Alcohol gets people in trouble on today’s date. Law enforcement end up in a shootout on Moonshiner’s Hill in 1924, and four people are arrested for breaking liquor sale laws in 1949.
100 years ago
April 18, 1924
• A standoff between law enforcement and moonshiners escalated into a gun battle yesterday evening.
Federal agents and sheriff’s deputies confronted seven or eight men operating a still on the aptly named Moonshiner’s Hill, about 15 miles southwest of Cape Girardeau. The suspects opened fire when officers identified themselves. Both sides exchanged gunshots from behind trees until the moonshiners ultimately escaped.
One member of the posse was shot through the knee, but no other injuries were reported. Officers destroyed two stills, plus whiskey and mash.
75 years ago
April 18, 1949
• A fundraising committee announced today they’ve raised all the funds needed to start East Poplar Bluff’s long-delayed drainage project.
Most of the project is funded by a federal grant, but the entire project was held back for want of a few thousand dollars to cover preliminary expenses, according to the grant’s stipulations. After city efforts to restructure the budget to cover the costs failed, citizens and businesses formed a committee to gather funds and pledges. Work may begin as early as this summer.
• Four people in three towns were arrested yesterday for liquor law violations: Lewis Foster and Blondiana Riepe of Poplar Bluff and R.M. Meyers of Fisk were arrested for selling without a license, and William Townsend of Neelyville was arrested for selling beer on a Sunday.
During the sting, Deputy Sheriff Bob Harris purchased two pints of whiskey under the table from Meyers, a pharmacist, who warned Harris, “I can get you in trouble for this.”
Harris replied that yes, he sure could — then ordered Meyers to appear in court today.
50 years ago
April 18, 1974
• The Mules baseball team won a double-header against the Doniphan Dons yesterday. The first game was 5-0 and the second 7-6. Meanwhile, the Mules golf team took two matches in Dexter, 163 to 178 for varsity and 128 to 152 for junior varsity.