Out of the past: Oct. 5

1999

​The dry summer gave way to a hot autumn weekend in Bollinger County as firefighters responded to four fires; although no one was injured, several hundred acres of field and forests burned and one residence — two miles north of Marble Hill — was damaged in an accidental fire.

Project manger Scott Dressel says a contract for construction of a maximum-security prison in Charleston should be awarded this week by the director of the Missouri Division of Design and Construction; construction of the 1,500-bed Southeast Correctional Center originally was slated to begin in September 1998, but bids significantly higher than the $73 million estimate delayed the project, and new bids were sought.

1974

​CARBONDALE, Ill. – Sen. Edward M. Kennedy answered reporters’ questions during a news conference yesterday afternoon in Carbondale; asked about the 1976 presidential election, Kennedy said he would not support a presidential ticket that includes Alabama Gov. George Wallace; the news conference was just part of a busy afternoon and evening for Kennedy, which included a question and answer period with Southern Illinois University students, a reception for Democratic congressional candidate Paul Simon and, later, a fund-raising dinner for Simon.

A petition for a writ of prohibition that would halt construction of the new county jail on the controversial County Farm site in Cape Girardeau has been filed with the Missouri Supreme Court by Jackson city attorney Kenneth L. Waldron; the petition charges no bond issue has been approved by voters of the county to provide funds for the jail’s construction, and the county doesn’t have the funds on hand to construct the facility.

1949

​The Cape County Chapter of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, tabulating the number of patients from each county who have been admitted to Saint Francis Hospital for treatment at the polio center, reveals that Cape Girardeau County has had the second highest number from the district with 23 patients; Pemiscot County, where the disease has run rampant all summer and early fall, has had 45 patients to enter the center here since it opened July 19; all told, 152 patients have been admitted.

One of Chaffee’s pioneer and best-known citizens, Judge John W. Heeb, prominent in his early life in the settlement of the community and active up to the last, died last night at the age of 81; Heeb’s body was found last evening between the residence and the chicken house on his farm; apparently aware that all wasn’t well, as he collected eggs in a basket, he placed the basket, with three eggs in it, on a rack in the chicken house and was returning to the dwelling, but died before he reached it.

1924

​The Rev. J.G.W. Hursh, pastor of the newly organized congregation of the United Lutheran Church of America, conducts services for his congregation at the regular hours at Security Hall; Hursh was formally called to the pastorate at an organizational meeting last Sunday, and he accepted the charge; “St. Paul’s” has been selected as the name for the local church; most of the members of the congregation came here from the vicinity of Sedgewickville in Bollinger County, where is located the only church of that denomination in this immediate area; the membership is near 100.

The Rev. A.B. Colter, for several years pastor of the Baptist church at Jackson, has been selected as “efficiency man” for the Cape Girardeau County Baptist Association; the position is a new one, being similar in many respects to the former position of field missionary; it will be Colter’s duty to supervise the smaller churches in the area, see that they maintain a regular pastor, organize training courses for young people, manage financial campaigns and help place the churches on a financial basis; he will have 19 churches under his charge.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a weekend column called “From the Morgue” that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper.