Out of the past 1/25/08

25 years ago: Jan. 25, 1983

County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Ferrell is considering filing new charges against Douglas Wayne Thompson, whose 1966 conviction for the 1961 murder of Cape Girardeau police officer Herbert Goss was overtured yesterday by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Two people aboard a Beechcraft Barron escape injury when the aircraft makes a crash landing at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport; the landing gear on the two-engine plane fails to function, and the craft crashes and burns on one of the airport's runways.

50 years ago: Jan. 25, 1958

Employees of the shoe factory at Chaffee, Mo., destroyed by the tornado Dec. 18 are receiving unemployment payments in an amount averaging $21 per week; total weekly payments of $1,478 are going to 70 people.

Gary Evans led the Catholic High Bulldogs to victory last night over Cairo, Ill., as he swished through a 20-foot jump shot in the last three seconds of play on the Pilots' court; Evans' field goal put the Bulldogs in front, 59-57.

75 years ago: Jan. 25, 1933

George Wulfers, 6-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Tony Wulfers of Cape Girardeau, broke his right arm below the elbow Tuesday; he was playing on the grounds at St. Mary's Catholic School yesterday when he fell; he walked a mile home, without realizing the arm was broken.

Lightning strikes the barn on the O.B. Kinder farm two miles north of Jackson, causing a fire that destroys the structure; Louis Ristig, the tenant, succeeds in rescuing 23 head of cattle and four horses.

100 years ago: Jan. 25, 1908

Mayor W.C. Patton was heard to say more than once during the meeting last night of the city council: "Gentlemen, there is something rotten." An audit shows the city's books are in miserable shape; in addition, the city clerk sent word to the janitor of the courthouse not to open the door of the vault, where his records and papers are kept; the council will seek an order from Judge B.F. Davis permitting them to enter the vault to get whatever papers belong to the city.

The management at the Opera House has secured a first-class operator and will run moving pictures every night.

-- Sharon K. Sanders