The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964 Page: 229
672 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Melvin A. Traylor, 1878-1934
a fire fighter for seven years, the last two years as chief. His picture
in uniform now hangs in the city hall, which also housed the fire
department. To pay his board, he took a job as night clerk in a
hotel where he worked from seven o'clock until eleven o'clock
in the evening.
He arranged to leave the store at 3:00 P.M., after working from
daylight, so that he could either attend Patterson Institute or
study law in a lawyer's office. Nelson Phillips, the young lawyer
who was probably his mentor, later became Chief Justice of Texas
Supreme Court.
Among his store duties was the driving of the delivery wagon,
and the late Olin Culberson, former Railroad Commissioner of
Texas, recalled seeing Melvin driving to Patterson's Institute
behind two little Spanish mules.
In 19o1, Traylor was elected city clerk and was admitted to the
bar. He became assistant county attorney of Hill County in 1904,
and when the political wheel turned him out of office, he opened
his own law office. One year's work convinced him that financial
success was a long way off in the legal profession in a small farm-
ing community, where there was a strong bar composed of law-
yers in their prime of life and where clients were farmers or
merchants of modest means and few legal problems.
'To the surprise of his friends, he walked into the Citizens Na-
tional Bank one day and told Oliver G. Bowman, the executive
officer, that he was quitting the law profession and wanted to
learn the banking business. When Bowman told him that the
bank had no job for him, he said, "I don't want any money, but
I want to learn the business." The banker thought such a man
deserved a try and put him on the books. As a result of this bold
move at a time when jobs and salaries were at a great premium,
Melvin convinced the bankers of his ability and self-reliance.
They sent him to the town of Malone which had a population
of 150, to operate a small bank owned by the directors of the
Citizens National. There, he was a triple threat, playing at every
position: banker, janitor, and night watchman. He put a cot be-
tween the desk and the vault in the bank and slept there at night.
Soon his ambition found another spur toward the goal of suc-
cess. He was married to a charming young lady of one of Hills-229
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964, periodical, 1964; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101197/m1/269/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.