Headlines from this weekend include a bovine train accident, a famous local dollmaker’s craft and a barfight between two New Madrid city officials.
April 20, 1924 — No issues available
• After a week of effort, almost all major forest fires in Southeast Missouri are extinguished, and forecasted rain is bringing relief from the dry and windy conditions behind the blazes.
Forest Ranger Paul Kihlmire of Poplar Bluff said many fires are believed to have been accidental or the result of spring farmland burns getting out of hand, while others are the result of suspected arsons.
Thousands of acres, including stands of young timber, burned in Southeast Missouri and Northern Arkansas. Rangers and volunteers are still battling fires in Arkansas.
• Judge Rex Henson awarded over $32,000 in damages to a Memphis family after a fatal train crossing accident.
The Gowan family was traveling in Wayne County when an oncoming train hit their car at a crossing near Leeper. Mother Wilma Gowan and 13-year-old Margaret Gowan were injured, and father Granville Gowan was killed.
The damage suits alleged the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company train was “operated by the defendant railroad in a careless and negligent manner, that the crew failed to keep a careful lookout and failed to slow or stop the train or to warn the occupants of the car.”
• A cow on the tracks caused $50,000 in damage today.
A Frisco freight train hit the cow near the Oran depot and 15 cars derailed, including one loaded with a cargo of matches. The matches ignited and the fire spread to the Oran train station and other wrecked cars, including three carrying new Dodge and Ford autos. The train and depot were total losses.
The cow was killed, but no human casualties or injuries were reported.
• A woman was fatally shot through her dining room window on Saturday night, but suspects and motives are scarce.
Identified alternately as Mrs. Henry Smith and Mrs. Charles Smith, the victim and her husband lived on a farm southwest of Neelyville. They were preparing for bed when an unknown assailant shot Smith in the abdomen from outside. She was rushed to Caldwell Hospital in Poplar Bluff, where she died early the next morning.
Police brought bloodhounds to the scene and declared they “have run a perfect trail,” but mentioned no arrests. The motive is also unknown, though one theory suggests a jealous female neighbor may have killed Smith over a conflict involving the former’s husband.
Smith is survived by her spouse and three children.
• A Poplar Bluff woman is nationally famous among doll collectors. Dorris Serafini has made hundreds of dolls over the last seven years, and her clients include department stores like Marshall-Field as well as individual collectors.
Serafini uses wire, cotton, stocking fabric, embroidery floss and nail polish to make each doll. After wrapping the wire frame in cotton and fabric, she sculpts each figure’s shape and fixes it with clear nail polish. Fine details like eyelashes and lips are created with paint and thread. Her subjects range from historical figures to mythological characters, and she sews each one a miniature costume. Each doll is eight inches tall and takes at least a day to craft.
April 21, 1974 — No issues available
• A Pocahontas businessman plans to build the largest hotel in Southeast Missouri. Developer D. L. Wiley recently purchased a block of Poplar Bluff real estate, currently occupied by single-story commercial buildings. It was also the site of the former Quinn Hotel.
Wiley’s hotel will have 200 rooms and “will be a modern hotel in every particular,” he declared.
Blueprints are in progress and no time estimate was given for construction.
• A man accused of sexually assaulting a child was acquitted by a Poplar Bluff jury, but he now faces two kidnapping charges in Stoddard County.
Roy Edward Hicks, a Missouri Pacific employee and veteran, was identified by the victim of the assault and two other children. Several character witnesses testified in his’ defense, and his wife claimed they and another couple were together at the time of the crime. The jury deliberated for less than half an hour before acquitting him.
Hicks was also identified by a Dudley family in a kidnapping case. He is accused of attempting to kidnap Mrs. Hayes and her young daughter in January while the family hitchhiked home from Poplar Bluff. Mrs. Hayes beat him in the head with a glass Coca-Cola bottle and escaped with her daughter.
Hicks was arrested on the sexual assault charges after being treated at for a head wound at Poplar Bluff Hospital. Sheriff Bill Brent asserted it was the same injury dealt by Mrs. Hayes to her kidnapper.
Hicks is free on bond pending the kidnapping trial.
• The Midwest Independent Truckers Association has approved a one-day truck shutdown in support of an organization’s quest for higher speed limits and fuel price rollbacks.
MITA was formed by independent Southeast Missouri drivers after a national truckers’ strike earlier in the year, over controversial measures the government put into place to combat the energy crisis. The Road Masters is protesting similar issues now. Though MITA voted to support the new group, members declined to merge with it.
National participation is expected for the May 13 shutdown.
• A barfight between two New Madrid city officials resulted in serious injuries and an assault complaint.
The altercation began early yesterday morning at Rosie’s Tavern when Police Chief O. Householder asked the wife of a city alderman to dance. Alderman James Jones told Householder his wife didn’t want to dance with him and the two began arguing, escalating into a brawl outside the bar that ended when Jones shot Householder with a .22-caliber pistol. The bullet wounded Jones’ finger and hit Householder in the leg.
Householder remains in intensive care at a Sikeston hospital. Jones was treated for his injury and released. He filed a felonious assault complaint against Householder this morning.