Looking Back
(Editor’s Note: This column looking back at St. Francis County’s history is featured each Friday on this Lifestyles page along with the week’s History Photo. The items included in this column were printed in previous editions of the TimesHerald.)
October 1932
Levee District - E.J. (Gene) Barrow has been appointed St. Francis County Collector for the St. Francis Levee District and will have his office in the courthouse. Mr. Barrow has received the tax books for levee taxes for this year and will be ready Monday morning to start collecting. The levee taxes must be paid during the months of October and November to avoid penalty. Mr. Barrow succeeds N.B. Norton, who recently won the Democratic nomination for county treasurer. He has a wife acquaintance over the county, is a man of high integrity, deep loyalty to friends and his appointment will give general satisfaction.
Passing Bad Checks - Floyd Ralls, alias Clyde Owens and wife of Memphis, are in St. Francis County jail on a charge of passing worthless checks. Ralls and his wife stayed in Forrest City for a few days, at the Downey Hotel, under the name of Owens and claimed to represent the manufacturers of Bayer Aspirin. They passed two checks on a Helena bank that had been made to appear as the regular allowance check from an estate and made payable to "Mrs. Clyde Owens." The checks were for $16.50 each and one was cashed at the Busy Store and another at the Dillion Co., part being spent for merchandise. The checks were returned by the Helena bank as worthless, no such account as they were drawn upon being in the bank. Ralls and his wife were arrested in Memphis, for the local officers and Chief Russell Williams and Sheriff Campbell returned them here. K.P. Lockhart is working on the city streets on a charge of passing a worthless check on Max Yoffie, for $7.75. A pal of Lockhart's was returned to Pine Bluff where he is wanted to answer a burglary charge. Lockhart was charged with issuing a check to Roy H. Langbond, signed by J.H. Roland, on the Bank of Eastern Arkansas. J.H. Roland and Roy H. Langbond are believed to be fictitious personages, anyway, not known to the bank. The $7.75 check was passed on Max Yoffie, who gave him his own check for $3.15 and the balance in merchandise. About two weeks ago two other artists operated here, getting three victims. The first was the Hot Shop Bakery, where purchase was made of a birthday cake for the check artist's son. He paid for the cake with a worthless check, drawn upon a fictitious account and received back part
cash. The second was passed upon City Drug Store, the third the Red Cross and an attempt was made to pass the fourth upon Broadway Drug Co., when police, trailing them on the earlier charge, came near getting them in the act of passing at the Broadway.
Three Arrested - Prohibition Investigators J.B. Keenan and Robert L. Taylor made three arrests about one mile north of Palestine, charging Mrs. Mary Steffy, Mrs. Myrtle Gorman and Numan Collier with possessing and transporting whiskey. An old model Chevrolet touring car was seized. The three prisoners were carried to Helena for a hearing before U.S. Commissioner J.B. Connolly.
Hearing On Madison Bridge - A public hearing will be held at the office of the U.S. Engineer on the west bank of the Mississippi River opposite Memphis, on application of the Highway Department for the construction of a new bridge over the St. Francis River above Madison. The hearing is public and all interested parties are invited to attend. While it is primarily a hearing held for those interested in river navigation and to determine if the bridge as planned will interfere with navigation, it it understood that a number of people who are desirous that the bridge be constructed at a point near the present bridge, will attend the hearing and make a plea for abandonment of the proposed new location.
Minor Offense - Violation of the prohibition law is just a minor offense and draws only a small penalty. Most of the dozen or more arrests in St. Francis County fared well at federal court in Helena. Oliver Rowland received the most severe sentence, six months, but the sentence is suspended during good behavior. Neal Farmer was more fortunate, the grand jury not returning an indictment. Mrs. Myrtle Gorman got 60 days, with sentence suspended.
Shot - M.C. Catha, 44, Hughes farmer, was in Baptist Hospital, in a critical condition from a bullet wound below the heart. Catha was shot at Hughes. No arrest has been made and no report of the shooting had been made to the sheriff's office.
F.C. Man Sued - George Edgar Neal, Forrest City druggist, was charged with cruelty in a divorce petition filed in circuit court by Edith V. Neal. They were married in 1915. Mrs. Neal said that his jealousy is ungoverned and that he once kept her awake until 4 a.m., with an outbreak because of her courtesy to his customers. He accused her of unfaithfulness and once drove her into a spell of hysterics by his upbraiding in the presence of company because she had ridden home with a mutual friend, she said.
Two Stills, Four Arrested J.B.
Keenan, prohibition investigator, assisted by D.M. Dunbar, deputy sheriff of Woodruff County, made two raids this weekend. The two officers seized a moonshine outfit two miles northeast of Morton, in Woodruff County, which had a 200-gallon copper still, two 10-gallon fermenters, four 50-gallon fermenters, 500 gallons of mash and a small quantity of whiskey. Two men were arrested, Johnny Woods and Ernest Meredith, both of Morton. They were carried to Helena and were given a hearing before U.S. Commissioner J.B. Connolly, at which time they were placed in jail in Helena to await trial.
Mattress Making - A new home industry has been added to thrifty farm women in St. Francis County through the making of homemade mattresses from low-priced cotton, according to Miss Mena Hogan, county demonstration agent. This homemade product affords a very economical means of making every bed comfortable. It is made from cotton as it is ginned before passing to the compress. Fifty pounds or less of cotton, according to the size of the bed, is necessary for the mattress. Other materials used are old felt or shoe leather for tacking, cotton cord, bees wax for waxing thread and a good quality cover of ticking, sateen or muslin. Ten yards of this material is used for a full sized bed with a box seven inches deep. The cost of the materials need not exceed $1.50.
Raid - Prohibition Officers J.B. Keenan, Robert L. Taylor and LeRoy Wood and Constable J.N. Perry of Forrest City, seized and destroyed a large distillery seven miles southeast of Round Pond, arresting three men, Jeff Mason and Henry Mason, both of Forrest City, and Otis L. Tong of Madison. The still was one of the largest captured in St. Francis County in some time, made up of one 200-gallon pot, six 200-gallon fermenters, 800 gallons of mash and 104 gallons of whiskey. A Ford Sedan was also seized and held.
Need Basketball - Because of great need for a basketball at Central School, members of the faculty accepted an offer from a candy company to sell 12 boxes of candy for $14.40 in return for which services the school would receive a basketball free. Although the basketball is the only compensation received for selling the candy, the faculty felt that they would be repaid for their trouble by the pleasure the ball would give the children, since no funds have been provided for a new one. Hundreds of schools throughout the South are taking advantage of this opportunity to obtain an official basketball. The candy has been kept in the office. At recesses and noon some of the older pupils have had charge of selling. So far sales have been satisfactory.