King City, Gentry County, Missouri submitted and transcribed by: Dovell & Sullivan ************************************************************************ USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ************************************************************************ (underscores inserted where text is unreadable) From the King City-published Tri County News, Friday, November 21, 1930: AMITY BOYS ROBBED BANK AT FAIRPORT Covel Stephens, Arrested Wednesday Night, Confesses Fairport and Osborn "Jobs" Covel STEPHENS of Amity, 23 or 24 years old, married last Thursday, was arrested Wednesday night and is said to have confessed the robbery of the Fairport and Osborn banks, implicating two other young men of the Amity community who are being sought by the law. Stephens is in jail at Maysville. Seven hundred dollars of the loot of the two banks has been recovered, The News learned over long-distance telephone late yesterday. Rewards offered for the apprehension of the bank robbers will go to Vernon D. CAMPBELL, DeKalb county sheriff, and a detective who has been assisting him, The News was advised. Campbell and the detective have been working on the case almost two months. They have not made public the names of the other youths implicated by Stephens' confession, though they are said to have "skipped the county". The arrest of both of them is expected shortly, it is understood. The Fairport bank was robbed Sept. 18 of $3,700 in cash, by Stephens and one of the two other youths, according to Stephens' alleged confession. Stephens and both the accomplices pulled the Osborn job Oct. 2, it is alleged, the loot there amounting to approyimately (sic) $5,000. One of the youths at large is said to be a student in the Amity high school. An unconfirmed story is being told at Maysville to the effect that the $700 in cash recovered was out of the Osborn job; that immediately after the Osborn job the three young bandits proceeded north from town; that they took $100 each of the loot and buried the remainder of the money on a DeKalb county farm; that they continued north and probably passed through King City; that somewhere south of King City they lost a part of a bumper off their car, which was given to the sheriff as evidence; but that the youths drove to Stanberry and had their car repaired, then back-tracked over the same route and returned home, averting suspicion. Stephens is said to have declared th(___) never have been able to locate (_______________________________________) up and made away with (____) shortly after the bank robbery. This rather coincides with a story told several weeks ago about persons found d(__)ing mysteriously on a farm near Maysville. Young Stephens and the two other youths all have been highly respected in the Amity and Maysville communities, it is said, and all come from good families. News of Stephens' arrest and his implication of the other two was a distinct shock to all except those who have been working on the case the last few weeks. PRESBYTERIAN PASTOR NEW MINISTERIAL ALLIANCE HEAD Preachers Draft Code of Ethics on Revival Meetings The Rev. George H. SCOVILLE, pastor of the Presbyterian church, was elected chairman of the King City Ministerial alliance at a meeting Tuesday morning in the pastor's study of the Baptist church. Other new officers are: Rev. J. W. MEADE, vice chairman Rev. W. E. GREEN, secy-treas. The Rev. W. C. WHITEHOUSE, pastor of the Christian church, is the retiring chairman. He presided at Tuesday's meeting and assigned to Rev. Scoville the topic "The Greatest Revival Meeting I Ever Saw" for discussion at the next meeting of the alliance, the second Tuesday in December. A code of ethics was agreed upon governing the matter of co-operation among the local churches in revival meetings. If one of the member churches begins a revival or evangelistic campaign on a week night, all the other churches will suspend their first Sunday night service during the campaign. If the member church start (sic) its meetings on Sunday night, all the other churches will suspend their Sunday evening worship the first two Sundays of the campaign to co-operate in the revival. A preachers' male quartet is being organized in the alliance, with Rev. Whitehouse and Rev. Meade singing the two tenor parts and Rev. Scoville and Rev. Green the basses. Much good to the community has come out of the ministerial alliance, and the pastors of the four King City churches are to be commended for their efforts toward co-operation and goodfellowship. Sweep the Streets Today If the weather is favorable today and the merchants will have the pavement in front of their respective places of business swept and the dirt conveniently piled, the dirt will be hauled away at the expense of the city, Mayor Essie WARD said yesterday. If the plan is favorably received by the merchants, the city probably will continue the practice of hauling off the dirt each week, Miss Ward said. TOWN GETS UP EARLY FOR FIRE AT J. R. CARSON HOME Roof Fire at 5:30 a.m. Causes Damage of $200 or More Lots of King City folks got up before breakfast last Friday morning to go to a fire which threatened the J. R. CARSON home, across the street west from the school campus. The fire siren sounded at 5:30 o'clock and the roof was blazing high when the fire company arrived with the trucks. Two streams of water and one stream of chemicals brought the fire under control within a few minutes and the loss was held to $200 or so, it is estimated, covered by insurance. It is almost the same kind of a fire which threatened the same house two years ago, and the damage was about the same. Both were started by chimney sparks caused by large quantities of paper being burned in a stove. Friday morning's fire was discovered by Dave JAMESON, a neighbor. CHAMP AND PLAIN SHUCKERS HARVEST A WIDOW'S CORN DeKalb county produces state champion corn huskers, and then a lot of good neighbors who just naturally shuck corn. Glen WASHBURN, Missouri state champion, and the following other shuckers met Wednesday at the home of the late William JONES and made quick work of gathering the entire corn crop for Mrs. Jones: James JUSTICE, Fred JONES, Wayne KING, George JONES, Homer SHULTZ, Glen SPEERS, Max SPEERS, John KING, Ted BUNNELL, Eleam VEALE, Charles EVERETT, Herman HAILEY, Frank BRYANT, Wallace BRYANT, W. H. STEWART, Clarence SMOOT, Noel STEWART, Floyd TERRY, John WHITE, Ed BURR, Harold HUTCHCRAFT, James HAILEY, Joe MORAN, Harrison ASBURY, Porter COPELAND, C. H. IRWIN, I. K. FINCH, James TROTTER, Ernest HUTCHCRAFT, Harold OTT, Paul CLYMER, Billy VEALE, Glen WASHBURN, Mace FINCH, Fred HOWE, Sam HOWE, Jesse FLETCHALL, Cleve CLANCY, N. B. CALLAHAN, Frank VEALE, C. JONES, Tom SMOOT, Frank SIMPSON, John BRYANT. The wives of the men met at the home and served dinner at noon.