Out of the past: Aug. 1

1999

As he has done for more than 65 years, Dr. Fred E. Rawlins swam the Mississippi River again yesterday; “It’s not too tough,” said the 83-year-old Cape Girardeau obstetrician and gynecologist after swimming the mile-plus distance from a sandbar in Illinois to the Missouri side of the river; “I could probably do it again right now,” he declared.

A gated golf community, with an 18-hole golf course, condos, a clubhouse and other recreational facilities may be coming to Cape Girardeau; Cord Dombrowski, a Cape Girardeau businessman, is a leader in the Presswick Group, which will develop the project; the corporation is currently in the land acquisition stage.

1974

A pair of dynamite blasts, occurring within seconds of each other, heavily damaged the new home of a Cape Girardeau contractor last night; authorities are seeking possible motives in the bombing of the home of Claude A. “Nip” Kelley III, a former official of Laborers Local 282 here and present owner of Nip Kelley Trucking and Equipment Co., a contracting firm he formed two years ago; the blasts occurred in a fireplace and basement stairwell of the home under construction near Cape Rock Drive and Upper Bend Road.

Construction on a swimming pool and bathhouse at the new Scott City Park is progressing and should be completed by Sept. 28; the pool and bathhouse are part of the first phase of work at the park, which will also include a road leading to the park, parking areas, an amphitheater and utilities and water lines.

1949

Sweaters and coats for evening wear and blankets for sleeping have been the order for Girardeans the past two nights, as a cool front brought needed relief from hot weather; professor LeRoy Miller of State College reports the temperature dropped to 58 degrees early this morning; yesterday’s low was 64.

Rosemary Waters, back in the United States on leave from teaching in Germany, spent the weekend visiting Mrs. Morley G. Swingle and others; Waters teaches primary grades in a school for children of Army personnel stationed at Badtotz, Germany, in the Bavarian Alps; she has been there a year and came here from Malden, her home, where she visited relatives; she expects to return to Germany next week; Waters is a graduate of State College and formerly taught in the Cape Girardeau public school system.

1924

Dissolution of the A.J. Matthews & Company Corp., appointment of a receiver for its holdings in Southeast Missouri and a strict accounting from the directors for their conduct of the $5,000,000 land company for the past two years is asked in a petition in equity filed in Federal District Court here by attorneys representing creditors of the corporation; the court is also asked to grant a restraining order preventing the directors, or any of the defendants named, from administering affairs of the company and seeks an immediate division of the holdings among the creditors.

Bonds aggregating $70,000 are to be issued by landowners in Levee District No. 1 near Claryville in Perry County; $60,000 of that amount will be used in the construction of levees to match the Mississippi River Commission’s recent offer of $120,000 for levee construction in that district, while $15,000 is to be used in the care of the right of way, incidentals and the construction of a concrete levee along the waterfront of the village of Claryville.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a weekend column called “From the Morgue” that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper.