Car chases, manhunts and instructions for uniform care — law enforcement feature heavily in headlines from this date.
Plans are also made for a cotton gin at Puxico and dairy farmers fight over the color of butter.
__Feb. 23, 1924__
• A man from Pocahontas, Arkansas, underwent surgery yesterday in a Poplar Bluff hospital after a construction site accident. John Carter, a 23-year-old carpenter, accidentally struck a nail at an angle and sent it flying it into his eye while on the job. Dr. J.W. Mott told the Interstate American the eyeball was “severed” by the impact.
• The Daily Republican announces plans a new cotton gin in Puxico will open this year. Its capacity should be enough to process the entire cotton crop of the area. J.H. Ennis of Supply, Arkansas, is the owner.
__Feb. 23, 1949__
• After a St. Louis police officer was shot last night, authorities are seeking at least one Stoddard County resident.
Sgt. Edward Papin Jr. survived being shot in the back early yesterday morning while questioning two men loitering near a car. The car was later found to be stolen. Before the attack, Papin learned one of the men had a Stoddard County driver’s license.
The bullet punctured Papin’s lung and both suspects escaped, but Papin believes he wounded one.
Police and Missouri State Highway Patrol only have physical descriptions to go on. One suspect is approximately 25, the other around 35, and both are close to the same height. One has tattoos on both arms. Stoddard County residents recognizing either description are urged to contact MHSP.
• A three-day law enforcement training program is underway in Poplar Bluff. Topics include phone courtesy, traffic violations, uniform care and relations between police and the press. The latter topic will be presented by Daily American Republic reporter Bob Stanard.
The course is sponsored by the University of Missouri and the Missouri State Highway Patrol, and is being held at the request of Poplar Bluff Police Chief Nathan Massie to benefit officers around the region.
• The Army needs help finding the widow of a Poplar Bluff soldier.
Artie Robinson was killed in action in 1945 and his body is now being brought to Butler County for reburial. His widow, Elvie Rose Robinson, is believed to have lived on Route 2 at one time. Poplar Bluff Police Chief Nathan Massie has asked for the public’s help in locating her.
• Missourian dairy farmers are having a cow over margarine, but agreed to chew their cud in peace if manufacturers make it any color besides yellow.
Approximately 1,000 members of the Sanitary Milk Producers Association from Missouri and Illinois met in Festus yesterday. General Manager Russell Spaulding urged margarine manufacturers to “adopt another color of their own” and told dairy farmers to unite against the threat of butter substitutes with more emphasis on quality milk production.
__Feb. 23, 1974__
• State troopers arrested a Caruthersville man in a car chase that stretched from Steele to Kennett.
The Steele police chief responded to a report of two men flourishing guns at a gas station around 10:30 a.m. this morning. The men fled in a Chevrolet pickup and exchanged shots with the police chief, who called MHSP Troop E for support. Two patrolmen stopped the truck three miles south of Kennett.
The name of one of the suspects was not immediately available, but the other was identified David Monroe, 24, who had previously been arrested for traffic violations.