Pages past - Oct. 11

On this date …

1973: U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned after accepting a plea deal in a Baltimore courtroom in exchange for a lighter sentence. Agnew also said he resigned to spare anguish to his family and the nation.

He had pleaded no contest to tax evasion. Agnew also was fined $10,000 and given three years of probation. His associates told federal prosecutors he initiated a plan to extort thousands of dollars from consulting engineers that were awarded contracts by the state of Maryland without competitive bidding.

President Richard Nixon said he would move swiftly to nominate Agnew’s replacement. U.S. Rep. Manual Lujan Jr. (R-N.M.) mentioned that Nixon might pick Gerald Ford.

— A Tucumcari woman in the 900 block of East Center Street told police she found a bomb in the alley behind her home. A city officer and sheriff’s deputy disarmed the bomb and took it into the country to detonate it. The bomb was found shortly after a bomb threat was called into the Odeon Theatre, though none was found there.

— Local police were investigating a rash of forged checks written for the Malco gas station, Bill and Dick’s Auto Service and Waterfield’s Parts Store.

— The New York Mets, behind the pitching of Tom Seaver, defeated the Cincinnati Reds 7-2 in the fifth and deciding game of the National League playoffs, setting up a World Series matchup between Oakland or Baltimore.