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Montgomery Co. Arkansas - Newspapers

Read the local newspaper for the time period to gain an understanding of hardships your ancestors endured. You can never be sure how accurate an index is. Page by page searching can increase your chance of finding genealogical material. If a local newspaper did not exist for a time period check metropolitan newspapers indexes that circulated in the area as they reported regional news.

The Arkansas History Commission has a newspaper database showing holdings information on about 3000 titles published in Arkansas from 1819 to today.

History of the Arkansas Press for a Hundred Years and More By Frederick William Allsopp 1922 page 267

Montgomery County has been somewhat backward in a newspaper way. The Arkansas Mining Journal was published at Mt. Ida from June 4, 1880, until June 28, 1881 when it suspended and no paper was published in the county that is of record until about 1886. In 1886 the Bear Mountain News, at Bear, or Black Springs, was started by J. L. Wadley, of the Hot Springs News, who printed the paper at the office of the latter paper. He sold it a year later, and it soon suspended, leaving the entire county at that time without a newspaper. The Montgomery County Times, which had been started shortly before, was in 1911 bought by P. A. Tofft and Miss Cecelia Tofft, who in 1887 came to America from Australia. The paper was discontinued before 1916. The News, at Caddo Gap, was started in 1911 by H. A. Norton, who leased a dead plant for the purpose, but after a short time it proved unsuccessful. The News, at Womble was started about 1911, by W. E. Womble, a merchant and postmaster of that town, who is also known in politics. It appears to have been succeeded by the Womble Review, which commenced publication in 1913 with J. Milan as publisher. A. H. Chapin became its editor and publisher in 1920. and he was succeeded by P. A. Tofft, who had published the Montgomery County Times. C. R. Sanders became its editor and publisher in 1922. The Montgomery County Democrat at Mt. Ida. was started in 1914. Elbert Howell was its editor., lie was succeeded by L. L. Beavers in 1920, and he sold to Ernest C. Rauert, of El Dorado, in 1921. The Arkansas Hillbilly, a fortnightly humorous publication, was started in 1920, by P. A. Tofft, who had been the publisher of two weekly newspapers at Mt. Ida. Mr. Tofft is known as "Sorghum Pete," under which pen name he writes witty sayings and spreads homely philosophy, but his paper has not made its appearance late.

Publications at the beginning of the year 1921 for Montgomery County
Montgomery County Democrat,  Mount Ida
Montgomery County Review, Womble.

Jonesboro Daily Tribune
Jonesboro, Craighead County, Arkansas
October 13, 1928
ONE DEAD; OTHER DYING IN DUEL
Mystery Surrounds Cause of Fatal Gun Battle
HOT SPRINGS, Ark., Act 12 - H. V. Taylor, 40, deputy sheriff of Montgomery County, residing at Caddo Gap, 35 miles southwest of this city, died this afternoon at St. Joseph's Infirmary from two bullet wounds in his abdomen.
O. J. Leffler, 36, employed by the Caddo River Lumber Company, is in the Army-Navy Hospital and is not expected to live. Leffler also was shot twice, one bullet shattering the left shoulder blade and the other hitting his spine, paralyzing him and setting up internal hemorrhages.
The men, according to residents of Caddo Gap, who brought them to this city, met near Taylor barber shop Thursday night shortly after 9 o'clock. Leffler claims that Taylor opened fire on him and that he was on the ground when he succeeded in getting his revolver working. Leffler is a veteran of the World War.
Both men are married. Taylor leaving a wife and three children, and Leffler has a wife and four children. The latter today would not permit his wife to see him.
Caddo Cap residents claim the cause for the shooting was the attention that Taylor was alleged to be paying Mrs. Leffler, although the men, so far as could be learned, were not enemies and never had any previous trouble.
 1930 census for Gap Twp

New York Times Nov 1, 1951; p. 1
Leopards and Bears Flee Circus; Lion in Same Show kills a child.
Mount Ida, Ark, Oct. 31.
A leopard, one of several circus animals that escaped in this wild mountain area of western Arkansas, was shot and killed this afternoon. Another leopard, two black bears, one polar bear and six rhesus monkeys still at large, Ben Davenport, owner of the Campa Brothers circus, said. A heavy rain was hampering efforts of a posse to track down the animals, which scampered into the woods earlier this dreary Halloween when a circus truck overturned on a slippery highway near Mena, Ark, en route to Mount Ida. Sheriff Wilbur Tidwell of Montgomery County, of which Mount Ida is the seat, said a leopard had been spotted about 100yards from the scene of the wreck. He reported that nineteen persons shot at the cat and that five hits were registered. The search for the animals was being conducted in bad weather and over urged terrain in the Ouachita National Forest section about fifteen miles northwest of mount Ida. The area is inhabited by native panthers, bears and other wild animals. Meanwhile, at Mena, the child killed by the lion was buried. Two circus officials, Mr Davenport and Huh Reeves, were released after a hearing on charges of manslaughter. Police Judge Clem Brown said there was not sufficient evidence of negligence on the part of the circus officials to warrant holding them. The lion had been tied to a short chain outside his cage when Maria de la Lues, a member of the troupe, ran by. the lion grabbed the girl and killed her with a bite.

Montgomery Co. ARGenWeb Project

Movie featuring Montgomery CountyThe film crew left behind the 'Clabber girl.'
The White River Kid, a movie, starring Randy Travis was filmed in and around Mt. Ida, June 1998. The name of the county newspaper office on the town square was changed to 'Wexas County News' for the occasion.  The 'clabber girl' sketch on the buff colored building on the town square opposite the courthouse was left behind.