Today in Johnson City History, Sunday, July 27, 2025

President Hoover and Carroll Reece, a bright light and much more

Monday, July 27, 1925: A century ago today, The Daily Gazette and Mail reported news with a dateline from Johnson City. Readers learned that “Clyde Beck, 24, was held under bond of $1,500 after a preliminary hearing on Saturday morning before Magistrate J. C. Campbell on a charge of criminal assault and in default of making the bond, was taken to the jail at Jonesboro, awaiting the action of the grand jury and tried in the criminal court.

“The charge, under which he was held was for violation of the age of consent, the testimony offered being to the effect that he had had improper relations with his cousin, Lida Beck, thirteen years of age. The girl admitted that Beck had been with her on three or four different occasions, and a young girl by the name of Gibson testified to having seen the two together at the home of the girl, in compromise (indecipherable).