Out of the past 1/11/06

25 years ago: Jan. 11, 1981

The building which housed Delta Plastics Inc., on U.S. 61, about three miles north of Scott City, was destroyed yesterday morning, when a fire of unknown origin swept through its interior.

While the Mississippi River between St. Louis and Cairo, Ill., stabilized over the weekend, the situation for river traffic on the Ohio River between Mound City, Ill., and Cairo continued to worsen; five more tows ran aground -- two Saturday, two Sunday and one today; while the Ohio at Mound City isn't officially closed, it is blocked by the grounded tow and its 15 barges loaded with rock.

50 years ago: Jan. 11, 1956

J. Grant Frye, Cape Girardeau lawyer, is killed instantly in an automobile accident on Highway 63 inside the city limits of Columbia, Mo.; police say his car and an oil transport collided on a bridge over a creek, but no other details are available; one of the best known lawyers in Southeast Missouri, Frye, 57, maintained a law office in Cape Girardeau with his son, William Frye, but resided in Illmo.

Cape Girardeau County's Democratic party will have no candidate for the vacant office of Common Pleas Court judge, its county committee agree last night.

75 years ago: Jan. 11, 1931

Minnie Cougar, a student at the Teachers College, conducts the morning and evening services at the General Baptist Church in the absence of the Rev. R. M. Barrett, who is holding services at an Illinois church.

Following a conference in Cape Girardeau last night between property owners of the Millersville and Daisy communities, members of the county court and two members of the county highway commission, the court will endorse a proposed "west" route for a farm-to-market road between the two communities.

100 years ago: Jan. 11, 1906

Antone Goetz, foreman of the Frisco Railroad store, has resigned his position to accept a similar one in Vincennes, Ind., he is succeeded by Otto Hanebrink. Goetz, a giant of a man, was never sought out for trouble. Old-timers say his father saved Cape Girardeau during war times by manning the old fort alone.

The stockholders of the Harley Shoe Co. meet for the first time in the evening and elect five directors: L.B. Houck, M.D. Wilson, W.M. Harley, J.C. Stone and John A. Hope; Harley will send part of his employees here next week to begin preliminary work, and he expects to move here shortly.

-- Sharon K. Sanders