100 YEARS AGO Dec. 26, 1913
Tears filled the eyes of several of the prisoners in the city jail yesterday morning when Police Judge James Gerlach told them that they were free to go, and they expressed their gratitude for his kindness. Several of the men had been looking forward to Christmas day with the expectation of being in the midst of their families, and they were raised from despondency to joy when Judge Gerlach liberated them. “I would be the meanest man on earth,” said Judge Gerlach yesterday, “if I kept the poor fellows in jail on Christmas day, and I could not enjoy my own Christmas dinner with the thought continually in my mind that I had kept some other man from enjoying our greatest day. ”
50 YEARS AGO Dec. 26, 1963
MORRILTON - Forty-three cars of a southbound Missouri Pacific train, 39 of them loaded, derailed at Blackwell, eight miles northwest of here early today. The engine and about 35 cars had passed the derailment point, and the crew took that section on to Little Rock. About 100 cars remained upright behind the pileup. There were no injuries. Cause of the accident was not immediately determined.
25 YEARS AGO Dec. 26, 1988
HOT SPRINGS - Wealthy horse owners and hired hands who work behind the scenes at Oaklawn Park sat down together for the first Christmas meal prepared in the thoroughbred track’s new kitchen. “It was just great, lots of fun,” said Everett Smith, who has run the backstretch eatery for 34 years. “We cooked a lot of food,” Smith said after the five-hour feast - enough for 650 guests to dig into roast turkey with cornbread dressing, steamboat round of beef, country ham, roast pork, fried chicken, a dozen vegetable dishes and 15 desserts. Smith said about 350 of the diners were track workers who eat a free meal at Christmas, courtesy of the Horsemen’s Benevolent Protective Association.
10 YEARS AGO Dec. 26, 2003
All those glowing Christmas light displays visible from Interstate 40 through North Little Rock’s Burns Park are drawing enough visitors that sponsors already plan a larger exhibit in 2004. Since the Holiday in Burns Park Winter Festival began Dec. 14, an estimated 3,000 vehicles had taken the drive along the park’s Funland Drive through Sunday to see themed light displays for $5 per vehicle, David D’Amato, the event’s committee chairman, said Tuesday.
Arkansas, Pages 14 on 12/26/2013