It was a busy day for criminals and police alike. Road and rail rage in 1924 led to two arrests, and a pair of brazen robbers escaped under a city marshal’s nose in 1949. Headlines were calmer in 1974. In the age before the Internet, technology still helped job seekers access up to 1,500 listings at once and kept Poplar Bluff’s unemployment rate low.
100 years ago
Oct. 1, 1924
• Authorities dealt with road rage and attempted murder in a 24-hour span.
In Morehouse, motorist Glote Hubbard reportedly crashed his car into a ditch, then attacked the first person who stopped to help — C.O. Biggs, an elderly Dexter resident, who was driving home after a funeral in Tennessee. Hubbard insisted Biggs had run his truck off the road, grabbed the man’s keys, demanded money, and chased him with a tire pump until Biggs shot Hubbard in the torso.
Hubbard was hospitalized and is expected to survive. He’s also believed to have been drunk during the incident. He operates a funeral home and was described as “erratic” by acquaintances.
In Poplar Bluff, a Missouri Pacific employee named John Jolly faces charges of assault with intent to kill. The victim was his boss, W.W. Gnadt. According to one story, Jolly and Gnadt got into an argument yesterday which culminated in Gnadt firing Jolly. As the foreman walked away, Jolly struck him in the back of the head with a steel bar, knocking him out.
Gnadt is recovering and was able to speak with police today. Jolly was described conflictingly as “a man of much respectability” who blamed the incident on “his uncontrollable temper.”
75 years ago
Oct. 1, 1949
• Two gunmen staged a harrowing heist in Gideon today, then calmly walked past the city marshal during their escape.
Their target was the Gideon-Anderson Lumber Company. As a cashier arrived with the company payroll, the men followed him inside, drew their guns, and ordered everyone into the office’s vault. They took $1,500 of payroll plus an undisclosed amount from a safe. The men then walked “leisurely” outside and around the block to a getaway car — passing City Marshal J.A. Whitledge, who was sitting in his vehicle. The Daily American Republic stated Whitledge had no was of knowing about the holdup at that time.
The theft was discovered when another employee arrived and released her coworkers from the vault.
The suspects were seen around town for several days before the robbery. Locals assumed they were among the throng of temporary farm workers following the cotton harvest. A manhunt is underway.
50 years ago
Oct. 1, 1974
• Job searchers have opportunities at their fingertips thanks to high-tech job bank viewers at the Poplar Bluff State Unemployment Office.
The viewers are “units with display screens similar to a television set that magnify film cards containing job listings,” the DAR explained. New cards arrive at the office every day, each containing up to 1,500 listings and their details, organized by region.
Supervisor Tom Cash said 250 job seekers were placed in September, though about 500 arrive per month and the office currently has 2,500 active files for unemployed and underemployed residents. Nevertheless, Poplar Bluff’s 4% unemployment rate is below both the national and state averages.
“We try to be the manpower center for the town,” Cash said.