Other days

100 YEARS AGO

Dec. 9, 1917 FORT SMITH — By a vote of 59 to 17 the union street railway employees, having jurisdiction over the only electric power plant in the city, joined the general strike late today. The power plant will close by midnight. The company has announced it will not attempt to operate under present conditions. The street lights were turned off at 7 o’clock, plunging the city in darkness, so as to decrease the load on the plant. As soon as the street car men took their vote they took their cars to the barns.

50 YEARS AGO

Dec. 9, 1967

A man armed with a nickel-plated pistol took $12,900 from the branch office of the First National Bank at 500 South University Avenue at noon Wednesday and was still at large Wednesday night. Bank officials said it was the first robbery in the Bank’s history. Police Chief R. E. Brians and Herbert E. Hoxie, special agent in charge of the Little Rock office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, were directing an intensive manhunt. The State Police reported that roadblocks were set up on all major highways out of the city within 15 minutes after the robbery was reported.

25 YEARS AGO

Dec. 9, 1992 PINE BLUFF — With the arrest of a 47-yearold self-employed businessman, police believe they’ve found the culprit who left 12 bombs all over Pine Bluff, starting Aug. 31. “We are 100 percent certain we’ve got the right man,” said Capt. Sam Dockery, spokesman for the Pine Bluff Police Department, during a Tuesday morning news conference. “We’re really excited. He could have killed or injured someone.” The man was arrested after a pipe bomb exploded in the yard of a house at 1309 Boston Drive at 8:10 p.m. Monday. The suspect’s name was not released Tuesday because federal investigators were questioning him about possible charges.

10 YEARS AGO

Dec. 9, 2007 Former Gov. Mike Huckabee’s latest statements about his support of freeing convicted rapist Wayne DuMond have brought old frustrations to the surface and created new ones for those in Arkansas who fought to keep DuMond locked up. Huckabee said last week that he told the state Parole Board that DuMond’s sentence was “outlandish.” He also said that no one could have known that DuMond would commit murder if released. Those comments followed criticism of Huckabee, now a Republican presidential candidate, by mothers of two Missouri women authorities believe were killed by DuMond.