A.W. Wallace has Narrow Escape From Gun-Weilding Robbery Trio Saturday
A.W. Wallace was resting as well as could be expected at Crosbsyton Clinic hospital Wednesay afternoon and according to hopital officials, may be able to return to his home sometime this week-end. He is the victim of a robbery and shooting here Saturday night in what was probably the first armed robbery and kidnapping in the history of the city.
No event in recent years has stirred the public as did this outrage, and in true western spirit approximately 50 carloads of men roamed the highways and rural roads of the area shortly after the robbery, armed with every type of weapon from shotguns to high-powered rifles. But the three men who staged the hold-up, with perhaps 30 minutes head start, made good their get-away.
By this morning, although officers in this entire section, assisteed by Texas Rangers, were working on the case, no arrests had been made. Several tangible clues have been indicated.
One man, described as tall, stayed at the front door, while the two shorter men separtated and turned out the lights as they went to the back. The man who stayed at the front and one of the others had pistols, one a .22 caliber and the other a heavier gun.
The men first rifled the cash register, placing the money in a small suitcase, about 24 or 25 inches long. First estimated at about $300, a later check showed the amount to be on $152. The checks in the register were not bothered.
Two of the men then ordered Mr. Wallace to go with them to the store office and open the larger walk-in type safe. Mr. Wallace refused and then grabbed the fun deflecting a shot into the ceiling. The other man picked up a typewriter and slung it at Wallace, hitting his hand and arm and breaking his hold on the gun.
When the shot was fired, Orval Wallace, a son, rushed to the back of the store, even though he was covered by the gunman in the front. He was too late to help, as the second gunman already had the gun trained on them.
Giving up opening the safe, the three men took Mr. Wallace out the front door, down an alley to their get-away car parked behind this newspaper office, circled around by the First Baptist church, drove out the Kalgary road, then cut back to Highway 82 east of Crosbyton. They were in the store between 10 and 15 minutes.
The men threatened continually to kill Mr. Wallace. One suggested that they shoot him and toss him off one of the bridges in Blanco Canyon. But they crossed the canyon and turned south on a dead-end side road on the East Plains. They beat him continuosly with a gun and their fists, and kicked him. About 100 years from the spot where they parked the car, Wallace was shot in the left arm, shattering the large bone just below the elbow. The car was stopped on the lonely road, and Mr. Wallace ordered to "start walking". As he walked away, he was shot in the back of the head. Only the fact that he was bent over, trying to see the road in the darkness saved him from death. The bullet grazed the back of his scalp, cutting a furrow one and half inches long, but not penetrating the bone.
Crying out, "You got me that time." Wallace continued to walk away. The men jumped in their car, turned around and headed back for the highway. Wallace walked on to the home of Mr. E.G. Rich, about 300 yards away, who rushed him to the hospital here.
Crosbyton Review, Thursday, December 1, 1949
Services for A.W. Wallace, 86, of Crosbyton were held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, February 14, 1990 in the Crosbyton First United Methodist Church with Rev. Johnnie Williams, a retired Methodist minister from Lubbock and Rev. Wendell Horn, pastor of Crosbyton First United Methodist Church officiating.
Burial followed in the Crosbyton cemetery under direction of Adams Funeral Home.
Mr. Wallace died at 11:05 a.m. Monday, February 12, 1990 in Lubbock´s Methodist Hospital following a lengthy illness.
He was born February 11, 1904 in Roaring Springs, and married Veva Humphries September 2, 1925 in Matador. He was a member of the Crosbyton First United Methodist Church and the Opportunity Sunday School Class. He was a former member of the Crosbyton Lions Club, the Crosbyton City Council and the Crosbyton Volunteer Fire Department.
He owned and operated Wallace Dept. Store until his retirement in 1971.
He moved to Crosbyton in 1939 from Whiteflat, Texas.
Survivors include his wife, Veva Wallace of Crosbyton; 2 sons, Orval Wallace of Edinburgh, Texas and Alton Wallace of Stover, Missouri; 6 grandchildren; 12 great grandchildren.
Published Crosby County News & Chronicle, February 15, 1990
Record provided by Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum
transcribed by Linda Fox Hughes
CROSBYTON (Special) - Services for Veva Mae Wallace, 88, of Jefferson City, Mo., will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Crosbyton First United Methodist Church with the Rev. Johnnie Williams officiating.
Burial will be at Crosbyton Cemetery under the direction of Adams Funeral Home.
She died at 4:45 Sunday, July 27, 1997, in Villa Marie Skilled Nursing Facility in Jefferson City, MO, following an illness.
She was born July 15, 1909, in Lydia, TX, and attended schools in the Whiteflat, Tx area. She married Arnold Wallace Sept. 2, 1925, in Matador. He preceded her in death Feb. 12, 1990.
She owned and operated WALLACE Department Store in Crosbyton from 1945 to 1972. She was a member of Crosbyton First United Methodist Church and the Methodist Women. She moved to Jefferson City, MO, in February of 1997.
One son, Orval Wallace, preceded her in death on Dec. 17, 1996.
Survivors include one son, Alton Wallace of Jefferson City; two sisters, Katalyn Hudson of Arcadia, Calif., and Minnie Shackelford of Odessa; six grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren.
Published Lubbock Avalanche Journal, July 30, 1997
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