Author Archives: foothillsmedia

The May 13, 1886 Warrensburg Standard newspaper reported on a rattlesnake raid in the vicinity of Bollinger Mills (present day Zalma). According to the paper the party killed 17 rattlesnakes ranging in size from four feet to six feet. Additionally six “very large” snakes of varying species were killed before the rain stopped “the slaughterContinue reading “Rattlesnake Raid in Bollinger County”

The following article was originally published in the May 5, 1983 issue of The Tipton Times (Tipton, Missouri).

The January 12, 1917 issue of the Bloomfield Vindicator carried the news of a Black porter (railroad employee who handled baggage and assisted passengers) who assaulted a citizen in Delta, Missouri at the Delta Hotel. The article, originally published in the Lutesville Banner reported: “It is reported that last Monday evening a negro porter atContinue reading “Hanging Narrowly Avoided in Delta”

The May 11, 1893 edition of the Marble Hill Press reported that big plans were in the works for Bollinger County, Missouri which included either an improved (possibly new) railroad depot in Lutesville and a mining operation at Alliance. A planned zinc mining operations near Alliance was also taking shape. For those unfamiliar with AllianceContinue reading “Big Plans for Bollinger”

I found this old advertisement for Champion Equipment in the May 21, 1902 issue of the Marble Hill Press newspaper. There isn’t much left of Laflin, Missouri now but in 1902 it was a small community with a store and home to an equipment dealer named Fred Clippard.

Thomas Fletcher was the 18th Governor of Missouri serving from 1865-1869. During the Civil War he served as a colonel in the 31’st Missouri Volunteer Infantry (Union) and was captured in 1862. Fletcher was released via a prisoner exchange in May, 1863 and saw service during the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, the Battle of Chattanooga,Continue reading “Thomas Fletcher: Missouri’s Most Hated Governor”

In 1996 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a public interest story about Bollinger County resident Richard “Mac” Saling. The paper, in its March 10, 1996 issue reported that when “Mac” Saling died around Christmas, 1994: “He left behind 40 acres of timber and stickerweed, a $25,000 checking account, a collection of over 100 shotguns andContinue reading “Richard Saling’s “Small Fortune””

I found this advertisement in the December 6, 1945 Wayne County Journal- Banner newspaper. Public transportation has always been a problem in the Eastern Ozarks of Southeast, Missouri but Scofield Bus Lines tried to address the problem.

The February 17, 1986 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on the possible merger of the towns of Lutesville and Marble Hill, Missouri. The two tiny towns separated only by Crooked Creek were probably unfamiliar with the vast majority of its readers. The paper reported: “In a move to blend progress with local sensibility,Continue reading “The Merger of Lutesville & Marble Hill”

The July 16, 1909 issue of The Democrat- News (Fredericktown, Missouri) carried a fascinating, yet outlandish tale of buried treasure in the Bessville, (Bollinger County) Missouri area. According to the paper, it received several reports of area residents meeting the ghost of an Indian chief, near a haunted house, where a murder had taken placeContinue reading “Buried in Bessville: Tales of an Indian Chief, a Haunted House & the Lost Treasure of a Mexican Prospector”