"Shelter In Place" - The 1970's Version

Governor Parsons has issued a statewide "Stay-at-home" order, beginning on Monday, April 6th. This is in response to the COVID-19 that is steadily spreading across the nation. Since it has been on my mind, I got to thinking about another time we had to "shelter-in-place".

It happened in early summer of 1971.

We lived at the Conklin Place, near Junction Hill. I was seven and my brother Ralph was eleven. It was probably a typical long, lazy summer day but it didn't end that way.

Seventeen year-old Jeffery Lee Borman had been arrested earlier in the year for the double murder of an elderly Mountain View couple. He was in the Howell County jail, which at that time was on the 3rd floor of the Howell County Courthouse.

Sometime in the afternoon hours, Sheriff Gene Jones took a cup of coffee to Borman. When the coffee was passed through the bars to Borman, he immediately tossed the hot coffee into Sheriff Jones' face! Borman then reached through the bars, grabbed the Sheriff and pulled him forcefully back into the steel bars several times. Sheriff Jones' head slammed into the bars and knocked him out cold!

Borman then retrieved the cell keys from the unconscious Sheriff, unlocked the cell, took the keys to Sheriff Jones' patrol car and fled the courthouse!

Borman located the Sheriff's patrol car and took off toward the eastern part of the county - And we just happened to live on that side of the county.

You must remember that there was not the instant communication in 1971 like we have today. Also, the county was not as populated. So throughout the evening, we were listening to the radio for updates on sighting of the (supposedly) armed fugitive.

I'm pretty sure it was Ralph and I that decided that "Sheltering-in-place" was a real good idea! Mom was concerned, but not even close to the point of panic or hysteria. Dad was his usual calm, unperturbed self.

This was on a Wednesday so I am pretty sure we didn't go to the midweek service at the Junction Hill Church. So we continued to listen to the radio as the dusk turned into darkness.

Sometime close to bedtime, the report came in that Borman had been sighted at a residence on Highway 160, about a mile from our house. This was just a little too close for comfort! At least the comfort of sleeping in my own bed...

Down the hallway about twenty feet was just a little too far from the protection of Dad and Mom. I'm sure mom in her gentle , unassuming way, convinced Dad to let us boys sleep a little closer. Actually... A LOT closer!

Before the lights were turned out, there were four of us in a full size bed!! So much for social distancing!!

Thinking back on this, Dad must have been just a little concerned about Bormen's escape. I remember distinctly, him putting one of his 22 rifles, close to his hand, under the bed before we went to sleep.

During the night or early morning hours, a Missouri Highway Patrol airplane spotted Sheriff's Jones' abandoned patrol car near Brandsville. It was determined that Borman was indeed armed since he had taken the Sheriff's .30-Caliber Carbine, and had also broken into at least three residences and stolen other weapons.

The fugitive was finally spotted by a resident and bloodhounds were brought into the chase. Borman was finally cornered in an old barn about a mile northwest of Brandsville and apprehended without incident.

Jeffery Lee Borman confessed to a double murder and was sent to prison in 1974. He was paroled in 1992 and in 1999 he won 3.9 million in the Missouri Lottery.

So... Now you know... "Sheltering-in-place" is not a new concept!

If you want to read more about the Borman story, click here, here and here