John Ernest Wall
1895 – 1922
John Wall was born November 9, 1895 at Chapman, Kansas. He was the youngest of three children born to Robert Perry Wall (1857-1954) and his wife, Louisa Ellen (Perkins) Wall (1862-1947). John grew up on a farm in Center Township in Dickinson County, Kansas and attended the Pleasant Hill school.
Wall purchased a new Ford and a used Maxwell in Enterprise, Kansas in the summer of 1917. He then enlisted in the Army aviation corps at Fort Logan, Colorado in December of 1917. After basic training, he served stints at Denver, Colorado; Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas; Camp Travis, Texas; Wilbur Wright Airfield at Fairfield, Ohio and Camp Mills on Long Island, New York before going to France in June of 1918 where he was assigned to the 173rd Aero Squadron of the United States Army. There, he learned to fly an airplane, an avocation that he really enjoyed.
Still a private in the U. S. Army, Wall returned to the United States in February of 1919 and was mustered out of the army at Camp Funston on Fort Riley, Kansas in March of that year. He and a partner, Ted Schwendener, immediately began remodeling the old “airdrome” building in Enterprise to house their new City Garage. In December of 1920, Wall and Schwendener acquired the dealership for new Ford automobiles to be housed in their City Garage. In August of 1921, the Standard Oil Company installed new gas pumps at the City Garage, naming Wall and Schwendener the new representatives for their company in Enterprise. That move sparked a gas war in Enterprise bringing the price of gasoline at every station down to 18.7¢ per gallon.
By the summer of 1922, both Wall and Schwendener had put together Ford “speed wagons”. They drove their Ford specials to the 1-mile oval Kenwood Park Speedway at Salina to get a feel as to how they would perform on a real racetrack. While there, they entered the Fourth of July races to be run there that year. John Wall’s incomplete racing record follows:
July 4, 1922 – 1 mile oiled dirt oval – Kenwood Park Speedway at Salina, Kansas
Car: Wall’s own Ford special
Purse: $2,250 total purse.
Attendance: 4,200
Finish: Wall withdrew his entry in these races saying that his car was too high geared for a track of that size. One wonders if the size of the oval racetrack for his first race might not have had something to do with his decision as well.
Feature race winner: W. W. Brown of Kansas City, Missouri who was driving a Duesenberg owned by George L. Wade of Kansas City, Missouri.
August 10, 1922 – ½ mile dirt oval – City Park in Council Grove, Kansas
Car: Wall’s own Ford special
Finish: Wall ran a 2-lap time trial of 1:13.5 which was only 2.5 seconds slower than the track record.
Wall led the 5-mile “Free-for-All” race until near the finish when he was forced to drop out due to a broken valve spring. This race was won by John Gerber of Meriden, Kansas who was driving his own Chevrolet special #15.
Wall finished 3rd in the 10-mile race behind George W. Drashner of Council Grove, Kansas who was driving an Essex special owned by Thomas Jacob “Tom” Crippen of Council Grove, Kansas and John Gerber of Meriden, Kansas who was driving his own Chevrolet special #15.
Wall finished 3rd in the 10-mile “Free-for-All” race behind George W. Drashner who was driving an Essex special owned by Thomas Jacob “Tom” Crippen and Hugo Haucke who was driving his own double engine Ford special. Drashner, Crippen and Haucke were all from Council Grove, Kansas.
Feature race winner: George W. Drashner of Council Grove, Kansas who was driving an Essex special owned by Thomas Jacob “Tom” Crippen who was also from Council Grove, Kansas.
September 4, 1922 – 1 mile oiled dirt oval – Kenwood Park Speedway at Salina, Kansas
Car: Wall’s own Ford special
Purse: $2,000 total purse.
Finish: Wall’s car broke a steering knuckle which forced him to drop out of the 10-mile heat race. That race was won by William Kunrod “Billy” Adolph of Salina, Kansas who was driving a 16-valve Dodge special owned by Johnny Mais.
Wall’s car threw a rear wheel while he was running comfortably in 3rd place in the 50-mile feature race. The wheel landed in a nearby river and was not retrieved. That race was won by Harold Roller of Abilene, Kansas who was driving his own Dodge special.
Feature race winner: Harold Roller of Abilene, Kansas who was driving his own Dodge special.
September 28, 1922 – ½ mile dirt oval – City Park in Abilene, Kansas
Car: Wall’s own Ford special
Finish: Wall finished 4th in the 5-mile “Free-for-All” race behind Albert Jouquin “Al” Koepke of Topeka, Kansas who was driving his 231-cubic-inch-displacement Dodge special he called “Maggie”; Harold Roller of Abilene, Kansas who was driving his own Dodge special and John Gerber of Meriden, Kansas who was driving his own Chevrolet special #15.
Wall finished 3rd in the 10-mile feature race behind Harold Roller of Abilene, Kansas who was driving his own Dodge special and Albert Jouquin “Al” Koepke of Topeka, Kansas who was driving a Ford special owned by Ted Schwendener of Enterprise, Kansas.
Feature race winner: Harold Roller of Abilene, Kansas who was driving his own Dodge special.
October 5, 1922 – ½ mile dirt oval – City Park in Council Grove, Kansas
Car: Wall’s own Ford special
Finish: Wall ran a 2-lap time trial of 1:12.8 which was 9th fastest of the 10 cars that ran time trials. The fastest time was 1:07.2 run by Harold Roller of Abilene who was driving his own Dodge special.
Wall finished 4th in the 3rd 5-mile heat race.
Wall finished 4th in the 10-mile feature race.
On Saturday, November 25, 1922, William Edward Beigel (1888-1968) of Wichita, Kansas, flew a Laird Swallow airplane to Enterprise, Kansas where he picked up John Wall and his business partner, Ted Schwendener. The three men flew to Fort Riley, Kansas to “view some army airplanes with the intentions of selling them one of the airplanes.” On the return trip to Enterprise, “the airplane flew very low over Chapman, Kansas and had risen to an estimated attitude of 2,000 feet by the time it reached Enterprise.” Instead of circling when about to descend, the pilot apparently tried to do a little showing off for his passengers. “He shut the engine off and let the airplane go into a tail spin. When he was ready to right the airplane, the engine failed to start. The plane then changed ends and came down nose first. At first, it descended slowly but, nearing the ground, it gained momentum. The airframe struck squarely on a large timber which held the cinders that formed the platform around the Rock Island Railroad depot” around 5 p.m. Ted Schwendener was killed instantly. John Wall lived for about two hours before expiring later that evening. William Beigel survived the crash but sustained serious injuries including two broken legs, a fractured hip and several large bruises. After receiving first-aid, Beigel was taken to a hospital in Abilene, Kansas for further treatment.
The joint funeral for Schwendener and Wall “was attended by more people than any funeral in the history of Enterprise” to that time. Theodore H. “Ted” Schwemdener was laid to rest in the Mount Hope Cemetery at Enterprise. His wife, Rubina (Thome) Schwendener (1895-1922), had passed away just 3 weeks before the airplane crash.
John Ernest Wall was buried with full military honors in the Indian Hill Cemetery at Chapman, Kansas. He was survived by his parents, his two older siblings and his fiancée, Miss Anna Sophia “Honey” Baxtrom (1898-1979).
If you know anything more about John Ernest Wall, or his involvement in auto racing, please contact Bob Lawrence at: sprintguy @ cox.net
Autograph signed in 1917
