Clear, distinct packaging and warning labels are taken for granted today. Not so in 1924, when a Poplar Bluff man had a brush with death after mistaking a container of insecticide for his Epsom salts. The rest of this weekend’s newspapers held local sports, operatic honorees and theatrical preparations for the 1949 Butler County Centennial.
Saturday
75 years ago
July 27, 1949
• Poplar Bluff firefighters moved into a new station this morning. The building is located on Highway 67 near a water tower and cost $17,000 to build. Six firemen are now stationed there, with the rest at the No. 1 Station downtown.
The new station’s crew consists of Assistant Chief Haskel Vinson, Capt. LeRoy Garrison, Verl Renfro, Ray Macom, Frank Magill and Edward Brothers. The No. 1 Station is manned by Chief Sam Knight, Assistant Chief Frank Arnold, Capt. Paul Drury, Claude Shields, Bob Massey, Joe Fields, Ted Hager, Glen Porter and Johnny Ryan.
• Mountains of scripts and hundreds of cast members have been assembled for a theatrical rendition of local history at the Butler County Centennial celebration. Chairman of Pageant Plans Mrs. Carl C. Abington said she’s read “every history of Butler County and Southeast Missouri I could get my hands on” in preparation.
“The story of Butler County is so interesting that I am greatly enjoying the preparation of its history in running form. I believe it will be thoroughly enjoyed,” she added.
50 years ago
July 27, 1974
• Plans were announced today for “Jerry Pruett Appreciation Day” in honor of a high school music teacher who made his professional opera debut this year. The honoree will make at least two public appearances and sing during Sunday services at First Christian Church.
Pruett and his wife, both Poplar Bluff natives, taught music at Poplar Bluff High School before moving to Boulder, Colorado to pursue master’s degrees. Pruett trained in opera and later joined the faculty of Iowa State University. Last year the family moved to New York City and Pruett made his professional opera debut at Carnegie Hall in March. Another performance is planned at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., after which the family will relocate to Austria, where Pruett has a two-year contract with the Vienna Volksoper.
Sunday
100 years ago
July 28, 1924
• A Poplar Bluff man narrowly escaped death this morning after mistaking toxic sodium fluoride for medicinal Epsom salts.
Charles H. Hargrove and his family recently moved to Poplar Bluff and were in the chaotic process of unpacking boxes. Hargrove asked his wife where he could find the salts, and she replied they were either in the medicine cabinet or a tub loaded with various household items. Hargrove checked the tub first and found a package the same size and shape as the salts. Not realizing it was insecticide, he mixed a liberal dose with water and drank it.
“He had no sooner swallowed the concoction than he remarked to his wife that he believed he’d taken the wrong stuff,” said the Poplar Bluff Interstate American. They quickly realized his mistake, but Hargrove was saved by the extreme dose he consumed — it made him violently sick. He vomited the poison before it entered his bloodstream.
Dr. I.N. Barnett attended Hargrove and predicted he’d recover. Sodium fluoride is a white powder resembling salts and baking soda, and Barnett told the PBIA he frequently comes across accounts of fatal poisonings.
75 years ago
July 28, 1949
• Polio cases in 1949 have surpassed 1944, previously the second-worst year on record. The Associated Press reported 6,935 cases and 337 deaths across the country so far this year, and the same period in 1944 saw 4,176 cases. That year’s total was over 19,000. The worst year on record was 1916 with more than 27,000 cases.
All states currently report polio cases. Eight have shown declines this month, while another nine account for nearly two-thirds of all infections. Aside from New York and California, these most severe states are centered in the Midwest and include Missouri and Arkansas.
Missouri reported 302 cases and 37 deaths so far this year compared to 37 cases and 11 deaths by this time in 1948. Arkansas likewise has 488 cases and 3 deaths compared to 51 cases and no deaths.
Monday
100 years ago
July 29, 1924
• The City of Poplar Bluff and the Chamber of Commerce are moving ahead with the Fill the Gap program, a project to link B Street with the nearby Fisk highway. The city recently, and reluctantly, took the campaign over from private citizens after donors protested the project’s switch from concrete paving to gravel.
The new road will still be gravel under the city’s management due to budget constraints. The first loads of dirt for the roadbed were hauled today.
75 years ago
July 29, 1949
• A car thief only enjoyed 20 minutes of joyriding before his arrest yesterday.
Clay Wilfong, 32, of Dexter was arrested by the Missouri State Highway Patrol on Highway 61 south of New Madrid, less than half an hour after stealing a 1947 Plymouth in East Prairie. The car was returned to its rightful owner.
Wilfong has served several sentences for previous crimes in Stoddard County, including car theft. He was most recently released from jail in May.
50 years ago
July 29, 1974
• In local sports, the softball season is moving into its tournament stage this week. The divisions are Little League, Junior Babe Ruth and Senior Babe Ruth. A men’s fast-pitch tournament will be held tonight at Whiteley Park with teams from across the Bootheel region. Reynolds County won a slow-pitch tournament held July 27-28.
No issues available — July 27, 1924; July 28, 1974.