__100 years ago__
Aug. 16, 1923
• Nick Campbell, a convicted killer, escaped from his cell at the Van Buren Jail. Campbell managed to escape by picking the lock on the jail door.
The fugitive ran to the river, stole a boat and floated downstream for 10 miles.
He then fled to the farm of E. E. Ervin, famished and dehydrated. Farmer Ervin caught Campbell at his well trying to get a drink of water. Ervin fed the man and kept him in his house until the authorities arrived to take him back to the jail.
The sheriff said that Campbell is an insane man, and this was his second attempt to escape the jail.
__75 years ago__
Aug. 16, 1948
• Three pumper trucks and the entire crew of Poplar Bluff firefighters respond to the first general alarm farm the city has seen in recent months. The Main Street blaze caused an estimated $25,000 damage at the Hopkins Firestone Store, also causing smoke damage at the nearby Gift Chest Jewelry and Snider-Hamilton Company women’s store. Crews were called to the scene about 11 p.m., when a couple walking nearby noticed smoke rising out of a coal chute. They ran to Tipp’s Ice Cream Bar and summoned help. Firemen were hampered in their entry into the basement by burning tires, automobile and radio batteries and other flammable items.
• Harviell woman has rose garden on one bush. Mrs. Leona Rushin of Harviell has a rose bush now in bloom, bearing flowers with ping, white, and white with pink centers. She has no explanation for the phenomenon, an unusual one in roses.
__50 years ago__
Aug. 16, 1973
• In a 28-minute speech to the nation, President Richard Nixon tells the public he had no prior knowledge of the Watergate break in and was not aware of any cover-up. He says confidentiality is essential concerning the presidential tapes and he will continue to oppose releasing them. He calls for turning questions of guilt or innocence over to the courts.
• A city patrolman responds to a three-vehicle accident on Highway 67 at Holiday in around 10 a.m. A northbound 1969 Ford pickup rammed the rear of a Toyota attempting to make a left turn, witnesses report. The Toyota was knocked into the southbound lanes, and the path of another vehicle. Multiple injuries are reported and Safe-Way Ambulance Service takes patients to Doctors Hospital.
Editor’s note: This is part of a regular series looking at today in Poplar Bluff’s history through the pages of the Daily American Republic and its early predecessors.