Out of the past 4/5/06

25 years ago: April 5, 1981

Tenth District Rep. Bill Emerson has introduced a bill that would protect farmers whose property is tied up in bankruptcy proceedings; the bill would provide uniform procedures for abandonment of grain assets when commodity storage facilities go broke and is the result of a confrontation over grain stored in a bankrupt grain elevator earlier this year in Ristine, Mo.

Red Star Baptist Church begins a week of evening evangelistic services; conducting the programs is Burnell Lewis of St. Louis, and Jim McNiel, also of St. Louis, is providing special music.

50 years ago: April 5, 1956

Edward H. Kerstner, 79, for nearly 50 years a druggist, died at his Jackson home yesterday; after graduating from the St. Louis College of Pharmacy in 1900, Kerstner opened his Jackson drug store on Oct. 6, 1906.

The Cape Girardeau County Court, petitioned this morning by 2,834 citizens, orders an election on April 24 at which residents of the county will ballot on issuance of $150,000 in county bonds to acquire land for the proposed Trail of Tears State Park.

75 years ago: April 5, 1931

Easter Sunday, breaking fair and with a crisp atmosphere as the weather man predicted, is an ideal day in Cape Girardeau, although showers in the late afternoon threaten for a time to mar the occasion; a check on church attendance shows that approximately 10,000 people attend services, exclusive of Sunday school attendance; about 90 new members are added to the city's congregations during the day.

The Lions Club holds its regular Easter egg hunt in the afternoon, with around 3,000 children participating; 20,000 eggs were hidden for the children; more than 2,500 white kiddies gather at Fairground Park for their part of the hunt, and black children of the city have their Easter egg hunt at Missouri Park.

100 years ago: April 5, 1906

A jailbreak bearing the earmarks of the work of professional crooks was accomplished last night at Benton, Mo.; several prisoners, among them murderers and safe blowers, were released, and not trace of them has been found after they reached the Mississippi River; nitroglycerine was used in blowing away three locks during the escape.

A strong organization of tailors is effected at the home of P.B. Lang; 15 tailors who fill the requirements of the union are taken into the organization. The tailors of Cape Girardeau deemed it necessary to organize a union to protect their trade; a great many agents from large cities invade this city and take orders for suits of clothes, which are then made in different towns to the detriment of local tailors.

- Sharon K. Sanders