Everyone needs a snack and a new outfit occasionally, but most people don’t opt to steal cheese and an old pair of pants. This was what burglars chose at a Poplar Bluff store in 1924, however, eschewing more valuable items. Headlines from later decades covered railway strikes and the search for a new police chief.
100 years ago
Sept. 17, 1924
• Whoever burgled the Bimel-Ashcroft store had a particular shopping list: snacks and old pants.
This morning, the store manager discovered a padlocked and barred side door was broken in, but little of value was missing. The thieves took cheese, some canned meat, a few pennies from the register, and an old pair of trousers in the lost and found — though the store had new overalls in stock.
A pocket knife and insurance receipt were found next to the register. The Daily Republican reported that the receipt was issued to a “prominent Doniphan woman” who isn’t a suspect. Police theorized the burglars may have stolen or found it.
In a possibly connected incident, two unknown men attempted to steal boats tied along the bank of the Black River last night. They were chased off.
75 years ago
Sept. 17, 1949
• Trains from three lines were held up today by Missouri Pacific Railroad strikers. The St. Louis Southwestern, Sante Fe and Rock Island lines were delayed in Illinois, Kansas and Missouri cities by picket lines on the tracks as negotiations between MP and unions entered their ninth day.
Union leaders called the pickets a “regrettable mistake” and called them off, but struggled to enforce non-interference. The longest delay was 24 hours.
The strike involves 5,000 employees and has resulted in at least 20,000 layoffs. It’s the culmination of ongoing disputes about operating rules. Both sides requested presidential intervention.
50 years ago
Sept. 17, 1974
• City Manager David Pence announced the respective demotions of a former police chief and lieutenant to major and sergeant would remain in effect. The demotions of ex-chief Bill Pierce and Haywood “Dynamite” Harris followed an investigation into mismanagement and misconduct within the Poplar Bluff Police Department.
Pierce and Harris’s requests to be reinstated were considered during a city council meeting last night.
Pierce remains acting chief as the PBPD is searching for his replacement. Pence said about 120 applications have arrived. Most are domestic, but the farthest came from Israel.