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Part 23 is G rated, thus the addendum is posted separately with a link.
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TUESDAY, JULY 5TH, 1960
The following morning, there were two fireworks related injuries statewide in New Mexico that made it in the newspaper...Al and Marge read about them in the copy of the paper Al got from the W. M. Hindi store that morning before it was time for him to leave for work;
This first one really wrote a special book on "stupid"...It was an 11 year old male otter cub in Alamogordo who got his right paw blown off because him, a raccoon cub, and a fox cub were playing dare-devil seeing who can hold onto lit cherry bombs the longest and letting the fuses burn down the shortest before throwing them...That title of "bravest cub" among his peers cost the young otter his right paw.
The other was a 14 year old female teenage wolf in Silver City who had her right eye put out when she and her friend, a 16 year old female teenage wolf, decided it would be loads of fun to have Roman candle battles shooting Roman candles at each other...They never gave it any thought that someone could get hurt until it actually happened.
None of the cubs in either incident had the parental supervision that could have prevented those injuries.
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Marge reminded Rex, "When you hollered bang last night when Clarence was trying to lite that blockbuster, you could have caused an accident like that".
Al added, "Sitting tripped back on his ass would have been a bad position for Clarence to have been in if that fuse was already lit".
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Also...There were three traffic deaths in two separate accidents that made it in the newspaper that morning. Both were the result of drivers of motor vehicles who had been celebrating the 4th with a 5th;
The first one happened at 11: 09 pm, 11 miles northeast of Roswell. A '59 Plymouth Fury was driven by a drunk 47 year old male weasel, eastbound on Highway 70. The weasel crossed over into the left lane while reaching for his booze bottle and struck head on with a '56 Ford driven by a 34 year old male fox (Highway 70 was two lane back in the day)...The speed of the Plymouth was 85 mph, and the Ford was travelling at 70 mph...The weasel was too drunk to care, and the fox never had a chance.
Both cars were smashed in and mangled so badly they were almost beyond recognition with both drivers killed instantly...The rear quarter panels, tail lights and trunk lids were the only way to identify what make and model the cars were.
The engine and transmission of the Plymouth were thrown 250 feet from the wreckage. The Plymouth's steering column was impaled through the driver's body, through the driver's seat and through the rear seat, putting the crumpled down, entrails draped, steering wheel part way into the trunk. The dashboard was wrapped around the top of the front seat, and the front bumper was where the windshield use to be. And the left rear wheel was two feet up off the road, and continued spinning for about 20 seconds after the impact.
The engine and transmission of the Ford tore it's way though the firewall and through the front seat and was pressed against the back seat. The Ford's front bumper, radiator, dashboard and top of the front seat were all within three feet of each other. The Ford's left front wheel was thrown 130 feet from the wreckage with the tie rod still attached and the tire and inner tube partially dismounted from the rim (tubeless tires weren't around back then). And the bent up steering wheel was laying on the highway not far from the Ford...The fox snapped it off the steering column with his body on his way out through the windshield.
Many other pieces from both cars, including broken glass, as well as remains of the fox's body, were strewn all over that spot of Highway 70 where it happened. Remains of the weasel's body were extracted from the mangled wreckage of his '59 Plymouth...piece by piece.
If you've ever seen the 1971 movie 'Vanishing Point', both cars were tore up as bad as that Dodge Challenger was depicted in the crash scene at the end of the movie.
"Have a look at this, Jaxon", New Mexico State Police Officer Eric Wolf, said to a fellow officer as he shined a flashlight on the crumpled floor of the Plymouth.
"Bad place to have celebrated the 4th with a 5th, wasn't it", Officer Jaxon Husky replied as he saw broken pieces of the booze bottle on the carpet of the Plymouth, which reeked with the smell of 100 proof rum.
"Yup. Especially when a victim also buys it", Officer Eric Wolf added as he momentarily shined the flashlight toward the remains of the fox's body strewn over the highway.
The pieces of the bottle were readily noticeable being the car's passenger door was torn off during the crash.
That part of Highway 70 wasn't heavily traveled that time of night. Those who did happen by along Highway 70 that night while police were still working the wreck scene would first off see lots of flashing red lights and accident flares way down the highway...Upon approaching the wreck scene it became evident the wreck was a severe one. As cars arrived and stopped, police instructed motorists to drive along the road shoulder to bypass around the wrecked cars blocking the roadway, The sight of how bad the cars were mangled, the wheel with the tie rod laying on the highway, the engine and transmission laying on the highway, the folded passenger's door of the Plymouth laying on the highway, and other pieces of car debris littering the highway was so surreal to those who rode past the wreck scene...Along with the four state police cars and five Chaves County Sheriff's cars on the scene, were a fire truck and water tanker truck on standby in case a gas tank were to explode, a county coroner's panel truck, and a news team panel truck from a television station out of Roswell...They already had tarps covering pieces of the fox's body sprawled out on the pavement. It was the kind of grisly sight that gravely stuck in the minds of motorists and passengers for the rest of the night.
Miraculously enough, none of the gas tanks ever exploded. Neither of the two, smashed, blood splattered cars could be towed with a tow truck. A flatbed truck with a 5 ton lift boom had to be brought out to the crash site to lift aboard the crumpled masses of steel that were once automobiles to be hauled away...And, of course, both cars were covered with tarps before being transported because of the sight of blood on them (Rollback wreckers didn't yet exist back in 1960). Sand also had to be spread on the roadway to cover pools of blood, motor oil, transmission fluid and antifreeze.
What few animals who lived out in that rural area said they could hear the collision that night from as far as two miles away...
A few who heard the impact two miles away described the sound as, "a deeply resonating heavy bang off in a distance".
A coatimundi who heard it from a mile and a half away said, "When my wife and I heard it, we knew it wasn't fireworks".
It was one of those bad wrecks you sometimes hear about that the locals would remember for years to come.
1959 Plymouth;
https://www.google.com/search?q=1959+plymouth+fury&...:
This was the last song the radio in that '59 Plymouth ever played...It was playing during that 85 mph last ride on Highway 70 up until the time of the wreck on that fateful 4th of July night;
"Gonna Find Me A Bluebird"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbTqj3alQDY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G4KxOsmZTU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXrP3RmW4Pc
1956 Ford;
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1366&bi...:
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Al and Marge's cubs; Jed, Rex, Clarence and Donna were astounded over the newspaper pictures that were taken during the night of the mangled remains of the two cars (black & white newspaper pictures back in the day).
Al mentioned to the cubs, "Remember when you're grown, that's why you don't drink and drive".
Marge further told the cubs, "And once it happens, there are no 2nd chances to go back and do it over different".
To the cubs, those pictures in the newspaper were real eye openers to what Mom and Dad were telling them.
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The other was a '60 Chrysler Imperial driven by a 27 year old female Arctic fox who was returning with her husband from a 4th of July party at 1:56 am...She was so drunk, she was practically driving on autopilot. Although her husband was with her, he was so drunk he was passed out, thus she did the driving that night. The Arctic fox ran a stop light in Santa Fe, striking and running down a pedestrian at a speed of 63 mph in a 45 speed zone with her big heavy Imperial... The pedestrian was an elderly male wolverine, a father of three, grand dad of nine, and uncle of 12, who Mrs. Arctic Fox had killed instantly as his body was struck like a rag doll hard enough to bang up the hood and grill then went down under her 5,000 pound Chrysler.
1960 Chrysler Imperial;
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1366&bi...:
Mrs. Arctic Fox was arrested on charges of vehicular homicide, and would be looking at prison time for some time to come.
Mr. Arctic Fox spent the night in the jail's drunk tank and by morning wondered, "What the Hell happened last night? And how did I get here?"...
...The last thing Mr. Arctic Fox remembered from last night was having a good time at the 4th of July party...Mr. Arctic Fox's real woes would come when the Wolverine Family would begin launching law suits.
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Of course, only few states had agendas to enact restrictions on fireworks in those days, and some cities didn't allow it.
Back in the day, if any animal were to be asked, "What are your thoughts on outlawing fireworks?"...
...Some might answer, "Outlaw alcohol. Wanna save lives? That's where to start".
Others would reprove that answer with, "Hold on there. You're not taking my alcohol away".
Ask the teenage or young adult animal that question in that day and time, and from some you may have gotten, "Two cubs badly injured last night...Three traffic deaths from drunk driving last night...Why isn't alcohol included in that question, Mister?".
In most of these kind of issues, it might be less of a matter of if something is used, and more of a matter of how something is used.
To be continued.