The old man of the West
QUESTION The actor who played Old Mose in The Searchers seems to feature in most John Wayne films. Who was he? iF FOr nothing else, Hank Worden made an enduring mark in Western history for his role of old, bald, laconic fool Mose Harper, sittin’ and a-rockin’ in John Ford’s 1956 The Searchers, starring John Wayne.
Hank was born norton Earl Worden in Rolfe, indiana, on July 23, 1901, and his family moved to Montana, where he became an accomplished horse rider. He attended the University of nevada and Stanford University in palo alto, California, where he acquired the nickname Hank.
After a spell in the U.S. army as an expert horseman, he performed with various rodeos, which eventually brought him to Madison Square gardens, where he and fellow cowboy Tex ritter were chosen for roles in Broadway’s 1931 green grow The lilies.
After the show completed its road tour, ritter stayed in new York while Worden spread his wings, entertaining on dude ranches around the grand Canyon and palm Springs, singing and doing little jigs. at some time in his 20s Worden broke his neck, but he didn’t realise until he was in his 40s.
Comedienne Billie Burke saw something special in him, told him he should to try Hollywood, and found him a role as an extra in gary Cooper’s The plainsman (1936).
About this time, his old rodeo partner ritter was beginning his B-Western series, and Worden was given roles in many of them, including Hittin’ the Trail (1937).
More B-Westerns followed, not only with ritter but Tim Holt, george O’Brian, Buck Jones, gene autry, Johnny Mack Brown and others.
in 1948 John Ford cast him in his John Wayne U.S. army film Fort apache, used him again in The Three godfathers (1950) and as one of Charles Kemper’s outlaws in Wagon Master (1950) before his role as Mose Harper.
Wayne and Worden hitched up in many of his films, including red river (1948), The alamo (1960), Mclintock! ( 1963), True grit (1969), Chisum (1970), and Cahill (1973).
He played in many TV Western series, including The lone ranger, rawhide, Tales Of Wells Fargo, Wagon Train and gun law.
He was in the 1978 musical extravaganza Sgt pepper’s lonely Heart Club Band, starring the Bee gees, and at the age of 89 appeared as ‘World’s Oldest room-Service Waiter’ in David lynch’s Twin peaks Tv series ( 1990- 1991). Shortly before Hank died, he co-hosted a Tv show about himself called Thank Ya, Thank Ya Kindly, one of the phrases he used as the gentle, gentlemanly Mose Harper. He died peacefully in his sleep in los angeles on December 6, 1992, aged 91.
Terry Cutts, Birchington, Kent.
QUESTION An episode from the U.S. drama Justified is dedicated to Deputy U.S. Marshal Derek Hotsinpiller 1986-2011 and Deputy U.S. Marshal John Perry 1962-2011. What happened to these two men? DErEK William Hotsinpiller and John perry were Deputy U. S. Marshals killed in the line of duty — though in separate incidents in different states. On February 16, 2011, Derek Hotsinpiller and two other deputy marshals were serving a search warrant on Charles E. Smith in the town of Elkins, West virginia, when Smith fired a shotgun at them. Hotsinpiller was shot in the neck and died of his wounds. The other two were injured.
Hotsinpiller was 24 and had been a U.S. marshal for less than two years. Smith was wanted on charges of possession with intent to supply cocaine, and was shot dead in the exchange of gunfire.
Derek’s father James had been a police lieutenant, and a memorial scholarship was established in their joint names to provide scholarships for Harrison County students.
On March 8, 2011, Deputy U.S. Marshal John Brookman perry was killed when he and other U.S. marshals and a police task force were attempting to execute an arrest warrant on Carlos Boles in St louis, Missouri.
perry, 48, was killed outright in the exchange of fire, while another U.S. marshal and a police officer were wounded. Boles also died in the gunfight: he had been wanted for aggravated assault and possession of a controlled substance.
president george Washington appointed the first 13 U.S. marshals in 1789, making them the oldest federal law-enforcement agency in the U.S. Their primary purpose is as officers of federal courts, acting on the orders of judges, which is why they enforce arrest and search warrants granted by the courts.
Their other major role is the custody and escort of federal prisoners outside federal prisons, as depicted in the film Conair.
The first U.S. marshal to die in the line of duty was robert Forsyth, a Scottish immigrant who had fought on the side of the americans during the War of independence. He was killed on January 11, 1794, in the state of georgia.
Since then more than 200 others have died.
Bob Cubitt, Northampton.
QUESTION In Ben Macintyre’s book Double Cross, about wartime spies, one claimed there was a law in Scotland that you couldn’t have a drink unless you had travelled five miles. Was this true? FUrTHEr to the earlier answer, some years ago i was a young trawlerman sailing from grimsby to fishing grounds around the Western islands. a regular port of call for repairs or supplies was Scrabster in Caithness.
We docked one Sunday, and by the time we went ashore we had attracted the interest of a group of men who had been mending nets and doing other boating activities.
We walked to the local pub, which was no more than 300 yards away, and all the dockside men followed us. When we reached the pub, called Mother McKays, the men all claimed to be members of our crew.
no questions were asked and drinking continued until late afternoon, with one exception — me. i was only 16 at the time, too young to be drinking.
as i’d been one of the genuine ‘travellers’ who actually qualified for a drink on a Sunday, i was upset when the landlady asked me to leave as she had ‘her licence to think about’. The crew thought it very funny — most of them had been thrown out of pubs in grimsby (and not for being teetotal).
i sat outside on the harbour wall, the landlady sent me out a glass of lemonade and some chocolate bars. i thought that was nice of her until the crew told me she’d asked for the money for them before they left.
Docking in Scrabster again years later, i saw two men on the quay. They were there on behalf of the rnli, as the next day the Queen Mother was to open the new lifeboat station in Scrabster. i was amazed to find that one them was Mr Davis, my headmaster at penhale primary School, in portsmouth.
i was told later that the lifeboat station had caught fire and the opening did not happen.
John Porter, Waterlooville, Hants.