Out of the past 10/31/10

25 years ago: Oct. 31, 1985

A Florida man was arrested yesterday after he parked a van on the lot at the Cape Girardeau police headquarters, walked inside and told officers he had stolen the vehicle from Miami; the 20-year-old man told police he had never been to Missouri and wanted to see the state.

Rush H. Limbaugh, a longtime Cape Girardeau lawyer, is guest speaker at the Kiwanis Club meeting in the evening; he discusses the importance of the U.S. Constitution to Americans.

50 years ago: Oct. 31, 1960

A fire, with an estimated loss of more than $25,000, damaged the A.H. Kniebert building in the heart of Jackson yesterday; for a time, the entire block, the east side of South High Street, was threatened.

The Sisters of Loretto have announced the opening of a central building fund campaign, the contributions to be used toward obtaining additional space and facilities for novices, junior sisters and retired sisters of the order; the sisters serve St. Vincent's Catholic School here.

75 years ago: Oct. 31, 1935

Barring rain, tonight's Halloween celebration is expected to attract hundreds of merrymakers to Houck Field Stadium, where the annual carnival will be held under the direction of the Chamber of Commerce; the event will begin with a parade of costumed marchers.

A cargo of 10,000 bushels of wheat, shipped from St. Louis by barge, is unloaded here and transported by trucks to the Cape County Milling Co. in Jackson; three days were required for unloading the barge, one crew from the milling company sacking the wheat from the bins in the barge's hold and another loading it onto the company's trucks and hauling it to the county seat.

100 years ago: Oct. 31, 1910

The beautiful statue for the Civil War memorial fountain has arrived and will be put in place as soon as possible, as the basin and pedestal are all ready to receive it.

Residents living in the north of Cape Girardeau will soon be able to reach town comfortably over the new bridge which is being rapidly built across Sloan's Creek; the concrete work is about finished, and the large dirt embankments and the approaches are being constructed.

-- Sharon K. Sanders