Murder of A. L. Smith and Hanging of Dr. Harbin

On the Fourth of July 1888, a crowd of people gathered to celebrate the holiday at Potter's Grove on the banks of the Black River near Poplar Bluff (MO). Between eight and nine o'clock in the evening, a shot rang out a half mile or so from the picnic grounds, followed by a yell. Then a second and a third shot rang out. A few people suspected trouble, but most didn't think much about the incident, figuring it was just some boys shooting off fireworks. So, nobody bothered to investigate.

A couple of days later, however, a man's body was discovered lodged at the edge of the river in the area where the shots had come from. The dead person was identified as A. L. Smith, and an autopsy revealed that he had received at least two mortal gunshot wounds.  

One man was arrested and released after being cleared, but the investigation continued. About a month later, in August, a Dr. William Harbin was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Harbin had not lived in the Poplar Bluff area long, but he had already earned a reputation as a bad man. According to one report, "He claimed to be a doctor and succeeded in filling the minds of many ignorant people with whom he associated with the belief that he had some supernatural power." Apparently, Smith, who also had a less-than-spotless reputation around Poplar Bluff, had sold some land to Harbin, but Harbin had paid only part of the price, while Smith carried a note for the rest. Supposedly, an argument broke out between the two men when Smith demanded a payment on the land. 

Later facts revealed that the Harbin had been in the company of John Hinderlighter and his wife at the time of the crime. Hinderlighter "bore a fair reputation, but...his wife, it seems, did not deserve a good reputation." Shortly after Harbin's arrest, Hinderlighter's wife began visiting the accused man in the Butler County Jail. This seemed to irritate Hinderlighter, who made "some serious charges" against Harbin. However, neither Hinderlighter nor his wife were willing to testify against the prisoner. About this same time, Harbin gave a confession, admitting he had killed Smith, but some people suspected that he was just trying to protect the Hinderlighter woman. A few weeks after Harbin's arrest, Hinderlighter and his wife disappeared, and the case against Harbin was continued.

Several months later, Hinderlighter was located and arrested in Arkansas, but his wife had died in the meantime. Hinderlighter was brought back to Missouri, where he gave a statement incriminating Harbin. By the time Harbin's trial finally rolled around in November of 1889, however, both Hinderlighter and Harbin had repudiated their previous statements. Many people felt Hinderlighter retracted his statement out of fear of Harbin. 

Even without the statements, there was still enough other evidence that had been uncovered to convict Harbin of first-degree murder. A couple of days later, the judge sentenced him to hang. The sentence was postponed pending an appeal to the state supreme court. After some delay, the high court upheld the verdict, and Harbin's date with death was reset for August 21, 1891. The governor granted three different stays in order to give himself more time to consider Harbin's case, but he finally announced in early January 1892 that he would interfere in the case no more. The execution date was then set for January 15.

On the fateful day, Harbin calmly smoked a cigar as he was led to the gallows. Still proclaiming his innocence, he was dropped through the trap at 11:27 a.m. and pronounced dead six minutes later.

Poplar Bluff Tornado

I mentioned last time that three of the top ten and five of the top twenty deadliest tornadoes in US history occurred in Missouri. Last week I wrote about the 1896 St. Louis tornado, which ranks third on the list, and I mentioned that I had previously written about the 1925 Tri-State tornado, which ranks as the deadliest ever, and the 2011 Joplin tornado, which ranks seventh. I have also previously written about the 1880 Marshfield tornado, which ranks sixteenth on the list with a death toll of 99, The remaining Missouri tornado on the top twenty deadliest list is the 1927 Poplar Bluff tornado, which killed 98 people and is tied for seventeenth on the list.

The storm descended on Poplar Bluff about mid-afternoon on May 9, 1927, with a "warning roar" and a "torrent of hail." The twister cut a swath about seven blocks wide and over forty blocks long through the city. Included in the storm's path was the downtown area, where almost all the buildings were either completely destroyed or heavily damaged. The town was also drenched with over two and a half inches of rain immediately after the tornado struck.

School was still in session at the time the tornado struck, and among the storm's victims were two or three children of the East Side School, which was in the direct path of the twister and was heavily damaged. A total of about 300 people sustained injuries of various degrees, in addition to the almost 100 fatalities.

One estimate placed the property damage of the tornado at 2.5 million dollars in the downtown area alone, but the twister also destroyed about twenty-five homes before reaching the downtown area and an unknown number beyond the downtown area. Total property damage was estimated as high as four million.

The tornado left Poplar Bluff with blocked roads, downed electric and telephone wires, and a shortage of food. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, the local American Legion maintained a semblance of order in the town until the National Guard and relief agencies could reach the place.