Other days

100 YEARS AGO Nov. 7, 1918

OZARK — Elmer McKee, aged 21, was killed last night when a freight train ran over him, mangling his body terribly, severing both arms, cracking his skull and breaking his leg…He was en route home from here, where he attended a moving picture show. Seven dollars were found on him. There are two versions of the killing. It is believed he sat down on the railroad track and fell asleep. His grandfather says he had $78, and that he believes McKee met with foul play and was thrown upon the track, and in order to cover up the crime the assailant left $7 on his person.

50 YEARS AGO Nov. 7, 1968

Ronald Coyne, an evangelist who claims the miraculous ability to see through an empty eye socket, will conduct a revival at the YWCA at 112 East Fourth Street Friday through Wednesday… Coyne, 24, a native of Tulsa, bills himself as “The Plastic Eye Miracle” because of his alleged ability to read material obtained from members of his audience through an eye socket, from which he has removed a plastic eye. Coyne lost the eye at age 7 in a bailing wire accident, and is said to have gained sight through the intercession of a faith healer, Sister Daisy Gillock.

25 YEARS AGO Nov. 7, 1993

Only a few of the Little Rock School District’s secondary schools have performed the minimum number of required weapon searches, records show. Central High School has one of the worst records. The district’s largest high school is down for only three searches — a fraction of the number required — since school began Aug. 23. District officials said the school has performed two additional searches not yet reflected in records. Former Superintendent Mac Bernd issued a secondary-school search directive in October 1992, about a week after Parkview Magnet High School teacher Debbie Fulbright was stabbed more than 60 times by a student.

10 YEARS AGO Nov. 7, 2008

The Arkansas Check-cashers Act of 1999 violates the state’s constitution, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday, outlawing payday lending by Arkansas businesses. But the decision won’t necessarily shut down the 80 payday lending stores that still operate in more than 40 Arkansas communities. The lenders say the loans are financed outside the state — similar to credit card transactions that are financed outside Arkansas and are not governed by the state constitution. The state attorney general, however, is considering taking those stores to court. More than 150 Arkansas based payday lending stores closed earlier this year in reaction to a push in March by Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, who sent letters to 156 stores demanding they “cease and desist.” But loans from those stores were financed in the state.