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Warren Span

July 28, 2011

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Bagnell Dam

The picture is from the AmerenUE website, showing construction of the hydroelectric plant which created the Lake of the Ozarks. Bagnell Dam was built between 1929 and 1931. During that period more than 20,000 people helped in some way to construct the dam. One of them was my grandfather's half-brother. He died on the site in February 1931, a few days before his 45th birthday. My grandfather undertook the sad responsibility to bring his brother's body back to Illinois for burial. Although I've known pretty much my whole life that Great-Uncle Jim died at Bagnell Dam, it wasn't until yesterday that it occurred to me to visit the Missouri Secretary of State's digital archives and pull up his death certificate. Cause of death was given as cellulitis of right leg and thigh, followed by multiple abscesses. My understanding was that he got cement poisoning. He wasn't the only person who died during the project. I went through death certificates for Miller County for 1...

The Case of the 12th Wildcat

Ownership of a professional football team is the basis of this episode. MeTV shows Perry Mason in chronological order and when we first tuned in, I thought we'd gone all the way back to the beginning. It had a very 1950s look to it. And I could name all the actors. Mona Freeman, Bill Williams, Regis Toomey. All the biggies. The murder victim is Barbara Hale's husband, Bill Williams. And he is a real jerk. His wife is Mona Freeman's character, Ellen. The episode is scored in a jazzy fashion and when Perry and Ellen have their counselor-client confab, there is a wall with a slit between them. We see his eyes framed by the slits, then hers. I should have taken a picture but thought of it a "slit second" too late. PM: This isn't a football game, Ellen. You lose this one, you lose for keeps. The judge ( Willis Bouchey ) and D.A. Hamilton Burger are at odds throughout the hearing. Judge: Mr. Burger, there’s no jury here. And I’m certainly not impressed by the...

The Case of the Treacherous Toupee

Another Perry Mason that uses the reappearance of someone to drive the plot. This time it's a businessman who left the area two years before and he returns to town the very day that his company is being sold. He's polite enough to call his home first. It may be the only polite thing Hartley does, since he is to be the victim. House Cleaner responding to Hartley's request to speak to his wife: She went downtown to some kind of meeting. Could it be “sharecroppers’ meeting”? Hartley crashes the meeting which disbands and he and his wife go home. Hartley: Do you still have to hide the liquor from that useless son of yours? Sybil: Would you like a drink, Hartley? Sybil is not happy to have Hartley back. She calls her (useless) son only to learn that he has just married a woman he barely knows. Sybil: It never rains but it pours. Sybil's new daughter-in-law is a witness in the murder. She enters Hartley's office just as a man -- the presumed killer -- is leavi...

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