Other days
100 YEARS AGO March 16, 1923
■ Probably one of the largest worthless checks ever presented in Little Rock within the past few years was accepted by the Mutual Life Insurance Company, with offices in the Gazette building, Wednesday morning, according to a report received by the police. George B. Dixon, manager of the insurance company, said he took the check, which was for $35,985, that amount being the annual premium on a $500,000 life insurance policy. Mr. Dixon said a man walked into the office Wednesday morning and introduced himself as Harry Carey of Los Angeles, Cal. … He explained that he was stopping at the Hotel Marion and desired to insure his life for a half-million. “Mr. Carey” was examined and after the physical announced him as a good risk, “Carey” issued the check. … Mr. Dixon immediately telegraphed the First National Bank of Los Angeles, on which the check was drawn, and shortly after noon received a reply that Carey had no account there.
50 YEARS AGO March 16, 1973
CONWAY — James Massey, 32, of West Memphis landed a twin-engine Beechcraft he was piloting on Interstate 40 when the aircraft developed engine trouble, State Police Trooper Jim Elliott said. The officer said Massey was traveling from Dallas to Memphis and had flown north of his intended flight to avoid a thunderstorm. Tom Manning, of the Federal Aviation Administration office at Little Rock, said the plane’s difficulty might have been caused by icing of the carburetor. The plane came to rest between two overpasses on the highway on the west side of Lake Conway.
25 YEARS AGO March 16, 1998
■ Heard the one about Microsoft getting into the car business? It’s no joke. Not content with controlling the desktop, Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc., International Business Machines Corp. and other computer and electronics-industry powers are racing to stake their claims to a new territory: Your car. This summer, Clarion Corp. is expected to be the first to offer a personal computer for the car as a replacement for factory installed radios. The device, with a list price of $1,299, not including a wireless modem, will use Microsoft’s Auto PC software, which includes the company’s Windows CE operating and voice-recognition systems. … Drivers can also get digital directions: Auto PC’s synthesized voice will read out left and right turns. The package will include a player for CDs and CD-ROMs.
10 YEARS AGO March 16, 2013
■ Timex Corp. has paid the state’s largest airport more than $2.5 million to settle a dispute over contamination of a 9-acre site on the airport property that once was used to manufacture the company’s watches, clocks and other items. … The company also agreed to clean up the site, which the airport will eventually use for hangars or other general-aviation uses. … Business jets and other private aircraft and the businesses that support them are located on the west side of the field.