Compiled by Chuck Lanehart

100+ Years Ago

Jail-less Lynn County Laments Loss of Lad on the Lam

Tahoka, Texas, March 6.

Excitement was caused here yesterday evening about 3:00, when “Kid” Allen, a Montague boy, made his escape from the authorities. It seems that Sheriff J.H. Edwards took the boy in charge the first of the week for the authorities of Montague county on a charge of receiving and hiding stolen goods.

Having no jail here, our prisoners are kept in the custody of an officer until they either make bond or are remanded to jail, in which instance they are sent to a neighboring county. The sheriff gave the boy the liberty of the streets on his word not to run.

The boy secured a car and driver and made a dash for New Mexico . . (W)ithin a very short time after the get-away was discovered J.H. Edwards was hot on the trail in another car.

Allen was arrested at Gomez. . . and J.A. Gamble the driver of the car was stopped at Plains. Both will be returned to Tahoka.
—The Lubbock Avalanche, March 12, 1914

[Note: Less than two years later, in 1916, The Lynn County Courthouse was completed, and featured a jail on the third floor. Last year, Lynn County celebrated the centennial of the historic building. Also, last year, Lynn County received a $5 million grant from the
Texas Historical Commission’s Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program to restore the courthouse, which originally cost $100,000 to build.]

75 Years Ago

Judge is Linguist, Tyler Trial Shows

TYLER, Tex., Mar. 28 (UP)—The prisoner, a Mexican, a follower of the late Pancho Villa, could speak aLrnost no English. Court attaches were searching for an interpreter.

But Federal Judge Randolph Bryant stopped them. “You underestimate me,” he said.

The judge conducted the trial of Jesus Hernandez, charged with manufacturing illegal whiskey, entirely in Spanish. Judge Bryant brought out that Hernandez, whose deeply scarred face showed he had at least one close brush with death as a soldier of Villa, had lived in this country at least 20 years and that this was his first offense against the law in this area.

Hernandez pleaded guilty, but was given a suspended sentence as a first violator. The Mexican smiled his appreciation. Then he spoke to Judge Bryant:

“Muchas gracías! Yo no hare más licor.” That means—”Thank you! I will make no more liquor.”
—The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, March 29, 1942

50 Years Ago

Reed Quilliam Through Being “Nice Guy” in Fight Against High Loan Rates

AUSTIN (AP)—Maybe one reason he has failed before to pass a bill trimming the legal interest rates on loans under $100 is “I’ve been too nice a guy,” says Rep. Reed Quilliam of Lubbock.

But that’s all over, he told the House Banks and Banking Committee Monday.
“I’m going to do everything I can to get before the public everything about this (rate) section. In short, said Quilliam,”I’m through being a nice guy.”

Quilliams bill cutting the so-called 17B rates which run as high as 320 per cent per year on certain small, short term loans, was heard by the committee . . .
“I want every banker, savings and loan association and credit union here to know I think the rates. . . shock the conscience, and I think they shock you too,”Qnilliam said.

—Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, March 21, 1967

[Note: After moving to Lubbock in 1955, Reed Quilliam was in private law practice for 12 years, and resented Lubbock County in the Texas House of Representatives for four terms, where he was instrumental in obtaining the initial appropriations for Texas Tech University School of Law. He joined the law school faculty in 1969, where he remained until he retired in 1995. He served as Associate Dean and received the school’s Outstanding Professor award five times by popular student vote. He received the Texas Tech Presidents Excellence in Teaching Award, and was named the George Herman Mahon Professor in 1989. After his retirement, he wrote a history of the Texas Tech University School of Law, published in 2006.]

25 Years Ago

Judy Crowder-Parker Nominated for President-Elect, Texas Young Lawyers

Judy A. Crowder of Purdom Law Offices, P.C., Lubbock, has been nominated to run for President-Elect of the Texas Young Lawyers Association. Ballots will be mailed April 15. Judy is a 1985 graduate of Texas Tech University School of Law, and has been very active in local and state bar projects. Also nominated for the post is Dan Malone of El Paso.

Judy is a past-president of the Lubbock County Young Lawyers Association, a former director of the Lubbock County Bar, and was named Outstanding Young Lawyer of Lubbock County for 1990-1991. She currently serves as a director of TYLA, and is co-chair of the TYLA Professional Ethics and Grievance Awareness Committee. She is a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, a member of the College of the State Bar and serves on the District 16 Committee on Admissions, Board of Law Examiners. Judy is active in the First Baptist Church of Lubbock, Southwest Lubbock Rotary, United Way and the American Heart Association. A native of Brownwood, Judy is married to Scott Parker of Lubbock.
—Lubbock Law Notes, March 1992

[Note: Judy A. Crowder, a.k.a. Judy Crowder-Parker, a.k.a. Judy Parkel; a.k.a. judge Judy” lost her 1992 race for President-Elect of the Texas Young Lawyers Association by just 237 votes, but survived. She went on to be elected the first female Chair of the TYLA Board in 1994, was appointed Lubbock County Associate Judge in 1994, was elected President of the Lubbock Area Bar Association for 1997-98, and was appointed Judge of Lubbock County Court-at-Law No. 3 in 2008.]