Other days
100 YEARS AGO Dec. 5, 1918
FORT SMITH — Elmer Briddle, aged 25, a glass blower of Sand Springs, Okla., was arrested early today on the roof of the United States jail here, charged with breaking into the building. Authorities say Briddle and two others broke into the jail for the purpose of stealing contraband whiskey, a car load of which is stored in the jail. Briddle’s companions made their escape. They entered the jail by climbing to the roof and cutting out panels of a ventilator, and then by sliding down a rope for a distance of 25 feet to the floor that covers the cells as a ceiling.
50 YEARS AGO Dec. 5, 1968
EL DORADO — Picket lines are up at Arkansas Chemicals, Inc., plant here where bromine is produced. The 17 employees in the bargaining unit of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union Local 5-434, went on strike at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, according to a union spokesman. The strike was called when union and company officials failed to agree on a new contract. The plant is being operated by supervisory personnel. The dispute is limited to wages and other economic items, according to the company.
25 YEARS AGO Dec. 5, 1993
Ministers, funeral home operators and community activists were paid thousands of dollars by the Arkansas Democratic Party to help turn out voters and perform other chores during the 1992 general election, party financial disclosure records show. Most of the money went to blacks. State Democratic Party officials publicly refuse to acknowledge that the money paid to those contract laborers was what is known in political circles as “street money.”
10 YEARS AGO Dec. 5, 2008
Little Rock’s Ottenheimer Market Hall in the River Market is expected to reopen today after a Wednesday fire in an upstairs office that authorities say may have been set to cover up a burglary. Firefighters responded to the fire shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday, finding the fire in a second-story office of the city’s River Market marketing and design coordinator. They busted out a window in the scorched office that overlooks the hall, sending smoke into the open space. The smoke prompted the state Health Department to shut down the eateries Thursday so vendors could clean their restaurants and city employees could sweep away soot and dust on ceilings and poles. There was no other damage to the hall. After discovering the fire, firefighters believed something was amiss. “Everything was shuffled and moved around. That’s why they suspected there was a burglary,” Fire Capt. Jason Weaver said.