Out of the past 1/31/10

25 years ago: Jan. 31, 1985

SIKESTON, Mo. -- The second of two federal prisoners who broke out of the Cape Girardeau city jail two weeks ago was captured yesterday when police stormed the home of his girlfriend here after evacuating about 50 people from the neighborhood.

Cape Girardeau County Assessor Jerry Reynolds says county commercial property owners can expect about a 20 percent increase in their 1985 property taxes due to the statewide property-tax assessment rates approved by the Missouri Legislature and signed into law by Gov. John Ashcroft.

50 years ago: Jan. 31, 1960

Paul H. Thiessen of Poplar Bluff, Mo., recently arrived in Cape Girardeau to take up his duties as presiding minister of the Jehovah's Witnesses congregation.

Hundreds of people flocked to the Arena Building yesterday and today to view the Cape Girardeau Jaycees' first annual gun show, an event which brings collectors and dealers to the city with a display of guns valued at many thousands of dollars.

75 years ago: Jan. 31, 1935

Two high school boys and a carpenter rescued Billy Reiker, 8-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. John Reiker, when thin ice on the lagoon in Fairground Park broke under his weight late Wednesday afternoon; Reiker was walking home from Franklin School when he decided to take a detour across the ice; coming to his rescue were Woodrow Wilson, Nelson Steimle and P.J. Newell.

Purchases for the Civilian Conservation Corps camp at Camp Delta, near McClure, Ill., are being shifted from Cape Girardeau to towns in Southern Illinois.

100 years ago: Jan. 31, 1910

Friends of George Logan are pleased to learn of his success in the examinations held recently for applicants to the bar, in which he came in second-best in the list of young lawyers admitted by the Supreme Court; Logan formerly lived in Cape Girardeau with his parents, his father being the superintendent of the shirt factory which closed two years ago; he now lives in Kirkwood, Mo.

A special train bearing the St. Louis Symphony orchestra arrives in the afternoon; the musicians will play a concert this evening at the Normal School auditorium.

-- Sharon K. Sanders