The people made their voices heard in this weekend’s headlines. Residents had two major concerns in 1949: a dangerous school crossing and a proposed dam system that would destroy the natural wonders of the Current River. They were prepared to go to the top with their protests in both cases.
No issues available: Sept. 28, 1924; Sept. 30, 1974.
__75 years ago__
__Sept. 28, 1949__
• A polite fugitive was arrested in Steele today.
Floyd Bradley, a 38-year-old Arkansas man, called the Missouri State Highway Patrol office at 1:40 a.m. and said, “I understand the FBI has been looking for me since last May.”
The operator advised him to remain on the line and contacted the Arkansas State Police. The answer was yes — Bradley was wanted for allegedly stealing a car in Texas and driving it into Mexico, a violation of the National Motor Vehicle Act. The FBI file also described him as armed with a large hunting knife and dangerous. Missouri troopers escorted Bradley to jail without incident.
Bradley said he made the call because “some relatives told me they thought the FBI wanted to see me about an automobile.”
__50 years ago__
__Sept. 28, 1974__
• Nearly 1,000 spectators cheered for Alabama governor and presidential candidate George Wallace last night during the Ninth Annual Truman Day Rally. Wallace called for the Democratic Party to prioritize middle-class voters and give “sledgehammer blows to the intellectuals and the new left,” whom he felt had taken the party away from “the average citizen.”
The program was held in the Poplar Bluff High School gym and bracketed with heavy security by Alabama and Missouri state troopers, Poplar Bluff police, and Butler County deputies. DAR writer Roger Lopata complained, “An unidentified man, presumably a security agent, took a 35mm camera from this reporter in the Holiday Inn lobby, opening the camera’s back and ruining some of the film, none of which had been exposed. The man gave no reason for his action.”
The security was warranted. During his 1972 presidential run, Wallace was shot five times by a would-be assassin in Maryland. Now paraplegic, he continued his political career until the late 1980s using a wheelchair.
__100 years ago__
__Sept. 29, 1924__
• Trains are bigger, traffic is heavier, and Poplar Bluff’s rail depot is expanding to match.
Missouri Pacific Superintendent Williams told The Daily Republican that the current depot lacks a turntable or wye big enough to handle 1300 and 5300-class engines. These trains damage the tracks whenever they use them, necessitating costly and frequent repairs. The roundhouse is also too small for these machines and they must be left out in the elements while parked in Poplar Bluff.
Williams said the engine terminal is temporarily relocating to Hoxie, Arkansas to make space for the repairs and expansion. The passenger engine terminal was relocated there a week prior.
__75 years ago__
__Sept. 29, 1949__
• Police, teachers, angry parents and the Poplar Bluff Street Department are all lambasting the Missouri State Highway Department over a school crossing “death trap.” Since early summer, officials have denied requests to install a stoplight at Pine Boulevard and Ninth Street. No reason for the refusals was reported.
The state has jurisdiction over Pine because federal funds were used to widen and better connect highways 67 and 60. Locals now call it the “Poplar Bluff Pine Boulevard speedway” and the perpendicular Ninth Street is “an arterial route for cross town traffic,” the DAR reported. This intersection is also the crossing point for Sacred Heart Catholic School and Kinyon School.
The crossing’s only safety measure is a pair of Kinyon students holding signs for drivers. The city and schools have received numerous complaints from parents who escort their children through the crossing in the morning, lunch hour and evening for their safety. One child has been hit since the road expansion.
Police Chief Lester Massingham said the proximity to the highways makes it hard for drivers to manage their speed before they reach the intersection.
“I want it clearly understood that the traffic control at this intersection has been taken out of the hands of the city,” he added.
Division Highway Engineer M.S. Gwinn promised to take immediate steps with Jefferson City and submit a city proposal for a manually operated stop signal, which would be run at crossing time by a student guard. Additionally, the Kinyon Parent Teacher Association is planning a trip to Jefferson City to meet with officials directly, if necessary.
__100 years ago__
__Sept. 30, 1924__
• Poplar Bluff school attendance has risen substantially, Superintendent G.W. Beswick reported. The current enrollment across all grades is 2,415, compared to 1,908 in 1918. High school grades in particular rose from 191 to 358 in that period, “showing the holding power of the schools,” The Daily Republican said.
Besides the high school, there are eight schools in the district serving elementary through junior high. Most have around 300 students.
__75 years ago__
__Sept. 30, 1949__
• “With its crystal clear, spring fed rolling rapids. It’s [sic] breath taking palisades and wilderness wildness that defies the ravaging hand of man, Current River should not be despoiled even on the promise of flood control and electric power.”
This was part of the front-page DAR editorial “Save The Current River,” rallying citizens of the Ozarks and beyond to protest two proposed dams near Doniphan and Van Buren. The Engineering Corps’ released the proposals this week to control flooding downstream, at the cost of towns, roads and wide swaths of parkland including Big Spring and Alley Spring.
A meeting will be held in Newport, Arkansas on Oct. 12 to gauge public sentiment, the DAR said. “Our grumbling on the street or indignation on the farm will not register,” so readers should channel their outrage into written protests — filed in quadruples for the permanent record — and attend the October meeting to ensure their voices are heard and documented.
__50 years ago__
__Sept. 30, 1974__
• Poplar Bluff High School’s “Sho-Me” Marching Band strode down the streets of St. Louis on Sept. 28 at the Greater St. Louis Marching Band Festival and competition. Poplar Bluff placed second out of 10, behind Jefferson City and ahead of Salem, Illinois. On Oct. 5, the band competes in the Washington Invitational Marching Band Festival (in Missouri, not D.C.) where they won first place last year.