This Day in History : [ 12 / Oct ]

Silent film star Tom Mix dies in Arizona car wreck brained by Suitcase of Death

On October 12 1940 cowboy-movie star Tom Mix is killed when he loses control of his speeding Cord Phaeton convertible and rolls into a dry wash (now called the Tom Mix Wash) near Florence Arizona.He was 60 years old.Today visitors to the site of the accident can see a 2-foottall iron statue of a riderless horse and a somewhat awkwardly written plaque that reads In memory of Tom Mix whose spirit left his body on this spot and whose characterization and portrayals in life served to better fix memories of the Old West in the minds of living men.The star was a genuine cowboy and swaggering hero of the Wild West He was born in Texas fought in the Spanish-American War the Boxer Rebellion and the Boer War and served as a sheriff in Kansas a U.S.

marshal in Oklahoma and a Texas Ranger.In fact Mix was born in Driftwood Pennsylvania deserted the Army in 1902 and was a drum major in the Oklahoma Territorial Cavalry band when he went off to Hollywood in 1909.None of these inconvenient facts prevented Mix from becoming one of the greatest silent-film stars in history however.Along with his famous horse Tony Mix made 370 full-length Westerns.

At the peak of his fame he was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood earning as much as 17500 a week (about 218000 today).  Unfortunately Mix and Tony had a hard time making the transition to talking pictures.Some people say that the actors voice was so high-pitched that it undermined his macho cowboy image but others argue that sound films simply had too much talking for Mixs taste He preferred wild action sequences to heartfelt conversation.On the day he died Mix was driving north from Tucson in his beloved bright-yellow Cord Phaeton sports car.He was driving so fast that he didnt noticeor failed to heedsigns warning that one of the bridges was out on the road ahead.

The Phaeton swung into a gully and Mix was smacked in the back of the head by one of the heavy aluminum suitcases he was carrying in the convertibles backseat.The impact broke the actors neck and he died almost instantly.Today the dented Suitcase of Death is the featured attraction at the Tom Mix Museum in Dewey Oklahoma.