Out of the past 12/2/05

25 years ago: Dec. 2, 1980

Two Missouri Pacific Railroad employees were injured yesterday when the last three trains of a 38-car freight train derailed near Fayville Junction, three miles south of Thebes, Ill.; the two men were riding in the caboose when the accident occurred.

Tremors from a minor earthquake shake parts of Southeast Missouri and Northwest Tennessee in the morning, but no damage is reported; the earthquake, which takes place at about 3 a.m., is centered near Caruthersville, Mo., and is felt in Hayti, Mo., and near Hornbeak, Tenn.

50 years ago: Dec. 2, 1955

Oscar C. Kaiser, superintendent of the International Shoe Co. plant in Cape Girardeau, says the factory will resume its normal operations Monday morning on the regular schedule; the plant here, along with other International plants with union representation, has been closed since Nov. 7 when 1,060 production workers joined in the nation's largest shoe strike; a new, two-year contract was agreed upon last night.

A committee of friends, seeking permanently to recognize his valor as a Congressional Medal of Honor winner, are planning a memorial to Pfc. Richard Wilson, which will be near the flagpole in Memorial Park Cemetery.

75 years ago: Dec. 2, 1930

Winter tightens its grip on Cape Girardeau as the temperature falls to 18 degrees, one degree lower than the season's previous low mark, recorded Friday; to date, winter hasn't been as severe as last year; for example, 10 degrees was recorded the morning following Thanksgiving in 1929.

Judge O.A. Knehans in Common Pleas Court authorizes George W. Cross, receiver for the Cape Girardeau Northern Railroad, to distribute another 5 percent of the funds on hand to judgment and receiver certificate creditors of the road; this disbursement will amount to between $20,000 and $25,000.

100 years ago: Dec. 2, 1905

Street cars for Cape Girardeau are at last close to realization; company officials are saying the cars will be running by Dec. 20 or even earlier.

The fine new pipe organ has been installed at the Lutheran Church, and last evening John R. Heimueller, president of the J.G. Pfeffer Organ Co., and an organist of rare ability, gave a concert which was attended by many members of the congregation; the organ is a fine one and will be formally dedicated on Dec. 10.

-- Sharon K. Sanders