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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 1946)
The Gun Store Legend Recalls Unsolved Mystery (Continued from Page One) day, adding a bit of gloss here and there and rolling the fact and fiction together until it fi nally emerges into a tale typical of this country. Barney Chambers came to Klamath Falls 40 years ago. He was a native of Flint, Ohio, but i talk was of the early Texas fx and the part he played in I cattle country of that state, his young manhood in Col do. Jarney, (his Christian name ..-! James Barney) started in . business here with a little card, room on Main. He rented bicycles and In some way started buying and lending guns, It was a fertile field. Everybody want .; guns. Soon he opened The un Store and chose as the mbol the huge wooden gun hich still Is, today, the sign. Meeting Place . It was the pot-bellied stove, as ...ucli as the close, companionable conversation of long winter days, that made The Gun Store the . meeting place for the town. Loggers jokingly referred to "coming to town" as "spending the winter at Barney's." Indians were made welcome and they brought hides and skins to Bar ney for trade. The basement was a well perfumed cellar with whiffs of leather and fur seeping through the floorboards for all comers to sniff. We used to go into The Gun Store for news some 21 years ago. Barney always knew everything. We used to see that detective of the old school, Fred Morlcy, in there around the stove. Looking back, the thing that immediately comes to mind was that smell of hides, bob cat, coyote and mink. The In dians and trappers probably were not too particular as to the degree of the finished product, Barney didn't seem to care, either. He would ring the cash register and business was from hand to hand. There was a little banking go ing on too, as we remember, like the Brick Store of a still earlier business generation here. - Murderl Near that old pot-bellied stove took place one of the big murders of the 20's. Johnny Ansel had worked for Barney for 17 years. It was a Saturday morning, the last day of the year, 1927, and Johnny Ansel was opening the safe for morning business when a bullet crashed through his head and he was dead. I The bullet that killed Ansel came from a 38-40 pistol and Barney told officers that only three of these guns existed in Klamath county. One belonged to John Meek, a logger in the Odessa country on the west side of Upper Klamath lake. The manhunt was on. There went up a hue and cry for John Meek. Pictures of the woods man, standing by a huge log and with a cross-cut saw in his hand, were circulated throughout the nation. There was a reward of $5000. Neat money even in these days. John Meek has not been seen from that day to this. Rumor and theory still fly today, even 20 years later. Still in Business The Gun Store is still in bus iness. The window displays can't support the atmosphere of the old days. They're neat now. and rather foxy. The loggers' shirts have a dash, but there's something of the old flavor gone. Maybe it's the absence of Barney's early collection of relics of the frontier country, stuffed birds and animals, rusty muzzle loaders and knives; the prize pair or horns from a now ex tinct longhorn species of cattle which,' as the story goes, dis appeared one winter night near ly a century ago in a Texas storm. Maybe It's the absence of that newly killed odor of marsh rats. ! But the gun hangs high. BOYS MEET GIRL SHREVEPORT, La., Feb. 2 (IP) When a centenary college class in freshman English met for the first time, the instructor found the class consisted chiefly of vet erans and one girl. The instruc tor, undaunted, Introduced each boy in turn to tho girl. "Now," said one vet to the teacher, "make tho married ones stand up, so she'll know which is which." Tho teacher obliged. Slide Cleared From SP Tracks MEDFORD, Feb. 2 VP) Southern Pacific trains again were rolling between here and Roscburg today after a slide on the tracks near Glcndale was cleared. Thursday night, train pass engers transferred to a bus be tween Grants Pass and Rose burg. Yei. it's "tailor made" to fit you when you insure with Hans Norland. 123 N. 6th. Winners of Preliminary Auditions for Klamath Foils "Klamath County Kapers" 1. Charles "Bud" Selby, vocalist, 1946 Manianita St. 2. Irma Ruth McBride. vocalist. 407 N. 9th St. 3. Patsy Young, vocalist, 2146 Home St. 4. Elwood and Dick Tracy, instrumentalists, 2S25 Applagata Ave. 5. Thirsa Eliiabath Glidden, vocalist,. 450S Denver Ave. (. Barbara Jean McMahon, vocalist, 1202 Division St. 7. George E. Willis, vocalist, 109 Broad St.. No. S. S. Girls' Trio: Mary Van denberg, Harriet Lave nik. Vivian Kierns. Sacred Heart Acad emy. 9. Clarence Oppagard, f iddlt. 2122 N. Oak St. 10. Patty Lou Meyers, vocalist, 621 N. Uth St. 11. Danelle McDonald and David Ross, tap rou tine, Isa Dorah Moldo von Dance Studios. 12. Susan Gans, recitation. Sacred Heart Acad emy. 13. Mrs. Juanita Hornsby, imitations. Box 323, Klamath Falls. 14. Alyce Wells, vocalist, Lalcethor Drive, Klamath Falls. Semi-Finals Start Thursday, Feb. 21 At Pelican Theatre Plan Now To Attend And Boost Your Favoritel Broadcast Over KFJI 8:00 to 9:30 Each Week Continuous Daily Open 12:30 I 1 Kndi ToUjrl" 'Our Vlnta llv Tcitdar Umptt'' th KaiiR" Starts Sunday! "T ; ,1IW"f"!111 v N V SHE hod more . UJJ3DDI ; thgn most wo- I ' , rmm glvo in a fj ILLLLLil T: ;AMH BtTTH ftVi THRILL! To His Deeds of Daring.' GaUoffke, with WILLIAM BOYD , LAST HOUNDUP HAVRE, Mont., Feb. 2 (IP) Tired of residents' complaints of horses roaming the streets, po ll,.. I.A.. !... .........1 up, Officers roped' 25 head bearing 20 different owners' brands. Thoy plan to sell tho nnliimls at auction Monduy unless owners redeem thorn by paying food bills and roundup "charges. " Classified Ada Bring Results. IMillil'Mllg Continuous Show Sat. Sun, Box Office Opens 12:30 ENDS TODAY I IT'S WILD I SUNDAY and MONDAY J 'STtvTii on . W"''";,.',"iri MtWMI . Mm MMKT MM KM PLUS! Terrific 2nd HitI V 1 -- 1 . I A Bell fbrAdano JOHH HODMsf ......I ii iNfAlMV .. miiiiau ui nil . i - hi ii i i n m rt -. Glenn IANOAM Ichurd CONTI Saturday Feb. 2, 1848 HERALD AND HEWS Tf it Not one of tho famous pyra mids of Kgypl, tombs of plmr- noli, escaped plundering by'Ui unuiuni tomu rouDera, . . iwwwwwvwv ENDS TODAYi ' Hereon: "Muggi and "Border Stage 9i30 Rides Again" Bandits" "Shoot the Works" I LIH l-JJ UIH IUJJLIJ 101 IMTORMA1I0N BIAl 1414 OR W Starts SUNDAY! WANTED! IF ru -Willy MUM i rtfCtfjJJj DEAD OR ALIVI IP" h MM mt m is , ALAN CURTIS ION CHANEY KENT TAYLOR NOAH BEERY, Jr. MARTHA O'DRISCOLL JESS BARKER THOMAS GOMEZ JOHN LITEL CONTINUOUS SHOWS SUNDAY 12:30 P. M. iflMt mil ROBINSON BENNETT s JJ DAN DURYEA iff skr JBarkcrMargaretUndsaw I ( and director ' of Rosalind Ivan ? 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