OUT OATMAN WAY

I give credit for this story to Leanne Toohey and Andy Sansom. Leanne is the moderator of a great Facebook site called “Oatman Tailings of Time History,” while Andy is a frequent contributor. You must be a member and follow the guidelines set by Leanne to participate. She has a wealth of knowledge about Oatman at her fingertips, while members contribute a nice amount of material as well, especially pictures.

Just recently, Andy Sansom posted an aged photo postcard of a portion of Oatman with some Ford Model Ts in the background, along with horses, mules, and wagons. The postcard is postmarked with what appears to be 1911, making this a very early specimen. Oatman was originally called Vivian, and from what I’ve read, the town name was changed somewhere around 1908. John B. Hughes was the Oatman postmaster at that time.

This postcard was mailed from someone named Rae to her mother, Mrs. A.E. Knight, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The message was quite brief but conveyed a clear picture of the writer’s mood to me. I’ll transcribe it exactly as written, complete with sentence run-ons and lack of commas.

“Dear Mother, Just a view of the mining camp I’m in; but don’t expect to be here long will write again. This is the city of Oatman Arizona wild and wooly. If you and Mae had written to me when I was in Portland I would have come to Chicago but it’s too late now — Rae”

The card is addressed to Mrs. A.E. Knight, 11008 Doria, Grand Rapids, Michigan. There is a one-cent postage stamp on it with the round Oatman cancel affixed to it. The Oatman post office still uses this hand stamp.

Over the years, I’ve been able to take old postcards and, after conducting extensive research, add a tidbit of biography to either the sender or recipient. Some of that hidden information turned out to be quite interesting. I wanted to find out why a young lady named Rae was out Oatman way. She would’ve been 24 at this time.

Rae’s mother, Adeline E. Knight, was married to Benjamin Franklin Knight, her father. The couple had two sons and possibly four daughters. Jane Rae Knight was their youngest and perhaps the most rebellious. There had to be a valid reason to leave dad and mom and go live with her aunt in Los Angeles.

Rae went by the last name Haddox at this point, and it’s quite possible this was because of an early marriage that didn’t work out. Rae Haddox participated as a professional walker for several years in LA, entering marathon-type events with other young women. In one of them, her feet became so swollen she couldn’t continue.

Ms. Haddox’s occupation is eventually listed as a barber or beautician, and that line of work created a problem for her, but most especially for a possible suitor. Mr. J.C. Johnson worked as a bookkeeper for the Iver J. Rosten Company, a large railroad subcontractor. Somewhere along the way, J.C. met Rae Haddox in a barber shop in 1918 and was immediately smitten with her beauty. These are almost his exact words.

In an attempt to woo the gal, he began embezzling large sums of money from the company, using it to purchase extravagant gifts for his sweetheart, such as diamonds and sealskin jackets. In 1921, caught and prosecuted, he blamed the miscue entirely on Ms. Haddox, claiming that she had coerced him into altering the books with promises of marriage.

The court proceeding estimated that Johnson pilfered between $10,000 and $30,000 from the firm, with the value of that today, $166,000 – $498,000. J.C. Johnson told the court he really didn’t know how much he’d gotten away with, as he always gave Ms. Haddox cash.

Rae Haddox denied such allegations, although during this period, she was able to open a beauty shop of her own in Washington state, while also investing in other shops, undoubtedly with those illicit funds. J.C. Johnson, for his handiwork, was sentenced to six years in the Oregon State Penitentiary. There is no record of Rae being charged.

Nine years later, life changed for the better for Ms. Haddox when she married William Thomas Wallace, a master mechanic, in 1930. The couple moved from the Aberdeen, Washington area to Oceanside, Oregon, where they remained together until 1956. Rae died that year after a lengthy illness. I found no record of children, and had I done so, I probably would’ve elected to not publish as much information as I have.

Why was Rae Haddox in Oatman? There’s really no mystery here. Folks coming and going from Southern California used the National Old Trails Road, which later became Route 66.  This road went through Oatman. The vehicle in which Rae Haddox was traveling might’ve had mechanical problems, or an even more valid reason, perhaps she used her barber trade to trim up some of that wild and wooly mentioned in the postcard.

It appears Rae was upset with her mom and perhaps a sister by the curtness of her correspondence. I would’ve never thought about writing my own mom a postcard without signing love at the end. Adeline Knight passed away just five years after the postcard was received, at the age of 76.