Sleeping sheriff leads to prisoner escape: A 1924 tale of exhaustion and negligence

Exhaustion and negligence created an embarrassing situation for the Stoddard County Sheriff’s Department in 1924, when a prisoner walked past his sleeping guard and escaped.

Two families survived a dramatic crash in 1949, and leaders considered the future of the Poplar Bluff Industrial Park in 1974.

100 years ago

Dec. 17, 1924

• A prisoner escaped from the exhausted sheriff of Stoddard County today while being extradited to Oklahoma.

William C. Sykes escaped from an Oklahoma penitentiary last year and was recaptured by a posse in Stoddard County on Dec. 15. Sykes reportedly attempted to fire on officers from a tree near Bloomfield, but his gun jammed, and he was shot five times when he refused to surrender.

Sheriff Roscoe Walker decided to immediately transport Sykes back to Oklahoma, despite Sykes’ serious injuries, and boarded a train with the uncuffed, wounded prisoner in tow. Walker was “virtually exhausted, being without sleep for some time, and tired from the hard pursuit of the prisoner,” The Daily Republican reported. He fell asleep after asking the train crew to watch Sykes. Whether they did or not, the fugitive disembarked among other passengers at Ola, Arkansas.

The Daily Republican expected Sykes would be apprehended while seeking medical treatment.

75 years ago

Dec. 17, 1949

• Eight people were injured when a school bus rammed their car this morning.

The two families in the car, the Collier and the Wakefields, were both from Silva. Around 9 a.m., driver R.E. Collier was southbound on Highway 67 and slowed at the icy Black River bridge near Hendrickson. An empty school bus struck the car from behind and sent it down a steep embankment. The car rolled five times before settling right side-up 50 feet away.

The bus was driven by William J. Fields of Oklahoma City, who was transporting the bus to Texas. He drove all eight injured passengers to Poplar Bluff for treatment.

50 years ago

Dec. 17, 1974

• The city council was encouraged to start planning for Poplar Bluff Industrial Park upgrades, even though funding is still forthcoming. The improvements encompass $650,000 of street paving, drainage, sewers, water lines, and a new lead track.

Steve Feran of the Industrial Advisory Committee explained winter is the best time to draw up engineering plans since it’s the construction off-season, and the plans would be beneficial even if a $375,000 grant from the Economic Development Administration falls through.

“Even if the EDA grant isn’t coming, the engineering won’t be wasted because the work will have to be done sometime in the future,” he said.

City Clerk Harlo Dunn said the EDA advised the city to go ahead with the project on a “standby basis,” and he estimated the odds of getting the grant were about 90%.