Other days

100 YEARS AGO

Jan. 8, 1918

CAMDEN — Ransom Lilly, negro, aged 19, was arrested by Sheriff Ed L. Purifoy, accused of the murder of Nannie Lewis, his sister, at Lester. Witnesses say that Lilly had sold his sister some oranges for 10 cents. She failed to bring him the money, and he went to her house to collect. A quarrel followed and the negress was shot. He will be given a preliminary hearing before a local justice of the peace within a week.

50 YEARS AGO Jan. 8, 1968

EL DORADO — Fire destroyed the R.L. Pendleton Co. Warehouse here Sunday afternoon. R.L. Pendleton, owner of the warehouse, said the building was valued at about $5,000. Pendleton would not estimate that value of the building’s contents. He said the stock in the 101,000-square-foot structure consisted of school, health and beauty supplies. The cause of the blaze was unknown.

25 YEARS AGO Jan. 8, 1993

■ The Pulaski County Jail will have a bed “reserved” today for a convicted murderer who was allowed to go free after being sentenced Wednesday, sheriff’s office spokesman Sherry Rainey said Thursday. Circuit Judge David Bogard ordered Valerie Davidson Chambers, 34, of 4420 John Barrow Road to report to the jail today to begin her 10-year sentence for second-degree murder. Chambers was freed Wednesday because the jail had no room for an additional female inmate. By a federal court order, women may only occupy 20 of the 240 beds at the jail, Rainey said.

10 YEARS AGO Jan. 8, 2008

■ The mother of a 15-yearold Little Rock boy accused in a July robbery attempt in which a popular grocery store owner was killed testified Monday that her son’s 17-year-old codefendant forced her son to participate at gunpoint. Marco Balderas, 17, and 15-year-old Robert Michaelyn “Michael” Williams have been charged with capital murder, attempted capital murder and aggravated robbery in the July 17 holdup attempt at Tom and Jean’s Grocery Store. The killing of store owner Ghazi Hammad was recorded on video tape. Prosecutors say Balderas first shot Hammad in the face, eventually shooting him eight more times in the back. Too young to be executed, they face life sentences.