A former police chief speaks out in the aftermath of the Poplar Bluff City Council’s 1974 police misconduct investigation. Other police headlines include an assault on a different police chief years earlier, well-dressed thieves and the sentencing of a “man of many crimes.”
Saturday
100 years ago
July 13, 1924 — No issues available.
75 years ago
July 13, 1924
• “Since the Clearwater Dam was placed in operation,” claimed the Daily American Republic, “the flow of water in Black River has changed considerably and many old familiar swimming areas are now exceedingly dangerous.”
The river has claimed three people, two of them children, since the beginning of the month.
The latest victim was Fred Chronister, 14. He and several family members went swimming in a stretch of river north of Poplar Bluff yesterday. Chronister was pulled into a stretch of narrow, deep water and his brother’s attempts to free him failed. Divers who recovered his body said the area was “full of whirlpools and undertowing currents.”
The other recent drownings were Hubert O. Hayes of Neelyville and a young boy from St. Louis, both on July 3. Hayes drowned near the Hargrove Pivot Bridge, and the child was pulled underwater near the Clearwater reservoir.
The dam and reservoir were completed in 1948.
50 years ago
July 13, 1974
• In the wake of a city council investigation, former police chief Bill Pierce announced he won’t resign and defended the character of the Poplar Bluff Police Department.
“I will put this police department up against any other department of comparable size for training, efficiency and any phase of police work. I think we have some of the finest policemen we’ve ever had,” Pierce said, adding he’d back personnel “100 percent under any type of charge is proven against them.”
Four officers petitioned the council for an investigation last month. In yesterday’s paper, the council stated Pierce and one other officer were being demoted. Pierce is now a major and serving as acting police chief until a replacement is found. The other demoted officer, now-Sgt. Haywood “Dynamite” Harris, also said he isn’t resigning.
Additionally, two patrolmen who reported the misconduct were on suspension and probation for sharing details with the media “without first pursuing and exhausting all available procedures.” Of the four reporting parties, two resigned in protest during the proceedings. One of the suspended officers, Bill Taylor, turned in his badge this morning.
Sunday
100 years ago
July 14, 1924
• John Williams, labeled a “man of many crimes” by The Poplar Bluff Interstate American, is off the streets for the next eight years. Williams, 35, was sentenced to the Missouri State Penitentiary after pleading guilty on forgery charges today. He is also believed to be responsible for a string of burglaries and a stickup where he posed as a police officer, held a man at gunpoint, tied him to a tree, and took his paychecks.
75 years ago
July 14, 1949
• Bootheel counties have reported a staggering 40 cases of polio, mostly in communities along the Mississippi River. Seventeen cases were reported in Pemiscot County and eight in Dunklin, and Scott, New Madrid and Cape Girardeau counties each reported two. The remaining counties were not listed.
No polio cases are yet reported in Mississippi or Stoddard counties, nor areas west of them.
Some experts say Missouri can expect many more cases before the year is out, likely surpassing the 600 cases recorded in the 1946 epidemic.
50 years ago
July 14, 1974 — No issues available.
Monday
100 years ago
July 15, 1924
• A nameless, violent stranger was arrested in Poplar Bluff last night after vandalizing a pool hall and assaulting Police Chief N.W. Hendrickson.
Hendrickson responded to reports of a man knocking out the pool hall’s windows with glass bottles, and found the culprit on the corner of Broadway and Park streets. The PBIA said despite Hendrickson’s attempts at diplomacy, the man “lit into the chief with both fists.” Hendrickson responded with his club, “mostly in self defense,” and subdued the man with the help of a passerby.
The assailant appears to be 65-70 years old and has refused to speak, besides threatening to poison any officers who touch his belongings.
“No one seems to know him and he appears to have just ‘dropped in from nowhere’ three or four days ago,” said the newspaper.
He was declared violently insane and awaits transfer to an asylum in Farmington.
75 years ago
July 15, 1949
• Police are seeking well-dressed thieves in Cape Girardeau after the Hecht Clothing Store was robbed.
A passerby spotted at least one person loading dress shirts and suits into the trunk of a car late last night. Officers arrived to find a pile of menswear on the sidewalk, apparently abandoned by the thieves after their discovery.
Officers obtained the car’s license number. It was reported lost or stolen from St. Louis in May.
50 years ago
July 15, 1974
• The Dexter Board of Education announced the purchase of 17 acres of land for $25,500 to construct a new junior high school.
• The Campbell Peach Festival crowned its royalty on July 12. Melissa Threlkeld, age 16, of Malden is queen, with Campbell teens Susan Miller and Bethany Ashby as first and second alternate.
Five-year-old Edith Jane Young was crowned Little Miss Campbell. Her alternates were Katrice Thompson and Christine Nichols.