Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.

Randy Bigham

Live well and long

Article Image Alt Text

 

The following piece appeared in 1955: “A man living near Ennis, Texas, claims to be 109 years old. He came to the section in 1870 and has lived there ever since, according to his story. We don’t doubt his age. Any place half as good as our friends say North Texas is ought to cause people to double the Biblical span three score and 10 years!”

Strange bedfellows

Article Image Alt Text

Strange bedfellows

Two Houston-based railroad-employed brothers who shared a room in Ennis on stopovers actually went two years without even seeing each other, or so a 1939 syndicated column claimed. The brothers’ shifts never overlapped so, although they shared the same bed in the boarding house, they were never there at the same time. The men, J. E. O’Leary and Conductor D. L. O’Leary, maintained separate residences in Houston and in different parts of town

Elvis caused worry for Ennis PTA in 1956

Article Image Alt Text

Elvis in Ennis?

Well, not quite. But his music and public image thoroughly upset a group of educators and parents of teenagers at a PTA conference here in town, according to a 1956 Associated Press report. All agreed it was the “desire to conform” that was causing teens to “join the squealing throng of Elvis admirers.” The issue was actually addressed as a serious mental health concern for Ennis high schoolers.

SMU Day

Can you hear me now?

Article Image Alt Text

C.W. Duke of Ennis would have answered “yes” in 1930 when a plane ride reportedly restored his hearing. According to an AP release, Duke allowed a stunt pilot to go into a nose dive during a flight recommended to benefit – if not cure – the deafness in his left ear from which he had suffered for eight years. Duke told reporters on landing that his hearing had completely returned.

Humor on file: Some items of local levity

Article Image Alt Text

Ennis people and events have often made regional, even national, news. And on occasion, a note of levity marked the various stories of local interest that appeared in daily and weekly newspapers across the country. A couple of years ago I first shared some of these funny bits from the past and I was asked recently to collect a few more. I was happy to oblige and in fact very much enjoyed turning up some of these new additions.

Old newspaper account tells story of 1903 murder

Article Image Alt Text

In a 2018 edition of the Ennis News, the story of the 1903 murder of Ellis County landowner Josh Reagor was featured on the front page. As readers have expressed interest in seeing some of the actual news coverage of the case, I’m pleased to share this article that appeared in the Waxahachie Daily Light the day of the killing, December 16, 1903.

Reagor murderers caught, charged months later

Article Image Alt Text

I thought I’d share in this edition of Town Topics a little further information on the Reagor murder case that forms the feature above. Here is a short news item that appeared in the Ennis Daily News on June 24, 1904, telling of the apprehension of two of the four men wanted in connection with Reagor’s killing.

Ennis’ Pearl Harbor soldier remembered

Article Image Alt Text

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was scheduled to run earlier this month in time for the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. I received several requests from readers for it to rerun. I am sorry it is only now that I’m able to oblige.

Daffan’s death and the demolition of her home

Article Image Alt Text

Last week, we shared photos by local shutterbug Ford Curry of his final visit with author Katie Daffan just before her death in 1951, supplied by Curry’s nephew Dane Williams. Today we show you images again by Curry and loaned by Williams, of the burial of Daffan in Myrtle Cemetery (left) and the razing o her house on Dallas Street. Her home was dismantled in 1953 to make way for the Safeway grocery stor which was situated on her former property for many years.

Ford Curry took last photos of Katie Daffan

Article Image Alt Text

These images were provided by Dane Williams, nephew of photographer Ford Curry. Curry visited local author and journalist Katie Daffan in May 1951. Long retired from her work as an editor for the Houston Chronicle, Daffan lived alone in her house on Dallas Street which was falling into disrepair. These are some of the pictures Curry took that day. They were the last photos taken of Daffan and her home while she was living. In fact, a few days after this session, she was struck by a car and seriously injured while crossing the street at the corner of Dallas and Baylor.