Out of the past: April 20

1996

Performing in Cape Girardeau isn't just another quick tour stop for Jo Sullivan Loesser; it's also a trip home; Loesser, a Broadway performer, returned to Cape Girardeau yesterday to visit her parents and perform at Chateau Girardeau; she is the daughter of Hessie and Eileen Sullivan.

Several Southeast Missouri counties were pelted by rain and hail overnight, with confirmed tornadoes touching down in at least three; in Perry County, Highway 51 was closed for two hours while sheriff's department officials cleaned up from a tornado that struck around 8 p.m.; Chief Deputy Dan Bowman says homes, barns and fences east and north of Perryville sustained serious damage from the storm, although no one reported any injuries; the situation was much the same in Butler County.

1971

The resignation of Murlin Hawkins, principal of the Jackson Junior High School for the past six years, is accepted by the Board of Education; the resignation becomes effective at the end of this school year.

Cape County Magistrate Roland G. Busch, 68, of Cape Girardeau dies in a St. Louis hospital, where he had been a patient since Jan. 22 following an automobile accident; he dies from injuries resulting in a car-truck collision a mile north of Cape Girardeau on Highway 61 on Jan. 20; Busch was serving his fourth consecutive term in office, being first elected in November 1956.

1946

With the budget set and economy pared to the bone, two city commissioners say the city cannot afford the equipment necessary to combat fires, and their resulting strong odors, on the small dump grounds near the mausoleum at the city cemetery and in the recently opened new city park dumping ground; fires are being used at both sites to destroy combustible materials.

The St. Louis Browns' organization definitely wants Cape Girardeau and its facilities as a permanent spring training site for its minor league clubs; the city is currently hosting the Elmira Brownies; but vice present and general manager William O. DeWitt of the Browns says the biggest problem here is hotel accommodations; another need, according to DeWitt, are locker facilities at the State College field house.

1921

Six hours after the Cape Girardeau Protective League received its bloodhound, Edward Hely, proprietor of the rock crusher just south of the city, called on the animal to put its skills to use finding the robbers who broke into his two dynamite houses last night; the hound trailed the burglar around the buildings at the plant to the road, where it is believed he escaped in a car or wagon; two 50-pound boxes of dynamite were stolen, along with some caps and fuses.

The prevailing sentiment of members of the Civic Improvement Association regarding the future disposal of the military service board is to preserve it; Mesdames L.J. Pott, Clara Patton and Harry Wasem are appointed to a committee which will find a suitable location for the board and have it moved from its present location in the 200 block of Broadway and repainted; the board has the names of the Cape Girardeau Countians who served in the World War.

-- Sharon K. Sanders