Other days
100 YEARS AGO Sept. 27, 1921
■ In response to a widespread demand throughout the state, a double investigation of alleged cruel treatment of convicts at the Tucker State Farm will be made. After the governor’s return from Wilmar, where he has gone to deliver an address, a special examining commission will be appointed with full authority to make a thorough investigation. The personnel of the commission is as yet unknown, but the governor said that men of the highest character and integrity will be appointed, so that their report cannot be questioned. The investigation will be conducted independently, and both the Grand Jury and the special commission will be asked to look carefully into the charges of excessive punishment of convicts, of alleged brutality of guards and wardens, and similar charges which have recently been made by convicts an ex-convicts.
50 YEARS AGO Sept. 27, 1971
SEARCY—Prosecutor Gene Raff of Helena said Sunday that he will file two charges of involuntary manslaughter today against L.A. Anderson of near Pangburn in the deaths Saturday of a retired Navy man and his daughter. David Fletcher Hurst, 52, of Heber Springs and his daughter, Sandra Rae Hurst, 11, apparently had been fishing off the lower water bridge over the Little Red River. Their bodies were recovered about a quarter mile downstream after another fisherman notified authorities that he had found a man’s cap and glasses and broken fishing gear on the bridge. Raff said that he would file informations in White Circuit Court alleging that Anderson struck Hurst and his daughter with his vehicle.
25 YEARS AGO Sept. 27, 1996
HELENA — A suspicious fire destroyed a black church early Thursday west of Helena, the second mysterious church fire in Phillips County since August, officials said. Lt. David Rosegrant, commander of Arkansas State Police Troop G in Pine Bluff, said the fire gutted the Freedonia Missionary Baptist Church at 318 Old Little Rock Road about 2 a.m. A motorist spotted smoke and flames from the small yellow brick building, drove to a pay telephone, and called 911 to alert the sheriff’s office, Rosegrant said at a news conference Thursday.
10 YEARS AGO Sept. 27, 2011
■ A man robbed a Little Rock convenience store at gunpoint Monday night, Little Rock police Lt. Dana Jackson said. At 7:45 p.m., officers were called to the Doublebee’s Exxon at 6001 Base Line Road after an aggravated robbery. An unknown man wearing a gray hoodie and a dark-colored baseball hat walked into the business with a black rifle and demanded two employees give him all the money from the cash register, Jackson said. The man fled on foot in an unknown direction with an undisclosed amount of money. Jackson described the suspect as a black man with light to medium skin tone, about 25 to 30 years old, with a thin to medium build. Police did not have any suspects Monday night, Jackson said.