Steve Pokin

SPOKIN@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Correction: This story originally misstated the direction of travel for the truck. It was headed eastbound toward Springfield.

Edwina Clingan will forever remember the night her house rattled back in September 1970. She was 23, living in a trailer in the Brookline area and was home for the very first time with her infant son, who had been born prematurely.

Her husband was away, working. It was about 1:30 a.m. when ... ka-boom!

A wall of mirrors shattered. She was confused and frightened.

She grabbed her tiny baby, Darin, and then-and-there baptized him in the kitchen sink.

This was it, she thought: The victorious return of Jesus Christ.

"I thought it was the Rapture," she tells me. (Many Christians believe the Rapture is when followers of Christ are transported to heaven in the blink of an eye).

But it wasn't the Rapture. What she felt was an explosion miles away of a tractor-trailer carrying 21 tons of dynamite. The truck was on Interstate 44, headed toward Springfield.

The driver was John A. Galt, an Oklahoma City man who had crossed a Teamsters picket line during a strike against Tri-State Motors of Joplin. He was blown to pieces.

Bobby Lee Shuler, a striking union truck driver with a .30-30 rifle, had pulled off the interstate onto an exit ramp to wait for two Tri-State trucks to enter his line of fire. He would later testify at his trial.

The first truck had a flatbed. He fired two shots at the grille to disable it. But it kept going.

The next truck was driven by Galt.

Shuler fired two shots into the grille. The third bullet struck the dynamite and the truck vaporized. In fact, windows were shattered on the Heer's building in downtown Springfield, 12 miles away. Shuler testified he did not mean to hit the trailer.

Court records show he had been drinking much of the day; that there were "Explosives" placards on the truck; and that as a Tri-State driver, he should have known that 50 percent of Tri-State's' cargo was dynamite.

Galt, 48, was a father of four. Weeks earlier, he had been laid off from his job as an engineer with General Electric. He was making his maiden run for Tri-State. He was the only person killed or seriously injured.

The powerful blast knocked Shuler — the shooter — to the ground, tore his shirt, blew the rifle out of his hand and shattered the windshield of the car he was driving.

He and three others then tried to flee, but their car broke down. They gave themselves up when they saw airplanes circling and heard dogs barking.

Months ago, Edwina had asked me an Answer Man question about the explosion that she so vividly remembers: She wanted to know what happened to those responsible for shooting the truck.

Shuler was convicted of second-degree murder in 1971. The murder charge was based on the legal theory of felony-murder — meaning Shuler committed a felony when he recklessly shot at the truck and it became a murder once Galt was killed. Shuler's appeal was denied in 1972.

According to records of that appeal: "Shuler testified that he did not mean to do any bodily harm to anyone ... and he never considered the possibility that it might be carrying dynamite; and that he was wanting to disable the truck."

Gerald Lee Bowden was with Shuler that night. Bowden, also 29 at the time, was also a striking union truck driver.

According to court records, earlier that night Bowden had also fired the rifle at a Tri-State truck. Bowden was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was paroled in 1975 and discharged from supervision in 1978.

A third person was charged in connection with the crime, but I found no record of the specific charge. If she ever was convicted, she did not serve time within the Missouri Department of Corrections.

Shuler, sentenced to 99 years, was in prison eight years and paroled in 1979.

I do not know for sure if Shuler is alive or dead.

I did find an obituary for a "Bobby Lee Shuler" of the same age who was a retired truck driver. He died Feb. 4, 2010, in Kingsport, Tennessee.

I reached out to a family member listed in the obituary but did not hear back before deadline.

These are the views of Steve Pokin, the News-Leader's columnist. Pokin has been at the paper five years and over the course of his career has covered just about everything — from courts and cops to features and fitness. He can be reached at 836-1253, spokin@gannett.com, on Twitter @stevepokinNL or by mail at 651 N. Boonville, Springfield, MO 65806.