—Sequoyah County Times, Nov. 19, 1998

From the files of Your Sequoyah County Times

25 Years Ago

(From the Nov. 19, 1998, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —If the county’s 911 system does not go on-line soon, the Sequoyah County Commissioners will step in and make a decision on what needs to be done to get the system running properly, Bruce Tabor, district one county commissioner, said Monday.

For almost four years Sequoyah County residents have been charged a 5 percent phone tariff to pay for the Sequoyah County 911 system which has yet to go on-line officially.

The sheriff has the final say over the system going on-line because it is his dispatchers who will be using the system. It is the responsibility of the dispatchers to relay information, and if the information is not there, they can’t do their job, Philpot said.

50 Years Ago

(From the Nov. 15, 1973, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —A bandit or bandits, apparently with a specific goal in mind, broke into the Catrons Shoe and Clothing Center at 211 N. Elm in Sallisaw Sunday night and got away with an estimated $500 to $800 in goods.

Mrs. Fred Aufett, owner of the store, said the thieves gained entry to the store by breaking a window in the rear of the building sometime between 11 and 12 midnight Sunday.

Late Tuesday night, Sallisaw police officer Ernie Vaughan, Walter Matthews and police chief Sam Lockhart reported that four Sallisaw youths, all minors, had been arrested in connection with the break in.

—Massive units of equipment have started arriving at the Holley Carburetor plant in Sallisaw, and workmen have begun installation of the first transfer machines at the plant in the Industrial Park.

A spokesman at the plant said the transfer machines will accomplish 33 to 35 different functions and are one of the major machines to be installed at the plant.

The spokesman said four similar transfer machines will be installed before the plant goes into operation sometime next year.

75 Years Ago

(From the Nov. 19, 1948, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —Emery Henry, who has been employed by the Sallisaw Hardware during recent months, Monday assumed the management of his store that he purchased from Joe Rigsby and Ray Corley.

Henry will be assisted by his brother, Erman Henry, formerly with Seamans. He will operate a grocery, meat market and flour and feed business. The business will be continued in the same building that Rigsby and Corley occupied.

—When you put your nickel in a juke box for “Lost Pal” or “There Won’t Be a Blue Tomorrow” you can feel you are getting part of your money back.

Because at least part of your nickel will be sent back to Sallisaw to Mrs. Agnes Scoggins, writer of “Lost Pal” and co-writer of “There Won’t Be a Blue Tomorrow,” in the form of royalties.

Mrs. Scoggins told Your TIMES reporter this week that she had officially signed two contracts for both songs with the company “Hill and Range Songs, Inc.”

100 years ago

(From the Nov. 16, 1923, issue of the Sequoyah County Democrat) —Last Friday was cotton day for Sallisaw this fall. More cotton was sold on the streets on that day than any other day during the present season. The prices were good, in fact, about the peak of the present prices paid for cotton.

—Special Enforcement Officer Joe Morgan and Deputy U.S. Marshal George Ritter of this city, made a raid Tuesday in “Whiskey Hollow,” an ideal location for illicit distilling about five miles northwest of Greenwood junction in the northeastern part of Sequoyah County, near the Arkansas line, and captured five stills and destroyed nine hundred gallons of mash, about one hundred empty barrels, galvanized tubs and other paraphernalia used in making “corn” for consumption in Sequoyah County.

The day was rainy and none of the stills were in operation. As the neighborhood was well advised that the officers were in the vicinity looking for stills, none of the operators were caught, but all stills and material found by the officers were destroyed. It seems that iron gasoline tanks were favored by the moonshiners of this locality as all stills found were made of these tanks and the worms were of galvanized iron. All stills were found in a radius of one and one-half mile, and it was apparent to the federal officers that this was a well-known rendezvous for illicit whiskey manufacturing and dispensing. No one was found near the stills, and after they were destroyed the officers returned to this city, knowing that it was useless to wait for the moonshiners to come out of hiding, as their presence there was too well advertised.

These gasoline tank stills with galvanized iron worms are of a deadly type in producing poisoned whiskey. And it is a wonder that the product of stills of this type have not claimed more victims in this and surrounding territory.