If anyone thinks Southeast Missouri’s history is boring they haven’t met Hammie Shane: Hayti’s most popular fugitive. Wanted in two cities, Shane ran circles around law enforcement in 1924 and ultimately escaped custody by holding a courtroom at gunpoint. Deputies and constables deserve some blame here, since no one thought it suspicious for him to arrive at his hearing armed.
Today’s other headlines revolve include a unique football squad and the completion of I-55.
100 years ago
Oct. 4, 1924
• The saga of outlaw Hammie Shane spans years, continents, and multiple newspapers, and seems headed for a climax after a brazen escape from custody yesterday.
Shane first made Butler County headlines in June after escaping St. Louis Sanitarium and allegedly shooting a senator the same day. He fled to Hayti, followed by state authorities, and fortified himself in an abandoned house until they retreated. Local law enforcement were tasked with apprehending him.
Despite being a wanted fugitive, Shane openly lived and worked in Hayti, even sitting down with a reporter in July to protest his innocence in attempted assassination and recount his harrowing escape from the sanitarium — he said he acquired a key, outran a guard, hid at a crematorium and stowed away on a train back to Southeast Missouri. This article also shared his background: Shane and his cousin, Seid Alloway, immigrated from Turkey decades ago. “Hammie Shane” was a shortened version of his birth name, “Hammed Shahaen Abdallah.” He lived in Hayti for around a decade.
The Missouri Herald, a Hayti paper, reported Shane had several brushes with the law for fighting, though he was always acquitted. He moved to St. Louis in 1922 or 1923 and joined Alloway at his confectionery, but their family partnership came to a violent end when Alloway and his wife, Helen, were shot to death in their home in June 1923. Shane was arrested for attacking officers at the scene.
Investigators concluded Helen Alloway shot her husband after an argument, and Shane shot her in retaliation or self-defense. Witness testimony backed this. Shane’s account was the only one missing — he exhibited signs of mental distress and claimed his memory of that night was blank. He was committed to the St. Louis Sanitarium.
Alloway reportedly left a small fortune to Shane, who also received a yearly pension for his service in WWI. These financial factors led a Caruthersville court to dispute Shane’s alleged insanity several months ago, finding him capable of handling his own finances. His many friends in Hayti agreed.
Shane was finally arrested in Hayti, but not for his sensational alleged crimes. He was cuffed on a liquor violation.
Yesterday, Shane arrived to his court date with a rifle and a shotgun — which the three deputies and two constables in the room didn’t bother to confiscate — and leaned them against the wall during his hearing. Proceedings concluded in the prosecution’s favor. As the judge bound Shane over to circuit court, Shane calmly picked up his guns, aimed at the lawmen and announced, “Here’s my bond.”
He walked out of court untouched and vanished into the woods.
Today, Pemiscot County Sheriff W.B. Robertson vowed to capture the “mean” and “treacherous” Shane, and needled St. Louis authorities for their declining interest in him.
“He’s not insane. He is as smart as any of us, and smarter than some,” Robertson said.
• The Poplar Bluff High School football team has a unique distinction this year: five pairs of brothers are playing together. They are Lester and Glenn Harwell, John and Vernon Qualls, Balton and Alfred Rowe, Stanton and Richard Myers, and Carl and Raymond Kinkead.
75 years ago
Oct. 4, 1949
• The 36th Judicial Circuit Court set a new record of 18 guilty pleas in one day. Twelve of the charges were drunk driving, two were leaving the scene of an accident, one was for forgery, and three were burglary or larceny. All were sentenced to fines and jail time.
50 years ago
Oct. 4, 1974
• The final stretch of Interstate 55 will fully open soon, according to officials. Construction on a 12.7-mile gap between Hayti and Cooter is scheduled to conclude Oct. 7, concluding two years of construction on the new I-55. The project cost over $14 million and involved road and bridge expansion along the former Route 61.