Merry Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas from the authors of Clovis Road

Cameron lost playoff game

The ironic meeting between Littlefield and Cameron did not take place, and both teams lost in the final two rounds to get the state 2A football title.

Littlefield vs Cameron Yoe

It would have been great irony if it had happened, but it did not. So close. Last night Cameron Yoe won its Class 2A state semifinal game against Lago Vista and Littlefield lost theirs to Daingerfield. If Littlefield had won, it would have set up a great foootall game between the two towns that were the subject of so much tension in 1942 to 1943 when Dr. W.R.Newton, Jr. of Cameron shot Dr. Roy Hunt of Littlefield on the Clovis Road. To read the story, Clovis Road, The Dr. Roy Hunt Murder 1942 -1943 Littlefield, Texas is available from Amazon.com.

Book Signing in Littlefield

At the Duggan Museum a book signing for Clovis Road was held today, October 30, 2010 in Littlefield. Ms. Darla Jennings contributed to the success of the event with some of the refreshments, and by increasing the donation to the museum by forgoing Waymore's portion in book sales. All book sales then went to benefit the museum. Mrs. Wanda Erickson handled the arrangements and publicity.

On Clovis Road

A man who read Clovis Road called us from Cameron, Texas on Friday. He was at the Dairy Queen in Cameron and had read the Clovis Road. He wanted directions to Newton Lake and the site of the Newton house fire. We gave him as much information as he needed and he found the sites. Also heard from a few others over the weekend who enjoyed the book. The guy who called had a lot of questions about his favorite character in the book, Ruth Nichols. We answered what we could.

Lamb County Thru the Years

We just received this weekend the Museum Cookbook from the Littlefield Lands/Duggan House Museum. The title is "Lamb County Thru the Years." It was a copyright date of 2009, like Clovis Road, and contains many Lamb County recipes as a welcome and historical section at the front. The introduction is by David B. Gracy II.

The Controversial Book???

Well, I hope the '''controversy" over "Clovis Road," which was well researched from newspapers, interviews, visits, research on computer, Cameron court records, and many other sources will help more people want to buy it. Then you can decide if it is a "controversial" book. In this case, truth is stranger than fiction, and this story is a great example of that. Technically both the murderer and the attempted murderer were found guilty of their crimes, but somehow, the Criminal Court of Appeals overturned many of their convictions. Jim Thomas died before being found "technically" guilty, but his MO was the same in the Hunt murders as it was on another couple in Lubbock, who lived to tell their story. The book was fascinating to research, and the time element of it being a crime that started in 1942, makes the 1940s seem to come to life.

Angelus Hotel

From a new book, Amarillo, published in 2009 by Ron Smith one finds this photo of the Angelus Hotel mentioned in Clovis Road. This is where James Clyde Thomas had doughnuts on the morning of October 26, 1943. The Angelus Hotel Coffee Shop was across the street from the Craig's apartment. Search "Ron Smith and Amarillo" to view the book. Photo courtesy of Mr. Ron Smith

Purchase "Clovis Road" Today

For details about how to purchase Clovis Road, the story of the Dr. Roy Hunt murder in 1943. Dedicated to Harold LaFont and Bill LaFont. Former Texas Supreme Court Judge Hon. Ted Z. Robertson advised the authors on Clovis Road. Send your name and address to 6257 Highgate Lane, Dallas, Texas, 75214 and a check, cash, or money order for $30. The book is 184 pages, has 93000 words and 50 illustrations. It is hardback, first edition, and is its second printing. It is currently also available at Waymore's, the Waylon Jennings Museum and store, in Littlefield, Texas, at Hastings on Slide Road in Lubbock, at Hastings in Plainview, and at Amazon.com.The caption above Dana's head is a Channel 11 attempt to say the murders are not solved. Read Clovis Road.

KCBD Interview Airs "Clovis Road" Called "Controversial"

KCBD “Littlefield’s first murders remain unsolved”
On the phone, “It was like the day JFK died for the town of Littlefield, because it was their doctor.”
Dana Samuelson writes about the day Dr. Roy Hunt and his wife, Mae Franks, were found murdered in their home and the investigation that followed.
The recently released book, Clovis Road, details a rumored love triangle between Dr. Hunt and Ruth Newton, the wife of his medical school classmate.
The author says Dr. Newton hired someone to kill the couple. He appeared in trial numerous times to appeal the case.
Now the niece of Dr. Hunt tells that the community went from leaving their homes unlocked to being too scared to go outside.
Now this book is controversial, some of the family are not really happy with it, so there is another book in the works as to what really happened they say.
(Transcribed from KCBD broadcast 7.29.2010 from Littlefield in Local News Section 6:00 P.M. broadcast, the print version on their website is not the same, Dana never said the murders were still unsolved, she said to "read the book"). There were not just "rumors" about a "love triangle." Classmates were interviewed. Hunt and his brother testified about it.

Television KCBD Lubbock

While Dana and I, my son, Drew Samuelson, and her mother, Sue Middlebrooks, were vacationing in Sipapu, New Mexico, Dana got a call from Channel 11 in Lubbock from Christie Post of KCBD about Clovis Road. She wanted to include Clovis Road in a segment on the news about Littlefield that was set to view on Thursday, September 29. She and Dana had a telephone interview about Clovis Road last night. The call from Mr. Bill LaFont came while I was at the Crescent Park Motel in Littlefield last year, and we got the delayed call from Christie Post at the Crescent Park this time, it may be good luck for the story to be at the Crescent Park Motel! Turns out KCBD planned an interview to show off an alternative view of the Hunt murders, discredit Clovis Road, and did not focus on the two authors or the thrust of Clovis Road, only on different views from Lubbock.

Sunday Evening in Littlefield 1943

The Roy Hunts were visiting in Lubbock. Jim Thomas usually had an accomplice and they were in Littlefield. An interesting part of the telling of Clovis Road was whether Thomas would have killed the Hunts that night had they been home. He probably would have tried. It turned into a recon mission, and he returned the next night. He may have been there other evenings also. Who was that accomplice and was he there the next night?
Another question that came up in writing the story was the usually barking dogs next door to the west. They didn’t bark. Thomas did not know the dogs so it was not like the Sherlock Holmes story. The Sunday visit allowed them to know he had to drug the dogs the next night, which according to Slo Grisom there is no doubt he did.

Mid-Year Publicity for Clovis Road

The Clovis Road ad ran in the Lubbock Avalanche Journal on June 27. Also last week we received the July 2010 issue of the "Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings" where on page 316 is a notice of "A notable book by a Baylor physician" wherein Clovis Road, and its authors are named, along with a summary of the plot, and information about obtaining it at Amazon.com.

New Ad

The Lubbock Avalanche Journal will run our new ad in the paper on Sunday the 27th.

Contributor Recognition

Today a copy of Clovis Road was mailed to Mr. +Bill LaFont's secretary, +Ms. Jean Stovall, who helped so graciously with the records of Judge Harold LaFont on April 30, 2009.

Hastings Deal and a Reader Comment

Today we reached a deal with Hastings Books in Lubbock and Plainview to stock Clovis Road. Also we just received the following from a reader from Mineral Wells, Texas: Dear Bob,
Your book came promptly and I kept it with me and read from it every chance I got. In fact it was hard for me to quit reading each night. I just finished it last week and want you to know I enjoyed it a bunch. I commend you and your wife for writing this book and would recommend it.
Much of the situations, politics, personal drama and legal issues of old time Texas is played out in your book. We are no more perverted than grandpa and grandma!
Good Luck,

Jerry S. Hughes' Waterman

Clovis Road was written on a Mac computer, but the Foreword by Jerry Scott Hughes was written with his Waterman pen shown here along with a dollar that he and the author exchanged each time they had a meal together to keep track of who paid the bill. The author had the dollar and was given the pen when he died in March 2010. Jerry also finalized the legal papers for Highgate Publishing, L.L.C. with this pen.

Middlebrooks Family Association Newsletter June 2010

Clovis Road, the Dr. Roy Hunt Murder, Littlefield, Texas 1942-1943, written by
+Dana Middlebrooks Samuelson and +Robert John Samuelson, M.D.
Dana is the daughter of the late +Allen Dale Middlebrooks and granddaughter of Jim Lee Middlebrooks and Myrtie Lee Reeves. Dana married Robert Samuelson in 1989. On November 10, 1996, Dana was mentioned in the Dallas Morning News for "Best Concepts" in a writing contest for a new television series to replace "Dallas." She has had a lifelong interest in medicine, true crime, and psychology. She and her husband published Common Ground – the Wheat and the Chaff in 2005, a genealogy collection of stories from several allied families.
Dana's mother, Sue Middlebrooks, told Dana and her husband about a Littlefield doctor and his wife who were killed in their home in the 1940s while their two young daughters were in the house. Dr. Roy E. Hunt started practice in Littlefield in 1937, which was the year +Waylon Jennings was born in the same town. Hunt bought a home, built a hospital along with his partners, and survived an attempted murder in 1942 by a medical school classmate. He was ultimately killed, along with his wife, in the middle of a night "hit" in their home on East 7th Street in Littlefield in 1943. This is a true Texas crime story.
The Roy Hunt murders of Littlefield, Texas, were among the top news stories in Texas during World War II, and made the front pages in Texas for several years. Clovis Road is the first publication that tells the whole story of the crimes that ended the young doctor's life and the life of his wife.
The book discusses the court trials, the motives, and the eventual outcomes of the characters involved in a medical training love triangle that so affected the grandson of a founder of Lubbock, Texas, and the son of a prominent physician and state senator. It discusses nurses' education, medical practice, and small town politics. The heroes of the story are a Texas Ranger, a District Court Attorney, and the physician brother of the victim.
Plainview, Texas, attorney Bill LaFont grew up hearing about the trial that riveted citizens across Texas. His father, Judge Harold LaFont, was District Attorney during the murder trial, as well as the previous trial when Dr. Billy Newton shot Dr. Hunt on Clovis Road, outside of Littlefield. LaFont recalls, "Dad tried to get in position to write a book but never took the time to sit down and do it."
The Samuelsons traveled throughout Texas for a year to get the material to write the book. They interviewed people who were in Littlefield that day in 1943, searched many trial court and probate records, and visited museums and newspaper files to be able to tell the story. Bill LaFont allowed them to research his father's records and transcripts of the trials that he had donated to the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. The first-edition hardback is 184 pages, 93,000 words, and has about fifty illustrations. It tells the background of the families involved and carries the story to the conclusion of the dramatic epic story.
Dana's father, Allen Dale Middlebrooks, ran a service station in Littlefield and in Bula, Texas, for many years and passed away in September 2006. A Littlefield service station figures prominently in the Dr. Hunt murder story. Dale had one brother, Cleo Middlebrooks, and two sisters, Mardell and Robbie Lee. Dale Middlebrooks also worked at Pantex Munitions Plant in Amarillo during World War II, at the same time that a significant character in Clovis Road worked at that plant. Many coincidences like that were discovered while Dana and her husband were writing the book.
The book is available by writing them at 6257 Highgate Lane, Dallas, Texas 75214

MFA Newsletter Volume 9 Number 3

Harold LaFont in 1950 Photo

This photo was included in the article in the Plainview Daily Herald in March 2010 in their interview with Bill LaFont. The photo is of a much younger Harold LaFont than pictured in Clovis Road.

Haunted Sites in Clovis Road

Three of the sites in the Clovis Road story have been reported to be "haunted." First, the Jefferson Davis Memorial Hospital in Houston where the main characters in the story trained was vacant for many years and on a list of haunted places in Houston to visit. Another site is the Plainview Hilton Hotel, the headquarters of the Newton defense for many years. Finally, one of the occupants of the Hunt home on 7th street in Littlefield in 2009 said they felt like the house was haunted.

Ups and Downs on Clovis Road

The downs - the independent publisher award went to "Dead Weight." The Lubbbock Avalanche Journal entertainment editor is not answering our emails for followup. Texas Monthly says we were "too late" submitting the book for consideration, it went to them the month it came out, February? The Dallas News saying they only consider books from large publishing houses. The ups - great comments and letters coming in from the hundreds of readers who have the book. The article in the Plainview Herald. The article in the Lamb County Leader. The outreach from the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech. The book is in two museums and three libraries. The blog has Judy as its first follower..... Actually the Clovis Road outside Littlefield is pretty flat and the furrows in the nearby fields were just deep enough to hide Dr. Hunt after he was shot. A year ago we were going through the mountain of material from Harold LaFont's files from Plainview. Saw that Mr. Lenro Keeton died about 1966. He was one of the people bound up by Jim Thomas.

Clovis Road - Self Published

In the Dallas Morning News May 23, 2010 it stated that in 2009 there were 764,448 self published books, like Clovis Road - Dr. Roy Hunt Murder 1942 - 1943, compared to 288,355 titles by publishing houses. The article by Virginia Heffernan titled "How the digital age is making self-publishing respectable" cites the data from Bowker bibliographic company. The number of self published books was up 181 percent from the previous year. Highgate Publishing LLC owns and distributes the Hunt murder story.

Purchase Clovis Road

Mineral Wells High School Class of 1962 friends have asked for details about how to purchase Clovis Road, the story of the Dr. Roy Hunt murder. The foreword is by Jerry Scott Hughes. Dedicated to Harold LaFont and Bill LaFont. Send your name and address to 6257 Highgate Lane, Dallas, Texas, 75214 and a check, cash, or money order for $30. The book is 184 pages, has 93000 words and 50 illustrations. It is hardback, first edition, and is its second printing. It is currently also available at Waymore's, the Waylon Jennings Museum and store, in Littlefield, Texas and at Amazon.com.

May Update

We submitted a pitch to the Ira Glass NPR radio show and another to the Amarillo Globe newspaper for a story. The 12th of May was Mr. Bill LaFont's birthday. Several of my high school classmates, Mineral Wells High School Class of 1962, have ordered the book this weekend.

Lubbock

Yesterday we were able to finally contact someone on the staff of the Lubbock Avalanche Journal who wanted to hear about the book. Their book and information is in the mail and they seemed very interested. The second printing was picked up on Thursday from Taylor and has several small corrections from the first printing. Got an order today from Palacios, Texas. Turns out that the person's boss at the Avalanche told them the book was not to be reviewed (email July 13) and to kill the review.

Clovis Road Second Printing

Taylor Publishing notified us that the second printing of the book is available to be picked up tomorrow. There were three corrections from the first printing only one involved fact. One person commented today that just finished reading the book said that it was very well done. Everyone wants to know why we started the project in the first place. The book has been entered in the Independent Publishers Award contest for this year and will be entered in the Texas Institute of Letters competition for this year also. A representative of the Texas Tech Library system was in Dallas this past weekend and talked with Dana and myself at a local book store for about an hour and a half about the book and its concept.

Today

Nothing new has happened on the book, lately, but Bob does have an article that is due to come out in a Baylor magazine called "Baylor Proceedings." I don't know if it will just be a review of the anesthesia and medicine that was practiced at the time, or if the editor will elaborate on the story of the book. I hope that the editor does both.

Jerry Scott Hughes

Yesterday the funeral for the man that wrote the Foreword to Clovis Road was held in Midlothian Texas. Burial was in Garland, Texas. Jerry was remembered as a gentleman and man who had a very full life.

Disappointment

Today was not the best day that we have had. On Monday, I was sure that many people in Plainview would be interested in buying the book about Mr. LaFont. He was such a nice man, and two of the people that called and ordered a book, told me how much they liked Judge Harold LaFont. Now it has been two days since we have sold one either by phone or through amazon.com. Darla may have sold some more, but Plainview is about an hour away from Littlefield, so more than likely they would order one via telephone or on-line.
On a much more sorrowful note, Bob's best friend, Jerry Hughes, died today at home in Midlothian, Texas. I liked Jerry, too, and I never made myself take the time to go to the hospital while he had surgery and was recovering for about six weeks. The surgery did not improve the quality of his life. Jerry wrote the foreword for our book, Clovis Road. He died from pancreatic cancer. He will be missed.

Plainview Herald 3.28.2010

Lifestyles
Bill LaFont has memories of 1943 Littlefield murder 03-28-10
Hayley Cox/Plainview Daily Herald CLOVIS ROAD: Plainview attorney Bill LaFont looks
over a copy of “Clovis Road,” a book about the murders of Dr. Roy Hunt and his wife,
Mae, in Littlefield in 1943. LaFontʼs father, Judge Harold LaFont, was district attorney during
the murder trial as well as a previous trial when Dr. Billy Newton shot Hunt on Clovis Road
outside of Littlefield.
By NICKI BRUCE LOGAN
Herald Lifestyles Editor
Published: Sunday, March 28, 2010 4:12 AM CDT
By NICKI BRUCE LOGAN
Herald Lifestyles Editor
Although he was a toddler when Dr. Roy Hunt and his wife, Mae, were murdered in
Littlefield, Plainview attorney Bill LaFont says he grew up hearing about the trial that riveted
citizens across Texas.
"My father was district attorney at the time," LaFont says in explaining his interest in the story
and how he got involved in a recently-published book that details the murders and
subsequent trials held in Olton and Plainview.
"I grew up hearing talk about the trial. It was quite a famous deal at the time."
He adds that his father planned to write a book about the trials and his involvement "some
day," but didnʼt get around to it.
"Dad tried to get in position to write a book but never took the time to sit down and do it, so
when I was contacted by the Samuelsons, I was interested in helping them."
The Samuelsons are the bookʼs authors, Dr. Robert and Dana Middlebrooks Samuelson of
Dallas, who became fascinated with the murders when Danaʼs mother, Sue Middlebrooks,
told them about a Littlefield doctor and his wife who were killed in their home in the 1940s
while their two young daughters were in the house.
Sue Middlebrooks was nine at the time of the murders and, like LaFont, grew up hearing
about them. Dana graduated from Littlefield High School and, after hearing the story from
her mother, became fascinated with finding the real story behind the murders.
That initial interest led the Samuelsons to the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech
University in Lubbock.
"I had furnished all of Dadʼs records to the Southwest library, and the Samuelsons were
allowed to see about a third of what I had given to the library," LaFont says. "When they
contacted me, I gave them everything I had, made copies from the files . . . transcripts of
the trials."
LaFont says that opening the old files brought back memories for him and he helped the
Samuelsons in their research because he was interested in a book being written, in part
because his father had intended to write one about his experiences.
Research shows that behind the murders was a love/hate triangle that had its roots in
medical school where Roy Hunt and Billy Newton were dating, unbeknownst to each other,
Ruth Nichols, a pretty nursing student with a reputation of being popular with the boys. Ruth
was in love with Roy but he wasnʼt ready to get married, so she married Billy.
Later, Roy married Mae Franks and set up a medical practice in Littlefield. The Newtons
lived at Cameron where Billy Newton practiced medicine.
The plot thickened when Hunt was called out in the middle of the night to meet Ruth Newton
on Clovis Road. Once there, Newton stepped out from behind the car and shot Hunt twice.
Hunt survived by hiding between furrows in a plowed field, then after the Newtons
searched for him and drove away he crawled back to his car and got help.
Newton was charged with attempted murder, and a trial was held in Olton, which was the
Lamb County seat at the time. He was convicted and sentenced to seven years in the
penitentiary.
Still holding a grudge, Newton found Jim Thomas who, according to reports, never claimed
to be anything but a killer.
In October 1943, he entered the Hunt home in Littlefield by climbing in a window, killed
Roy and Mae Hunt and when their young daughter, Jo Ann, came into the room, he
doused her with chloroform and threw her into a closet.
She escaped and went to a neighborʼs house for help.
On a tip, Thomas was arrested in Galveston and was convicted of murder and sentenced to
death in a trail held in Plainview.
The book tells a fascinating tale of Thomasʼ background and criminal history and how he got
involved in the murders.
Bill LaFont remembers his fatherʼs description of Thomas.
"Itʼs interesting that Dad always told me that Jim Thomas was a very nice man — he didnʼt
smoke, he didnʼt drink, he didnʼt cuss — he just killed people."
LaFont also remembers that the story was published in several crime and mystery
magazines popular at the time.
Emotions ran high throughout both trials, and the safety of the beloved district attorney was
in question.
"Dad wore a shoulder holster for six months after the last trial," LaFont says. "Nobody ever
did anything to him that I know of, but he kept a gun . . . wore that shoulder holster . . . for a
while."
("Clovis Road, the Dr. Roy Hunt Murder, Littlefield, Texas 1942-1943, A True Crime
Story," written by Dad Middlebrooks Samuelson and Robert Samuelson, M.D., is
available at Waymoreʼs in Littlefield, at Amazon.com

Mr. Bill LaFont, Plainview, Texas

Discussed on the phone yesterday with Mr. LaFont in Plainview that the second printing of Clovis Road was ordered 3.29.2010 and should be ready in a few weeks.He is pictured looking at the book from the article in the Plainview Herald on Sunday

Plainview Herald 3.28.10

The Plainview paper printed an article today about the Roy Hunt murder story with an interview with Mr Bill LaFont.
We will try to post the article here. Judge Ted Robertson walking his dog Rocky came the house by this evening and talked about the article and suggested writing Tech about the story. We have tried twice to call the library at Tech and wrote the Lubbock Avalanche paper twice in Feb with no response. More to come.

Letter from Littlefield

We got a letter from a lady in Littlefield last week and we just wrote her back. In 1943 she lived across the street from the Hunt house with her parents. She said the Thomas' car had been parked behind their home in the alley. She said that Sheriff Hutson made her father a deputy sheriff that morning to help with all the work he had to do. She had read Clovis Road and said that she liked the book.