~ Shared Clippings ~

Miscellaneous Newspaper Articles of Interest

 The following newspaper clippings pertain to Randolph County and/or it's residents.

Wednesday, 27 November 1929, Jonesboro Evening Sun, Jonesboro, Arkansas
OFFICERS BAR ROAD AT POPLAR RIDGE, STOP HIM
T. H. McConnell, 35 of Columbus, Ohio, traveling salesman for a Chicago Candy Company, was caught at Poplar Ridge in Craighead County between Black Oak and Lake City, last night between five and six o'clock when Deputy Sheriffs Cooper and Hainey of Leachville who had been trailing him ran in front and barred the road. McConnell ran the gauntlet of Monette police who attempted to bar his passage. He killed BILL SAMMONS, 72, farmer, in hit-and-run occurrence at Leachville in front of the Christian Church at 4:30. Towns ahead were notified and the officers took up pursuit. Officers who arrested him state that he was badly intoxicated and a quantity of whiskey was found in his car. Two women from Kennett, who have been selling magazines in the Leachville vicinity, were in the car with McConnell. After hitting and killing the aged man, he backed up. They begged him to stop. Instead he stepped on the gas and sped over the body again, officers report. Sammons was walking on the Highway into Leachville along the main highway when hit. Feelings ran high against the slayer and Leachville citizens threatened much violence. Officers removed him to jail at Blythesville for safekeeping. His trial will be held next Wednesday.
Contributed by Sandy Sammons Simmons. A note by the contributor: Bill (William Ingram) Sammons was my great grandfather, born 24 August 1856 in Randolph County, Arkansas. He married Josephine (Josie) Brooks on 23 Apr 1884 in Randolph County, Arkansas. He had one prior wife wife: Marinda J. Stout, born 1863, married on 14 Dec 1879. They had one child, Emma. And he married again after Josie: Lodena (Denie) White, born 15 Jan 1881, married in 1898. They had five children: Rosie Elsie, Arthur, Dewey, Willie, Annie, and an infant who died at birth. Bill and Josie had several children, but so far I've only been able to prove the three I personally knew about: my grandfather, Samuel Martin Sammons, born 25 Oct 1888, his brother Clarence, and his sister Lizzy Beth. I have not had any luck in locating this family in a census, but I know they stayed in the Randolph County area all their lives. I would like to learn more about the trial, but so far I haven't been able to locate information on it. My grandfather's name was misspelled in the article: Fammons instead of Sammons.