__Sept. 6, 1923__
• Poplar Bluff resident Alonzo Headly, 62, convinces a St. Louis judge to release his betrothed from jail and perform a quick marriage ceremony.
Headly arrived in St. Louis to find his fiancée Mrs. Josephine Stephen, 50, in jail on misdemeanor charges. Judge John J. Driscoll agreed to drop the charges against her on the condition the couple left the city for good.
• 5,000-10,000 tons of coal being stored in Hoxie, Arkansas, catches fire due to what The Daily Republican calls “spontaneous combustion.” The coal belongs to the Missouri Pacific Railroad and is valued at $25,000 (almost $447,000 in today’s money).
__Sept. 6, 1948__
• 393 people are listed as killed in Labor Day weekend vehicle accidents, greatly surpassing the National Safety Council’s estimate of 260 deaths.
__Sept. 6, 1973__
• The board of trustees at Ripley County Memorial Hospital resigns over controversy about the hospital’s growing debts. The hospital had to borrow $4,000 from First National Bank to meet their last payroll of $7,800. As of Aug. 31, the hospital was $37,000 in the red.
Hospital administrator Joseph Kennon stated, “The problem is that the hospital simply does not have the money to pay its bills, and the board refuses to borrow money and operate at a deficit.”
Despite receiving over $100,000 in paid bills five months ago, the Daily American Republic stated the hospital was still out over $210,000 in unpaid bills.
The hospital will close by Apr. 11, reports at the time stated.
Editor’s note: This is part of a new regular series looking at today in Poplar Bluff’s history through the pages of the Daily American Republic and its early predecessors.