Out of the past 4/8/09

25 years ago: April 8, 1984

Eleven federal prisoners housed in the Cape Girardeau city jail started a hunger strike yesterday; they claim a number of grievances, including limited time to talk on the telephone and watch television, and the lack of a full-course meal at noon.

Thirty-seven area Missouri Army National Guard noncommissioned officers graduate from the Advanced NCO Training Course, sponsored by the Missouri Military Academy; the honor graduate of the class is Staff Sgt. Ronald Seabaugh.

50 years ago: April 8, 1959

Jackson voters, in a special election yesterday, soundly defeated a proposal to merge the city library with the Riverside Regional Library; unofficial returns show 977 voting against the merger and 241 votes for it.

SIKESTON, Mo. -- City manager forces appear to have won a narrow victory yesterday in their campaign to introduce a new form of municipal government in Sikeston; the proposal to adopt the council-manager plan holds a 34-vote margin, but there are 85 absentee ballots yet to be counted.

75 years ago: April 8, 1934

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Ira Biffle, 44, who left his native Bollinger County farm home near Patton, Mo., 24 years ago to become one of America's leading pioneer pilots of aircraft, and who counted Col. Charles A. Lindbergh among his pupils, dies after a long illness in a Chicago hospital.

A student recruiting meeting of the Southeast Missouri Osteopathic Association is held at the Hotel Marquette and is attended by 11 prospective students, as well as 20 osteopaths, their spouses and a few guests.

100 years ago: April 8, 1909

The fierce wind storm Tuesday morning reached almost cyclonic proportions in the neighborhood north of Cape Girardeau; fences were blown over, timber broken and, at the farm of William Weiss on Three-Mile Creek, the roof of his big barn was picked up and carried several dozen feet away.

The new barber shop has been opened under the Hotel Idan-ha on the Fountain Street side; fixtures are also being installed for the saloon in the same building.

-- Sharon K. Sanders