Letters, Aug. 27, 1934

(4 of 5)

I have been reading your magazine for several months, and thought that I was reading facts, generally speaking, but after reading your article in which my name is mentioned on p. 13 of your Aug. 6 publication, I am convinced that the things that I considered valuable to me as being based on facts are possibly as lacking in truth as your article regarding myself. Since your magazine is circulated throughout the U.S., and since I am to serve in Congress where my official acts will have their effect upon the entire nation, I wonder why in the hell you don't get the truth about a man before you write an article that would cause the reader to think him just a ridiculous, nondescript eccentric, who, in the common vernacular of Oklahoma, might be termed a fourflusher and a drugstore cowboy. Since it is none of your damn business who or what I am, I will not delve into the biography of my life, but will deal with your article exclusively. I have at no time endeavored to prevent the public from knowing that my name is Percy Lee Gassaway. I was christened under that name by my father and mother, Rev. and Mrs. B. F. Gassaway, 49 years ago, have never made the slightest effort to prevent the public from knowing that was my name, and the abbreviation by the use of "P. L." is simply a matter of convenience, not that I am the least bit ashamed of "Percy Lee." Your next statement is incorrect. My eyes are not black, nor is my hair black, and notwithstanding the fact that we have some rather high winds in Oklahoma, I have at no time observed my hair flowing through the breezes. It is true that I wear a broad-brimmed hat. The same kind of a hat I have worn all my life and I also wear a black tie. I have never worn a wing collar in my life, nor have I ever adorned my person with a black suit; and, for your further information, I have never owned a pair of black boots in my life. All of my boots are tan and made by the Justin Boot Company of Fort Worth, Tex. As to me having never been a cowboy, may I suggest to you that I at this time live on my own ranch where I handle hundreds of cattle annually. My brand is "TX'' on the left hip, and my mark is a swallow fork in each ear. The truth of the matter, I have never been anything else but a cowman. I took up the practice of law for the genuine pleasure that I derive out of showing up just such men as you evidently are from the article you wrote about me, and may I suggest with some small degree of pride that I never defended a man who was convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary. Politics and the practice of law have been a side issue with me as I have at all times been engaged in trading in cattle, horses and mules, of which I own a considerable number at this time. It is true that my father was a missionary to the Indians, and as to my peculiar behavior on the bench, may I suggest to you that, having tried in the past eight years, approximately 6,000 motions, demurers, nonjury and jury cases, and I have only been reversed in six cases. Perhaps that peculiarity of my conduct on the bench is because I have been so successful. I have introduced five persons before my courts during the number of years that I have served as a District Judge. Three of them were assigned District Judges, and the other two being distinguished visitors. After passing sentence on a boy who had fallen into the hands of evil companions