After diesel prices double in less than a year, local truckers join a nationwide strike in hopes of lowering diesel prices or securing higher freight rates. Also on this date, two families in different decades escape explosions unscathed.
__100 years ago__
Feb. 1, 1924
• On Kinzer Street, a midnight fire guts a home and causes an explosion.
Mrs. George DeWeese and her daughter awoke to find one side of their house engulfed in flames and on the verge of collapse. They escaped through a window. Adding to the chaos, the heat caused a water tank in the kitchen to explode. The blast was heard half a mile away and pieces of the tank were found embedded in the front yard and basement.
A home next door was badly damaged by heat.
• Noted Southeast Missourian Sam A. Baker announces his candidacy for governor.
__75 years ago__
Feb. 1, 1949
• A wealthy Marston man’s robbery trial is unresolved after jurors in New Madrid failed to reach a verdict yesterday (Jan. 31).
Walter Richardson, a planter and cotton gin operator, was charged with armed robbery after allegedly holding a card table at gunpoint last year. Testimony indicated Richardson lost $47,000 while playing with three other businessmen. He brandished a gun and took all the money back, plus an extra $10,000 from the other players. A scuffle ensued, and Richardson shot James Meyers of Portageville, severely wounding him. All the men took Meyers to a Sikeston hospital. He recovered.
Before the escapade, Richardson had mail fraud charges dismissed in Memphis and was acquitted of income tax evasion in St. Louis.
The New Madrid jury deliberated for three hours before dismissal.
__50 years ago__
Feb. 1, 1974
• Protesting high fuel prices, at least 50 truckers from Butler, Wayne and Carter counties are joining a nationwide strike. The group met in Poplar Bluff last night to “air grievances and map plans for their parts in the strike.” The actions they seek are either a rollback in fuel prices to May 1, 1973, levels, or a 25% increase in freight rates. Last May’s diesel prices averaged 23-28 cents per gallon. Now, Arkansas fuel costs more than 53 cents and Southeast Missouri trends between 45-50 cents.
Drivers are operating at a deficit to keep their rigs running. Two Poplar Bluff drivers at the meeting, Charles Drysdale and Don Stevens, said either the price rollback or rate increase must happen or drivers will go bankrupt.
The local shutdown began at 12 a.m. this morning. Several organized groups of truckers set out along Highway 67 north and south and Highway 60 east to encourage other drivers to support the strike. Driver Lendle Ward emphasized the strike is nonviolent and the groups understand not all drivers will be able to participate.
• A 17-year-old miraculously escaped harm yesterday when his motorcycle exploded.
Tim Mathias of Poplar Bluff was repairing his motorcycle’s carburetor in the family’s basement when gasoline fumes ignited, said firemen on the scene, possibly by the furnace or water heater. The resulting explosion loosened the hinges on the basement door and set Mathias’ clothing on fire, but his father extinguished the flames before he suffered any burns. The basement and bike were both damaged.