Other days

100 YEARS AGO

Aug. 4, 1919

BATESVILLE — E. A. Gibson and his wife, Ethel Gibson, filed suit last week in the Independence county Circuit Court against the Pierce Oil Corporation for $25,000 for injuries alleged to have been sustained by Mrs. Gibson on April 27, last, when a can of oil exploded while she was building a fire. It is alleged in the complaint that the oil which exploded contained a large per cent of gasoline and was unsafe and dangerous to use and that it was sold to a retail dealer by the Pierce Oil Corporation.

50 YEARS AGO

Aug. 4, 1969

SEARCY — Ronald Anthony Vire, 13-month-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Ronald L. Vire of Jacksonville, was killed Saturday at Kensett when a car driven by his grandfather ran over him in the driveway, authorities said. The family was visiting at the home of the grandparents, Rev. and Mrs. Tommy Piker.

25 YEARS AGO

Aug. 4, 1994

VARNER — Three men convicted in the 1981 death of a Rogers businessman died from injections Wednesday night at the Cummins Unit in the nation’s first triple execution in 32 years. Officials began executing the three — Darryl V. Richley, Hoyt Franklin Clines and James Williams Holmes — about 7 p.m. At 7:01 p.m., Clines was the first to be injected, followed by Richley and Holmes. Department of Correction spokesman Alan Ables said Lincoln County Coroner Jimmy Hawkins pronounced Clines dead at 7:11 p.m. “When asked if he had any last words he responded, “Nope,’” Ables said. “At 7 p.m., the lights dimmed and they opened the curtains and he was strapped in,” said Linda Hicks, a Benton County Daily Record reporter who witnessed Clines’ execution. “He appeared to go to sleep. He never looked up.” The same procedure was repeated an hour later, and Richley, 43, was injected at 8:03 p.m. Hawkins pronounced him dead four minutes later. Holmes, 37, was injected at 9:11 p.m. and pronounced dead at 9:24 p.m. Both men replied “no” when asked if they had any last words.

10 YEARS AGO

Aug. 4, 2009

■ Two members of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries were released from jail Monday after spending more than seven months behind bars for refusing to reveal the whereabouts of their children. Miller County Circuit Judge Joe Griffin issued an order about 4 p.m. for the release of Bethany Myers and Don Thorne, who had each been jailed since January when they were found in contempt of court for refusing to provide information about their children’s whereabouts. The order says only that their “punishment has been served,” but doesn’t give any further explanation for their release, said Cheryl Barnes, litigation specialist for a group known as CPS Watch Legal Team, which is assisting the parents in the child welfare cases. … Myers’ three sons, then ages 5, 9, and 15, and one of Thorne’s sons, then age 13, were taken into protective custody, along with 13 other children, in a Nov. 18 traffic stop on Arkansas 245 in Texarkana. The Arkansas Department of Human Services is continuing to search for Myers’ three daughters, listed in a November order as ages 5, 9 and 15, and two of Thorne’s other children, a 14-year-old girl and a 12-yearold boy.