Out of the past 6/4/08

25 years ago: June 4, 1983

Fire guts a Cape Girardeau boarding house, forcing the evacuation of some residents but causing no serious injuries; the fire, in a two-story building at 18 N. Fountain St. that contained about 20 rooms, is reported by a tenant at about 4:30 a.m.

PUXICO, Mo. -- Farmer Wayne Crites is back home in Puxico following his acquittal in federal court at Little Rock, Ark.; he had been accused of violating a court order by taking soybeans from a grain elevator after a bankruptcy judge ordered them sold.

50 years ago: June 4, 1958

Testimony continues before the Missouri Public Service Commission on the Frisco Railroad's application to abandon its two night passenger trains through Cape Girardeau, with opposing forces continuing a tug-of-war on the issues of service and cost of operation.

Two unidentified men save the life of 6-year-old Bobby Howell after he falls into the Diversion Channel near the former U.S. 61 bridge; the men are fishing from the span when they see the youth fall into the water; racing to the spot, one man leaps into the ditch fully clothed, grabs the boy and, with the help of his friend, pulls him to shore.

75 years ago: June 4, 1933

COMMERCE, Mo. -- Roy Moore, 27, of the Sandy Woods neighborhood drowns when the boat in which he is riding with four other men overturns in the slough on Big Island in the Mississippi River south of here; Carl Hodges, one of the occupants of the boat, saves the lives of Bud Hopper and Jim Simmons, who are unable to swim.

The Rev. W.E. Hicks, pastor of Red Star Baptist Church, closes a two-week revival meeting at the Baptist church at Chaffee, Mo., 24 people having been converted and 16 added to the church during the campaign.

100 years ago: June 4, 1908

The Mississippi River is heading for flood stage; the banks are being tested by the flood at this point, and if the rise continues, water will begin to go over the levees and invade the country lowlands; the gauge at Cape Girardeau in the morning is at 29 feet.

Mr. and Mrs. L.B. Houck left yesterday for Freeport, Ill., to inspect the new car the Houck Railroad will soon receive.

-- Sharon K. Sanders