Out of the past 1/3/08

25 years ago: Jan. 3, 1983

Cape Girardeau County's newly elected officials are sworn into office by County Clerk Rodney Miller; except for Prosecuting Attorney Larry H. Ferrell, the ceremony is nothing new for county officials, who voters re-elected last November.

The Jackson Board of Aldermen grants the request of the county chapter of the American Cancer Society to conduct a door-to-door fund drive in April; approval comes over the objection of Alderwoman Sharon Brammer, who maintains that the society should conduct its fund drive in association with the annual, fall Community Chest fund drive.

50 years ago: Jan. 3, 1958

Discussing the remodeling of the former First National Bank building on Main Street, Charles A. Hood, the owner, says the first floor will be dropped to street level, making possible a third floor; the present stone front will be removed or covered and the arch converted into a more modern entrance.

A voluminous Operations Manual has been issued to each member of the Cape Girardeau Police Department; in thorough detail, the manual takes officers step by step through their duties.

75 years ago: Jan. 3, 1933

In a gunbattle in a tiny, four-room flat at 105A Water St. at 7:45 a.m., two men, sought for a burglary at Morehouse, Mo., only a few hours before, are shot to death when they open fire on seven Cape Girardeau police officers; none of the officers is struck by bullets, which honeycomb the flat's frail partitions.

Dr. Henry B. Futrell, 83, who had practiced medicine in Cape Girardeau County more than 50 years, dies at a local hospital.

100 years ago: Jan. 3, 1908

The Ely-Walker shirt factory in Cape Girardeau has closed; five years ago, residents put up the money to pay for construction of the factory; Ely-Walker moved to town, paying little or no rent the years it was here; when the panic came, although the plant had the workers it needed to continue operations, management closed the factory and ordered it moved to St. Louis.

The board of supervisors of the Little River Drainage District is in conference at the Himmelberger-Harrison Building; it is the first meeting of the board, as it begins the great work of draining the swamps of Southeast Missouri.

-- Sharon K. Sanders