Dash to the Past — Missing man takes the bus

Police in 1974 said a Dexter man appeared in Poplar Bluff hours after he — and the contents of a cash register — went missing.

Also on this date, Missouri preserved Southeast Missouri’s last covered bridge in 1949, and turkey hunters lamented over-harvesting in 1924.

100 years ago

Dec. 6, 1924

• A group of local hunters declared today, “The wild turkey seems to be practically extinct” in Ripley County.

Poplar Bluff pharmacist and outdoorsman Fred Borth returned yesterday from a 10-day hunting excursion near Doniphan. Squirrels and quail were abundant, but sites flocking with turkeys in past years lacked any trace of them, he lamented.

75 years ago

Dec. 6, 1949

• The State Highway Department announced it will maintain Southeast Missouri’s last and oldest covered bridge as a historical landmark. The Burfordville bridge spans Big Whitewater Creek in Cape Girardeau County and was built in 1858. Today, it’s part of Bollinger Mill State Historic Site.

50 years ago

Dec. 6, 1974

• A vanished Dexter gas station attendant surfaced in Poplar Bluff before apparently fleeing north.

Harvey Hood was reported missing on the afternoon of Dec. 4 from the Gas Shack on Highway 114. Also gone was $490 from the cash register. Hood checked into the Tower Motel in Poplar Bluff two hours later, and reportedly said he needed to catch a bus to St. Louis. Local law enforcement was notified. They relayed the info to the St. Louis Police Department, but the bus had arrived and disembarked by the time it was received.

• Poplar Bluff reduced its power consumption by 10% this year. City Light and Water Manager Cecil Johnson said the city used 2.7 million kilowatts less than in 1973. The city also grew by 10% in the same period and added heavy consumers like a Big K and Drury Inn, so factoring in this expansion, the city actually reduced power use by 12.75%.

Johnson felt Poplar Bluff residents were motivated by 1974’s energy crisis and the possibility of overloading the power grid.