Starkrusher
Where Tom Mix departed this Earth
FROM WIKIPEDIA: Thomas Edwin "Tom" Mix (born Thomas Hezikiah Mix January 6, 1880) was an American film actor and the star of many early Western movies. Between 1909 and 1935, Mix appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were silent movies. He was Hollywood's first Western megastar and is noted as having helped define the genre for all cowboy actors who followed.
On the afternoon of October 12, 1940, Mix was driving his 1937 Cord 812 Phaeton near Florence, Arizona, (between Tucson and Phoenix) on U.S. Highway 80 (now Arizona State Route 79).
Mix had been visiting Pima County Sheriff Ed Nichols in Tucson and had visited the Oracle Junction Inn, a popular gambling and drinking establishment, where he had called his agent. Heading toward Phoenix, he came upon construction barriers at a bridge washed away by a flash flood. He was unable to stop in time. The car swerved twice then rolled into a gully, pinning his body underneath.
He had placed a large aluminum suitcase containing a substantial sum of money, traveler's checks and jewels on the package shelf behind him. It flew forward and struck Mix's head, shattering his skull and breaking his neck. The actor died instantly.
Eyewitnesses said Mix had been traveling at 80 mph. A small stone memorial marks the site of his death on State Route 79, and the nearby gully is named "Tom Mix Wash". The plaque on the marker bears the inscription: "In memory of Tom Mix whose spirit left his body on this spot and whose characterization and portrayals in life served to better fix memories of the old West in the minds of living men."
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The memorial is so nondescript that I didn't even bother to photograph it, but thought it ironic that the perimeter fence across the back of the memorial site is barbed wire, designed to keep Tom Mix devotees from wandering into the prickly cactus.
Where Tom Mix departed this Earth
FROM WIKIPEDIA: Thomas Edwin "Tom" Mix (born Thomas Hezikiah Mix January 6, 1880) was an American film actor and the star of many early Western movies. Between 1909 and 1935, Mix appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were silent movies. He was Hollywood's first Western megastar and is noted as having helped define the genre for all cowboy actors who followed.
On the afternoon of October 12, 1940, Mix was driving his 1937 Cord 812 Phaeton near Florence, Arizona, (between Tucson and Phoenix) on U.S. Highway 80 (now Arizona State Route 79).
Mix had been visiting Pima County Sheriff Ed Nichols in Tucson and had visited the Oracle Junction Inn, a popular gambling and drinking establishment, where he had called his agent. Heading toward Phoenix, he came upon construction barriers at a bridge washed away by a flash flood. He was unable to stop in time. The car swerved twice then rolled into a gully, pinning his body underneath.
He had placed a large aluminum suitcase containing a substantial sum of money, traveler's checks and jewels on the package shelf behind him. It flew forward and struck Mix's head, shattering his skull and breaking his neck. The actor died instantly.
Eyewitnesses said Mix had been traveling at 80 mph. A small stone memorial marks the site of his death on State Route 79, and the nearby gully is named "Tom Mix Wash". The plaque on the marker bears the inscription: "In memory of Tom Mix whose spirit left his body on this spot and whose characterization and portrayals in life served to better fix memories of the old West in the minds of living men."
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The memorial is so nondescript that I didn't even bother to photograph it, but thought it ironic that the perimeter fence across the back of the memorial site is barbed wire, designed to keep Tom Mix devotees from wandering into the prickly cactus.