Mt. Vernon Daily Register, Saturday, May 6, 1916
Submitted By: Mary Zinzilieta

Dear Editor, 

Will now write a few lines in regard to our town & country. Will say 
we are all well satisfied in the Sunny South.  We have a real nice town, 
fine schools and churches, 27 factories, four cotton gins and seven nice 
dry goods stores and an abundance of grocerys, and have city water and 
I will say I think it is the finest I ever used.  This a fine dairy country.  
We have four nice creameries and they are doing a big business.  
I believe Paragould covers more ground than Mt. Vernon.  There are lots 
of Southern Illinois people here.  Paragould is just full of them and several 
in the country that I know of.  Have been having garden stuff for over a month, 
strawberries are coming in they say this week.  Will be a big rush.  
There is some fine ground around here and some not so good.  We have a nice 
fish market right here by us, so we have fresh fish anytime.  They catch 
them right here at the lake.  Paragould has a fine fire department.  Will 
I will close, as this is my first letter to the paper, and probably will come again.

S. A. WATERS, Paragould, Arkansas




Unsure of date of newspaper

Submitted by: Judy Hinson
March 23, 1998 

MATTRESS FACTORY BURNED ON LEAP YEAR DAY

As recalled by Gretta Crosnoe Brooks
age 17

It was a clear, cold day on February 29, 1916 when, at 2 o'clock in
the afternoon, Posie White's mattress factory on south Ninth Street was
burning....It was a big fire--with the two-story frame building filled
with cotton and felt.

Bill Underwood's garage was next to the burning building...the front
was on Ninth St. and the large doors for cars to drive in through were
on Casey Ave...through this door my father (J.W. Crosnoe) and other men
were helping Mr. Underwood carry out garage equipment. I was walking along
Casey Ave. and stopped at the garage door to look inside; then, as I continued
walking I heard what I thought was a lot of tin falling on me...the next thing 
I knew I was flat on my back and covered with fallen bricks and a window frame 
was over my face. Three walls of the garage had blown out, blowing Malcolm Heslip 
across the street but he wasn't seriously injured. I was the only person touched 
by the debris and I was lucky to have the window frame over my head.

I could see the men working to remove the bricks from me and I could
hear others yelling at them to get away because another wall might fall.
Finally, the men pulled me from under the rubbish and started to carry
me to a more safe place. I told them I could walk but Orville (Red) Henry
said, "Oh, no you can't walk", so they carried me to the home of C. C.
Carpenter and placed me in a chair. I was white with plaster dust and mortar
and had quite a cut on my head...Dr. Poole was there and seemed quite excited
as he sent a boy scurrying for his medical satchel...and while this was
going on, Boulivier Rose--who drove Grigg's delivery wagon--raced for my home 
to bring my mother to the scene.
The next day an old gentleman knocked at our door and brought my angora
cap to me. He was weeping and, as he handed it to my mother, he said, "I
dug it from under the bricks and I believe it saved your daughter's life."
I was married thirty days from that leap year day.