HINTON W.Va. (Hinton News) – It is time for another edition of A Peek into Summers County’s Past. Each week, local history collector, William Jones, discusses items from his collection and their historical significance. In this edition, the piece of the week is a key to the City of Hinton with an incredible story attached. Here is the tale of when The Durango Kid visited Hinton.
Jones began by saying, “This week’s story is about a rather rare and unusual piece of Hinton’s history. First, I will discuss the brass key to the City of Hinton, and then I will tell the interesting story that was formulated around it. My mother and I went to an auction in what is now the Twin State building, roughly 25 years ago. I bought several pieces of antique furniture and other odds and ends that day. The thing that stood out the most was this unusual heavy brass key for which I was fortunate enough to end up with the winning bid.”
In the 1940s, the famous Western star, The Durango Kid, traveled to Hinton. Jones noted, “Hollywood western star Charles Starrett, who was better known as ‘The Durango Kid’ had this key bestowed upon him for the kindness that he showed a young citizen of Hinton that I will now explain. The key reads ‘Key to our City Hinton, W. Va.” and measures over 8 inches long. Starrett made a personal appearance at the Ritz Theatre in 1948 as he was passing through the area. The black and white photo of the man with a gun was The Durango Kid’s headshot from that same year.”
Jones continued, “In doing some research for this piece, I discovered that Starrett made a personal house call to meet Bill Sawyer, the 9-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Sawyer. You see Bill had waited for weeks to meet Starrett, The Durango Kid, after finding out he was going to make an appearance at the Ritz Theatre. With what had just happened to Bill he considered himself the unluckiest kid ever and said to himself ‘I had to go and catch chicken pox and mess everything up.'”
“When Starrett found out that he had a fan that had been planning on meeting him but had then gotten sick he decided to meet him himself. After meeting him Bill soon changed the way he had been thinking and decided he was in fact the luckiest kid ever. The Durango Kid went to his home to meet him, went inside, sat down and carried on a long conversation with him.”
Not only did Bill get an incredible visit with Starrett, but he also received a keepsake. Jones said, “The Durango Kid left him with an autograph that read: ‘To my friend Bill, from his friend Charles (Durango)Starrett.’ Something this 9-year-old boy in Hinton, West Virginia cherished. Not only did he have the Durango Kid in his house, who had made a special trip to his home to meet him. All of his friends and the other little boys in town had to go to the Ritz Theatre to meet him. But he had gotten a note from his “friend” The Durango Kid. I would say he made quite the name for himself around Hinton in 1948.”
Jone went on to say “His [Starrett’s] managers kept trying to hurry him along so that he wouldn’t run late for his next appearance in Covington, Va. One of them hadn’t wanted him to go meet Bill, fearing that he too would become ill. The Kid told his crew not to worry, ‘Aww, (as he waved his manager away) I have had chickenpox before, I’ve had everything!'”
“When he first walked into Bill’s house to meet him, the first thing he said to him was “Don’t worry about getting chicken pox Bill! Everybody gets it!” After their lengthy visit, The Kid then shook Bill’s hand and had his photo taken with him.” Then he left to head to Covington for his next engagement.”
In conclusion, Jones said, “The city of Hinton presented Mr. Starrett with this key honorarily after he had returned to Hollywood following his engagement at the Ritz Theatre in Hinton. Because he had shown so much kindness and thoughtfulness to a fellow citizen of Hinton. Even though Bill Sawyer was only a 9-year-old child at the time, Mr. Starrett took time out of his big Hollywood schedule to go and personally meet a little boy who had planned to go to meet him but had gotten too sick. And brightened the day for not only Bill but all of the Sawyer family.”
This brings us to the end of another edition of A Peek into Summers County’s Past. If you have a story relating to the area’s history to share, send us an email to news@hintonnews.com.
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