__100 years ago__
Sept. 7, 1923
• It’s learned Mr. and Mrs. J. A. Lynn, relatives of Mrs. J. H. Wolpers of Poplar Bluff, were in Tokyo, Japan, during a disastrous earthquake Sept. 1.
The quake sparked citywide fires in Tokyo and Yokohama, and triggered a tsunami. The Lynns’ condition is unknown. Both were attending preparatory school in Tokyo with plans to go into the mission field.
(The Great Kanto Earthquake is now known to have been a 9.0 on the Richter scale. Figures in this and other local papers put casualties from the quake, fires and tsunami between 30,000-80,000 people, but modern estimates say over 110,000 people perished.)
• Several dog owners are arrested for refusing to pay the dog tax, but are released upon paying.
__75 years ago__
Sept. 7, 1948
• A Rombauer boy is taken to St. Louis Children’s Hospital after contracting polio.
__50 years ago__
Sept. 7, 1973
• Around 14 telephone lines are damaged by careless hunters over the holiday weekend, who apparently shot from their vehicles at doves sitting on the lines. This disrupts the Doniphan Telephone Co.’s service.
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.