Dash to the Past — Family buries a dead ringer

Russell Scaggs died in October 1949, then shocked his family by calling to wish them Merry Christmas. This week in 1950, he reunited with his family and seeks answers about the body identified as his.

In other decades, a World War I veteran’s mental condition was scrutinized in court, and an 11-year-old student received a letter from the president.

100 years ago

Jan. 17, 1925

• A Poplar Bluff man was acquitted of forgery charges, but now his mind is on trial.

S. Smithers, a barber, was arrested for forging a $16 check from his boss, Omar Landis. Smithers freely told Landis he had passed the check. According to The Daily Republican, Smithers’ defense explained he was a World War I veteran who sustained a traumatic brain injury, and “his mind has not been the same since he was injured.”

The circuit court found him not guilty by reason of insanity, and called for a county court to judge his mental condition next week.

75 years ago

Jan. 17, 1950

• The family and friends of Russell Scaggs buried him with full military honors on Oct. 15, 1949. On Christmas Eve, Russell called his younger brother in Cape Girardeau to say hello.

“He was like to have fainted,” Russell recalled.

Once the shock wore off, the Scaggs family realized there was a massive mix-up.

On Oct. 11, 1949, eldest brother William Scaggs received a phone call notifying him Russell had died in jail at Norfolk, Nebraska. The FBI made the identification. William and his wife confirmed it when the body was brought to Festus, and Russell’s doppelganger was buried near St. Louis.

Russell was unaware he’d died, and carried on as normal at his construction job in Iowa until he made that Christmas Eve phone call. He returned to Missouri on Jan. 14. He and William hope to uncover what happened and who is buried under Russell’s tombstone.

50 years ago

Jan. 17, 1975

• Sherry Stephens, age 11, is a pen pal of presidents. She’s written to Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, recently inviting the latter to visit Calvary Baptist Church (where her father preaches) and see the Current River. Ford wrote back to say he and his family may stop by in the future.

“I said I thought the president should have time to write a little girl,” Sherry said.