I saw your post. My dad grew up in Smithville, OK during the time Newt Hancock and Mr. Mowdy were living around there. My grandfather, Gabe Phillips had a general store there. They settled in Smithville in 1914 and raised their family of 8 children. In my family history I have his story of these two men. I am posting it here and will remind you that my dad gave me this story with a smile and told me as with others that these two men were well liked and they had a million stories around about them. This is my dad's story:
MR. MOWDY AND NEWT HANCOCK
We always called him Mr. Mowdy. To this day I don't know any other
name. Mr. Mowdy was usually alone when he rode into town, except for
two dogs following his horse. He was never without them. They were the
kind of dogs that you didn't go near. They were quietly following him
whenever he came to town, but they weren't quiet if you got too close.
They were different somehow from your ordinary dog, to me they always
looked like they were part wolf. They looked like a shepherd but their
ears were shorter and their eyes were like a wolf's eyes.
Mr. Mowdy would come into town, tie his horse to a tree in the persimmon
thicket by the ice house. Those two dogs would lay down there by the
horse and never move. Mr. Mowdy would catch a ride with his
brother-in-law, Newt Hancock and go to Idabel or Mena or where ever it
was he needed to go. Sometimes he would get back real late, but those
dogs stayed right there with his horse and waited, no matter how long he
was gone. Mrs. Mowdy was a friend of my mother's and she came to the
house a lot. Quilting, sewing or just visiting, that was their relaxing
time I guess. It's funny that I don't know any more about this. Newt's
wife and daughter belonged to the Baptist Church there, but Newt
didn't. I used to date Newt's daughter, I went with her for quite a
while.
Newt Hancock was the bootlegger in those parts. Now he was particular
about his whiskey. He never would sell to minors and he only sold
bottled and bonded whiskey. None of that "white lightin" stuff,
strictly the genuine bottled (bonded) whiskey. He used to charge the
Indians (not much, but he had a fee) to take them to Idabel. Newt had a
1935 International truck and he was always hauling Indians with him
somewhere. Everybody knew him and his family and even though he was
what we called a "bootlegger", he had friends there, was polite, and
since McCurtain County was dry he was able to make a living with a
little farming and his other occupation, which to some was unsavory, but
so were other occupations in the area that I'm sure people didn't even
know about.
I enjoyed watching, as a kid growing up, these were part of my town and
I found it all interesting to watch. We all knew them, accepted them,
and their activities were part of our daily lives just as much as the
blacksmith, the barber or any others that came and went through the town
during the week and did their business there at the stores or ate at the
hotel. I had a good childhood, enjoyed being a boy, enjoyed my friends
and their families. Everytime I go back there, it feels like home just
to drive around even though it's barely a "town" now, I love it and I
loved the people that made my growing up so memorable that I can share
those times with a smile and lots of fondness.
One time Mr. Mowdy was coming back from Mena with his brother-in-law,
Newt Hancock, the truck was full, no tellin' how many Indians he had in
the cab that day, and I don't know what they were hauling, but Mr.
Mowdy was riding on the running board, holding on to the truck, on the
driver's side. I guess that's the only place he could ride. The truck
was side-swiped and Mr. Mowdy was crushed to death. They said they
found one of his ribs sticking through the door of the truck.
Troy O. Phillips, September 9, 1919 to February 4, 1998
Born in Smithville, Oklahoma, McCurtain County.