Henry S. Birchfield
Deming Rancher 7th Traffic Death
Seventy-seven year old Deming rancher Henry S. Birchfield became Luna County's seventh traffic fatality of the
year early Sunday morning when his truck was rammed in the rear and overturned 17 miles west of Deming on U.S.
70-80.
Birchfield died of a crushed chest, according to the police, after 21 year old Mervle Holmon of Lawton, Okla. smacked
into the back of his pickup and turned it over on the highway about 6:55 a.m.
Neither Holmon nor six passengers in his vehicle were injured. The rancher was the only occupant in the truck.
Both men were traveling west when the mishap occured. Investigating the crash were State Patrolman Guy Dunivan
and Luna County Deputy Sheriff Joe Tarazon.
Holmon was fined $100 by Justice of the Peace Charles F. McGraw for following too closely. District Attorney Norman
Hodges said Monday in Silver City that no further charges would be filed against the Oklahoma man.
Funeral arrangements were being handled by the Mahoney Funeral Home.
Birchfield was born Oct. 3, 1881 in Sherwood, Tex. He resided near Separ for 70 years.He is survived by two sisters,
Nora Hinds, Newcastle, Calif. and Agnes B. Ruckman, Roseville, Calif. Services were held Wednesday afternoon at
Mahoney's Chapel with the Rev. Hollis Shook officiating. Interment was in Mountain View Cemetery, Deming.
Deming Headlight, Sept. 11, 1958 - submitted by Amanda Jowers
Addie Christoper White
Mertzon, Tex., Jan. 19. - Tuesday morning Mrs. Addie Christopher White died at her
home in Brownwood of pneumonia following an attack of "flu." In 1886 she and her husband, Rev. White,
came to Irion from Tennessee and lived here until 1893, when they went to Brownwood. In the meantime she took her
place in the community as the wife of the teacher and preacher who married and buried the inhabitants of the scattered
community which was then a part of the immense county of Tom Green. Three years after coming here Irion County
was organized and a little later her last child was born and she also buried a son in the Sherwood Cemetery. She
leaves her husband, Rev. White, an old man, two step-children, Mrs. Fayette Tankersley of Mertzon, and Walter White
of Brownwood; two children, Mrs. Lou Osborne and Jim White of Brownwood, all of whom were with her when she died.
San Antonio Express, January 20, 1923 - submitted by Amanda Jowers
