Pendleton teen shoots classmate after school party

A 15-year-old ninth-grader at Pendleton Junior High School shot a classmate after a school dance in May 1950.

John Raymond Meyer was a transfer student from the Chicago area attending school in Pendleton. He attended a dance party at the junior high school on May 26 and another student, 15-year-old Ted Kinder, noticed that Meyer was carrying a gun. Kinder suggested that Meyer get rid of the weapon, and another student later saw the young man trying to hide it behind a piano.

The party ended at 11:30 p.m. and everyone left the building but teacher Carl Kligel and about 20 students who were on the cleanup crew. Kinder went to the lavatory, and a little later came upstairs and collapsed into a chair, telling Kligel, "I've been shot." He was rushed to St. Anthony Hospital, where doctors found the bullet had missed all Kinder's bones and internal organs.

Kinder was interviewed by Police Chief Charles Lemon in the hospital, and recounted that he was in the lavatory when Meyer entered playing with the gun. Kinder again urged Meyer to put the weapon away, and Meyer left the room but returned a moment later, pointed the gun at Kinder and said, "All right, Ted, you asked for it." He then shot Kinder once in the right side of the chest and fled.

Police immediately started a search for Meyer, and found him lying on the floorboard in the back of a car belonging to his brother, James Meyer, with whom he was living. The pistol was found shoved between the back seat cushions.

After his arrest, Meyer admitted to the shooting and also to a theft at Hamley & Co. the previous evening. Taken during the heist were four jackets, a wrist watch, a pair of gloves, a suitcase and $4 in cash, in addition to the .32 caliber pistol used in Kinder's assault. He had also stolen a bicycle in a separate theft. Chief Lemons said that Meyer was on parole for a house burglary in Chicago, and had only lived in Pendleton for about three weeks.

Meyer pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon on June 6. He claimed during his trial he did not know the gun was loaded. He was remanded to the Umatilla County juvenile court, and sentenced to the Woodburn training school (now the McLaren Youth Correctional Facility).

Folk song inspiration dies at Pendleton mental hospital

An African-American woman who died January 8, 1952, at the age of 75 at the Eastern Oregon State Hospital in Pendleton claimed to be the inspiration for "Frankie and Johnny," a popular folk song in the early 20th century whose notoriety continued long after her death.

According to an Internet article by Paul Slade, Frankie Baker was a 24-year-old prostitute working the St. Louis, Missouri, vice district in the late 1890s, and Allen (Albert) Britt, 17, a talented ragtime piano player, acted as her pimp in addition to being her lover. The couple shared an apartment on Targee Street and Baker took care of Britt financially.

In Baker's version of events she and Britt had a "misunderstanding" in their apartment about 2 a.m. on Oct. 15, 1899, after she caught him with another prostitute, Alice Pryar. At the murder trial Baker claimed she shot Britt in self-defense, saying he came after her with a knife during a heated argument, and had also beaten her up a few days before the shooting. She was acquitted, and the judge returned her gun.

The song "Frankie Killed Allen" was written by St. Louis balladeer Bill Dooley shortly after the shooting and was making the rounds of the neighborhood even before Britt died on Oct. 19. A variant of Dooley's song was published by Frank and Bert Leighton in 1912 as "Frankie and Johnny" with the words that appear in modern folk song books. At least 256 recordings of the song have been made including folk, country and jazz versions.

The story of Frankie and Johnny also inspired several films starring the likes of Mae West, Cary Grant, Elvis Presley, Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer, and actor John Huston wrote and produced a puppet play in 1930 titled "Frankie and Johnnie" after interviewing Baker and Britt's former neighbor in Missouri.

Baker left St. Louis in 1900 and eventually ended up in Portland, Ore., where she worked as a prostitute for a few years before opening a shoeshine shop in 1925. She always deplored the fact that money was being made from the song, and that she never received a dime. Baker also claimed that the song and subsequent movies were defamatory, and sued twice for damages; she lost both times.

Frankie Baker was committed to the state mental hospital in 1950, and hospital officials in Pendleton described the tiny Baker as a gentle, docile patient. She died after suffering a paralytic stroke and was buried in Los Angeles by her brother.

Pendleton ends 1914 baseball season in true western style

This week’s historical oddity came about thanks to a tweet by Tim Hagerty, a Triple-A baseball broadcaster, Sporting News contributor and author of “Root for the Home Team: Minor League Baseball’s Most Off-The-Wall Team Names and the Stories Behind Them.” The tweet included a photo of the 1914 Pendleton Buckaroos, champions of the Western Tri-State League, wearing rodeo attire with the comment “Class D Pendleton Buckaroos actually took the field wearing these hats.”

The city of Pendleton fielded a minor league baseball team between 1908 and 1914. The Pendleton Pets were part of the Inland Empire League in 1908, and when Pendleton joined the new Western Tri-State League in 1912, the team changed its name to Buckaroos, honoring Pendleton’s singular rodeo and western heritage. The league also boasted teams from Boise (Irrigators), La Grande (Pippins/Spuds), Walla Walla (Bears), Baker City (Golddiggers/Miners) and North Yakima (Braves) during its three-year existence.

Pendleton won the 1912 pennant with a .622 percentage, but dropped to the bottom of the pack in a 1913 season that split into two halves due to financial difficulties. Even before play started in 1914, there were rumblings that Pendleton might be dropped from the league for lack of funds, but the Buckaroos rallied and fielded a team that ended at the top of the standings for the second time in three years.

Pendleton’s last game of the 1914 season was played at Round-Up Stadium against North Yakima. Because Pendleton had already sewn up the pennant race, neither team felt the need to perform to the highest of baseball standards. And, according to the July 27 East Oregonian article, the fans weren’t expecting high quality play either: “Baseball as she is not played was the way Pendleton and North Yakima showed up yesterday in the great American game but despite the comedy of the contest a good gallery of fans enjoyed themselves immensely. Nobody wanted to see a good game, it seemed, but were pleased to watch the antics of such prominent comedians also both teams presented who succeeded in keeping the grand stand in roars most of the time.”

Though the EO didn’t print a photo from the game, a team photo showed up in the Oregonian on Aug. 9 showing the league champions decked out in the best rodeo wear: cowboy hats, neckerchiefs, and fuzzy chaps a la Jackson Sundown. The caption states the team “was photographed in uniforms slightly different from the conventional baseball outfit” at the conclusion of the game. There was no mention of any non-standard garb worn by the Braves.

Oregonian photo, Aug. 9, 1914

In 1915 the league failed to raise enough money to operate and was disbanded. League president R.W. Ritner claimed the failure was due to the North Yakima and Walla Walla clubs not wanting to work together.

Three players from the various Pendleton rosters went on to play in the majors: Homer “Howie” Haworth played seven games at catcher for the Cleveland Indians during the 1915 season; Don Rader played shortstop for the Chicago White Sox in 1913 and ended his career with the Phillies in 1921; and Ed “The Midget” Mensor played outfield for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1912-1914.

Man violently opposes church invitation

A Pendleton man was beaten with a club in November 1932 after asking another resident to attend church.

James Montgomery, an employee of a Pendleton barber shop and a member of the Nazarene Church, went to the home of John Sirvilas on Nov. 11, 1932, with R.S. Taylor, a fellow church member and evangelist. The men wanted to ask Mr. Sirvilas to attend church with them the following Sunday; Sirvilas was known to have attended services several times in the previous week. Sirvilas was in the yard burning when Montgomery and Taylor arrived, and the pair encouraged Sirvilas to come over to the car, Montgomery calling Sirvilas “my brother.”

Sirvilas responded with, “You’re not my brother.”

Montgomery got out of the car to continue the conversation, and Sirvilas suddenly attacked him with a heavy club, bashing him in the temple and knocking Montgomery to the ground. When Montgomery got up, Sirvilas hit him again in the back.

Taylor jumped out of the car, and Sirvilas ran to the rear of his house. Taylor put Montgomery in the car but had to go back to recover Montgomery’s glasses. When he saw Sirvilas returning, and heading in his direction, Taylor jumped in the car and drove with Montgomery to the church. When Montgomery began to feel dazed Taylor took him to the hospital, where doctors treated severe bruises and a nasty gash.

City and state police descended on Sirvilas, who was attempting to get hold of a double-bladed axe when they arrived. Sirvilas was arrested and then committed to the state mental hospital the next morning.

In talking to Sirvilas’ landlord, Lemuel Dunlap, police learned Sirvilas had struck him the previous day when he told his tenant he could rent the property for $10 less than the year before.

Armed posse takes over Stanfield potato shed

The armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns in January 2016 wasn’t the first time a disgruntled group has taken over property in a dispute over ownership of Eastern Oregon land. A group of seven armed gunmen, including an avowed member of the Posse Comitatus, took over a potato shed near Stanfield on Aug. 27, 1976, claiming the land rightfully belonged to them.

Fifteen employees of the Mikami Brothers potato packing plant on Despain Gulch Road seven miles east of Stanfield were turned away at 6 a.m. by armed men when they showed up for work. Most of the employees left the property, but scale attendant Debi Furukawa locked herself in the scale house and called the state police at Hermiston just before the group cut the building’s phone lines. She also communicated by CB radio with her husband Harvey, who had locked himself in the accounting office, until someone disabled the system. The Furukawas later escaped the building unharmed.

The posse included Ervin R. Haring, 54, and Donald A. Goodwill, 46, both of Portland; Robert D. Cummings, 31, of Glendale, Calif.; Donald R. Cooper, 36, and George Hill, 47, both of Stockton, Calif.; and Vernon E. Essig, 48, and Farrell A. Griggs, 18, both of Herald, Calif. They were armed with three handguns, a rifle, a hunting knife and numerous clubs, and Goodwill’s two dogs.

At the center of the dispute was property owned by Sach and Dan Mikami, Ralph Zimmerly and Jack Zabransky that was formerly part of the estate of J.T. “John” Hoskins. The posse, claiming to be Hoskins’ heirs, asserted that the property occupied by the sheds belonged to them because the disposition of the land had not been done properly when Hoskins passed away. In 1974 former Umatilla County surveyor Ralph Thompson and Everett Thoren, an Elgin resident, were arrested for trespassing after they drove onto Zimmerly’s land. In July of 1976 Thoren and Goodwill filed a $6.8 million suit against Zimmerly, the Zabransky brothers and McPherson in U.S. District Court in Portland in an attempt to have the land in dispute returned to Hoskins’ heirs.

Umatilla County Sheriff Bill McPherson said in an interview that his department had heard rumors the night before that the posse might be involved in some kind of takeover, but did not know where the incident would take place. He arrived at 7:15 a.m., and Umatilla County, Oregon State Police and officers from as far away as Milton-Freewater and Baker City joined him throughout the day. FBI agent Dan Jacobson and Umatilla County District Attorney Jack Olsen and his deputies were also at the scene for the 11-hour standoff.
All roads leading to the property were blocked off, and potato trucks waiting to unload were turned away. Police made two flyovers of the property with the help of Ron Linn, whose home and airstrip a half-mile from the sheds were commandeered as a command post for law enforcement. Umatilla County sheriff’s deputy Keith Garoute was posted on a vantage point about 350 yards from the sheds with a scope-sighted .308 sniper rifle.

From left, Dept. Dist. Atty. David Gallaher, Dist. Atty. Jack Olsen, Sheriff William McPherson and Deputy dist. Atty. Fred Bennett confer during the standoff (EO file photo)

Police officers conferred with Goodwill, the group’s leader, several times during the day in an attempt to convince the group to surrender. In mid-afternoon Goodwill rode into Hermiston with state police in an attempt to contact Thoren, who Goodwill said had hired him to take over the shed. Thoren wasn’t home.

Goodwill returned to the shed at 4 p.m., and OSP Lt. Duane Pankratz reported to the command post that the group had agreed to surrender “if met by a show of force.” At 4:30 p.m., 10 police cars loaded with flak-jacketed and helmeted police officers descended on the potato sheds, where the surrender took place. No shots were fired and no injuries were reported.

Deputy Glenn Youngman said, “I think they were hoping we would wait them out.” He said the men had sleeping bags but no food, and that Thoren was supposed to have brought them a camp trailer and provisions.

Donald Goodwill (EO file photo)

Following his arrest, Goodwill said he and his group had succeeded in their purpose, since “possession is nine-tenths of the law.” He and his six co-conspirators faced charges of conspiracy to commit burglary and riot, both felonies, while Essig and Griggs also were charged with criminal mischief and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, and Cummings was also charged with criminal trespass.

The men also would be sued for all police costs for the incident. District Attorney Jack Olsen said charges against Thoren were also possible, as two members of the posse mentioned he had hired them to take over the sheds and Essig claimed to have a signed agreement.

The trials were moved to Hood River Circuit Court. In December 1976, Vernon Essig was convicted of second-degree burglary and possession of a dangerous weapon with intent to use, both felonies, and misdemeanor disorderly conduct and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. He was found innocent of the riot and first-degree burglary charges.

Mastermind Everett Thoren’s trial dragged on through July of 1977. He was sentenced to 150 days in the Umatilla County Jail, Pendleton: 30 days each for second-degree criminal mischief, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and first-degree criminal mischief, and 60 days for carrying a dangerous weapon with intent to use. Though Thoren continued to insist he has a claim to the property, he told the court at sentencing that he was through with the matter.

Trial and sentencing information for the remaining five defendants was not found; the East Oregonian archives from that period are not searchable.

Irrigation feud leads to silent shootout

An Echo farmer in 1920 who held a neighbor at gunpoint over an irrigation disagreement — and made him pay for the gun — later died in a shootout with local authorities.

W.H. Smith, a bachelor farmer thought to be about 65 years old, had been farming property near Echo known as the Spike place for a number of years. On June 10, 1920, Smith began to threaten his neighbor, Joe Ramos, who farmed across a shared irrigation canal from Smith and who had control of the gates regulating the water supply. Smith had conceived of a notion to kill Ramos the day before, making threats to that effect to all who would listen, and had scared off the Echo marshal sent to arrest him.

Smith went into Echo and purchased a Colt special revolver and cartridges. He then went to the Ramos place and held his neighbor at gunpoint while forcing him to write him a check for $53.40 — $10 for damages to his land and $43.40 for the gun and ammunition. Smith then told Ramos he would kill him if he told the police or attempted to stop payment on the check. After Smith left, Ramos traveled to Pendleton to report the threats to the district attorney’s office.

An employee of Smith, Everett Thompson, tried for two days to encourage his employer to forget his feud with Ramos and give himself up to the authorities, but Smith swore he had nothing to live for and that lawmen would never take him alive.

Thompson was working in a nearby field when Deputy Sheriff Joe Blakley of Pendleton and Asa Thomson of Echo showed up to arrest Smith on June 10. Blakley and Thomson had agreed on a peaceable arrest, but Smith saw the two men coming as he worked in a box near a gate in his irrigation ditch. Smith grabbed his revolver and shot twice at Thomson, who was carrying a high-powered rifle, from about 45 yards away. Thomson returned fire and killed Smith. The incident happened so fast Deputy Blakley couldn’t even draw his weapon before it was over, and none of the three men spoke a single word, according to Thompson.

A coroner’s inquiry after the shooting cleared Thomson of any wrong-doing, saying he had fired in self-defense. Because of his sudden hatred of Ramos and his defiance of the authorities, Echo residents theorized Smith had had some kind of mental breakdown.

Pendleton cowboy snares unusual prize

Cowboying is hard work, with long hours and often boredom punctuated with the occasional high-energy chase. A Pendleton cowboy looking for more excitement took his expertise to the Blue Mountains southeast of the city and found an unusual challenge for his abilities.

Billy Colb, a well-known vaquero of Pendleton, took to the mountains June 30, 1904, in search of bigger game. Near Hidaway Springs (near present-day Ukiah, Ore.) he spotted a yearling bull elk grazing on the mountainside and, being mounted on his best cow horse, shook out a lariat and made a dash for the unsuspecting beast. The young elk ducked and dodged, but Colb’s horse knew its business and cut the animal off at every turn. Colb settled a loop around the elk’s neck from about 40 feet away — and the fight was on.

The elk made a break for the trees but the lariat around its neck brought it up short. The elk turned a somersault, then commenced a high-kicking, wild plunging, bellowing and snorting tirade, much to Colb’s delight. Finally, with tongue hanging out and legs wobbling, and its red eyes fixated on its captor, the elk trotted quietly into Hidaway Springs camp behind Colb.

William Scott, the proprietor of the camp, paid Colb $5 for his prize. Scott planned a zoological garden at the camp, with the elk as its first inhabitant.