The following are selected articles from a Newspaper titled, "The Higbee News" which was issued out of the town of Higbee, in Randolph County, Missouri from the years 1888 through 1953. The editors were W. H. Welch and his son H. Scott Welch. This paper covered the Higbee area and also a great deal of the northeastern part of Howard county. The copyright notice at the end of this transcript is there for the sole purpose of keeping this work free to the public, and to ensure that it is not harvested by a fee-based corporate genealogy site, or published in any format for profit. If you decide to use the information from this transcription, PLEASE LIST ME AS THE SOURCE, rather than the paper. My transcription is another generation removed from the microfilm, and would thus be a third generation copy of the original paper. For proper documentation, a researcher should obtain a photocopy of the microfilm for their own permanent records, and use my transcript as a guide or index. The microfilm is available for interlibrary loan through the State Historical Society of Missouri, and a copy is also on file at the Moberly Public Library, generously donated by the Higbee Historical Society. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, 2 June 1927, Vol 41, No. 4, Pg. 1 Col 4--HIGBEE VISITORS WITNESSED STORM--Claib Eaton and Delmar Ballew, of Fayette, who attended the shoot of the Higbee Gun Club here Friday, barely missed the Yates cyclone, while Ernest Foley, who also attended the shoot, accompanied by Mrs. Foley, Harold Blakey and Miss Frances Dougherty, were caught in it near the Pitts home, but escaped all injury. Says the Fayette Advertiser: "Claib Eaton and Delmer Ballew were approaching Yates when they saw the storm clouds gathering. All the clouds seemed to center intone, and the combined mass took the shape of a huge haystack turned upside down, which appeared to be about a mile wide at the top end. It was traveling slowly, possibly between 15 and 20 miles per hour, according to Eaton. "They speeded up their car and rushed to Yates, where they took shelter in a garage. They saw the tornado approach, waver towards the north, weave its way around Yates, barely missing it, then turn and strike the edge of the little town. They watched the storm in action from the outside until the sheets of rain forced them inside. For a time they thought they were doomed as the huge funnel shaped cloud looked as thought it was headed directly through Yates. "Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Foley, Harold Blakey and Miss Frances Dougherty were in a Chevrolet coach near the Pitts house when the storm hit there. They stopped their car and the strength of the wind forced it backwards upgrade some one hundred yards." Thursday, 2 June 1927, Vol 41, No. 4, Pg. 1 Col 4--CECIL LAY GRADUATES--Cecil Lay, son of Mr. and Mrs. Geo. F. Lay, was graduated from Missouri Valley College at Marshall last Thursday with an A. B. degree. There were twenty-nine students receiving their degrees at the May Commencement. Eight others will receive degrees at the August Commencement. Cecil has been a student at Missouri Valley for four years, having done all of his college work there. During the last eighteen months he has been connected with the J. C. Penney Company and was recently transferred to the Sedalia store, where he was made an assistant manager. He has been a faithful employee for the Penney company, and expects to make chain store sales work his life's occupation. Thursday, 2 June 1927, Vol 41, No. 4, Pg. 1 Col 5--SINKING OF BOAT STILL A MYSTERY. Coroner's Investigation Fails to Reveal Cause of "The Keith" Capsizing.--Three persons were drowned shortly after midnight Thursday when the government boat, "George S. Keith," sank at its moorings seven miles south of Glasgow. Six members of the crew had narrow escapes from drowning. The dead are Captain and Mrs. Edgar Friemonth and their year old baby boy. The bodies were taken from the boat by a diver Saturday, who searched for some time and finally broke through a door to get to the bodies. R. R. Bristow of Waverly, the night watchman, siphoned the water from the boat and noticed that the water gauges showed the boat was level. That was at eleven o'clock. He finished making his rounds and went below to eat his lunch. While he was eating, he felt the coat careening and went to notify the captain. Hurrying back, he awoke the sleeping crew, who, by this time were apprised of the danger from the list of the boat, and by falling out of their beds. He then hurried to the rescue of his wife, who was asleep with the door of her room securely locked. He had to kick down the door before he could get to her. Already the room was partially filled with water, but he succeeded in getting his wife to safety. Meanwhile the other six members of the crew escaped in a skiff which had been brought alongside by those who had heard their cry for aid. Members of the crew testified that during this short space of time they heard the captain shouting to his wife, but the boat sank before either of them came out. The year of son of Capt. and Mrs. Friemonth was also drowned. The Keith is now lying in about twenty feet of water near the north bank of the river, on the Howard county side. One side of the boat is barely above the water line. The Keith is a steel tow boat 122 feet long by 26 feet wide, and of 160 tons displacement. It sank within a minute or two of the time the watchman discovered that it was careening. The work will commence today to raise it, it is indicated from Glasgow. Testimony before Dr. T. C. Richards, coroner, which was completed Monday failed to reveal the cause of the sinking of the boat. Several theories were advanced as to the cause. It is thought that the boilers had slipped to one side of the boat and that the wind caused it to capsize. Others fail to advance any opinion. When the boat will be raised, the cause may be discovered. Until then, it will probably remain a mystery.--Fayette Advertiser. Thursday, 2 June 1927, Vol 41, No. 4, Pg. 1 Col 6--JOHN KIRBY DROPS DEAD--Dies Suddenly While on His Way Home From Strip Mine, Where He had Been to Witness Evidences of Storm.--Friends and acquaintances of John Kirby, who lived south of town near Russell, were grieved when word came to town late Friday evening that he had dropped dead, and soon the report was in circulation that he had been killed in the storm, while another had it that he had become so frightened by the storm that it proved too much for a weakened heart. Mr. Kirby was at home during all of the storm, but if he displayed any unusual uneasiness his family was not aware of it, and after the storm had passed he said he would step out and see what damage had been done, and would also go over to the strip mine, where his son, Bernard, was working, and see if he or any other were hurt. After looking around at the mine for a time, he started home in company with his son Bernard, John Ware and another whose name we cannot recall, and had almost reached the house, when he suddenly sank to his knees. He was lifted up by his son and Mr. Ware, who thought that he might have stumbled over something, when he gave one last gasp and passed away. John Anderson Kirby was the son of the late Joseph and Fannie Kirby, and was born in Howard county on December 25, 1866. He was married to Miss Emma Jackson on December 25, 1896, and is survived by her and the three children born to them--Bernard, Joy and Lovella. He also leaves six brothers, Sidney, Moberly; Benjamin f., M. B. ("Boose"), Ira, Arthur and Richard, all of this place, and two sisters, Mrs. Cordelia Rule of this place, and Mrs. Cleora Dougherty of Fayette. Also surviving are eighteen nephews and thirteen nieces. It had been our good fortune to have known him all these years and to have had many dealings with him, and we ever found him on the square in all of his dealings an done much above stopping to little things. He was hard working and industrious and the county boasted no more honest man. Funeral services were held at the Baptist church Monday by the Rev. L. M. White of Fayette, and interment made in Higbee cemetery. The NEWS joins the community in deepest sympathy to the bereft wife and children. Thursday, 2 June 1927, Vol 41, No. 4, Pg. 1 Col 6--PIERCE-REYNOLDS--Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Reynolds were very much surprised Tuesday by receipt of a letter from their daughter, Miss Thelma, who has been in Oklahoma City for two years where she has a good position, advising them of her wedding, which occurred on Saturday, May 28, 1927, the lucky groom being Scott B. Pierce, proprietor of one of the city's popular cafe's, the marriage taking place at the home of the bride's brother, O. M. Reynolds. The bride is one of our sweetest and most popular young ladies, as well as one of our prettiest and most popular ones, and has a host of friends who join the NEWS in best wishes, and most hearty congratulations to Mr. Pierce. Thursday, 2 June 1927, Vol 41, No. 4, Pg. 1 Col 6--GOLDEN-HAMMONDS--Mr. Ivan Golden and Miss Bertha Hammonds of Moberly were united in marriage at the home of the groom's aunt, Mrs. Ed Griffin, here on Saturday, May 28, the Rev. Notley Magruder performing the ceremony. The groom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Omer Golden of Moberly, while the bride is one of that city's pretty and popular young ladies. The NEWS joins other friends in congratulations and best wishes. Thursday, 2 June 1927, Vol 41, No. 4, Pg. 1 Col 6--MISS ALEEN BURTON HONORED--Miss Aleen Burton, who has been attending Christian College, Columbia, made the national honorary sorority, Phi Theta Kappa, her last semester, after having been on the honor roll of the school both last year and this. She also won a pennant in athletics. Thursday, 2 June 1927, Vol 41, No. 4, Pg. 1 Col 6--Mrs. Bertha Crews of Strawn, Tex., Mrs. Alice Innes and George Winn of Fayette were the guests yesterday of their brother, Dr. J. W. Winn, and family. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright notice: All transcriptions in this email are copyrighted by their creator. They may not be reproduced on another site or on any printed or recorded media, CD, etc. without specific written permission from Kathy Bowlin. Although public information is not in and of itself copyrightable, the format in which it is presented, transcriptions, notes & comments, etc. is. It is however, quite permissible to print or save the files to a personal computer for personal use only. Permission is granted to public libraries, and genealogical and historical societies to print and bind for the use of their patrons. Kathy Bowlin Additions, corrections, comments welcome.