One of Ripley County’s most contentious damage suits is resolved on this day in 1924 — a food poisoning case against a Poplar Bluff restaurant. Three men remain missing at Lake Wappapello in 1949, and Southeast Missouri peach farmers face serious losses in 1974.
March 26, 1924
• “One of the hardest fought damage suits in the history of the circuit court of Ripley County” was resolved yesterday, said The Interstate American, and at its center was a plate of giblets.
J.A. Buchanan of Montgomery City successfully sued the Plaza Hotel and Cafe Company of Poplar Bluff for $7,500 after severe food poisoning. Buchanan stated he ate chicken giblets for lunch at the restaurant in 1923 and fell so violently ill he passed out for three hours.
The prosecution’s witnesses were two Poplar Bluff physicians and Buchanan himself, who claimed the giblets “had a tainted taste and tasted of [baking] soda,” which he believed was used to hide the spoilage. He also recalled tasting spoiled meat when he regained consciousness.
The defense unsuccessfully tried to pin the blame on another restaurant.
March 26, 1949
• Doniphan is getting a new church building. The cornerstone for St. Benedict’s Catholic Church will be laid during a ceremony on March 27.
• Civil Air Patrol planes from St. Louis join the search for three men on Lake Wappapello. Earl Hammett, Elmer Walker and James Squire are presumed drowned after disappearing on March 21, when they went fishing in rough weather. Their overturned boat, a gas can and a life preserver were found floating in the lake two days later.
March 26, 1974
• Poplar Bluff is expanding Whiteley Park. The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Outdoor Recreation has approved a $10,404 matching funds grant to purchase three adjacent acres, which will be used to enlarge the playground and picnic area.
The city will match the grant with in-kind work and city sales tax money.
• Southeast Missourian peach farmers lost 95% of their crops to a cold snap. Gov. Kit Bond is appealing to the Department of Agriculture on their behalf.
Temperatures on March 22-23 dropped to 12 degrees, causing $3 million to $4 million in crop damage. This is the second consecutive year peach blooms have been destroyed by a late freeze. Bond asked that farmers in Butler, Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Dunklin, Scott and Stoddard counties be made eligible for emergency Farmers Home Administration loans.
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