Robbers fail to break safe open Saturday night

From the files of Your Sequoyah County Times

25 years ago

(From the Feb. 22, 2001, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —Sequoyah County Sheriff Johnny Philpot was called to investigate skeletal remains at Marble City School Wednesday when school officials became concerned they might be of a small child.

However, School Superintendent Larry Couch said Philpot called him later that day and told him the remains were those of an animal.

Couch said students noticed the carcass lying behind the gym. School officials said the carcass might have been dragged to the school by dogs.

50 Years Ago

(From the Feb. 19, 1976, 1975, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —Country Fair, formerly Horn Brothers Furniture, three miles west of Fort Smith, Ark., between Roland and Moffett, will feature Cal Smith and the Country Bumpkins on Saturday.

There will be shows and dances at the Country Fair every Friday and Saturday night from now on, a spokesman for the club said.

—There is no truth to a number of rumors that have been circulating the past week about poisonous snakes being found in Fort Smith stores and in merchandise bought in various business firms.

According to reports, Fort Smith police officers have received a number of calls about the non-existing snakes.

75 Years Ago

(From the Feb. 23, 1951, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —Edgar Blackard’s general store in Muldrow was broken into last Saturday night, but the thieves failed in an attempt to break open the safe, according Sheriff E.W. Floyd.

A hat or two and some shoes were missing, but apparently nothing else was taken, he said.

Entry was made after a lock on the front door was knocked off, and when they left, they broke the lock off the back door, said Floyd. The attempt was discovered about 6 a.m. Sunday by Blackard.

The dial of the safe had been knocked off, and when the door failed to open, the pins of the hinges were knocked off. “They still couldn’t get it open,” Floyd stated, “but they sure damaged the safe, probably ruined it.”

No fingerprints were found in the store, he said. He and Sheriff Sypert of Muskogee County spent all day Sunday combing the place for prints, but it appeared that the burglars either wore gloves or wiped the articles that they had handled clean.

Three suspects have been questioned and released, he said. No arrests have been made in the four robberies that occurred recently in Muldrow, Vian and Gore, but the sheriff and his force are working full time on all angles, he reported.

—According to Dick Crumpler, secretary-manager of the Checotah Chamber of Commerce, this city’s own town council Monday night voted unanimously to tell the Park-O-Meter Company to come and get their parking meters. At the same time Crumpler said the Council voted unanimously to “kill” the city ordinance under which the meters were placed on the city streets.

“We will not rest until the meter company has taken up the pipes, filled the holes in the sidewalks and removed every sign of there ever being a parking meter in our town. The six months “trial” period was disastrous to us as it did our town more damage and drove more people away than anything that ever happened to us. Our loss in retail sales and the gain in neighboring towns that do not have parking meters as shown by the Oklahoma sales tax report convinced us that parking meters are ruinous to a town like Checotah or Sallisaw,” Crumpler said.

“Parking meters drove more trade away every week than we can get back,” Crumpler said.

100 years ago

(From the Feb. 19, 1926, issue of the Sequoyah County Democrat) —John A. Pope closed a deal Wednesday morning, for the purchase of the entire stock of groceries and for the fixtures and equipment of the W.D. Capps & Son Grocery store and will take over the store at once. Invoice of the stock was completed Wednesday morning. The new owner quite recently closed out his mercantile interest here, when the Sequoyah Mercantile Company closed out its stock of goods, and has been considering two or three deals since that time. The Capps store enjoys a splendid business and carries one of the most up-to-date stocks in Sallisaw. The new owner will have P.B. Voss associated with him in the business, Mr. Voss having resided in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for five years past but having resided here a short while during 1917 and 1918. Mrs. Voss will be remembered as Miss Reba Johnston, W.D. Capps and Son, Oscar, stated Wednesday that their future plans were somewhat indefinite.