Inside City Hall
By Bunny Norville
Municipal Judge

A bright red and chrome fire truck rolled into town Monday afternoon. Oh my, is it beautiful. It fairly glistened in the evening sunlight . It is by far the prettiest machine on wheels this town has ever seen. Nothing commands one’s attention quite like a new, beautiful, shiny, truck. The hum/roar of the powerful new engine lets us know that this truck will get to the fire in plenty of time.

The whole fire department and their families were at the fire station eagerly anticipating the arrival of the newest in a long line of fire vehicles. This wagon is in its basic condition, as fire trucks go. The Munday fire boys will need to “outfit” the truck now with all the hoses, bells, and whistles. It did come with a loud siren.

This baby is so talented that it can rise on its rear eights and spit a house-fire out. One can hardly imagine what it will do to a range fire. Word has it that it can just hover above the fire and fan it out. Spike, you gotta show me on that one. Is it true that Santa’s whole sleigh will fit in the glove box? A fireman’s gloves are rather large.

We won’t go into the cost here, but just to outfit Mr. Red and Silver will run about $12,000. Former fire chief, Fred Caram, filled me in on some costs of earlier machines. One of the earlier trucks, still in service mind you, altogether cost only $18,000. The cost of red paint has sure gone up over the years.

Go Haywire. Why do we say that?
Moses P. Bliss launched a new era in agriculture and business when he patented a hay press in 1828. His power machine had many defects, but use of it was better than trying to tie loose bales of hay with string.

Demand for baled hay brought improvements that created bundles so firm they could be tied with wire. A major difficulty remained, however, as stiff hay wire easily became tangled or caught in machinery. At other times it would wind around legs of horses or snag clothing of workmen. When cut, wire sometimes snapped outward with enough force to cause an injury.

Until recent decades, production of hay in commercial quantities involved many accidents. As a result, we say that when a device or plan gets out of order, it “goes haywire.”

Despite his self-serving antics, Roy Bean was duly elected Justice of the Peace in 1884 and often reelected, so that between 1882 and 1902, most of his bizarre rulings were the law. Except for an occasional murder, Bean’s cases consisted mostly of misdemeanor counts of drunkenness and the crimes of smalltime con men like himself.

Judge Bean never sentenced anyone to the penitentiary. If anything needed doing in Langtry, however, the prisoner would do it. If there was nothing to be done, the prisoner could take it easy by being staked out in the hot, Pecos sun.