100 years ago
July 19, 1917
• Will Bishop and R. Timlin, two of the nine convicts who escaped on July 10 from the state farm at Tucker, were captured near Plumerville last night. Bishop was sent up for one year on December 15, 1916, from Crawford county on a charge of burglary, and Timlin was sentenced to four years on June 8, 1917, from Sebastian county, on a charge of forgery. Deputy Sheriff Carl Overstreet of Plumerville will bring the escapes to the penitentiary this morning.
50 years ago
July 19, 1967
• Frank W. DuVall is one Little Rock native who has done so well in his field that he can't talk about it. DuVall is chief of long-range planning for the Research and Development Directorate of the Army Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal at Huntsville, Ala. A former power engineer with Arkansas Power and Light Company, DuVall spoke Tuesday to the Little Rock Kiwanis Club at the invitation of Kiwanian Bruce Menees, with whom he worked at AP and L.
25 years ago
July 19, 1992
• Train-vehicle collisions claimed the lives of two Arkansans and seriously injured two more during the weekend, the state police said Saturday. Both crashes involved Burlington Northern trains in eastern Arkansas. Sam Kaunley, a spokesman for Burlington Northern, said a check showed they were different trains. James Chase Elrod, 8, of Luxora (Mississippi County), died after the 1984 Buick in which he was riding pulled onto Railroad Street and into the path of a northbound train about 9:40 a.m. Saturday in Luxora. Donald Ray Lepard, 36, of Proctor (Crittenden County) was hit after the 1992 Ford truck he was driving east on Medel Merconi Drive in Marion did not stop at a train crossing about 8:15 p.m. Friday, state police said.
10 years ago
July 19, 2007
• Prayers and dedicated detective work led to the capital murder conviction Wednesday of a man who fatally shot an Ash Flat couple more than 20 years ago, Sharp County Sheriff Dale Weaver said. A jury of seven men and five women convicted Steven Victor Wertz, 58, of Kissimmee, Fla., of two counts of capital murder in the Dec. 31, 1986, shotgun slayings of Terry and Katherine Watts in their home on the southern edge of the town of 977 residents. "I felt when we started on this case we never looked back," Weaver, who took office as sheriff in 2003, said of clearing the case after two decades.
Metro on 07/19/2017