Even in after he was gone, he made headlines. You can find the original newspaper account of his sudden death in a single-car crash in Arizona at age 60, and two later tribute stories from journalists remembering their childhood hero.
Cowboy actor Tom Mix became a roping Romeo in “Six Shooter Andy” (1918)
The Logan Republic (Logan, Utah) April 2, 1918
The full breadth of the big ranches with their stirring horsemen, their daring deeds, their ambitions, are combined with touches of the East in “Six Shooter Andy,” in which Tom Mix is making his second appearance as a dramatic star for William Fox.
It is a story that thrills, and the thrill touches all hearts, whether they be of the North, the East, the South or the West. Beside the touch of the plains, there is much humor in the play.
The scene is laid in Bannock, where the cowboy and the girl arrive simultaneously, after the cowboy has rescued the girl from plains desperadoes. They find Bannock under the domination of a gang of outlaws who operate with the assistance of the sheriff and it becomes their task to clean the place up.
They do it, too! And there’s some action in the process! Of course, there is a good, strong undercurrent of heart interest running through the story, because the Cowboy simply cannot overlook the fact that the girl is pretty and sweet and winsome and capable — which, by the way, is a fairly interesting combination of virtues in anyone, man or woman, but particularly woman.
Tom Mix has always been a favorite with motion picture followers. He’s a man who takes chances to thrill and entertain. He is athletic. He is a born and bred plainsman.
He is acknowledged to be one of the best riders in the world and he loves his horses. He has one which he calls Aggie, and Aggie seems to understand everything Tom says. When Tom tells Aggie to fall dead, Aggie does it, and does the stunt as well as the best actor could.
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The public will like Six Shooter Andy. Exhibitors have learned by experience that variety in programs is the spice of life, and all know that there is a wonderful interest in all lands in the glorious Golden West.
Tom Mix, cowboy, United States scout in the Spanish American War, motion picture comedy director, comedy star, dramatic star, that’s the story!
Tom Mix’s rise in pictures is due entirely to his knowledge of life on the plains. His leadership in the cattle country is acknowledged by hundreds who have followed him in many stirring adventurers, particularly those in which ranchmen of the great Southwest engaged to rid that territory of bandits.
For a long time he made two reel comedies for William Fox and he always packed five reels of action into the two thousand feet. His comedies were so well liked that exhibitors began asking Mr Fox to star him in five reel dramatic productions.
There was such demand for the comedies that at first Mr Fox hesitated, but finally the demand became so insistent that Tom was put where the lovemaking is a bigger factor than producing fun. Tom does very well. Then, too, he shoots well, he rides well, and his horses act well for him.
But perhaps the fact about his work that has the biggest appeal to exhibitors and the public is that he is putting a new sort of punch in his productions. Western subjects seem well suited to easy development of action.
Tom Mix, however, does not get results by the easy method. He is striving constantly for, and is obtaining new effects. He capitalizes ability. He makes opportunities as no one could who was not plainsbred. It is in realism that he excels! His pictures are the testimony of the self-confident expert witness.
He is convincing as is perhaps no other actor starring in Western dramas! He sets new standards in Six Shooter Andy.
Cowboy Tom Mix’s stunts in Mr Logan, USA (1919)
Tom Mix made a daring ride on his horse Tony, down a 200-foot embankment for a scene in his latest William Fox photoplay, “Mr Logan, USA,” which will be shown at the Liberty Theatre tonight.
To say that Tom made the ride would not be altogether true. Tom made only 150 feet of the ride and completed the other 50 feet by rolling.
It was indeed a daring stunt and even the cameraman, J D Jennings, was shaky as Tom’s horse felt his way down the steep incline. Tony was very careful, however, and carried Tom along in safety until within 50 feet of the bottom of the hill, he stumbled on some brush.
Knowing horse that Tony is, he turned slightly, and as he fell, threw Tom upward toward the bank. There was nothing to save either of them, however, and they rolled and rolled until they could roll no more — and strange to say, Tom stopped rolling alongside of Tony.
Evidently Tom never lost his wits, because he threw his leg over the saddle and grabbed the pommel as Tony started to his feet.
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Tom Mix, mightiest western actor (1956)
By Don Dedera – Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona) December 6, 1956
TOM MIX MONUMENT — A statue of a horse, saddled but riderless, trails its reins at the place where my boyhood hero died. Tom Mix could not sing, and he could not play a guitar.
He never rolled his eyes, and he had no talent for swiveling his hips like a man with a chunk of ice in his jeans. But hero he was. And he will live as long as the memories of millions of boys, now men.
He was born in Mix Run, Pennsylvania, in 1880, and he died here at Tom Mix Wash, 18 miles south of Florence, October 12, 1940. In those 60 years, he succeeded at enough careers for a half-dozen lesser men.
AS A SOLDIER, he saw action in the Philippines, where he opened his mouth and took a Spanish bullet which emerged from his neck; and in the Boxer Rebellion in China, where he won a medal and citation. A shell fragment almost scalped him while he was serving with the British in the Boer War in South Africa.
His cowboy role was honestly come by. It was his trade in most of the Western states. He became foreman for a huge Oklahoma ranch, and won national riding and roping contests in Canon City, Colorado, and Prescott.
Always, he did things by hunches. He was a Texas Ranger, deputy U.S. marshal in Oklahoma, Montana, Arizona. and New Mexico, and was sheriff of counties in three states. He was wounded twice while wearing a badge.
His prowess at rodeoing caught the eye of a Hollywood agent who offered him $100 a week. Tom Mix gulped. The agent said $150. And the man who was to make the horse opera the nation’s premiere form of entertainment, accepted.
His standard role was that of a hard-fisted cowboy with a fast gun and the biggest hat west of Nantucket Light Ship.
On screen, women to Tom Mix were creatures of rescue, not love. And in all of his pictures, he never smoked, and he never took a drink. I remember him best as a radio performer (in person and impersonated, which I long thought were synonymous).
Until I was almost grown, I believed that if I ate enough Ralston cereal, I would become his double, complete with faithful horse, Tony.
NEVER WAS THERE, or has there been, a better man than Tom Mix at dispatching a villain with a single smite. But most heroic of all, in my eyes, was his refusal to be seen picking a banjo in places no real cowboy would pack a musical instrument.
“I’ll quit motion pictures before I’ll learn to play a mandolin,” he once said. “And none of my fans will ever hear me desecrating the atmosphere of a theater by yodeling.”
The last 10 years of his life, Tom Mix spent in Wild West shows. On the day he died, he was traveling alone, from Tucson to Phoenix, as advance agent for an old cow waddy buddy, Ken Maynard.
No one witnessed his death. Apparently his glistening green Rolls Royce speedster went out of control in a bridge detour, and overturned. The men who found him said a flying suitcase broke Tom Mix’s neck.
They also remembered that Tom Mix had passed them down the road, stopped for gas, then passed them again. They recalled that the second time he went by “he sounded a siren.”
Tom Mix dies in car crash: Screen and circus star pinned under auto (1940)
Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona) October 13, 1940
Florence, Oct 12 — Tom Mix, cowboy actor and hero of scores of western thrillers of the silent film era, was killed 18 miles south of here today when he was pinned under his overturned automobile on a highway detour.
It was the 159th fatality resulting from motor vehicle accidents in Arizona since January 1.
Idol of millions
Mix, whose colorful career as a circus performer, soldier, law enforcement officer and motion picture star, made him the idol of millions the world over, was traveling alone from Tucson to Florence and Phoenix.
E O Devine, coroner, said Mix, 60 years old, apparently died instantly after losing control of his car. There will be no inquest. The body was brought here.
Neck is broken
Two highway employees, John Adams of Oracle and E A Armenta of Casa Grande, discovered the overturned vehicle.
Martin Younkers, Beloit, Wis, and Anthony Monts, Rockford, Illinois, who said Mix had passed them on the highway north of Tucson, helped pull the actor’s body from under his racing model.
Younkers and Monts said a heavy suitcase had fallen against Mix’ head, burying his face in the soft ground. A physician reported later the blow broke his neck.
Local investigators said Mix, who left Tucson at 1pm, was serving as an advance agent for a circus scheduled to show in Phoenix soon. The cowboy star was carrying $6000 in cash, $1500 in travelers checks, and several valuable jewels.
Mix was a native of Pennsylvania. He worked as a cowboy in Texas, Arizona, Wyoming and Montana and won national riding and roping contests at Prescott and at Canon City, Colo, in 1909 and 1910.
Hard-riding roles
During the years when he was identified with pictures, Mix always was cast as a hard-riding, gun-toting hero out to thwart unlawful acts in the day of the Wild West.
In recent years, he has appeared in Wild West circus shows and for a time operated his own circus, the Tom Mix Wild West Show. He also made frequent vaudeville tours and in 1938 and 1939 made personal appearances in Europe.
Mix served with the United States Army in the Philippine Islands, in the Spanish American War and during the Boxer rebellion in China, winning a medal and citation. He was with the British Army at the siege of Ladysmith during the Boer war in South Africa.
Kansas, Oklahoma Sheriff
As a law enforcement officer, Mix was sheriff of Montgomery County, Kansas, and Washington County, Oklahoma, and later saw service as a deputy US Marshal in the Eastern Oklahoma district and with the Texas Rangers.
He was livestock foreman of the Miller Brothers “101” ranch in Bliss, Oklahoma, from 1906 to 1909.
With the advent of talking pictures, Mix turned to circus and vaudeville work exclusively.
Final tribute paid to Tom Mix
Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona) October 17, 1940
Glendale, Calif, Oct 16 – Tom Mix, peace officer, soldier, cowboy, movie hero and circus star, received the last respects of hundreds of friends today. He was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, last resting place of many film notables.
The little church where the rites were conducted could not contain the mourners, many of whom were friends of his film life and others of an earlier age of days on the open range.
On the lawn outside, 2000 curious onlookers gathered, some had pocket cameras and some had autograph books, as if they expected to see a multitude of celebrities.
There was little need for the cameras, none for the autograph books. The prominents who came to the funeral were few and they kept respectfully in the background. The best-known faces were those of other cowboy stars, Gene Autry, Buck Jones, Harry Carey, George O’Brien, William S Hart and Tex Ritter.
Rank and file movie cowboys formed the bulk of those admitted to the church. There were bushels of expensive flowers.
Los Angeles county’s sheriff, Eugene Biscailuz, who had known Mix for a quarter of a century, spoke of him as an officer and a gentleman “whose upright life inspired millions.”
A Baptist minister, J Whitcomb Brougher, paid an unusual tribute: “I do not know many men in his sort of public life whom I would invite into my pulpit. Tom Mix was one of them.”
Rudy Valee sang “Empty Saddles” and a squad from Tom’s Spanish War Veterans’ post fired a volley over the grave.
Mix, who was 60 years old, was killed last Saturday in Arizona when his auto overturned.
Film world mourns Tom Mix, killed in auto accident (1940)
The Daily Item (Sunbury, Pennsylvania) Oct 14, 1940
Tom Mix, cowboy, peace officer, soldier, actor, showman … was making his last personal appearance today. The body of Mix, killed Saturday in an automobile accident at Florence, Ariz., lay in state in the chapel of Pierce Brothers’ mortuary.
He was dressed in his rangers coat and white breeches. His prized, diamond-studded belt was buckled around his waist. Only his ten-gallon hat was missing.
Paul Mantz, movie stunt flier and chauffeur for film celebrities who eloped by airplane, flew the body back yesterday from Florence. Only a few intimate friends were at Union Air Terminal when the coffin was loaded into an ambulance and taken to the mortuary.
His death stunned Hollywood. William S. Hart, one of his closest friends, said, “It’s just too awful. My recollections of Tom are still very vivid. He was wonderful.”
The 60-year-old Mix, native of DoBois, Clearfield County, Pa., had been a Texas Ranger, a soldier in the Spanish-American War and in the Boxer Rebellion, a sheriff at various times of three counties, a U. S. marshal, and a guide to the late President Theodore Roosevelt, but it was as a cowboy actor that he won his fame.
In late years, he had traveled with a circus in which he owned a major interest. He was traveling as an advance agent for it when his automobile swerved on a dirt road, overturned and killed him instantly.
Cowboy actor Tom Mix: An old hero’s image is happily renewed (1963)
By Don Dedera – Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona) January 8, 1963
PRESCOTT, Arizona — From now on, my Ralston [hot cereal] is going to taste much better, thanks to Frank Bartlett.
To me and everybody else my age, Tom Mix was an unadulterated hero of the radio and the silver screen. So great was my faith until I was 12 years old I wondered how the radio people managed to string microphone wires out to where Mr Mix was galloping after outlaws.
I’d eat Ralston dry, cooked or cold, because the Old Wrangler said it was good. I sent off box tops for everything offered. If I heard a snatch of “Round-up Time in Texas,” like Pavlov’s dog I’d salivate.
And with the news of Tom Mix’s death in an automobile wreck in Arizona, I found a corner and wept. I wouldn’t have minded as much if he had been pitched off Tony.
Anyway, a few years ago at the highway marker south of Florence, I wrote a nostalgic piece about Tom Mix. Later, some skeptics stated that Tom Mix’s alleged career as soldier and lawman was likely invented or embellished by some Hollywood press agent. He was probably a phony along with so many celluloid cowboys.
MY DOUBTS lingered until the other day, when I met Frank Bartlett. There isn’t anything phony about him. He is 85, a lifelong peace officer, a veteran of the Spanish-American War.
Bartlett’s own adventures would sell breakfast cereal. Most of his law enforcing was for the Santa Fe [Railroad], in New Mexico, Arizona and California. When Ash Fork had nine saloons and four dance halls, he was railroad detective for the Santa Fe’s first western double-track line there.
He broke up train robberies and solved freight burglaries. He had to wound two men in the line of duty. Once he disguised himself as a hobo to crack a case.
It must have been about 1911 when the Yavapai sheriff called Frank Bartlett, and, in secret, displayed the U.S. deputy marshal credentials of Tom Mix.
“I’m keeping them in the safe,” said the sheriff. “Mix will be working undercover. He’s out here from Oklahoma looking for some men, and if they know he’s a lawman, they’ll kill him.”
BARTLETT got to know Tom Mix pretty well. Mix later was taken into Prescott’s Joe Wheeler Camp No. 5, United Spanish War Veterans.
During his stay in Prescott, Mix played the part of a dumb drifter. He didn’t make arrests. He just moved from job to job, alert for clues, relaying his facts by coded telegrams to his boss.
Every once in a while, another marshal would swoop into Yavapai County from Oklahoma, and quietly arrest and take away a wanted man. According to Frank Bartlett, it was one of the best pieces of detective work he ever saw. So pass another bowl.
One Response
Hi,
My mother was Tom Mix’s cousin. I can remember she had signed pictures from him to her n a few other things of his in a trunk from her Grandmother’s house when she passed away in DuBois Pa. It was nice to see more history of his and of my mother’s history.