Out of the past: Aug. 22

1997

The Missouri Supreme Court agrees with a Scott County jury and judge that Andrew Lyons should die for a triple murder in Cape Girardeau nearly five years ago; the ruling comes on Lyons' last appeal at the state level; on Sept. 20, 1992, Lyons shot to death his former girlfriend, Bridgette Harris; their 11-month-old son, Dontay Harris, and Harris' mother, Evelyn Sparks.

The late enrollment of 144 students has forced the last-minute hiring of three teachers to ease class sizes in Jackson elementary schools; in all, three classes were added to handle the new students; an additional kindergarten and first-grade class were added to the Primary Annex, and a new second-grade class was added at Orchard Elementary.

1972

What began as a playful attempt to escape summer's heat and humidity ended in tragedy yesterday afternoon with the drowning of a Cape Girardeau boy; a search of the Mississippi River continues for the 16-year-old; he was wading in the river with two companions near the foot of Themis Street around 2 p.m., when he suddenly disappeared.

A dedication was held yesterday for the back nine holes at the Jaycee Golf Course; although the new section is completed, considerable rainfall during the past month has washed away some of the greens, making them unplayable.

1947

In compliance with a demand of the Cape Girardeau City Council, liability insurance will be taken out by the SEMO District Fair Board to protect the city during the period the new city park is being used by the fair; the insurance will cover a period of three weeks, including also the weeks immediately before and after fair week.

William G. Bartels, outstanding business and community leader in Cape Girardeau for 45 years, passes away in the afternoon while resting on a cot in the basement of the Bartels Mercantile Co. store as had been his custom; he is found by a son, Walther H. Bartels; aside from the store, which he operated successfully nearly 45 years, William Bartels was a leader in two other community business enterprises, one resulting in the construction of Broadway Theatre in 1921, and the other resulting in the erection during the past winter of the Esquire Theater building.

1922

Cape Girardeau public school bells will be ringing for the beginning of the new term Sept. 5; thousands of dollars have been expended by the school board this summer to make local schools models of sanitation, improvement and perfection; paint has brightened up all the schools in the system; Broadway School has been rejuvenated, with new hardwood floors laid, rooms re-plastered and a new toilet system installed; Jefferson School, which had almost been condemned, was transformed over the summer.

The side-wheel steamer Pilgrim, owned by the newly organized Mississippi and Ohio River Steamboat Co., will be placed in service on the Mississippi as the latest addition to boats devoted exclusively to transporting passengers; the boat will be put into commission in the fall.

-- Sharon K. Sanders