From the Darkroom: 1950 grand jury was Greene County's first to include female jurors

Springfield-Greene County Library District
·1 min read
Members of Greene county's first grand jury since 1943 — which included the county's first female jurors — posed for this formal picture just before beginning their investigation into unsolved dynamiting incidents. First published in the Springfield Daily News on May 16, 1950.
Members of Greene county's first grand jury since 1943 — which included the county's first female jurors — posed for this formal picture just before beginning their investigation into unsolved dynamiting incidents. First published in the Springfield Daily News on May 16, 1950.

In 1950, members of Greene County's first grand jury since 1943 posed for this picture just before beginning their investigations. This was the first grand jury in Greene County's history to have a woman serve as juror.

Jurors seated left to right are Grace Jochum, May King, I.E. Murray, Harold Goss, Clyde Davis, and Ben Gist. Standing are, Assistant Prosecutor J. Lyndon Sturgis, Prosecuting Attorney Wayne Collinson, Sheriff Glenn Hendrix, Mayor W.E. Freeman, Austin C. Abbott Sr, Sherman Ferrell, Paul Lohmeyer, Gabe Sneed, Brant Looney, and Circuit Clerk Harry Nicholson.

Paul Johnson, a contractor whose apartment building on North Campbell Avenue was dynamited while still under construction was called to give testimony. Irvan Darnall, mechanical superintendent of the Daily News and Leader and Press also testified about the printers strike that had started the previous July. In August, a bomb was tossed at the side of the newly completed newspaper building, and a month later, a dynamite bomb was thrown at a tourist cabin occupied by non-striking newspaper employees. Elmhurst Motel on St. Louis Street and the Plaza Barbershop on South Glenstone Avenue were also victims of dynamiting. One witness believed that labor disputes were the cause of the bombings.

This image is part of a much larger collection of historically rich photographs from the News-Leader’s photo archive. Each week, the Springfield-Greene County Library will tap into this vast collection and present an interesting image “from the darkroom" and share its history. This image is presented in partnership between the Springfield-Greene County Library District and the Springfield News-Leader. For more historical images of the Ozarks, visit: thelibrary.org/fromthedarkroom.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: From the Darkroom: 1950 grand jury that investigated dynamite attacks