Other days

100 YEARS AGO Sept. 2, 1918

One man was probably fatally injured and two others and a woman were perhaps seriously hurt in an automobile accident on Pulaski Heights at about 7:45 o’clock last night. William North, taxicab operator, driver of the car, is being sought on a charge of reckless driving. The car struck a trolley pole and broke it off at the ground. The pole fell directly across the top of the car and this is believed by the police to have injured the occupants.

50 YEARS AGO Sept. 2, 1968

Lynn Davis, the Republican candidate for secretary of state, Sunday came to the defense of Rev. R. J. Hampton, the Camden Negro leader whom Marion H. Crank said had been “bought off” by the Republicans. Crank, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, said at a press conference Friday, “Why certainly,” when asked if he thought Mr. Hampton had been “bought off.” Mr. Hampton had said previously that he was abandoning the state Democratic Party and joining the Republicans because staunch segregationists were working for Crank. “It is obviously very painful for Mr. Crank to believe that both Negro and white Democrats cannot accept the Old Guard slate and have joined others who are interested in good government,” Davis said. “As a former Democrat from a family of four generations of Democrats, I resent the implication that anyone who leaves the Democratic Party has been ‘bought,’” Davis said. 25 YEARS AGO Sept. 2, 1993 Little Rock voters in Wards 1, 2, 5 and 6 will be the first city residents in several decades to elect a city director to represent their wards. The Little Rock Board of Directors decided Tuesday that residents in central, east and Southwest Little Rock would have the first opportunity to elect directors representing only their wards. The board followed a resolution of intent passed last month. Directors said they selected Wards, 1, 2 and 6 for this year’s election because they encompass areas where residents have complained they were not adequately represented; Ward 5 was added for political balance. 10 YEARS AGO Sept. 2, 2008

As music from a live rock band blared and the smell of grilled hamburgers wafted through the air, union members joined in the first Labor Day picnic on the grounds of the Governor’s Mansion in more than a dozen years. With a Democratic governor back in office, the Central Arkansas Labor Council was able to hold its annual celebration at the mansion for the first time since 1992. Event organizers rejoiced at returning to their old stomping grounds after years of holding the picnic at North Little Rock’s Burns Park. Monday’s event commemorated achievements such as the 40-hour workweek and the minimum wage. But it also gave contemporary union members a chance to sample good food, see old friends and hear speeches by Democratic officeholders.