MID-SOUTH MEMORIES

25 years ago — 1994 Jonesboro, Ark. – A Craighead County jury on Friday found Damien Wayne Echols and Charles Jason Baldwin guilty of capital murder in what prosecutors called the satanic killing of three West Memphis boys. The verdicts, reached at 3:33 p.m., were read by Circuit Judge David Burnett as the defendants’ parents sobbed openly and the mother of Echols’ 6-month-old son raced screaming from the courtroom. Echols and Baldwin return to court this morning to hear additional evidence in the punishment phase of the trial. Both will receive life in prison without parole or death by injection. 50 years ago — 1969 The City Council voted 8-5 yesterday, on first reading, to repeal the $10 guest tag for out-of-town residents who work or otherwise drive regularly in Memphis. The measure — apparently sparked by threats of retaliation against Memphis by nearby towns and difficulty of enforcing the guest tag law — will have to survive two more council votes before the $10 tag is killed. If the council repeals the guest tag, said Councilman Lewis R. Donelson, “I think we’re deserting the citizens of Memphis.” He said the only alternate to charging nonresidents for city services they use is a payroll tax which may be as much as 10 years off. 75 years ago — 1944 Memphis housewives will be allotted for 1944 home canning a maximum of 25 pounds of sugar for each person in the household, according to John R. White, district rationing executive of the Office of Price Administration. This is the same basis followed last year. 100 years ago — 1919 A federal court judge in New York recently refused to dismiss a suit brought by the Russian government against the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, overruling a contention by the defendant that “there is no Russian government.” The judge also refused to inquire of the State Department exactly what is now the status of Russo-american relations. The suit involves several million dollars worth of munitions consigned to Russia and destroyed in an explosion at Jersey City. 125 years ago — 1894 Yesterday the first baseball game of the 1894 season was played at Citizens Park between the Memphis Athletic Club and the Memphis professional team. The pros won 6 to 1.

THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL A small amphibian cabin plane parked on the cobblestones at the foot of Union Avenue on March 19, 1952, wasn't competing with the autos for parking spaces. Owned by W.L. Gatz Jr., a cotton farmer from Paragould, Ark., it sank at anchorage on the Wolf River near Jefferson several nights ago, was raised and taken to the foot of Union to dry out. Mr. Gatz had flown to Memphis to attend a ginners meeting.