Cowboy film star Tom Mix spent his last night on earth in Tucson with Pima County Sheriff Ed Echols and famed western writer Walt Coburn at Coburn's ranch in the Catalina Foothills. The three old friends ate mesquite-grilled steaks and drank Mexican beer together on the veranda while enjoying a blazing sundown decorate a breathtaking Tucson sky. Coburn, in later years, wrote, "Tom lived his own legend in real life and on the silver screen, and that legend is destined to live on forevermore."
Later that evening, Tom went to the old Santa Rita Hotel in Tucson, where he reserved a room and met with owner Nick Hall. They celebrated several rounds of drinks with band musicians into the early morning hours. Tom had ridden his famed horse Tony into the hotel lobby months before and notably chipped a piece of marble out of the grand staircase.
Around noon the next day, October 12, 1940, Tom spoke with Tucson motorcycle policeman Richard Lease on his way north out of town. The officer was driving a Harley-Davidson, the first radio-equipped motorcycle in the city. Lease was the last person in Tucson Tom spoke with. Hours after, Tom lay dead under his famed Cord convertible at a washed-out bridge along Highway 79 on the way to Florence.
Recently, I flew out to Indiana and visited the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Company headquarters and original showrooms in Auburn. The site is now a dazzling museum without comparison in the world. The Tom Mix 1937 Super-Charged V8 Cord 812 Phaeton Convertible was designed and manufactured in Indiana. Museum Curator Sam Gates reflected, "Like in his film career, Tom Mix had style and flair, which was evident with his Cord 812. With its custom features and stately appearance, Mix and his Cord complimented one another like a cowboy with his steed."
Mix purchased his Cord, manufacturer's color code Cigarette Cream, off the showroom floor at the Fuller Cord distributorship on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. The total price with all the personalized accessories Tom wanted was $3,060.
Bob White of Scottsdale owns the famous Tom Mix Cord today. He rescued it eleven years ago after nine previous owners tried their hand at "customizing" the vehicle. One fellow nearly destroyed the automobile, leaving the ailing Cord outside in a field up on blocks. It took White almost three years to tear the automobile down to the frame and build it back to its original showroom glory. White authored the book "The Tom Mix Cord," the most definitive research history of Mix and his vehicle ownership today.
I spoke with White, and he provided details about the Halliburton suitcases and the money Tom was said to be carrying at the time of his death. Folklore in Tucson claims that the aluminum cases were filled with heavy silver coins and struck the cowboy actor in the back of the head at the crash. According to White, the cases did not contain money. In Tom's possessions were found $6,000 in cash and fifteen hundred dollars in travelers' checks.
According to White, the money was recovered and not stolen at the accident scene. White noted that the two Halliburton cases are displayed at the Tom Mix Museum in Dewey, OK. He observed that one has a sizable dent on a corner, causing speculation that it produced the broken neck Tom sustained.
Novelist Coburn wrote of their legendary last night together in Tucson, "Tom Mix had seen his last sunset in the welcomed companionship of his old friend Ed Echols. A crimson sunset in a spectacular sky, with a panoramic view of the desert and mountain ranges. He had heard the sound of the quail and mourning doves blending into the hushed twilight of the last sunset." Tom Mix was 60 years old.
Award-winning writer Jerry Wilkerson lives in SaddleBrooke. He is a former press secretary for two U.S. Congressmen, a prior Chicago CBS radio and Chicago Daily News correspondent. Wilkerson is a navy veteran and a former Police Commissioner. Email: franchise@att.net.
