Out of the past 12/19/06

25 years ago: Dec. 19, 1981

Wilver W. Wessell, postmaster at the Cape Girardeau Post Office since 1973, has announced he will retire, effective Jan. 8, ending a 43-year career with the U.S. Postal Service.

Investigators believe arson may have been the cause of a fire yesterday which destroyed a vacant house at 601 Timon Way; the blaze was one of four damaging fires reported to Cape Girardeau firefighters yesterday.

50 years ago: Dec. 19, 1956

Ralph L. Kearney, assistant manager of the Joplin (Mo.) Chamber of Commerce has been picked to become secretary-manager of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce; he will assume his duties Jan. 16.

Mechanical harvesting of the Southeast Missouri cotton crop increased materially this fall, with more than one-third of the 430,000-bale yield being picked by machines; 155,226 bales were harvested by machine, compared to 115,495 bales last year.

75 years ago: Dec. 19, 1931

Louis C. Kaufman of Tilsit, who recently acquired property in the Ingram Addition to Cape Girardeau, has leased part of the land purchased to the Mid-Continent Petroleum Co. of Terre Haute, Ind., for a filling station; the lease covers the corner of North Main and Mason streets.

Workers have trimmed most of the large trees of the large grove on the St. Vincent's College grounds, Morgan Oak and Spanish streets.

100 years ago: Dec. 19, 1906

Col. "Bill" Meisenheimer, J.P., and H.H. Hinton, mayor of Allenville, are in Cape Girardeau to consult with attorneys, who will defend their town in a legal battle; Mrs. R.W. Groves, who lives in Allenville with her husband, has brought suit against the town for a third interest in the 40 acres which were laid out in 1868 as the town site; she claims to have inherited a third interest through her father.

A serious conflagration is narrowly avoided in Jackson in the evening; while going to their homes, Henry F. Ueleke and Sherman Sutton discover a blaze in the office of the Yount Hotel; they hurriedly awakene the proprietor, who, with their assistance, fight it until the flames are overcome.

-- Sharon K. Sanders