Out of the past 6/1/06

25 years ago: June 1, 1981

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- The future of ambulance service in Bollinger County likely rests on the outcome of a special election tomorrow on whether to establish an ambulance district which would rescue the financially strapped county government from having to subsidize the service.

Arson was listed as the cause of a fire Saturday night that damaged Centenary United Methodist Church, 300 N. Ellis St.; after gaining entrance through a basement classroom window, arsonists set fires in the parlor room and two more in the main section of the church.

50 years ago: June 1, 1956

Another of Cape Girardeau's landmarks, one of its last physical links with the Civil War and a showplace in days gone by, the Lacy, or Haas, house, will soon be razed because it has fallen into disrepair, and there are no funds with which to restore it.

Walter H. Ford, appointed recently by the city council to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Narvol A. Randol, is officially sworn in as mayor of Cape Girardeau.

75 years ago: June 1, 1931

A 29-year-old York, Pa., man, who has been in Cape Girardeau two months, yesterday attempted to commit suicide by leaping from the traffic bridge into the Mississippi River; plunging from the highest point on the span, he hurtled downward 65 feet, landing on his back in the water; although momentarily stunned, he was able to swim about 200 yards to shore; he is recovering in a Cape Girardeau hospital.

Paul, the 13-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. J.P. Martin of Cape Girardeau, suffers severe fractures of both his wrists when he falls from a high porch while playing at St. Mary's School on South Sprigg Street.

100 years ago: June 1, 1906

E.W. Flentge, postmaster of Cape Girardeau, yesterday won the Republican nomination for state railroad commissioner at the Republican state convention in Excelsior Springs, Mo.; hurried preparations have been made for a grand welcome to be given Flentge when he arrives this evening on the 10:30 train from St. Louis.

The merchants of Cape Girardeau meet at the Peironnet & Wilson store on Main Street and organize an association for the advancement of their interests; the main item of business for the novice group is the establishment of an earlier closing hour for stores; the organization will be known as the Retail Merchants' Association of Cape Girardeau.

-- Sharon K. Sanders