Gun among artifacts found in courthouse

Judge Jack Hall and secretary Rhonda Aveni display some of items discovered during a clean out of the Donley County Courthouse, including an antique pistol, a ballot box made from a sugar can, a wanted poster, an empty 12-pack of Pale Dry beer, and an old checker set.
 
Each passing week sheds new light on history and uncovers strange artifacts as Donley County moves out of the courthouse it has occupied since the 19th century.

The most interesting item to date was uncovered last Tuesday by the secretary of the county judge. Rhonda Aveni was working in the basement vault when she found a 90-year-old gun.

Behind some old property tax receipts, Aveni found the German made Walther pistol complete with a leather holster with “B.A.X.” stamped under the flap and one empty clip.

Local gun collector Jim Garland identified the pistol as being a Walther Model 3, which was manufactured in 1910 in Zella-Mehlis, Germany. He says the gun is in pretty rough shape with some rust and a missing left grip. The pistol also is missing one of its two clips.

“Someone used some ingenuity and made a glass or plastic piece to replace that grip, which serves the purpose,” Garland said.

County officials say they don’t know how long the gun has been there or why it was put in the basement vault. Former judge W.R. Christal said he knew of the gun’s existence, even knew exactly where it was, but had no knowledge of its origins.

Anyone having any information about this gun is asked to call The Clarendon Enterprise at 874-2259 or County Judge Jack Hall at 874-3625.

Hall, Aveni, all the members of the commissioners’ court, and county road hands were joined in cleaning out the old building by nine inmates from the Clements Unit from Amarillo. The group worked for three days last week hauling furniture, books, and county records to temporary storage facilities. They also removed all of the radiators from the building, which may be sold as scrap.

Prior to last week, Angie Papa of the county clerk’s office, spent weeks in the courthouse basement sorting and boxing county records.

“The more of that stuff we can remove on our own, the less it will cost for the contractors to do it,” Hall said. “All this kind of work will go toward the county’s match of the state grant.”

The judge expects to have the inmates come back to Clarendon to remove shelving in the basement and in the old treasurer’s office and to rip up carpet and decking on the second floor.

The only furnishings remaining to be removed are the jury box and judge’s bench.

Among other items found in the courthouse were an old wooden checker set, an empty box for a 12-pack of Grand Prize Pale Dry beer, a 1935 physician’s statement certifying a certain man to be “free from all known venereal diseases” (which apparently had something to do with getting a marriage license), and an early 1950s wanted poster for one Sydney Arthur Long, alias “Darcel of India.” According to the poster, Long was a con man who sometimes claimed to be a hypnotist. The price on his head was $250.

Judge Hall said he also ran across a civil suit filed against legendary cattleman Charles Goodnight and found “lots of dust that has accumulated since 1890.”

The county plans to preserve the artifacts it finds, but some history will probably be lost forever as the restoration of the courthouse ensues. Graffiti, for example, is scrawled on the walls of the attic in what used to be the third floor of the tower. That area may have once been used as a holding room for people awaiting trial. It’s not known exactly when the writing was done, but one piece – proclaiming that “Sheriff Mosley is not worth a dam” [sic] – can be dated closely. M.W. Mosley was sheriff of Donley County from 1929 to 1930.

Another etching reads, “Quiet in the courtroom. The judge is eating beans.”

And one inscription could be taken as a motto for the courthouse. It reads in bold, dark letters: “LET THERE BE JUSTICE.”

Judge Hall hopes to save some of the graffiti but says the plaster in that room crumbles like sand.

In other courthouse news, commissioners met on February 12 to open bids for the abatement of lead paint, asbestos, and bat guano. They awarded a contract to the Environmental Reconditioning of El Paso contingent on the approval of environmental consultant Luis Acuña.

The El Paso firm had the low bid at $30,300 and was recently given the nod by Acuña.

Other firms bidding were Asbestos Removal of Odessa with a price of $34,761.75 and the Borger-based Asbestos Maintenance with a bid of $79,300.

Abatement work will begin this month and is scheduled to be completed by the middle of April.