1950: Red Cross devotes over $111K to flood victims in region

Within the first two months of 1950, the Red Cross spent over $100,000 caring for families displaced by floods in Southeast Missouri. Water caused another tragedy in 1975 when a Poplar Bluff woman drowned in a Michigan waterway called, in a strange coincidence, the Black River.

100 years ago

Feb. 28, 1925

• Two brothers were arrested after an attempted robbery turned violent last night.

Bloodhounds led officers from the Frisco railroad office at Powe, the scene of the crime, to the home of the Johnson brothers. Two of the four — J.A. and Charles Johnson — were arrested and authorities are searching for the others. The Johnsons are accused of attempting holding a 70-year-old Frisco cashier, Charles Spencer, at gunpoint and shooting him when he resisted. They reportedly fled after the shooting without taking the money. Spencer was carrying several hundred dollars of company payroll.

Spencer was hospitalized and succumbed to his injuries early this morning.

Powe is around 18 miles from Bloomfield.

75 years ago

Feb. 28, 1950

• The Red Cross is still assisting New Madrid County families displaced by floods, two months after the Mississippi and Current Rivers began rising. The Red Cross has spent over $111,500 for disaster services and tent cities at Anniston and East Prairie. An additional $35,000 has been spent to shelter displaced families at an Air Force base in Malden. Another shelter is operated at Wickman, Kentucky, but no statistics were released.

The Army Engineers and Coast Guard warn residents to avoid areas still threatened by flooding. Some displaced families have already begun moving home.

50 years ago

Feb. 28, 1975

• The Black River claimed the life of a Poplar Bluff woman — hundreds of miles from Southeast Missouri. Loretta Ruth Crider was killed in Port Huron, Michigan when her car missed a turn and plunged off a marina. It submerged in the Black River, a tributary of the St. Clair River. Her body will be returned to Poplar Bluff for burial.