Election news dominated Wednesday headlines on Wednesday in both 1924 and 1974. What’s the opposite of an election? It might be the resignation of a president — Nixon announced his departure on Thursday in the wake of impeachment investigations. Other news includes a dramatic prison car escape, a trek to the icy north and a fireman’s conference.
__Wednesday__
100 years ago
Aug. 7, 1924
• Butler County races are running close, and all precincts but one are counted. The treasurer, assessor, sheriff, constable and district commissioners seats were all contested this year. County assessor was the closest race, with a difference of only 12 votes across 26 precincts, and as of printing, the votes from Fagus were still in the air.
By an unofficial count, the elections for county judge, prosecuting attorney and sheriff were basically concluded.
• A Poplar Bluff couple just returned from an 11,000-mile vacation to the far north.
Mr. and Mrs. W.N. Barron embarked on a six-week trip to Nome, Alaska by train and steam ship. The train took them to Seattle, Washington, where they boarded the ship for a four-week cruise. Passengers only disembarked at an isolated whaling station and spent the rest of the trip on the water. The Barrons found Nome’s August climate to be “as cold (as) in December here” and wore heavy winter clothes.
The Barrons’ round-trip mileage was partially calculated using the ship’s log: 5,800 miles from Seattle to Nome and back.
75 years ago
Aug. 7, 1949 — No issues available.
50 years ago
Aug. 7, 1974
• On a front page dominated by calls for President Richard Nixon to resign, a corner of local election coverage stated Butler County’s only two contested races were won by landslides. Incumbent democrat Lenard Hanley, judge for the eastern district of the Butler County Court, defeated republican Bob Montague 749-410. Robert Hunter, also a democrat, beat out Mac Carmichael 965-229 to become presiding judge of the county court.
• The Associated Press reported less than a third of Missouri’s registered voters showed up to the polls at the 1974 primary election.
__Thursday__
100 years ago
Aug. 8, 1924
• A three-county search is underway for man who escaped custody by jumping from a moving car.
Deputies are searching for Bill Metcalf, a Stoddard man convicted of robbing a store in Dudley. Metcalf made what The Daily Republican called “a sensational escape” on Aug. 6. He sawed through the chain of his handcuffs with a hidden metal file and leaped from a moving Stoddard County Sheriff’s Department transport en route to the penitentiary.
Because of the speed of the car and condition of the roads, Sheriff Roscoe Walker couldn’t stop the car fast enough to catch him. Metcalf fled into the woods near Taskee. Officers believe he’s in Butler, Stoddard or Wayne county.
75 years ago
Aug. 8, 1949
• The Southeast Missouri Firefighters Association is preparing to hold its 16th annual Fire School in Poplar Bluff. The two-day conference is led by Fire Chief Sam Knight of Poplar Bluff. Session titles include “Television and the Fire Department” and “Airplanes, Hazards for Firemen.”
Fire School lets out at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 10 with a movie and fish fry.
50 years ago
Aug. 8, 1974
• “NIXON WILL RESIGN TODAY” shouted the top of the Daily American Republic’s front page.
President Richard Nixon admitted at the beginning of the week to concealing Watergate evidence from impeachment investigators, leading to even more pressure from the public an lawyers to quit. He is due to address the nation at 8 p.m. and his resignation takes effect tomorrow at noon.
Directly below, another front page article praised Nixon’s vice president Gerald Ford with the headline “Ford Has Penchant For Work And Straight Talk.”
• Poplar Bluff Electric Department personnel had a late night (or an early morning) when a truck knocked out a power line.
A service line leading into Ruth’s Store on South Main Street was snagged around midnight last night and its pole, which had rotted underground, leaned heavily into neighboring 13,000 volt lines. Repairmen set up a winch truck to hold the damaged pole up until daylight, when it was replaced.
Utility Manager Cecil Johnson believes a truck snagged the service as it passed. No one was on the scene when crews arrived.