The Stock Market crashed in 1929, and farm prices fell.  Farmers compensated by planting more crops, but the oversupply pushed prices even lower.
The State established the Board of Education.  The county line school district on the boundaries of Motley and Hall formed Bridle Bit.  Fairview, a merger of Ballard and Clements schools, voted bonds and built a brick school.  The county’s school enrollment was at an all time high of 1,821.
For $12,000 The Matador Ranch built a concrete olympic-sized swimming pool at Tongue River’s Roaring Springs for use by the public in an effort to prevent possible appropriation by  government water source authorities.

1930
The Federal government voted drought relief to county farmers in 1930. Matador built a grade school and gymnasium to join the high school plant.  TeePee Flat School closed, its students transferred to Roaring Springs.  The Northfield Nazarenes constructed a church.  Barton community built a two-room red brick school.
By 1931 the Great Depression was in full swing with over four million citizens jobless. After 800 banks failed, President Hoover acted to end the run on the nation’s banks by infusing private and government money into the banking industry.
County school enrollment began its decline with a loss of almost a hundred students.  “Due to the depleted condition of county funds,” commissioners reduced the salaries of officials, eliminated the county agent, and, except for the sheriff’s, cut off the courthouse phones.
1932 housewives glued to their radios listened to Soap Operas, melodramas sponsored primarily by soap companies.  Miriam “Ma” Ferguson was re-elected as governor.  Kaffir Corn, cotton, and corn were so cheap that farmers burned the produce for fuel.  Cotton sold for only 5 cents a pound.  Commissioners appointed Dr. A.C. Traweek as County Health Officer.
Roaring Springs School, dismissed for harvest work, reopened despite the mounting number of unpaid and delinquent taxes.  The cheap transportation of wagons and horses replaced automobiles on many county roads.
One out of four Americans were out of work by 1933, but Texans fared better than most.  Oil jobs continued until an oversupply forced prices to drop from $1 to 22 cents a barrel.
Farmers could usually feed their own.  In fact, some in Motley County recall that their families, though without money for luxuries, ate very well since they had their own milk cows, chickens, and gardens.  County officials ordered wheat to be ground into flour for stockpiling and sought Civil Works Administration funds to provide jobs, such as building roads and pit toilets.
Reduced state funding cut down public school budgets, providing fewer books and supplies.  Teachers received payment in Scrip, a promissory note that pay would be forthcoming at a later date.  Roaring Springs school teachers faced a short year, a loss of affiliation, and no cashable checks. Federal Reconstruction Finance Corporation workers grubbed mesquites, dug ditches, and built a tennis court at the Roaring Springs school.
With 5/6 of the local taxes unpaid, The First State Bank of Roaring Springs reflected the hard times of its customers.  The failing bank was taken over by the First State Bank of Matador which then honored all claims against it.
The last senior class to graduate from Whiteflat reverted to horses and teams, except during planting and harvest times, to get to school.  Many kids walked to school.  County school enrollment dropped by another hundred.
Prohibition ended after fourteen embattled years.  Roaring Springs elected to make beer legal by eighteen votes, while Matador voted yes by a margin of thirty-one.
President Roosevelt’s New Deal assisted banks in reopening, states in feeding and helping the poor, the unemployed with jobs, and farmers by paying them not to grow crops.  The federal band-aid promoted soil conservation with contour farming, furrows and terraces, shelter belt plantings of grass and trees shelter, and damming of reservoirs for irrigation.
Lawlessness escalated and spawned a federal gun law in 1934 which prohibited the use of sawed-off shotguns.  Meanwhile law officers ambushed Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow; federal G-men gunned down an unarmed John Dillinger, Public Enemy No. 1.  Also bush-whacked before the year-end were Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson.
Revenuer S.A. Tibbets and Cattle Inspector Ed Russell led a bust on a Caprock bootleg operation near Flomot, confiscating 1,482 half gallons of Christmas whiskey.  Rounded up were two women and a man, a cache of dynamite, and whiskey runners, a 1934 V-8 Ford and a 1934 Oldsmobile coupe.
About 150 families in the county remained  homeless or without work.  In order to receive relief, those who were able had to work.
The county was declared in the Emergency Drought Area, making it eligible for feed imports and a government buyout of starving animals. Condemned and killed on county farms and ranches were 2,458 head of cattle.  The government bought a total of 10,648 county cattle to be shipped out or slaughtered at a price ranging from $4 to $14 a head.
Newspaper editor Douglas (Ben) Meador merged the Roaring Springs News  with the Motley County News to create the Matador Tribune.
The First National Bank of Matador transferred its assets to the First State Bank of Matador, the only remaining bank in the county.
At Flomot 200 school students registered.  Four hundred registered at Matador where business men reached down into their own pockets to finance the football program. The old red brick school building on the east side of town was re-cycled as a meeting place for the Assembly of God Church.
Northfield voted the bonds to build a cream-colored brick school and gym for their four teachers and eleven grades.  A CWA (Civil Works Administration) loan of $16,776 provided funds for the school, teacherage, and playground.
With a WPA (Works Progress Administration) loan of $46,000, Roaring Springs embarked on a program to build a brick high school, a gym-auditorium, a home economics department, and classrooms.  Workmen removed the top floor of the old red brick school house and remodeled the first and second floors for grade school.  Sixteen students enrolled in the Roaring Springs Colored School.
Folley high school students split up, attending schools either at Flomot, Quitaque, or Turkey.
The Social Security Act passed in 1935, setting up pensions for older citizens which was financed partly by workers, partly by employers.
Students who graduated from a fully accredited high school did not have to take college entrance tests.  Many smaller schools were unable to meet the criteria required, so Barton School and Fairview School transferred their high school students to Matador.  Fairmont students joined Flomot, bringing the enrollment there to more than 100 for the Class A approved, four-year
continued on page 12
high school.
Despite the drought and the depression, Texans celebrated the state centennial with an exposition, the building of the San Jacinto monument, and placement of historical markers such as the ones placed at TeePee City and the Roaring Springs falls.  Though Motley County counted over 1/3 of its farms lost to the drought, once the rains returned, farmers planted day and night.  A heat wave scorched the promising crops, then floods followed to finish them off.
The last train rumbled out of Matador, as the QA&P silenced the shortline railroad connection to Roaring Springs.
Harvey Stanford, Matador’s “winningest” coach, received a new car from appreciative business men.  When he resigned for a position at Las Vegas, the Flomot football team followed him there to train for two weeks.
Flomot added a gym.  The three-room school at Folley closed with students split between Flomot and Turkey. Montgomery students transfered to Turkey.  White Star School house was offered at public sale.  School enrollment counted 1,556 students.
In 1937 a diphtheria scare prompted parents to vaccinate their children.  The “worst yet” sandstorm hit the county.  Hail, floods, a grasshopper plague, and dust pneumonia tested the mettle of residents.
Optimistically Whiteflat residents voted bonds to build a new grade school and gym though it was never started.  Their 10th and 11th grades transferred to Matador.  White Star students transferred to Whiteflat.
W. Lee O’Daniel campaigned for governor in 1938 and won with the  slogan, “Go ahead and try me, you can’t do no worse.”  As nations geared up for war, the depression waned.
John Steinbeck’s novel about the Dust Bowl, The Grapes of Wrath, was published in 1939, the year Germany invaded Poland.
Shannon Davidson Day celebrated the cowboy’s winning Pony Express ride from Nocona, Texas, to Oakland, California, as thousands thronged into Matador for a mile long parade and rodeo at the football field.
Some county boys left for CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) camps while women worked for WPA wages by sewing clothing for needy.
Darden Canyon and Flag Springs schools transferred to Roaring Springs.

A. E. Butterfield, a circuit riding Methodist preacher, was called to help the Reverend J. J. Methvin with his work among the Comanches, Kiowas, and Apaches and served from 1892 to 1899. He wrote, “The thrill of seeing the great valley full of indian tepees, every one toward the rising sun, was more than my power of description can express. A chill came over me when I saw men with only blankets on and barefoot, the women with only shawls and no shoes. Their moccasins were of no use in the snow. More than 4,000 Comanches, Kiowa, and Apaches were in that camp.”
Butterfield amassed a collection of photographs taken in later years on what was the reservation and that collection is now in the Motley County Museum. Copies of these photographs were shared with the Quanah Parker Family Society at the National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock on September 10-11.

While his wife Mary was busy teaching, Butterfield walked from tepee to tepee, talking through an interpreter and praying wherever anyone would listen. When he heard the Big Looking Glass band was without a preacher, he borrowed a wagon and team and moved his family to the modest parsonage on the Little Washita. (Little Washita United Methodist Church is still in the Methodist conference.)

Though the government had contracted by treaty to feed and clothe them for 33 years if they stayed on the reservation, most of the tribes were getting only half enough to eat. Butterfield shared the little he had but was almost as impoverished as they were.

“The change in family life that we required was hard for them to grasp,” he wrote. The man must have only one wife and promise to work and support her, instead of having her do all the menial work. A change in housing eventually replaced the tepees with their attendant dirt floors, filth, and vermin with small frame houses.

The missionary made a study of Indian legends and was invited by Chief Looking Glass to attend a peyote ceremony. Lone Wolf, a friend of Quanah’s and his father-in-law for a short time, had a son, Delois K. Lonewolf who became a preacher of the Methodist Church and had a granddaughter who married the Rev. Matthew Botone of the same church.

During their seven years among the Indians, the Butterfields suffered many hardships and setbacks. They experienced poverty right along with those to whom they were ministering. Their small daughter Anna was bitten by a rabid skunk in their tepee; with no medical help available they relied on prayer and faith in God. A young son was not so lucky and died in infancy.

Upon his death in 1945, Butterfield’s funeral service included members of the Tahquechi family of the Comanche tribe of Lawton. A young maiden dressed in native apparel gave the Comanche interpretation in sign language as hymns were sung in tribute to the colorful pioneer pastor.

More than 160 residents and out-of-town guests, consuming 240 chili-cheese dogs with all the trimmings, attended a “donation only” fundraiser for the historic 1891 jail on Saturday, October 16, 2010.

Two former residents of Matador played characters at the jail. Events included jail tours to meet Digger Dansby, a “diviner” played by Jesse Perkins who could find “water in the desert.” It is reported that Digger used to “witch” for water for the torrential tide of settlers coming to Motley County by wagon in the early 1890s — he escaped death row on one of his outings. Also featured at the jail was the “Crazy Lady,” played by Melanie (Brown) Camp.  She sat in the shadows of the cell for “women or the criminally insane.”  Some residents posed behind the bars for a photo shoot with Digger, while the ghost of “Rose” floated in and out of the “crazy cell.”

The crowd was entertained on the east side of the jail by the Windy Ridge Posse, a re-enactment group from Plainview, consisting of 14 actors.  The group was decked out in early-day regalia, complete with Stetsons, Winchesters and six-shooters.  The characters re-told the story of the early day struggles of the county when arguments were settled by the gun.
The first sheriff of Motley County, Joseph Preston Beckham, was played by Jared White. He captured the spirit of this colorful early-day sheriff – young, daring and bold, and according to Beckham, “falsely accused of absconding with county tax collections.”

Beckham killed the fourth sheriff of Motley County in an ambush at a train station in Seymour. “Commissioner George Cook vowed he was going to kill me,” Beckham said. “Told it right in public and he tried and missed once in Childress. The second time Cook pulled a six-shooter on me was his last day on earth.” Beckham was killed in Indian Territory in 1895 by the Texas Rangers.

The re-enactment was about 30 minutes long, with six “shoot-outs,” (with blanks) ending in a blaze of bullets when Beckham was killed.  Following the re-enactment, three tractor-drawn trailers, loaded with hay and about 75 adventure-seekers, left the jail to negotiate the back country to the historic East Mound Cemetery.

Ten actors decked out in costumes of the day, performed at the cemetery behind the tombstone of their featured character. Each tombstone was outlined in 10 luminaries, offering a pleasant glow to the performances as the night sky advanced.
An introduction to the cemetery was given by Marisue Potts-Powell, who played District Judge Billy McGill, an outspoken judge who held court when Joseph Beckham and his replacement John L. Moore both claimed the sheriff’s badge in Motley County. He ruled that Moore had been appointed illegally to the office, but instead of re-instating Beckham to his elected position, he appointed the 3rd sheriff of Motley County, Billy Moses.

Judge McGill introduced the crowd to the first person buried in the cemetery, Jeff Varner, a wagon boss with the Matador Land and Cattle Company. Varner was killed in 1891, shortly after the county was organized.  His death resulted in the speedy construction of the little sandstone jail.

“The hasty construction of a jail followed the first murder in the newly-organized county of Jeff Varner,” McGill said.  “Varner was a Matador Ranch wagon boss who was killed by J. B. McLeod. McLeod galloped over the hill from the Dewdrop Saloon and Matador’s General Store on Ballard Creek Draw. He jumped off his horse, mumbled something about money, and pulled his Winchester rifle out of the scabbard on his saddle. He blazed away and Jeff Varner fell fatally wounded. While he attempted escape, he was soon captured and held in a small room with the body of the man he had gunned down. He was guarded day and night until the circuit judge showed up and ordered a change in venue to Seymour, Texas.

“Varner was buried, none too soon, first in Boothill and later reburied at East Mound Cemetery, land donated by Matador Land and Cattle Company. The citizens were so irked at having to guard the murderer that they decided to build the Motley County Jail.  Motley County Jail was built in 1891 by Pat Cornett and Jube Aiken from rock quarried about three miles west of Willow Creek on the H. H. Campbell ranch.”

Pat Cornett, “an Irishman by birth, a Texan by choice, and a stonemason by trade” was played by Rusty White, who wowed the crowd with his portrayal, complete with an Irish brogue.

“J. E. Aiken and I were awarded the construction contract on the Motley County Jail in 1891 for about $3,000. I did all the original stonework on the jail, which is still standing today after 119 years.  We hauled that stone by wagon from a quarry five miles west of Matador on the H. H. Campbell ranch. I was known as the “Stonemason of West Texas.”

The next featured sheriff was Henry Black, the ninth sheriff (1905-1910) of Motley County, played by local resident Bobby Klodginski. “My main claim to fame was as the Master (Chief Officer) of the Matador Masonic Lodge Number 824 when the Matador Land and Cattle Company deeded land to the Matador Lodge to be used for a cemetery in Matador.  Black also served as the Townsite Agent for Roaring Springs in 1912.

The great-grandson of Sheriff Jonathan Edward Russell was played by J. D. Russell, a cattle manager at Matador Land and Cattle Company. Sheriff Ed Russell was the 10th sheriff of Motley County, serving more than a decade (1910-1923) while “protecting the citizens of this county and making this country free from lawlessness.”
Ed Russell started his career as a Matador Ranch cook on the chuck wagon.  J.D. told a humorous story about how Sheriff Ed got his nickname, “Mud Turtle.”

“One day I had the chuck wagon pulled up to a tank the cowboys were cleaning out. Since I had a wagon to also clean out, I had cooked soup for dinner. Well, some prankster dropped one poor little turtle in the soup pot, and from then on, some people called me “Mud Turtle” or just plain, “Mud.”

Sheriff William Thomas “Billy” Cloyd was the next featured character, played by Howard Limmer.  Carolyn and Howard Limmer both serve on the board of the Friends of the Historic MC Jail. Cloyd was the sixth sheriff of Motley County, voted in by a landslide in 1896. He was a Matador Ranch cowboy, starting with the Matadors in 1887 with his brother, Jim, when he was only 17-years-old.

“I thought the cowboy life would be a romantic kind of job, but there was no romance on the range. No siree, I worked from daylight to dark. A lot of hands didn’t have work, but Jim and me, we had a specialty. We was the chuck wagon cooks for the Matadors.” It is reported that the Cloyd brothers fed 140 men for dinner one time, he said. Cloyd was only 34 years old when he died of pneumonia. His five children were raised by the Masonic Home and School in Fort Worth.

The most poignant moment of the evening came with the performance of Roy Hobbs who played Jalmer “Jinks” Wilson. Jinks served in law enforcement in Motley County for more than 20 years until his untimely death on November 12, 1976.
Jinks and his wife Geneva, and son Dink and daughter Nelda, lived in the jail for about 10 years. Jinks served as jailer and Deputy Sheriff; and “my wife cooked two meals a day for the prisoners. The county paid her $1.50 a day.

“I was elected Sheriff in 1956, serving two terms until 1964. After a few years in the ranching business, I ran for office again, and served as Sheriff for almost four years before being killed in the line of duty in 1976 by two sawed off shotgun blasts at close range. I was 61 years old,” he said.  It was reported there were an estimated 1,000 people who attended the funeral of this beloved sheriff. Geneva and Dink both serve on the board of the Friends of the Historic MC Jail.

Located on the north side of the cemetery, Judge Ed D. Smith portrayed his father, William Earl “Ed D.”Smith lived in the jail as a Deputy under Sheriff Jinks Wilson.  Big Ed was a colorful character, well loved in the community, and remembered by many.

“Back when I was livin’ and breathin’, I did like to talk and that ain’t changed. I was born in Childress, Texas, February 4, 1895. I grew up around Childress and worked on several ranches before headin’ out to Matador horseback in May 1913. I was headed to the Matador Ranch to try to get a job. I was eighteen years old at the time.
Smith retired from the Matadors after a heart attack in the fall of 1957. “I shore did love the Old Matadors,” Ed D. deadpanned.

“Why when the Scotsmen sold out in ’52, for 35 years of continuous service they gave me a new pair of levis and a carton of Camels.”

Jim Childers of Paducah not only participated with the Windy Ridge Posse group at the jail, he also played a character at the cemetery. Dressed in all-black with a vest and fob watch, a duster, and of course, his trusty six-shooter, Jim played John L. Moore, the 2nd sheriff of Motley County, appointed following the arrest of sheriff number one, Joe Beckham.

“I was appointed sheriff by the Commissioner’s Court in 1893 following an arrest warrant issued against Sheriff Beckham for the felony offense of embezzlement of public funds.  In 1893, Motley County ‘teetered on the brink of civil war’ – the settlers versus the Matador Ranch.  The settlers were supported by Henry H. Campbell, a Confederate army veteran and pioneer Texas Cattleman; one of the founders of Matador Ranch. Campbell later became the first county judge.

“Later, I ran for Motley County Commissioner (1894) and was successful, serving three terms.  I also served as Mayor of the City of Matador from 1913 to 1914.

“I outlived a lot of my peers who died with their boots on.  During my long career I was a merchant, mail carrier, Justice of the Peace, and served as a Deputy Sheriff under two sheriffs.” Moore died April 5, 1938, at the ripe old age of 86. He is buried by his wife of 53 years.

The ninth performance of the evening featured Barbara Waybourn West, the great-granddaughter of John Wesley Waybourn, a former Texas Ranger.

Barbara gave a flawless performance, dressed in a brown leather jacket and white hat, sporting a Texas Ranger badge.
“In 1861, John Wesley joined the Minute Men of Clay County, working to bring law and order to Clay County.  These county groups were established as part of the Texas Rangers. He served in the Confederate Army along with his father and brother. In 1897, when the west opened up, the Waybourn family moved to Motley County to purchase land.

Lastly, Janie Campbell performed the character of Elizabeth Cook, the wife of Sheriff number four, who was killed by Joe Beckham.

“George was elected Sheriff of Motley County in 1894, only a few short months before he was killed. On May 27, 1895, Joe Beckham ambushed my husband and killed him in cold blood at the train station in Seymour, Texas, on the very day he was there to testify against Beckham at his trial. George Cook died defending the honor of Motley County,” she said.
This concluded the program at the cemetery. The trailers started their return journey to the jail, and the crowd dispersed. The cemetery became eerily quiet with the luminaries glowing in the dark. A shadowy moon peeked from behind the clouds. It was a night to remember, one woman said.

To join the Friends of the Historic Motley County Jail, please send a one-time only membership fee of $25.00 to Friends at P.O. Box 582, Matador, 79244. New members will receive the latest Friends Care newsletter and a frameable picture of the jail. Quarterly newsletters on the progress of the repair will keep members posted. Donations to the jail project may be sent to the above address.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the public for the support of this worthy project,” Carol Campbell, chair of the 10-member board said. “Our motto is: “We all get by with a little help from our friends …”

Doug Meador’s father James E. (Jim) Meador, a former Matador Ranch cowboy, helped dig the foundation for the Motley County jail built in 1891.

His first “official duty” when elected Mayor in 1948 was to “dissolve the mayor’s salary. My creditors never forgave me,” he said.

Meador didn’t finish high school, but during his stay in California he took a correspondence course in writing. “I know what people say,” he explained. “They say I got my diploma at the post office. But I learned what grammar I know and got basic ideas and just a lot of inspiration from that course. Maybe you help yourself by doing. Anyway, I love words and the way they’re formed.”

Doug Meador sent the newspaper free of charge to every soldier from Motley County during World War II.

1895:  Records show that a newspaper has been continuously published in Matador since the spring of 1895.

May 9, 1901:  Born in Matador; parents, Jennie Belle and James E. (Jim) Meador. Died in Matador on September 27, 1974, at the age of 73.

1928-1934:  Worked a 6-year stint in California trying to “break into the writing game in the movie studios and Hollywood.” Worked as a “soda jerk” in Simpson’s Drug, Matador; worked on a pile driver building bridges between Matador and Paducah; hauled dynamite form Acme in his Ford roadster; operated the Phillips 66 station in Matador for a year; worked for the Childress Index, his first newspaper job.

June 22, 1929:  Married Lila Tipton of Caruthersville, Mo.

Dec. 10, 1931:  The first “Trail Dust” column was printed in Floydada by the Hesperian Publishing Company.  Trail Dust was printed in a free circulation newspaper which was forced to suspend after only eight issues.

Oct., 1932:  Operated a filling station in Matador for $1.00 a day.

Dec., 1933:  First published newspaper as Matador Tribune.

Mar. 14, 1934:  Purchased the Motley County News from G.C. Mitchell, and combined the two newspapers under the Matador Tribune masthead. The original publishing company partnership comprised of Howard Hamilton and Douglas Meador. Moved to the Masonic Building (located in the back of the Matador Variety Store, (Main and Hwy. 70) where the Tribune was printed for 19 years.

1935:   Purchased Hamilton’s interest in Matador Tribune.

About 1938:  The Matador Tribune purchased “the circulation, advertising and good will of the Roaring Springs Reporter.” The Tribune became owner of these previous names:  Texas Maverick, Motley County News, Matador Gusher, Roaring Springs News, (a second Motley County News from G. C. Mitchell in 1934) and Roaring Springs Reporter.

1940:  First publication of “Trail Dust,” 134 pages, cloth bound, sold for $1.60; third printing, November, 1970, 140 pages; sold for $4.95. Book cover: “Star-dusted philosophy by an editor from a small west Texas town.”

1947:  Travelled to Guatemala City, Central America where he wrote and photographed for a feature article for a national magazine, assigned by “one of the large news agencies.”

March, 1948:  The Matador Tribune started with Volume 54, No. 1 (Volume numbers of past publications were picked up in this number).

1948:  Elected as Mayor on a “no salary” campaign. In an Open Letter to the Citizens he wrote:  “We are very small and very ordinary separately but collectively we can have a strength that will accomplish the seemingly impossible. We can, with unity, build Matador into one of the most outstanding communities in West Texas.”

April, 1950:  Announced his candidacy for re-election as Mayor, saying he would seek a double salary “. . . so if you elect me as your mayor beginning April 4th my salary will be double zero, if it is approved by the council.” Notable quote: “After serving two years without salary I feel that I have made a great discovery. A politician can get along without money provided he has never used it before entering office. It is also pleasant to ignore the tax collector when you are not bothered with a salary.” He won another term, hands down.

1952:  Lionism’s highest award of “Outstanding Member” for 1951-52. Member since 1933.

Oct. 9, 1952:  Named Texas Newspaperman of the Year. “In recognition of leadership in Texas Journalism, The Texas Editor and Publishers expresses its gratitude to Douglas Meador for devoting his lifetime to a journalistic enterprise; for furthering the ideals and principles of community service, cooperation and achievement in newspaper publishing.”

1953:  Constructed the Matador Tribune building (now Tom Edwards Law Office).

1971:  Received an Award of Excellence at the 92nd Annual Texas Press Association meeting in Austin.

Aug. 26, 1971:  The Southwest Scene Magazine section of the Dallas Morning News featured Doug Meador:  The article was titled “The Sage of Matador.”

October, 1972:  Letter of congratulations from Governor Preston Smith acknowledging that Cimarron Valley Historical Society honored him on October 15, 1972, for “your great achievements in the field of journalism.”  He was presented with a plaque mounted on a frame from the first printing press used in Motley County, which he then erected on a lot across from the Tribune (now Pioneer Park), in honor of his pioneer parents, James and Jennie Belle Meador.

Sept. 27, 1974:  Died at Methodist Hospital in Lubbock from a stroke following surgery on a malignant tumor on his left lung.

June 13, 1981:  Lila Meador, 72, died of a heart attack.

Born May 9, 1901, in the same small cowtown where I now live and operate the Matador Tribune. As a boy I used to arise at 4 a.m., wrap my feet in old blankets, because there was no fire, and write until the household had arisen. All the high school education I received by riding a small paint pony five miles to Paducah (I grew to manhood on a farm west of Paducah). Frail in statute and too young to join the army, I shipped to Peterburg, Va. in 1918 where I was employed at Camp Lee. There I contracted influenza and pneumonia; I was told that I would die. Escaping from the camp, I boarded a train and made it back to Texas.

Believing I could sell motion picture stories; I went to Hollywood in 1922. Broke, hungry and friendless in a strange land, I washed dishes in a café on the opposite side of Hollywood Boulevard from Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Finally I sold two short comedy stories to an independent producer on Poverty Row and aided in direction of one. After a few months the company folded up for lack of funds and I went hungry again until finding a job with a drug store in Hollywood. I worked over four years with this company; studied home correspondence courses and finally quit the store to work as an electrician for Fox Studios.

When the summer was up I returned to Texas to visit my parents (the fourth visit during my stay in California). The next spring I returned and sold real estate for a year, then returned to Texas. I was planning to go back to California in the summer of 1928 when I chanced to visit Matador (the city of my birth). I was offered and urged to accept a place in a drug store. I decided to work for a short time and earn some clothes money.

In October I met Miss Lila Tipton, then employed in a bank across the street. We were married the following June.
The depression left me without a job. I worked the month of January 1930 in a grocery store and then secured a place in the advertising department of the Childress Index, my first newspaper work. After three months I quit the job and returned to Matador and my wife, to accept a place at everything from porter to reporter on the Motley County News at $15 per week. ($10 less per week than the job I had quit). In July Mr. G.C. Mitchell, publisher of the paper told me that business was so slow that he would need to let me go. I secured a job on a pile-driver in building the two bridges across Tongue River between Matador and Paducah. I worked from daylight to darkness, hauled dynamite and made a little extra money with my car. Hurting my hand early in the winter, I had to quit the job and in January 1931 I became manager of a filling station here. I worked seven days each week, opening and closing the station, my wife bringing my lunch to me. After ten months, I gave up the station and started my first newspaper.
I had a pencil and some paper. I made layouts and sold $104 worth of advertising for my first issue. The paper, The Matador Tribune, was published by Homer Steen at Floydada. Free circulation, no foreign, no legal, no mailing permit, no job work and in competition to a paper that had been in operation for over 30 years. Matador’s population is 1300. The paper was a failure after seven issues. Homer Steen gave me every help possible but tried to talk me out of the crazy idea. He said, “It can’t be done, if it could, you would be the one because you have more enthusiasm than any person I have ever known.”

I secured a job  as bookkeeper in an automobile agency and later operated another filling station. In the fall of 1932 Mr. M.S. Thacker of Roaring Springs drove into the filling station where I was employed and told (me) that he wanted me to take management of the Roaring Springs News, which he owned in addition to most everything else in the city. A small handset plant in a town of 400 (the paper was printed on an old Taylor Press which I later sold for $10). I had never seen Mr. Thacker before and I told him I did not have any money. He said that he had made investigations regarding me and that it was ok. I had $1.43 and owed almost everyone in Matador. I went to Roaring Springs and started. It was possibly discouraging, although I don’t remember it. The people said they did not want a paper. . . the town was too small and on the decline. They had a paper. I sold what advertising I could and secured all the story notes possible, then returned to Matador and wrote the stories.

Then I drove my old car to Paducah 30 miles away where E.A. Carlock set the copy into type for me. In Paducah I secured the services of one B.M. Nelson, a  competitor of Mr. Carlock’s in the job business –  a country printer from Bell County who had moved into Paducah and was doing a nice business of starving to death. I hired him for a day and night each week and we would carry the type  back to Roaring Springs, set up the ads and run off the paper, then I would return him and the used slugs back to Paducah and then return to Matador.  I knew nothing about the mechanical work connected with a newspaper or commercial printing.

During the winter Mr. Nelson helped me; we often ran out of fuel and would kick a plank loose in the partition that separated the news plant from a cottonseed storage where Mr. Thacker had several tons of the little hair-covered beans; there to bury in the seed and cover with old newspapers and await daylight so I could get out and rustle some mesquite grubs for the stove. Many times I have borrowed 35 cents from a friendly grocery advertiser as advance on his $1 ad to pay the postage.

The next spring I talked Nelson into moving to Roaring Springs and setting the paper. I was to give him $2 per day and the first month I failed, he was to become manager upon my recommendation to Mr. Thacker. He never failed to get his money although I had to borrow money several times to pay him. I never kept any books. We wrote the amount I paid Nelson on the door facing.
I decided there was no more in Roaring Springs for me. Nelson was getting what little the plant was making and although the circulation was growing, it was mostly in  Matador and most of my commercial printing was coming from Matador. I wanted to move that old hand-set plant here against Mr. Mitchell. My wife begged me not to do it and pointed out the humiliation of failing again. I never thought of failing. I talked Mr. Thacker into the notion of letting me move his plant out of his town. He finally consented and loaned me a truck with which to move it. I moved the mailing permit through the post office and changed the name from the Roaring Springs News to The Matador Tribune.

About that time Judge G.E. Hamilton, one of the best and most influential men in the county, came to me and offered me a partnership with his son who is an expert printer. He said he had $1000 to put into the paper. He said that he had been watching me for a number of years and that he felt that two of us could make a go of it. The money looked big and I accepted the arrangement. However, we did not buy the Motley County News as originally planned at that time. Instead we paid Mr. Thacker off the equipment and all my paper indebtedness. We were on equal grounds with Mitchell – we owed nothing- but we did not have a machine and no foreign business. Within three months we purchased the Motley County News, name, business and subscription list for $750 instead of the $3,500 for part of his equipment as Mr. Mitchell had first priced it. We purchased a new machine and a Babcock Press from Mr. Carlock. We owed over $7,000. It was the drought year of 1934.  By the first of the next year we owed the additional interest on the $7M and $650 in open accounts. One of us had to go, so I purchased Hamilton’s interest for $500 (on a credit) and assumed all obligations. Ed Carlock loaned me $2,400 (9%). Last fall I paid him the last dime, interest and all. All the paper house has been paid. The linotype company and myself have a little affair of several hundred dollars but we are buddies – they are even trying to sell me a new machine.

In 1940, my column “Trail Dust” was awarded a silver cup at the Dallas Fair for the best local column in Texas. I could not attend because I had no money but I read about my winning in an AP story. I served as secretary of the Matador Lions Club during 1934. I was made a director in the West Texas Press Association during the same year and I am now president of the West Texas Press. I was a director in the Panhandle Press for several years. I am not a member of any church. No fraternal organization. I am a key member of the Matador Lions Club. I never openly ran for office although I came within five votes of being elected Mayor of Matador a few years ago as a dark horse candidate.

My column, which has been published as a Sunday feature by the Amarillo News-Globe for the past three years, was mentioned by Time Magazine in February and I have received letters from all over the country asking for copies of the Tribune. Last week I signed a standard royalty contract with the Naylor Publishing Company of San Antonio to publish Trail Dust in a book this fall. I am Director-General of Motley in the West Texas Chamber of Commerce but I have never done anything. I don’t see why they don’t kick me out.

I have never done anything . . . my friends should have credit for the things which are passed my way on a silver charger.

Ben Douglas Meador
circa 1940

Douglas Meador, 1923, Hollywood Court Drugstor, Santa Monica

I was assigned the overwhelming task of compiling a retrospective story on Ben Douglas Meador (1901-1974) who was the owner and operator of The Matador Tribune from 1933 until his death in 1974, more than 40 years in continuous operation by one owner.

Doug Meador was a widely recognized newspaper man in his time, best known for his column “Trail Dust” which was later published into a book, now out of print.

I delved into the archived files at the Motley County Museum.  A wealth of information was donated to the museum by Lila Meador before her death in 1961. Marisue Potts-Powell was kind enough to loan me the files to read at my leisure.  There were two large folders of materials, decades of stories about Doug Meador, his past accomplishments, pictures, famous quotes, articles from reporters that had interviewed him, a letter from Governor Preston Smith (1972); and numerous hand-written letters from his former employee, Pulitzer prize-winning author Karen Elliott House.  It is reported that he received a letter from President Lyndon B. Johnson commending him for a job well done; and finally, sadly, his lengthy obituary, outlining his many accomplishments.

According to his obituary, he was “most proud of three circumstances in his life:  of being a native Texan, of having been born in Matador, and of having served as Mayor of Matador.” (“Publisher of Tribune Dies,” The Matador Tribune, September, 1974).

Doug ran for Mayor in 1948 on a “no salary campaign.” His first official duty when elected was to “dissolve the mayor’s salary.”  “My creditors never forgave me,” he said.  This received wide publicity throughout Texas.  The story was picked up by the Associated Press and was used by radio newscasters from Dallas and San Antonio; and received front page news in Lubbock and Ft. Worth.

Later, when he ran for re-election, he said he was going to “double his salary” to two zeros. “A politician can get along without money provided he has never used it before entering office,” he said. He won another term, hands down.

It was a life well-lived, full of colorful people, and adventures – outstanding civic leadership and pride, devotion to friends and family, awards of excellence, state and regional newspaper awards; and a work ethic not likely seen since the invention of computers and instant spell check.  His life spanned the old manual typewriter and the linotype machine.  The Linotype typesetting machine revolutionized typesetting for newspapers in the late ’30s and early ’40s, producing an entire line of metal type at once — hence a line-o-type).   But someone had to set type, and Doug learned that skill, too.

One article said that one time Doug worked 24 hours straight on a deadline for a special edition.  His friends found him asleep on the counter at the news office the next day. He traveled to Guatemala City, Central America, where he wrote and photographed for a feature article for a national magazine.

His loyal wife, Lila, worked side-by-side with Doug at the news office, typesetting, typing, selling ads, and composing copy. It was said the Lila married Doug and the Matador Tribune in 1929. She also wrote a column – the brains behind the scenes, some say.  Well, dreamers can’t be thinking about money all the time, can they?

“I have more glory and less money than anybody I know,” he said. (Matador Tribune, October 12, 1972). Perhaps the most poignant bit of wisdom came from the same issue, “It’s not as important what you put in a country newspaper, as what you keep out of it,” he said.

To that end, I beg to differ: I found an important treasure; a treasure that has never been published to my knowledge. It was tucked away in the middle of the museum folder — three pages of single-spaced, typed script in his own words.  Edited with little ink squiggles, and typewriter xxxx’s.  Here was Doug Meador talking about his life, his humble beginnings, his misfortunes in the early days, and finally, his success.  The folded paper was yellowed and brittle, and very fragile.  I felt humbled to be holding his innermost thoughts of 70 years ago in my hands. But he left it for us, I reminded myself, and in his own words, he speaks to us today.

“A great, good man is gone; the stranger he never knew here will be his friend in paradise.” — Doug Meador.

Somehow the fire of enthusiasm burned itself out and instead of re-kindling,

I moved on to build another fire.

Others who placed their shoulders to the wheel where I quit, have pushed the heavy wagon of purpose through the quagmire of doubt and up the slopes of success.

I have been unusually successful in burning my bridges, however, and in many cases wished I had left them intact.

An unwilling slave to a secret stubborn pride, I have, at the crack of the whip, tugged frantically at traces secured to the stump of impossibility.

Motley County Tribune

1^st Annual Douglas Meador Writing Contest

$300 1st place, $150 2nd place

Stories and personal narratives with a focus on the experience of the American west, circa 1850-1940.

Winners will be published in the

1^st Annual Old Settlers Trail Dust Anthology–“Writing West”

Deadline: July 4, 2010

Email mctribune@gmail.com for guidelines.

Read a pdf of the Motley County Tribune at www.mctribune.info/

We are interested in stories of those who came to the American West after 1850 and those who were here when the pioneers arrived.  We want stories with authenticity, lively details, and a sense of place that capture the spirit of the land and highlight and celebrate rich traditions, struggles and accomplishments.

Stories will be judged by outside readers and Motley County Tribune publishers and editors, Larry Vogt and Laverne Zabielski, MFA

Guidelines

*There is a $10 reading fee for each piece submitted.

*Make checks payable to Motley County Tribune

*Include a self-addressed stamped post card if you would like acknowledgement of receipt of your submission.   Manuscripts will not be returned.  Copyrights to manuscripts remain with authors.

*Submit two hard (paper) copies and one email copy.

Send paper entries to:

Motley County Tribune

PO Box 490

Matador, Texas 79244

AND

email copy to: Editor.mctribune@gmail.com

*Manuscripts must be 12 pt, typed, double-spaced on 8 1/2″ x 11” paper.   2000 maximum word count.

*Writer’s name must not appear on the manuscript.

*A separate cover sheet must accompany each entry with the following information:

Title of submission.

Writer’s name, address,
telephone number, and
e-mail address.

*Include a title page with the manuscript title only.

*On the manuscript itself, each page should be headed with a title keyword and page number.

*Submissions must be postmarked by deadline date July 5, 2010.

We look forward to reading your stories.

Laverne Zabielski and Larry Vogt

Publishers and Editors

The Motley County Tribune is a 119 year-old newspaper in West Texas.  Our circulation is about 1000 and serves, Motley and surrounding counties and many other subscribers around the country.  When my husband and I first bought the paper in 2007 we created a section called Writing Community and encouraged readers to submit stories and poetry.  We have come to realize that subscribers enjoy this section and they are particularly interested in stories of the west that connect them to their roots.

We appreciate the work Douglas Meador accomplished when he was publisher and editor. He bought the paper the in 1930 and began writing his first Trail Dust column.  These weekly columns drew on his experiences in West Texas. We continue to publish excerpts from Trail Dust.  His writing was poetic and he captured the spirit of the land.  He was masterful at weaving his vignettes of cowboy life and ordinary folks and adding his own humor and thought. We commend his courage to publish this column every week at a time when newspapers were primarily focused only on news

In 1934 “Trail Dust” was named best column in the state by the State Fair of Texas.   “Trail Dust” was first published in book form in 1940 and was reprinted in 1967 and 1970. The hardbound version brought Meador a White House commendation in 1967.

In the early 1980s, in order to have a newspaper more inclusive of the entire county, the name was changed to  the Motley County Tribune.

The Motley County Tribune, (ISSN: 0897-4322), purchased on November 29, 2007, is published weekly each Thursday, except Christmas week, at Matador, Texas.  The office is located at 724 Dundee, 806.347.2400.  Periodical-class postage paid at Matador, Texas, Postmaster.

Motley County Tribune

1^st Annual Douglas Meador Writing Contest

$300 1st place, $150 2nd place

Stories and personal narratives with a focus on the experience of the American west, circa 1850-1940.

Winners will be published in the

1^st Annual Old Settlers Trail Dust Anthology–“Writing West”

Deadline: July 4, 2010

Email mctribune@gmail.com for guidelines.

Read a pdf of the Motley County Tribune at www.mctribune.info/

We are interested in stories of those who came to the American West after 1850 and those who were here when the pioneers arrived.  We want stories with authenticity, lively details, and a sense of place that capture the spirit of the land and highlight and celebrate rich traditions, struggles and accomplishments.

Stories will be judged by outside readers and Motley County Tribune publishers and editors, Larry Vogt and Laverne Zabielski, MFA

Guidelines

*There is a $10 reading fee for each piece submitted.

*Make checks payable to Motley County Tribune

*Include a self-addressed stamped post card if you would like acknowledgement of receipt of your submission.   Manuscripts will not be returned.  Copyrights to manuscripts remain with authors.

*Submit two hard (paper) copies and one email copy.

Send paper entries to:

Motley County Tribune

PO Box 490

Matador, Texas 79244

AND

email copy to: Editor.mctribune@gmail.com

*Manuscripts must be 12 pt, typed, double-spaced on 8 1/2″ x 11” paper.   2000 maximum word count.

*Writer’s name must not appear on the manuscript.

*A separate cover sheet must accompany each entry with the following information:

Title of submission.

Writer’s name, address,
telephone number, and
e-mail address.

*Include a title page with the manuscript title only.

*On the manuscript itself, each page should be headed with a title keyword and page number.

*Submissions must be postmarked by deadline date July 5, 2010.

We look forward to reading your stories.

Laverne Zabielski and Larry Vogt

Publishers and Editors

The Motley County Tribune is a 119 year-old newspaper in West Texas.  Our circulation is about 1000 and serves, Motley and surrounding counties and many other subscribers around the country.  When my husband and I first bought the paper in 2007 we created a section called Writing Community and encouraged readers to submit stories and poetry.  We have come to realize that subscribers enjoy this section and they are particularly interested in stories of the west that connect them to their roots.

We appreciate the work Douglas Meador accomplished when he was publisher and editor. He bought the paper the in 1930 and began writing his first Trail Dust column.  These weekly columns drew on his experiences in West Texas. We continue to publish excerpts from Trail Dust.  His writing was poetic and he captured the spirit of the land.  He was masterful at weaving his vignettes of cowboy life and ordinary folks and adding his own humor and thought. We commend his courage to publish this column every week at a time when newspapers were primarily focused only on news

In 1934 “Trail Dust” was named best column in the state by the State Fair of Texas.   “Trail Dust” was first published in book form in 1940 and was reprinted in 1967 and 1970. The hardbound version brought Meador a White House commendation in 1967.

In the early 1980s, in order to have a newspaper more inclusive of the entire county, the name was changed to  the Motley County Tribune.

The Motley County Tribune, (ISSN: 0897-4322), purchased on November 29, 2007, is published weekly each Thursday, except Christmas week, at Matador, Texas.  The office is located at 724 Dundee, 806.347.2400.  Periodical-class postage paid at Matador, Texas, Postmaster.