This photograph was in an old photo album acquired by Rick Holben. Almost none of the photos had any indication of who the people were or what the location was, this one being no exception.
There were clues among the other photos, though, indicating that most of them were taken at a tuberculosis or similar sanitarium. Both of the license plates seen on the cars are from 1927, and the registration information on the two cars supports this.

The record for the license plate at left, 3-801, is partially clipped off in the registration book and not entirely readable, but it does reveal that the owner is H.K. Snatter (or Shatter) of Fort Bayard, the location of a U.S. Government TB sanitarium which primarily treated military tuberculosis patients. (1927 is the only year we find Snatter’s name in the motor vehicle records.)


The record for the plate at right, 25-934, shows that the owner was Albert W. Serna of Central (renamed Santa Clara in 1996) and the car is a 1926 Chevrolet roadster, s/n 2298620, minimum weight classification. Central is just as mile and a half from Fort Bayard.

No record can be found of anyone in New Mexico named Snatter or Shatter. Albert W. Serna is believed to actually be Albert M. Serna who was born in Colorado in 1900 and served in Colorado’s Coast Artillery unit from 1921 to 1934. (Serna’s car was not registered in New Mexico in any year that we can find, other than 1927.) His military records 1921-34 show that he spent most of his service in California. In 1934 he died in Albuquerque at the age of 34 (possibly of TB) and there were two brief newspaper references to his death. They note that his body was to be transported to “his former home in Santa Rita.” He is buried in Hanover and it would appear he had no family. Both Santa Rita and Hanover are close to Central, at 6 miles and 5 miles, respectively.

Taken as a whole, the information above indicates that in 1927 both Snatter and Serna were in New Mexico for a relatively short time, possibly less than a year, and were here for treatment at the Fort Bayard sanitarium.

Photo and biographical information courtesy of Rick Holben.

Though this photo is dated 1925, the plate on the far left bike is the wrong colors to be from that year. The year on the plate is not fully readable, but the plate number is M-39, which matches the 1927 plate of Russell Mead (see registration information below). While the inscription on the photo lists Mead as being in the #2 position, the persons could have been on or next to bikes other than their own, or the person who wrote the names on the photo could have gotten him in the wrong position.

 Of all the plates numbered M-39 during the years for which registration records are available, Mead’s 1927 plate is the only one with that number registered to anyone whose name appears on the photograph. Moreover, in most cases the registrants of M-39 plates in other years are in towns not in the vicinity of Albuquerque or Santa Fe, where all of these people are from. Also, all of the people in the photo were found in the registration records with a motorcycle registered in 1927 except for these two:

Herbert Pash, who appears in the records for 1926, 1928 and 1931. But from the fact that he had the same 1924 Indian registered in 1926 and 1928, we can surmise that the bike was also registered in 1927, but after mid-year when the registration records were published.

Cleves Howell, though he does show up in a 1934 registration.

Consequently, we conclude that the plate is a 1927 (the colors appear to match that year), and therefore the photo was taken in 1927.

Below is the registration data for the persons whose names are given on the photograph:

1 -liff or -leff Ward
No registrations found, 1913-1938.

2 Russ Mead
1926 M-66 Russell F. Mead, Jr., Albuquerque, 1924 Indian, s/n 50Y226
1927 M-39 Russell F. Mead, Jr., Albuquerque, 1924 Indian, s/n 50Y226

3 No name shown on photo.

4 Ward Lightfoot
1927 M-122 Ward Lightfoot, Albuquerque, 1920 Indian, s/n 50R942.
1928 M-143 Ward Lightfoot, Albuquerque, 1920 Harley Davidson, s/n 2T20570

5 Murpa(?) Walling
Not found under “Murpa,” but this appears to be Wilbert Walling, as he is the only registered owner of a motorcycle in New Mexico
by the name of Walling during the years 1913-1938. And for Wilbert Walling we find the following:
1927 M-23 Wilbert M. Walling, Albuquerque, 1922 Indian, s/n 51T469
1928 M-83 Wilbert M. Walling, Albuquerque, 1926 Indian, s/n BG485

6 No name shown on photo.

7 Cleves Howell
1934 M-117 Cleves H. Howell, Albuquerque, 1929 Henderson, s/n KJ31024


8 Herbert Pash
1926 M-105 Herbert H. Pash, Santa Fe, 1924 Indian, s/n 56X643
1928 M-51 Herbert H. Pash, Santa Fe, 1924 Indian, s/n 56X643
1931 M-152 Herbert Pash, Santa Fe, 1927 Single Harley Davidson, s/n 28JD5089

9 No name shown on photo.

The foregoing information was located in the NMplates archives. Further research by ALPCA member Rick Holben turned up the following information from other historical sources:

Russell Mead was born in 1908 in North Carolina, but by 1920 the family was living in Albuquerque. An article in the April 5, 1928 edition of the Albuquerque Journal reported that Mead, Ward Lightfoot, Wilbert Walling (all appearing in the above photo), as well as Forest Olsen, Edwin Gleasner and Fred Detloff, served as pallbearers at the funeral of 15-year-old James Miller who was killed when his motorcycle collided with a car at 10th and Central in Albuquerque. It was reported in 1930 that Mead that was active in an Albuquerque motorcycle club that was conducting a “hill climbing” contest in the sand hills southeast of the city. Russell Mead died in Albuquerque in 1991 at the age of 83.

Photo courtesy Jimmy Allison, via Michael Breeding.

In this 1927 scene the car in the foreground is a 1927 Ford coupe registered to W.P. Henneman of Clayton. The person next to the car is not identified, but this photo was found in a photo processing envelope from a drug store in Clayton, with the name Tom Bushnell written on the envelope. Bushnell appears in the 1927 registration records as a resident of Clayton, having a 1925 Essex with 1927 license plate # 14487. This does not match the readable digits on the plate attached to the car in the background, but it may be that Bushnell took the photo and Henneman is the person in the foreground. Historical records show that Bushnell, a cattle rancher, was born in 1892 in Clayton and lived there until he died in 1978. He and his wife Virginia had two sons, Tom & Perry. Courtesy Rick Holben.

Richard Dillon, Governor from 1927 through 1930, was a lifelong Packard man who traded for a new car every couple of years. This photo was snapped in 1927 at the O.S. Emblem Packard dealership in Santa Fe, while Dillon, far left, walked the lot to pick out yet another new car. The car carries 1927 Dealer plate # D-1, which was assigned to the Emblem dealership. Author’s Collection.

Sam Perkins of Melrose, NM, with his 1927 Ford Coupe.  Photo taken in 1927 at the Addie Simpson residence at 920 W. 6th Street in Clovis, New Mexico.  Courtesy Carl Simpson.

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