A better example of the need for two parties occurred in Conway County. I played a key role in a political drama that was stranger than fiction, a fiasco that nearly cost me my life. Marlin Hawkins became sheriff of Conway County, Arkansas in , and before that he had held other county offices. He was a classic county-level politician.
The people in his home county revered him, but elsewhere he received mixed reviews. Shortly before his death in , he published an autobiography entitled, How I Stole Elections. My father and I are in his book: Daddy for the work he and Marlin did during the Great Depression to recruit young men for the Civilian Conservation Corps, and I for the fiasco.
In the mids, Marlin Hawkins had a running feud with Gene Wirges, the publisher of a local newspaper in Conway County. That dustup produced a number of allegations, one of which was that Marlin Hawkins, as sheriff, was engaged in an unlawful scheme to skim money from traffic ticket collections. A number of taxpayers filed suit contending that the sheriff wrongfully converted to his own use substantial sums of money collected and received as fines and costs.
Winthrop Rockefeller was governor of Arkansas at the time and that was an unfortunate development for Sheriff Hawkins. In their opinion, the office of sheriff was, eo instante, vacant upon entry of the judgment. Having reached that conclusion, the lawyers opined that Governor Rockefeller had the duty to appoint a successor to fill the vacancy. Governor Rockefeller needed no coaxing. He and Marlin Hawkins had been at odds for years.
The problem was to find someone with enough courage to take an appointment that would surely infuriate the citizens of Conway County. It took some searching, but eventually an eighty-three-year-old gentleman, Mr. Ralph Childers, agreed to take the appointment. The paperwork was quickly prepared, and by the time Childers took the oath of office in Little Rock, news of his appointment had already reached Conway County. Some were armed, and they were saying to anyone who would listen that they were not going to let Ralph Childers serve as sheriff of Conway County.
