Mrs. Stokes, the Lost Pony, and Two Seniors

     Football was big in small town west Texas, and in the fall of 1945 Littlefield saw one of its best ever Wildcat teams go undefeated until it lost the regional playoff to Ballinger on December 7, 1945. A letterman on that Wildcat team was senior Landon “Slow” Grissom who saw the Hunt girls coming toward his house with his mother in 1943 when the Hunts were killed. Also, the student manager of that football team was senior  +Malcolm Parker Stokes whose mom was looking for his lost pony on Sunday October 24, 1943 near the Hunt home just before the murders on Tuesday October 26, 1943.
     As 1946 began this “lost pony” story was one of the loose ends of the Hunt case that the district attorney in Plainview was trying to tie up. He tried multiple times to get sheriff Hutson to get the lady to tell her story to the court and to go to line ups where she could identify Jim Thomas. The trial for Jim Thomas was set for October 15, 1946. 
     It is the story of the local druggists wife, +Pearl Elizabeth (Loyd) Stokes, told on page 93 of +Clovis Road II and also on page 148 how District Attorney Harold LaFont so badly wanted her testimony in a case where he had very little evidence placing Jim C. Thomas in Littlefield in 1943. On August 15, 1946 eldest son, James Jr, of Pearl and her husband, James Mitchell Stokes,  married a good Baptist girl, Ruth. James Stokes, Jr was studying to be a dentist and football manager son Malcolm was done with Littlefield High School and off to Texas Tech.
     The Stokes family had moved to Littlefield and opened the only drug store and soda fountain at 331 Phelps Avenue before 1924. On August 13, 1924 new city commissioner J. M. Stokes attended the first meeting of the Littlefield City Council and worked hard to get the city incorporated by the state the following year on March 24, 1925. Stokes was reelected commissioner in 1925. +James Mitchell Stokes was born in Tennessee, the son of a Baptist minister, on March 26, 1891 and listed himself as a drug clerk by 1910.
    Then all of a sudden, when testimony was badly needed in October of 1946,  Mrs. Stokes reconsidered visiting a line up in Huntsville for Jim Thomas. Some in Littlefield say she  left Littlefield, and moved to Snyder, Texas for a time. She never testified. Snyder was  where +Dr. Billy Newton had great influence and owned the local hospital. Also, Jim Thomas had real estate interests in Snyder. In 1950 the town of Snyder grew from 4,000 population to more than 12,000 after the discovery of Canyon Reef Oil Field.There are no coincidences ... and Mrs. Stokes had  been dissuaded by the Newton gang from testifying, been given an offer she could not refuse and in effect damaged the prosecution’s case against +Jim C. Thomas. What makes a 57 year old druggist with political influence, with an established business, with a home on East 8th Street, and with ties in a community ties where he raised his family and helped found the city, sell his store to the Wrights and pick up and move 120 miles further down Highway 84, the Clovis Road?  Only Pearl Stokes  and her husband Jim knew for sure and she died in 1961 before her husband died on November 14, 1967.

From July 3, 2013 Lamb County Leader News J.M. Stokes third from left at Littlefield City Council meeting in 1925

W. R. Newton Home in Cameron, Texas

Before it burned on April 24, 1972 the Dr. Billy

From Matchless Milam, 1984

From Matchless Milam, 1984

Newton home at 8th and Jackson was featured in 1970 in a photo essay "Cameron Folk Fete." The photos showed girls in costume touring the house. The chandalier in the entry with the spiral staircase was a well known accent of the house. The house was built in the 1890s by Mr. W. Hefley an early Cameron real estate developer. The fire and events surrounding it are told in Clovis Road. The book can be obtained from Highgate Publishing, 6257 Highgate Lane, Dallas, Texas 75214.

Sally Davidson Benefit Wine Tasting at Duggan Museum in Littlefield

 

On Friday, July 5, 2013, +Sally Davidson held a benefit wine tasting at the Duggan House Museum in Littlefield as part of the Centennial Celebration. Sally Davidson, daughter of Jim and Jane Davidson,  is a graduate of Littlefield High School and owns the Holy Cross Abbey Winery in Canon City, Colorado. She has held previous wine tasting benefits for the Duggan House Museum. Her brother, James Edward Davidson, Jr. (1963-2010) passed his copy of Clovis Road on to his cousin, +Anna Nupson, managing partner of Mulligan Life Entertainment. In a photo essay by the Lamb County Leader News Sally is pictured at the wine tasting, also Wanda Erickson, the museum director is shown holding a copy of Clovis Road - The Doctor Roy Hunt Murder - Littlefield, Texas - 1942-1943. In 2010, Ms. Erickson helped us put on a benefit book signing for the museum.

Single click to enlarge

James Clyde (Jim) Thomas Grave

Jim C. Thomas was killed by double barreled shotgun blasts in Durant, Oklahoma on August 22, 1951 fired by Herbert Deere, who had known him since 1941. Herbert Deere was called to testify about Jim at a grand jury in Olton, Texas about the Dr. Roy Hunt murder in April of 1944. After a hung jury in Bryan County Oklahoma the prosecution dismissed charges against Deere for killing Jim.
Jim Thomas was buried in McLennan County, Texas in the Oakwood Cemetery in Waco.

The story of the Hunt murders and Jim's death is revealed in Clovis Road written by +Dana Middlebrooks and Robert Samuelson. You can go to Littlefield and purchase a copy at Waymore's or order your copy by writing 6257 Highgate Lane, Dallas, Texas 75214 and enclosing a check or money order for $36.81. Be sure to let us know if you want it autographed.

Dana Middlebrooks Samuelson and Dr. Robert J. Samuelson, M.D. at Duggan Museum

Clovis Road Article in Leader News Centennial Paper

The Lamb County Leader News edition for July 3, 2013 was full of articles relating to the centennial celebration and to the history of Littlefield, Texas. The publisher, Mr. Stephen Henry, called early that week to talk about the second edition of Clovis Road. This phone interview resulted in a review article on developments with the story of the +Dr. Roy Hunt murder.

Single click on article to enlarge

Travis Parks Highway 84 Clovis Road Page

+Stephen Travis Parks April 30, 1983 - June 22, 2011

Travis Parks is pictured  on Clovis Road. His mother, +Eileen Hinckley Bonds, submitted this photo. Any Clovis Road fan can submit a photograph of themselves with the Highway 84 or a Clovis Road sign in the background and have it included on +Travis Parks’ page. Submit  the photo to 6257 Highgate Lane, Dallas, Texas 75214.

Hunt Family Picture

From left: Dr. Ewell L. Hunt, Dr. Roy E. Hunt, Alvin George Hunt, Ruth A. Hays, Homer Hunt, Alvin B. Hunt - about 1940

Tomorrow, July 5, 2013, marks the beginning of the celebration of Littlefield's Centennial. Clovis Road II is available at  Waymore’s, or by writing Highgate Publishing at 6257 Highgate Lane, Dallas, Texas, 75214 and enclosing a check or money order for $36.81 per copy.