OPINION OPINION | TOM DILLARD: A brief investigation of three lives by Tom Dillard | Today at 1:53 a.m. I keep a physical file of interesting historical tidbits, a sort of catch-all folder in which I keep copies of old quotable letters, advertisements, perhaps some photos, and especially newspaper clippings. After 50 years of doing research in local newspapers--called "community diaries" by historian Michael B. Dougan--my tidbits file is bulging. It is clear I will never write full columns on all those clippings and notes, but I do want to share some of them with you today. Serendipity is a great ally of the historian. Last week when I was doing research in an 1890s Arkansas Gazette, I came across an article on the death of Junius J. Johnson. He has always fascinated me, though I did not know much about him. He was from the same prominent family which produced a vice president, numerous judges, and multiple U.S. representatives and senators in both Kentucky and Arkansas. His father was Col. Richard Johnson, the prominent editor of the True Democrat newspaper in Little Rock.