heIp flht h after turning in the alarm See other pictures
(Staff Photo)
Man Fires Shotgun
At Ex-Wife's Hubby
Ben Headnck who has two
charges of assault with intent to
kill already pending against him
in district coii’t here and who has
seived time m prison for first de-
gree manslaughter faced another
assault charge tooay
County Attorney Wallace W Ga-
tes filed the chaige following a
shooting episode at the home of
Headrick’s former wife Mis John
Tannehill neai B’ue Tuesday
night
Mr Tannehill signed the com-
plaint which charges Headrick
with shooting at Mr Tannenhl with
a double-bai relied shotgun
Mr Gates said Headrick alleged-
ly shot at Mr Tannehill when
the other drove up at his own
home in his cai Headrick had
Help Sought
For Needy
Family Here
The Chanty elide of the King's
Daughters and Sons is seeking help
for a destitute Durant family ol
nine — the father mother and sev-
en children
The circle learned of the fam-
ily's situation Tuesday afternoon
Mrs L A Wise and Mrs George
Malone immediately investigated
and sent groceries to the family
They found only a wood cook
stove one chair an old pair of
springs an old cabinet base and
two quilts in the tiny thiee-room
house in which the family was
huddling
The women and two neigh bois
got busy and before night had
three mattresses and some cloth-
ing for most of the family
Now the circle is appealing for
furniture for the home — beds and
springs tables chairs chests of
drawers wash tubs wash board
ccoking utensils and dishes The
family had left Durant but re-
turned The father has been given
a job with a saw null
Arfvone having something to do
nate is requested to call Mrs
Wise at oia or Mi’ John Phillips
at 981
Another item ne-ded is a bah
bed for a little child ill w i t 1
leukemia
The cncle is an agenov of the
El van County Cm ed Fund
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gone to the home earlier to get
Ins daughter who was in the custo-
dy of her mother Mr Gates said
Headrick had sought to get cus-
tody of his daughter turned over
to his sister The case had been
heard in district court and Judge
Sam Sullivan had taken it under
advisement Mr Gates said
Headrick arrived at the home
with his shotgun As Mr Tanne-
nill drove up Headrick fired at
him Mr Tannehill left the scene
and came to Durant to report the
incident
Mr Gates said officers went to
the scene and found Headrick in
the midst of the family pointing
the shotgun at them Headrick al-
legedly told the offciers they
weien’t going to take him and
that he was going to stay with
his baby
Feanng some innocent persons
—there ate nine children in the
Tannehill family— might be shot
the officers left Headrick told
them he would come in today but
he hadn't reported to officers up
to 11 am
Mr Gates said Headrick pleaded
guilty November 2 1922 to first
degree manslaughter and was sen-
tenced to serve seven years in the
state penitentiary He was tried in
district court Novmber 2 1934 on
a charge of assault with intent to
kill and was sentenced to 30 davs
in the county jail and fined $100
and costs
He was charged with shooting
Levi Roach and Billy Wayne
Smith with a 32 automatic at a
local tavern January 13 1956
Those charges are still pending
Headrick is to be tried in district
court this fall on them
Relief Application
Deadline Extended
Deadline for applications on the
Emergency Relief Feed program
by the Farmers Home Adminis-
tration has been extended from
August 31 to October 1 Melvin
R Hiikey acting superviser of
the FHA announced today
Fnder the drouth relief plan
livestock owners will be able to
buy grain feed at $1 00 per bun-
dled pounds under the market
price The progiam does not in-
clude hay for livestock
Applications may be made at
the Fatmers Home Administiation
offices
7 a
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Earl Haggard
Gets Word Of
Factory Fire
Earl Haggard co-owner of the
Durant Box Factory whose main
plant was destroyed by fue Sa-
turday got his first woid of the
disaster Tuesday night
His brother-in-law David H Ble-
wett another co-owner finally
reached Mr Haggard in Grand-
view Wash where he was vaca-
tioning with his family
"He took the news very well”
Mr Blewett reported "He will be
back just as soon as he can and
he wants to re-build if we can"
In the meanwhile Mr Blewett
was going ahead with plans for
temporary operation of the plant
until a new building can be erect-
ed He said he hoped to have che
temporary operation going by the
end of this week
"We’re getting a planer in to-
night and will rig up a cut-off ma
chine and then should be ieady to
work on a California order we
need to fill" Mr Blewett said
Six men are working a t the
plant now George Morrow jr plant
manager of the Durant Cotton
Oil and Peanut company gave
the factory an order for 1000
wooden pallets Tuesday "That
will keep us going for about a
week” Mr Blewett said
“We’re greatly appreciative of
the thoughtfulness and helpfulness
of everybody in Durant” Mr Ble-
wett said
Local People At
Farm Meet
Bryan County Farm Bureau men
aid women attended a policy
development training school at Hu-
go Thursday
Those attending the meeting
were Mr and Mrs O I Conrad
of Liberty Mrs Roy Whitson
Acliille chairman of Farm Bu-
reau women and LeRov Brock
president of the Bryan County
Farm Bureau
Speakers at the meeting were
Lewis Munn state president Ken
McFall editor of the state farm
bureau newspaper Jim Ditmars
assistant manager of the Farm
Bureau insurance company and
Mis Hubert Nelson chairman of
district Faim Buieau women
They gave instiuctions on how
to promote community Farm Bu-
ieau development meetings from
tue giassroots level
i©
Co-Owner Trapped
Rescued From Plant
Fire which almost claimed the
life of one of the co-owners des-
troyed the main plant and a ware
house of the Durant Box Factory
one mile north of Durant Loss
was estimated by the owners at
$100000 and no insurance was
carried on the buildings and ma-
chinery David Blewett one of the co-
ovners was trapped in the burn-
ing plant building when he enter
e I to make a telephone call and
was saved by two men who had
seen him enter the building
Mr Blewett said the entrance
dr or of the plant building drop-
ped after he entered the building
and he was so overcome from
smoke that he was unable to ranse
the door
Two young men passing by he
said had seen him enter the
building and they raised the door
and helped him out
"I don’t know who the men
were but I certainly would like
to thank them" he said
Mr Blewett said he did not lose
k
Box Factory
Grew From
Small Start
The Durant Box Factory which
was destroyed by Fire Saturday
had its beginning back in 1929
Charlie Haggard formed a partner-
ship with W G Cotner in a saw-
mill venture and together they
went to Daisy Okla and ’cut
over 2000000 feet of pine for the
Lingo-Leeper Lumber company
When this contract was over Mr
Haggard decided to come back to
Durant and start a factory o n
South Second Mr Cotner went
back into the ginning business
For a time Mr Haggard ran
the factory alone making chicken
coops and turkey coops When
things were just going good along
came Old Man Depression not
only making it tough for Mr Hag-
gard but for everyone in general
I This didn’t dismay the Durant
man one bit He called his son
Earl in and told him he wanted
him to join him in the business
In order to put the box factory
over they decided to run their
sawmill in conjunction with it
For the next two or three years
not only did they sell coops but
also bridge lumber and custom
lumber However the going was
ready tough and one day Earl de-
cided to get out on the road and
see if he could drum up some
business
All the way up to Oklahoma
City all he got was “Sorry can’t
use anything today”
Feeling pretty much in the
dumps he decided to call on O
B Peake purchasing agent for
Wilson and Company in Oklahoma
City After a long wait he was
finally ushered in and after talking
at length with Mr Peake his host
suddenly turned around and gave
him the largest turkey coop order
the Haggards had ever had In or-
der to meet the deadline for de- and
livery Charlie Haggard had to
AWAY THEY GO — Six area youth above left for the armed forces’ induction center in
Oklahoma City this morning They are left to right William Dwayne Oliver and Spen-
cer Allen Bowers of Bennington G L Reese of Caddo William Albert Gilbert of Du-
rant William Eugene Meade of Utica and Gerald William Sexton of Calera
(Staff Bhoto)
Istiaiatedl M
consciousness but smoke wlili h he
breathed into his lungs pained
hin for several horns afteiward
Mr Blewett said he was unable
to say at this time whether the
plant will be rebuilt The plant nor-
mally employed 25 men
He estimated the loss at $100-
00) and sud no insurance was
carried on the buildings or mach-
inery due to high rates in the area
on side the fire protection aiea
Pumpers Italtle Bu'e
Two pumper un'ts from the Du-
rant fire department and the Ea
ker Airport unit battled the flames
as best they could with their mea-
get tank supplies as they shut-
tled back and forth from a fire
hydrant a mile away to fill their
500 gallon tanks
The two city units manned by
Fire Chief Preston Greeson and a
full day crew and the airport unit
manned by Airport manager El-
mo Mason and Durant Water Su-
perintendent H C Fortenberry
battled the blaze and prevented it
spieading to a third building a
small shop noith of the two des-
troyed buildings
The fire was discovered by Ches-
ter Alford oilfield worker at Pure
City who happened to be passing
by He said he saw smoke billow-
ing from the roof at the rear of
the plant building and after turn-
ing in the alarm at a nearby tele
phone he returned and helped fire-
men No one was on duty in the plant
at the time but Mr Blewett drove
up shortly after the fire was dis
covered
He said the fire apparently star-
ted from an outside motor opera-
ling a fan at the rear -of the
building either fiom being over-
heated or from defective electric
wiring
The fire caught the wooden
platform under the motor and
spread from there to surrounding
refuse and sparks aie believed to
have fallen on the roof and igni-
ted it From there it spread to
the interior and swept through the
big structure and the roof fell in
Sparks then ignited a warehouse
30 feet north of the plant and
that building with 20000 feet of
lumber went up in flames
Lost in the main plant was 15-
work a day crew and Earl a night
crew
From that time on the box fac-
tory was firmly established with
Wilson and Company The business
outgrew the shop on South Second
and moved over to Northeast
Fifth The Haggards thought at
that time they had enough room
for many years to come Then
along came the war and the gov-
ernl£ent wanted them to plod6ure
boxes for them But inasmPuch as
Wilson and Company had started
them out the Haggaids decided to
stay with them and make boxes
exclusively for them
In no time the business outgrew
the factory on Northeast Fifth
and before the war was over the
Haggards were buying material on
government priority in order to
build the factory on Highway 75
north of Durant This building in-
tended to last for a lifetime was
the one destroyed by fire Satur-
day 090 feet of lumber and fruit boxes
crates on Older from cus'o-
(See Durant on Page 3)
5?
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Northwest Bryan Count
Soaked By Heavy Rain
t h-thwest Bryan county was the
favored spot Sunday with rains
that bent but did not break the
county’s long summer drouth Sun-
day afternoon showers In that
area ranged from one inch to more
thun 2 1-2 inches while some
sections teceived li tie more than
sprinkles and traces of ra-u
Heaviest rainfall was two miles
Vp £
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Oscar Borin
Oscar Borin
Named Scout
Executive
Oscar Borin district Scout exe-
cutive of the Heart-O-Texas council
at Waco Tex the past 3 1-2 yeats
is the new Scout Executive for the
Bryan county district of the Cucie
Ten council
He and his family have arrive'1
in Durant and are now at home
at 506 North 7 In addition to sor
ving as executive for this dis ru t
he also will serve Cooke countv
Texas
Mr Borin succeeds James Arm
strong who was transferred to the
East Texas area council at Tyler
Tex i
A native of LeFlore county Ok
Iahoma Mr Borin is 38 years of
age He is a graduate of Oklaho -
ma A&M college Stillwater and
taught school several years befoie
going into Scout work
He is a member of the Baptist
church and is an ordained Bap-
tist preacher Since coming to
Duant he has already preached
in several county Baptist church-
es including Wade and Platter
Mr Bonn and his wife Bea-
trice have three children James
13 who is a Scout Beverly Ann
11 and Johnnie age 5
The new Executive attended the
146th national training school for
Scout executives at Schiff Scout
Reservation in Mendham N J
recently He also attended the in-
termediate and advanced intei me-
diate courses Before going to Wa
co he served as Scout executive I
in the Poteau area
s
fr
i '
south of Kenefic where a measut
ment of 2 60 inches was record
and groundsoaklng showers exte
des south of there to 2 45 Inch
the J G Timberlake farm ea
of Cobb 18 inch at the Geor
Cobb home and 210 inch at
Cobb school
The Caddo a ea profited fro
th" same rain iloud which dump
1 20 im n on the blai kland pra
ics of that area This rain taper'
off to one ini li at Armstrong
Another cloud moving in fro
tjie sou’hwcst gave the Achilla a
ea 1 20 in h and except for the
aicfs scat'ered showers ga v
some areas less than an inch
An area around New Allison
ceived nearly an inch Roberta r
ceived 31 inch with as much
60 inch sou’heast of there at
Albany was icfreshed by 30 inc
Colbet received only 11 inc
but ai much as 35 im h fell sout
east of tnere on Red River
Only tiaces or sprinkles we
received at Bokthiio Benningto
and Mead
Dm ant showed measurements
00 to 70 inch but ISEO gauge
iaily 51 inch
Benefits Questionable
Benefits fiorn the rain wer
question b'? its far crops wei
co' ( erned bill burned pasturr s wi
he icvived where th -y receive
as much as a half inch farme
-fid Wceie the rain was heav
ed farmers believed late cotto
might be helped but 'hey deb:
ted whether eaily crops would
a 'efited
I The pro pe( t or peanuts wi
not favm able but some farme
I hi heved that if the showers ar
I followed by heavier rains the vine
migh stait growing again and pi
j on a new crop of nuts
F'jrnitis w o rlanned to di
their peanut vines for much neec
j ed hav thought the moisture woul
"ive iiem hett r yields
It was a situation of "wait an
-tc" for most farmers a3 far a
peanuts arc loneemed
In t :ie Kenefic and Cobb area
fum ponds received a little rur
wVe and tie rapid evanora
tion of water in ponds was stoppei
for the pi c ent at lead as the de
nydialed soil drank up the fallin
:iois lire hk’ a diy sponge
T1 c l a n and a cool fiont movin
in fiom the noith brought reli
j from the extended heat wave whicl
had t cached the 25th conseeutiv
day of 100 plus temperatures Th
temperature here rose only to 9
for a h’gh Sundiv and dropped to
pleaant 62 late in the day
For a change the weathermai
has promised southeastern Oklaho
ma more showers and thundei
stoims while ho'ding out fair wea
ther for the northwest
Caddo Water
Can't Be Used
For Livestock
CADDO Caddo’s city council it
a special mee’ing Tuesday nigh
passed a resolution providing tha
no meters would be set to wate
livestock and no adjoining line
could be run from a present con
sumer’s meter for that purpose
The council took the action be
cause of a fear of a water short
age Councilman Prince Flower
explained to the Democrat tha
there is no water shortage i i
Caddo now but that councilmei
felt that a preventive step wa
necessary
Wells provide Caddo’s water sup
plies Mr Flowers explained tha
pumps in three wells are runmn
day and night
"We’re just afiaid we might rui
shoit” the councilman explained
"We want to be prepared in cas'
one of the wells should go out’
Adding emphasis to its ban oi
water for livestock the counc:
lesolution provides that wate
cannot i be hauled from the cit'
supply except for human consump
tion
Councilmen also publicly reques
ted that consumers be as conser
vative with water as possible
Members of the council in addi
‘ion to Mr Flowers include Irvi
Lillard Tom Bovdstun C 1 y d
Welch and Mr Taylor
Bogus Check Charge
Filed Against Savage
A bogus check charge was file
in county couit here Monday i
gainst Lew M Sivage
W E Scott Duiant signed th
complaint charging Mr Savag
with giving the Loyd Implemei
Company a bogus check for $
on a IU nrua b-ik June 5
( t
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Durant Weekly News and Bryan County Democrat (Durant, Okla.), Vol. 28, No. 38, Ed. 1 Friday, August 24, 1956, newspaper, August 24, 1956; Durant, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2334212/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.