Effie Ophelia Smith (Wharton)

November 19, 2006

The City of Littlefield wasn’t always as sober as it seems to be today (no pun intended).

Effie Ophelia Smith was born to B. F. (Frank) Smith and John Ann Buchan Smith near DeLeon, Comanche County, Texas on March 22, 1889, the second of eight children from this union. She traveled to Littlefield as a child with her family.

Effie married S. M. (Milton) Wharton on January 17, 1911 in Lubbock. They had had five children.

As mentioned in an earlier column, the "great" influenza epidemic of 1923 claimed many lives all over the nation. One local victim was Milt Wharton. He was struck with the flu while he and several others traveled from home to home caring for the many folks in Littlefield who were unable to care for or provide for themselves. "Uncle Milt" passed away February 12, 1923, leaving Effie to raise her children alone.

A woman alone in those days presented tremendous difficulties. Women just didn’t work "outside the home" much. Effie took in washing to feed and clothe all.

The following excerpt comes from a visit with Berta (Smith) Davis, Ina Bell (Wharton) Bush and Jerriene (Wharton) Riley on March 23, 1993.

"Effie did laundry for the public, and people would bring their clothing in cardboard boxes, leave it on the porch. She would wash and iron and set the boxes back out for pick-up. (No one thought about stealing it, back in those days.)

Local historian Bettye Kate Smith found an article in the archives of the Lamb County Leader-News, dated sometime after Milton Wharton’s death in 1923. The heading reads, "WHITE ROBED KLANS MEN PARADE STREETS AS SNOW IS FALLING". The article, in its entirety, follows:

"Very much unexpected to the people of Littlefield, about 80 Klansmen, robed and hooded in their regalia, amid the falling snow marched down the streets of Littlefield Wednesday night.

"It was the first appearance of the Ku Klux Klan in Littlefield, and many were the expressions of surprise that came from the lips of the on-lookers. It had been rumored for some time that a Klan was being organized in Lamb County, but no (one) seemed to know any details regarding it.

"In keeping with one of the principal tenets of that order, it is notable that their first appearance in Lamb County was an errand of benevolence and mercy, the paraders marching to the home of Mrs. Effie Wharton, a widow with five small children, and presenting her with a purse of $25.00, which was greatly appreciated by the beneficiary.

"Following the parade one of the mysteriously dressed Klansmen appeared at the door of the Leader office and handed the editor the following note with request for its publication:

"Littlefield

"Dear Mrs. Wharton and Children:

We the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Lamb County Texas, prompted by the high ideals and principals of our great order, wish to present you with this small donation which is very inadequate in expressing our sentiment in your behalf.

"You may rest assured that our best wishes and hopes are for your welfare.

"May God’s richest blessing abide with you now and forever.

"Respectfully,

"Lamb County Klan."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Card of Thanks

"Not knowing who you are, I take this opportunity of expressing my sincere thanks and appreciation to the members of the Ku Klux Klan for their gift on last Wednesday night.

"It is indeed gratifying to know that tho one may be left in the world practically alone yet there are kind friends who are ready to lend their assistance. Any time I can render any service to the members of this worthy order, I shall be glad to do so.

"Mrs. Effie Wharton"

To continue to quote Mrs. Smith’s comments, "Mildred Wharton had sent me the copy of the clipping of the Ku Klux Klan presenting their mother, Effie Wharton with a money gift at the time of Uncle Milt’s death. All three girls had remembered the Klan members coming to the house. It had snowed, and they were all in their white robes.

"Hollis and I had found reference to the Lamb County Ku Klux Klan in microfilm, while searching for some other things in the Lamb County Leader-News papers files. I decided to call a citizen, one of the very few who would be old enough to see if he could tell me anything. This person didn’t want to talk; in fact, after a lengthy silence on the phone, after I asked him if he knew anything about their activities in Lamb County, he suddenly blurted out, "There never was a Ku Klux Klan here." This made me even more sure that he was, or had been a member.

Picking up from the interview with Mmes Smith, Bush and Riley, "…..that’s what the Klan did…leave their robes in boxes on the porch. It was obvious some of the members knew she did laundry and knew what she charged, how much to leave her."

It should be noted that no "incidents" were ever recorded involving or attributed to the Ku Klux Klan in Littlefield or Lamb County, and the group apparently disbanded about two years after their organization.

The 1920’s and 1930’s had few forms of "outside" entertainment. The Palace Theater was the only one in town that showed "talkies", and people literally saved their pennies to go. On Wednesday nights the Palace had an "intermission", with a different program or event each week.

On occasion, an arena would be set up on the stage, extending out into the 2^nd or 3^rd row for boxing matches. Local "talent" was invited to participate. Bettye Kate remembers Olan Wharton (son of Effie Wharton) was a local champion, winning almost every boxing match he competed in.

There were often drawings for prizes donated by local merchants. Bettye Kate’s mother, Mrs. Dave (Faye) Holladay won a beautiful, pink "Depression-ware" pitcher, which is still in the family.

The fun nights were the contests, in which anyone in the audience could take part. One contest required the participant to eat a specific number of saltine crackers, then whistle a certain number of bars from a tune already selected. Another popular audience participation event was the yo-yo contest.

One particular Wednesday, after a viewing of "The Good Ship Lollipop", with child star Shirley Temple, some of the home-town "girls" strutted their stuff. About 12 little girls (one of which was Bettye Kate Holladay Smith!) spent the afternoon at the beauty shop getting their hair done in "Shirley Temple curls".

Their mothers had made each little girl a beautiful, blue, dotted-swiss organza dress. Bettye Kate remembers quite well her "Mom" admonishing her to "smooth out the back of your dress before you sit down." Organza is a very unforgiving material. Once it’s wrinkled, it stays wrinkled. Of course, Bettye Kate and most of the other girls forgot all about taking care of their dresses. When they got up on stage, with their huge lollipops, to sing and dance their version of the popular song, almost all of them were absolutely adorable from the front – and absolutely wrinkled from the back!

Elections being on the minds of many this time of year, I learned how the election news was spread "in the day". There was a huge black board placed on the street, just north of Brittan’s Pharmacy (the corner building of Visions Furniture now). As election returns came in, the numbers were posted for all to see. There was always a crowd downtown checking out the "tote board", thus the phrase we associate today with elections.