Curtis Garner

Livingston is the capital of Polk County and the home of some of my ancestors. One of the more interesting citizens was Curtis Garner, the owner of the local motel. Curtis was a well known practical joker. One time I was called to testify in a Polk County case. It was not popular and I received some threats. The case was continued overnight and I managed to share a motel room with the Texas Ranger assigned to the case. We went to bed and about midnight I heard a noise and turned on the light. Fast as I was the Texas Ranger was even faster. When the light came on I found Garner holding an alligator in both hands with the Ranger's pistol at his forehead. The Ranger had jumped out of bed and put the gun to his head. Garner had intended to turn the alligator loose in our bedroom. It was a small alligator. After I explained that Garner was a practical joker the Ranger turned him loose but stipulated he had to take the gator with him. We went back to sleep and I slept soundly knowing that I was in safe hands.

Texas Southern University

Later on, George Washington Jr. returned to Houston to teach law at Texas Southern University. By that time the social atmosphere had changed. George had helped put together a program at the Institute of Texan Cultures in San Antonio which featured 26 different cultures in the development of Texas. However, while he was still at the Institute there was a development which should be reported. It was announced that a California hustler named Bulthius was coming to Texas to talk to the Institute about Hemisfair. This young man, who drove a sports car, had turned over on a Los Angeles Freeway and was in a wheelchair. Meanwhile, George had found a dummy which looked like this young man, the same one who had called him an Uncle Tom. George put this dummy on display and stuck a couple of pins in it. By coincidence, the pins in the leg and forehead were in the same place where Bulthius was injured in the California car crash. When Bulthius was wheeled into the Institute lobby the dummy and pins were still on display. When Bulthius saw the exhibit he went into a frenzy and had to be rolled away. He left town immediately.

California Journey

The California hustlers met us in Los Angeles and set about giving us a snow job. They were helped in this by George Washington Jr., who agreed with everything they proposed. I realized that George was taking a pill every morning which made the world seem rosy. Then Boss Shuffler called and said it was time for us to cancel the Southern California group's contract. I knew that George would have to play a key part in this. So I got up early one morning and stole his pill bottle and threw it down the fire escape. George woke up and began looking for it, but when I asked him what was the matter, he replied nothing. By the time we got to our meeting with the California group George was sharp and business like. I opened the meeting by telling the group that the contract was cancelled. Then I called on George. He told them that under the laws of Texas that they did not have any rights at all. One of the hustlers asked him about recourse and he told them to contact the Attorney General of Texas. Then another one called him an "uncle Tom." I told George if he would punch this man in the face that I would post his bond. This hustler left the room. Then I told the group goodbye and went out to the front desk and called for a taxi. As we started downtown George began breathing heavily and I worried that he might be having a heart attack. The taxicab driver became nervous and I needed to do something. So I asked the driver to go to the nearest bar so we could get a drink. We went inside and the driver and I had a highball and I ordered a double shot for George. After another double shot George calmed down and we returned to our hotel room. I felt guilty about throwing the pill bottle away but in the long run it restored George. We returned to Texas and went on with our program.

More About George

Henderson Shuffler hired me to work at the Institute of Texan Cultures and I began to research the American Indians, the Spanish, the Mexican interests and other groups. I realized that I needed help with the African Americans and I told Shuffler that I would like to hire George Washington Jr. He agreed. I flew to Dallas where George had taken refuge after his effort to save the Freedom Riders had resulted in costly litigation. Emma Lois told me not to do it "Because George will kill himself." I told her that to waste the talent that George possessed would be bad and he might be better off dead. George agreed to go to work in our program. George began to assemble the bourgeois blacks and we produced some sketches of Blacks like Barbara Jordan, who was the first black in the Texas Legislature and now was headed for Congress, and various black athletes, such as the first one in baseball in the major league. George prospered. Then we ran into a problem with the California public relations people who had been hired to promote the forthcoming Hemisphere. Shuffler told me to go to Los Angeles and take George with me and cancel the arrangement with these hustlers. Next I will tell you about the California trip.

George Washington Jr.

While I was covering the court house for the Houston Post I ran into a black attorney named George Washington Jr. George had graduated from the University of Texas law school, in fact, he was the second black man to graduate there in the Sixties. George was a remarkable scholar, but he still had some hangups about race. He married a black school teacher named Emma Lois and they had three children, all boys. George was doing well, drawing wills and filing probate, but he got mixed up in the turmoil of the Sixties. He decided to defend the Freedom Riders, a mixed group of black and white students from the University of California who rode a train from Los Angeles to Houston to protest segregation. These students were arrested at Union Station in Houston. Moderate black business men posted bond for the students and they were housed in black homes in the Third Ward awaiting trial in the County Court at Law. This aroused more emotion than I can describe becaused Houston was still filled with residents with East Texas attitudes. The result was that the students were convicted of violation of the laws which defined racism. Once again the business men posted bond and the students were free on this bail. The case eventually was overturned in the higher courts. However, George collapsed during this time and had a nervous breakdown. He had received threatening telephone calls and sometimes he got a call at his office that his wife had been killed. Finally, George gave up and moved to Dallas, where he got a job selling real estate. I will tell you more about George before long.

FDR takes charge

Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Hoover, and immediately closed all the banks. Those who reopened had to pass a test and be insured by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. However, it was several years before FDR was able to restore the nation's economy. By that time we were on the verge of war. The Japanese pecepitated our decision by attacking Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This led to our declaring war on both Japan and Germany. When I entered the Army I was issued a uniform which dated back to World War I and a rifle which also dated back. In other words we were not prepared to go to war. It took two years to gear up factory production so that we were ready to bomb Germany into compliance. It looked like it would take several years to subdue Japan and then HarryTruman dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. By that time I had been to England, North Africa, Sicily, Italy and a few side trips and had been overseas for two years. I was back in the United States, at Victorville Air Force Base in Southern California when the Bomb was dropped. It was a while before we understood what an Atomic Bomb was and how it had been developed. Ever since then we have been confronted with the possibility that some other nation will develop an 'Atomic Bomb,' and there have been reports that this has happened in NorthKorea and Iran. The world changed with the Bomb.

The Great Depression

Daddy was killed in a car crash on the highway. He always drove too fast. Our world changed substancially as a result. We lost the automobile agency and our house, including the grand piano which mother never forgot. We moved into a smaller house. Mother took a job as a clerk which did not pay very much. I worked after school for peanuts. We were not the only ones hurt by the economy. The Great Depression was on in the 1930s. Millions of people were out of work. One of those who prospered was Andrew Mellon, the secretary of the treasury under Herbert Hoover. A populist from Texas who was serving in the U.S. House, Wright Patman, sued Mellon and forced him out of office. He went to England where he wore kneebritches as ambassador to Great Britain, appointed by Hoover. Nowadays he is regarded as a philanthropist because of the museum he left behind in Washington, D.C. I always thought of him as a Tory. I really did not get my head on straight until I served in the Army during World War II. I came home to be a journalist. Mother was upset because she wanted me to do something that would make money. She finally became reconciled.