Out of the past: Aug. 31

1991

Two Cape Girardeau firefighters are injured in the morning when fire guts the second-floor apartment of a two-story brick house at 530 Good Hope St.; the vacant building is owned by Claude "Nip" Kelley; it was first used as an office for the Yellow Cab Co., and later as offices of Kelly Construction Co.

More than half Union Electric's 17,000 Cape Girardeau customers were without power for up to nearly 90 minutes yesterday afternoon; about 9,000 local UE customers went without power, when a 34,500-volt circuit breaker exploded at the company's Viaduct Court Distribution Center near the southern city limits.

1966

Gary Rust, a Cape Girardeau businessman in his second term as Cape Girardeau County Republican chairman, was named Tuesday as the new 10th District party chairman at the district committee meeting in Poplar Bluff, Missouri; he succeeds Walter Eggers of Perryville, Missouri.

Police chief Irvin E. Beard announces the appointment of Leslie J. Hampton, 21, of Scott City as a patrolman for the Cape Girardeau Police Department; the hiring of Hampton puts the department up to a force of 33 men, one below a full force.

1941

Dedication of Maple Avenue Methodist Church, which had been scheduled for today, has been tentatively postponed to Oct. 5; the congregation has been unable to get delivery of church furnishings, including pews.

The Rev. H.C. Croslin preaches his final sermon as pastor of Red Star Baptist Church; he will assume his duties tomorrow as a field representative for the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky; he and his family will continue to reside in Cape Girardeau.

1916

The board of directors of the Lorimier Cemetery Association grants the Missouri-Illinois Mausoleum Co. the privilege of building a mausoleum on a spot in the north end of the cemetery, the highest point in the burial ground; the mausoleum will be a work of art; it will be constructed of reinforced concrete, with a white marble interior and granite and Bedford stone for the exterior.

A barn belonging to George Anderson of East Cape Girardeau, Illinois, was destroyed by fire last night, and all its contents, except the mules and horses, were burned with it; Abernathy suffered what may be a fatal injury during the excitement, when, in trying to save his stock from the burning barn, he was kicked in the abdomen by a mule.

-- Sharon K. Sanders