Out of the past 4/6/05

25 years ago: April 6, 1980

The Rev. Gerald Bethards, pastor of the Cobden, Boaz and Villa Ridge Congregational churches, is guest speaker at the 44th annual Bald Knob Easter sunrise service.

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- The home of Evelyn Swan on Shelby Street on the south edge of Perryville explodes in the morning, injuring five people, three of them critically; a lighted match near a gas stove is a possible cause of the blast; the injured are Swan; her granddaughter, Deborah Cox; Swan's mother, Bernice Kiefer; Anna Cox and Floyd Cox.

50 years ago: April 6, 1955

A proposal to establish a county library in Cape Girardeau County apparently carried in yesterday's election, but similar propositions in Scott and Perry counties are in doubt with the results not to be known until Friday; under present state-operated bookmobile services, the three counties are linked together, but the election results in one county won't affect the others.

The city and Missouri Utilities Co. announce the city's water supply has been fluoridated for the past month, making Cape Girardeau the second city in Missouri to have taken action to strengthen the teeth of its children.

75 years ago: April 6, 1930

The confirmation class of the Evangelical Church is presented to the congregation during the morning service; members of the class are Eleanor Blattner, Stella Graden, Herbert Habeck, Andora Keller, Beverly Koeppel, Vernon Sander, Bernard Schaper, Hannah Schwab, Marie Voges, Alene Metje, Raymond Busch and Bernice Thomas.

Dorothy Green, 11, of Mayfield, Mo., in Bollinger County fractured her shoulder yesterday in a fall from a horse; she is being treated at Southeast Missouri Hospital; her brother, Claud Green, is also in the hospital ill with pneumonia.

100 years ago: April 6, 1905

BENTON, Mo. -- The battle between the saloon and anti-saloon forces in this village was hard fought yesterday, with several minor disturbances taking place; in the end, the anti-saloon forces elected their ticket, consisting of Dr. S.J. Wade, Rolen Cannon, James R. Walker, Thomas P. Stone and Clarence Johnson, to the board of trustees.

The village of Pocahontas held its election Tuesday; A.G. Landgraf, E.G. Schoen, Theodore Vogel, H.C. Kieninger and Fritz Gerler were elected village trustees, and Louis Daugherty was named school director.

- Sharon K. Sanders