Volume 8 , Issue 20

The Rest of the Story...

1950's Memories... "The Foreman Scotty Show and 3-D Danny were favorites of mine growing up in the 50's in Helena (Alfalfa County), Oklahoma. The Helena kids were all so excited when 3-D Danny and another character, Hog Waller, appeared at the Helena Fair one year in the 50's as part of our Saturday evening entertainment, along with WKY Radio Disc Jockey Dale Webha. Danny was also the early morning Disc Jockey at WKY and mom would turn up the kitchen radio very loud at 7 AM weekdays as Danny was proclaiming he was the "Rockin' Bird" and it was time to "rise and shine". This was our wake up call to get up and come to breakfast so we could get ready for school. We also looked forward each Saturday night @ 10:30 PM to watch Danny Williams on Channel 4's Championship Wrestling. My grandpa (Glenn Dague), who lived next door, just made sure we were up early for Sunday School the next morning if we did stay up late. For the past several years, Danny was my clock radio wake up call on KOMA radio, the other favorite Oklahoma radio station from the 50's. Now, 50 years later, Danny doesn't get up early enough for my 4:30 AM alarm, but I still listen to him today on KOMA radio during my morning commute to work each day in OKC @ 5:30 AM. I can even listen to DJ Ronnie Kaye on KOMA and my favorite golden oldies on the drive home, and remember the fun we had at the sock hop dances Ronnie hosted in the 60's. Thanks to Danny and Ronnie still hanging around playing my favorite tunes of the 50's and 60's, I don't feel "quite" so old. They help keep the wonderful memories of growing up in rural Northwest Oklahoma fresh in my mind."

..."Dan D. Dynamo was at the Red Bud Supermarket on east Flynn where Marshall Funeral Home is now. I got his autograph there in the 50's. They also had a large hoola hoop contest in the parking lot there. Speaking of kids shows does anyone remember the Popeye cartoon show starring the captain of the good ship "K-George" (KGEO)broadcast from Enid in the 50's?"

Mabel Oakes Murder - 1910... "Moman Pruiett compiled the most impressive record of success in death penalty cases of any lawyer in America. From 1900 to 1935, he defended 343 persons accused of murder as found on page 614-615 of the Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review when he was excluded as a candidate for Lawyer of the Century. Three-hundred four of his clients were acquitted-not one was executed. Why did he help prosecute N.L. Miller? Were his clients part of bands like the Southern Tenant Farmers Union? Also See Gerald F. Uelmen, Moman Pruiett, Criminal Lawyer, CRIMINAL DEFENSE, May-June 1982, at 35. See also Pruiett's autobiography, MOMAN PRUIETT, CRIMINAL LAWYER (1944). Do you have any information about the Oakes' land North of Alva, OK? Who owned land near there and who owns Oakes' and the surrounding land now?

..."That's an interesting question. Who owned land near Oakes' north of Alva? AND... Who owns the Oakes' land now? Why did Moman Pruiett took the side of the prosecution? I am not quite sure of that yet, but suspect that his father-in-law (Hon. August T. Sniggs) whom was living in Alva, Oklahoma, Woods County during that time. The "Law Enforcement League" made Pruiett an offer he couldn't refuse. The League was one of Pruiett's chief hecklers. During the defense of Jim Stevenson, Judge Maben, and Agnes Gilbert, Moman had broken the morale of the League. The League persuaded that they couldn't beat Moman Pruiett, decided to enlist him (Pruiett) and made Pruiett an offer of $3,000 in cash back in 1910, to engage him to go to Woods to act as special prosecutor in the N. L. Miller vs. State of Oklahoma murder trial. This information came from a book written about Moman Pruiett (He Made It Safe To Murder - The Life of Moman Pruiett) by Howard K. Berry, pages 346-352. Moman and his 2nd-wife, Leda Sniggs Pruiett were married on July 7, 1903 in Leda's hometown of Alva, Oklahoma -- their marriage lasted forty-one years until her death in 1944. Leda Sniggs was the daughter of August T. Sniggs of Alva, Oklahoma Territory, and the sister of his junior law partner Victor Sniggs.

Apple Blossom Time In the Valley... "Howdy! It is chilly up here in NE KS. Today's high was 70 with the overnight low forecasted to be in the low to mid 40s, but who is complaining? I just wanted you to know that our hummingbirds have returned. Last week I saw one Ruby-Throated hummer visiting our nectar/sugar water station. Our Columbine is in bloom and that usually tells us it is time for the little fellows to arrive, so we put out our feeding stations. Of course all feather of other birds find it tasty, Baltimore Orioles, Bluejays, and others. Cheers!"

Old Opera House Murder - The Preliminary... "Why did Claud McCrory resign in such a hurry as prosecuting attorney when public sentiment had arisen that he might be stalling -- had to do one or the other ... resign or prosecute the defendant Miller for the murder of young, innocent Mabel Oakes? Why was the League depleting it's treasury with it's runners and detectives during the September, 1911 trial looking for the whereabouts of ex-county attorney Claud McCrory? Where did Claud McCrory vanish after he resigned as county attorney and prosecutor of the Miller murder case?
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