The nearest TV station was in Seattle. But Ed Parsons figured out he could catch a very weak signal on top of a building in town. All he had to do was figure out how to boost the signal without boosting the noise as well, and ... the rest was history. (Astoria, Clatsop County; 1940s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1109c-astoria-man-invents-cable-tv-as-favor-for-wife.html)

Claude Branton and Courtland Green had left Condon with a wealthy rancher and murdered him on the way. Only then did they realize how bad it would look to show up at their destination without him ... (McKenzie Valley, Deschutes and Lane County; 1890s) (For text and pictures, see URLOFWEBPAGEURLOFWEBPAGEURLOFWEBPAGE)

Russell Hecker borrowed a friend’s car to make a quick liquor run. He brought it back 12 hours late and dripping with blood — and there was no sign of the man he’d gone on the run with the previous night. (Multnomah, Clackamas, and Linn County; 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1610d.murder-of-bootlegger-frank-bowker-414.html)

All she wanted to do was not finance the killing that was going on in war-torn Europe. But in the war-crazed atmosphere of Portland during World War 1, pacifism was tantamount to high treason. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1918) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1805c.traitor-louise-hunt-wouldnt-buy-war-bonds-496.html)

Dead in the water and drifting toward Peacock Spit in a gale, passengers and crew of the steam schooner Washington thought they were goners. But then out of the mist and spray came Buck Bailey's tugboat ... (Columbia River Bar, Clatsop County; 1910s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1510c.tatoosh-rescues-steam-schooner.361.html)

“Professor” Ray V.B. Jackson just happened to be on hand, playing the role of helpful witness, at almost every high-profile murder scene in Lake and Harney counties. What were the odds? (Near Lakeview, Lake and Harney County; 1900s, 1910s, 1920s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1109b-ray-jackson-central-oregons-angel-of-death.html)

It's hard to believe, but in 1902 the school district put a convicted felon, fresh from serving hard time at the state pen, in charge of its grade-school kids. But the forgery and robbery he was convicted of may have been the least of his crimes. (Silver Lake, Lake County; 1900s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1109a-silver-lake-schoolteacher-possible-serial-killer.html)

For the art students and pop-culture aficionados lined up, the once-in-a-lifetime chance to see and meet the “Peter Pan of Pop Art” turned out to be merely a chance to be the butt of one of his irreverent pranks. (Lane and Yamhill County; 1960s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1610c.andy-warhol-punks-oregon-413.html)

IN THE EARLY 1980s, on Stark Street in Southeast Portland, there was an aging Hudson Oil Co. gas station that never seemed to get much business. It had an appearance reminiscent of a Kmart store three years ago, like a neglected outpost of a once-huge nationwide business that was slowly fading away — which was in fact the case. Hudson Oil Co., at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, had about 300 gas stations in 36 states, plus an oil refinery. It was owned and managed by an oil tycoon named Mary Hudson, a remarkable woman who founded the business in 1933 when she was just 21 years old. She launched it by borrowing $200 from her father and using it to open a gas station in Kansas City. At her peak, Hudson was one of only three women on the Forbes 400 list of the richest people in the U.S. At her downfall in 1982, she was convicted of felony theft for tweaking her company’s gas pumps to short-change customers, a desperate move made to try to stave off bankruptcy after her company got caught unprepared for a sudden glut on the crude-oil market. But probably the most interesting thing about the Stark Street Hudson station was the giant wall mural on its side. The left side of the mural showed two big Arabian camels with packsaddles on them towering over a miner-49er-type guy pitching a little pup-tent camp; the right side was taken up with a large colorful map of the U.S. with the words “36 States” printed over the top of it. “First it was camels in the west,” reads the type over the picture. “Now HUDSON serves you best!” As advertising, this mural was a bit of a mixed bag. It did attract attention, but mostly it was the wrong kind. Most people who looked at it probably wondered how a company could have gotten big enough to be in 36 states without learning what kind of animals cowboys and miner-49ers used. Mules, yes; horses, sure; but — camels? Well, as it turns out, camels did have a role to play in the American West. They started out strong, and hopes were high that they would be a great addition to the frontier transportation infrastructure; but then their number-one booster disgraced himself by doing something super illegal, and the camels kind of fell out of favor in the West and faded away. Come to think of it, maybe it’s not such a bad analogy for Hudson Oil Co. after all.... (Oregon outback; 1850s, 1860s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/2411c_camels-in-old-oregon-676.508.html)

Few people know a small whaling venture was launched in Astoria in 1961 — seeking whale oil for the space program and whale meat to feed to hungry minks. But breakthroughs in synthetic oil made whale oil unnecessary, and they stopped. (Hammond, Clatsop County; 1960s) (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/1108a2-astoria-whaling-operation-was-helping-with-space-program.html)