Out of the past 9/22/06

25 years ago: Sept. 22, 1981

The Golden Knights, the Army's parachute team, will take to the skies in Cape Girardeau later in the week, but they arrive here with feet solidly on the ground; the team arrives in the city in the afternoon aboard a chartered bus from St. Louis.

No one is injured when someone fires what is believed to be a 9 mm handgun at the Mule Lip tavern, 701 N. Main St., in the evening; about 10 rounds are fired into the front of the building, with several shots piercing the building and lodging in interior walls.

50 years ago: Sept. 22, 1956

In a daylong series of interviews yesterday, the board of regents of the State College talked with representatives of architectural firms regarding the projected $2,740,000 college building program, but failed to reach a decision on which firm or firms would be chosen to design the three structures the program is to embrace.

Three of four convicts who fled the Illinois penitentiary near Chester Thursday night were captured at Blytheville, Ark., late Friday and are returned to prison today; the fourth man drowned in trying to cross the Mississippi River on a log.

75 years ago: Sept. 22, 1931

The Cape Girardeau City Council is considering the purchase of a new fire truck and other needed equipment and the addition of at least two more men to the city's fire department to afford greater protection to property from fire; the move follows the presentation of a petition signed by 150 leading residents and the appearance of a committee before the council yesterday to emphasize a demand for better firefighting facilities.

Forty thousand tons of rock, which will be mined in Cape Girardeau, will be used in the revetment project on the Mississippi River from the Frisco freight depot to the Marquette Cement Mfg. plant.

100 years ago: Sept. 22, 1906

A big family reunion was held at the farm of John Caldwell on Cane Creek, three miles southwest of Fruitland, this week; the reunion was the result of a visit of George Caldwell, his wife and children from Oklahoma, who had returned to the old place for a visit.

One of Cape Girardeau's best and most prominent residents dies in the afternoon; Sophia W. Painter, wife of the late John Painter, died at her home at the corner of South Lorimier and William streets; she was nearly 70 years old.

-- Sharon K. Sanders