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Submitted: 8/12/21 • Approved: 8/12/21 • Last Updated: 8/15/21 • R446629-G0-S3
1941-1949
Photo/information, courtesy of Edith Guynes Stanley
*Obituary
Hutchinson County Herald - September 23, 1949
Tragedy struck observers and riders of the calf roping contest held Sunday Sept. 18 in the Spring Creek roping arena, located six miles east of Borger. They saw a riderless cow pony galloping up a steep rocky hill dragging a small inert child at the end of a lariat rope.
The child, Mike Pierce, 7-year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Pierce of Phillips, died in North Plains Hospital at 6:50 p.m., about two hours after the mishap.
Mr. Pierce had just finished roping a calf, and Mike and his sister were sitting on the pony. Something frightened the horse and it jumped out from under the two children. The lariat, which was hanging on the saddle horn fell with the children and the end caught both of Mike's feet. The frightened horse dragged Mike about one fourth mile, through a lumber pile and over sharp rocks before it stopped.
Riders, with lariats swinging, immediately started after the runaway horse. The rope wrapped around a telephone post, slowing the horse and the pursuers caught the runaway pony.
Deputy Sheriff Jess Love, who was a contestant also, rushed the child to North Plains Hospital.
Survivors other than the parents include two sisters, Patsy and Dixie, both of Phillips; the maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. J.E. Reams of Plainview and the paternal grandfather, J.C. Pierce of Lefors.
Funeral services were held Tuesday, Sept. 20 in the Minton Funeral Home Chapel, with the Rev. Dallas Dennison, pastor of the Phillips Methodist Church, officiating. Interment was in Highland Park Cemetery under the direction of the Minton Funeral Home.
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Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997
Name: Michael Edwin Pierce
Date of Birth: 23 Oct 1941
Gender: Male
Birth County: Hale
Father's Name: Edwin Ellswarth Pierce
Mother's Name: Edith Fay Reams
Roll Number: 1941_0007
Contributed on 8/12/21
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Record #: 446629