In Trivia Question # 5, Gary Loudermilk, class of '64, asks if anyone remembers "The Shirley and Maple Trick."  In a recent letter he imparts this story......

"I obviously ran in a seedier crowd than you. This was an intermittent entertainment usually occurring at 9 or 10 p.m. any night of the week. Several of us were involved in this escapade. One of us would befriend a newcomer at the Milky Way or other joint. This newcomer could be a young oil field worker or a student from Eunice or Kermit who happened to be in Jal. Upon being queried what there was exciting to do in this place, our contact person would casually mention that there were a couple of very promiscuous sisters, Shirley and Maple, who lived out of town a few miles and they were usually interested in having the guys over. When the bait was swallowed, one of us would call the other participants, who would set their part in motion.

One complicating factor was that the girls lived with their father and brothers. The father knew about some of the carryings on of his daughters and had previously tried to kill some of the boys involved with them. Usually the father and the brothers were either working on an oil rig late at night or down at the Cactus Bar on main street. We just needed to drive by the bar to see if they were there. Sure enough, they were always at the bar as evidenced by their cars out front. The other participants would drive out to a secluded shack on a country caliche road and wait for us to show with the suckers.

Generally, we would drive slowly and really talk excessively about how great these girls were. We would stop beside one of the dirt roads in a place which was quite dark and secluded and walk across the cactus and mesquite towards the shack which could be seen partially lighted in the distance. We would attempt to get closer while being very quiet just to make certain there wasn't any potential problem at the house. When we approached within about a hundred yards of the house, a booming voice from the area of the house would shout, 'I told you bastards to leave my daughters alone,' and that same person would shoot off a shotgun and start towards the unsuspecting dupes.

Naturally, a chase on foot would ensue, and someone (sometimes me) would get shot and fall to the earth. The participants running with me would pick up the body while the dupes continued running towards the car. The body would be dumped quickly into the trunk of the car to be disposed of later on, usually beside another road. You can imagine the fear of the newcomers. This trick usually worked quite well. Sometimes we didn't find all of the newcomers for several hours. I never did know where their time was spent."

    
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