Out of the past 12/23/05

25 years ago: Dec. 23, 1980

The annual Toybox campaign ended last night as a fleet of Cape Girardeau Jaycee Santas made final deliveries for the project, sponsored by The Missourian in cooperation with the Jaycees; response to pleas for toys cheers 500 less-fortunate youngsters.

Otto Porter, Southeast Missouri State University's star forward, is leading the NCAA Division II in scoring; through games of Dec. 13, Porter was scoring at a 29.6 clip; the Indians' sixth game, which wasn't included in the statistics, saw Porter score 37 points, leaving his average at 30.6.

50 years ago: Dec. 23, 1955

An application for authority to sell the Buchanan Buick automobile agency in Cape Girardeau has been made by the executor, the First National Bank, in probate court; the agency is part of the estate of the late A.B. Buchanan.

Extension of a 115,000-volt power line from the Missouri Utilities Co. plant at Oran, Mo., to the Viaduct substation in Cape Girardeau is expected to be completed by mid-January; linemen are engaged in stringing wire on the poles; the line will be an extension of a power line owned by the company from Fagus in Butler County, Mo., to Oran.

75 years ago: Dec. 23, 1930

The Kelso Oil Co. gives the Salvation Army a check for $216.66 to be used in general relief work in Cape Girardeau; this fund was secured by the company by giving one cent on each gallon of gasoline it sold in Cape Girardeau from Dec. 6 through 20 to charity.

Breaking all previous records for a single day, the Cape Girardeau post office yesterday was so deluged with Christmas packages and greetings that all of the 30 employees had to work overtime to clear the building of the great volume of mail before today's rush starts; 30,000 2-cent stamps were sold yesterday, as well as $100 worth of other stamps.

100 years ago: Dec. 23, 1905

A street car ticket will be given away with each purchase of $1 or more at the Hinchey-Greer Store on Broadway.

The Diamond Cafe, which for some time has been the best public eating place in Cape Girardeau, closed yesterday at the order of the sheriff; attachments were gotten out against the proprietor by several creditors; it is understood the German-American Bank holds a mortgage for something like $600 and that more than $200 is due Flentge & Mueller for meats.

-- Sharon K. Sanders