Out of the past: Dec. 24

1991

At least 11 persons have been hospitalized for suspected food poisoning following a Christmas banquet held in Cape Girardeau over the weekend; a total of 32 people who attended the Miltenberger & Willing and Saueressig Company party at the Show Me Center Friday night sought treatment the day after with symptoms ranging from acute abdominal distress to fever and nausea.

Cape Girardeau Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3838 has donated three American flags, valued at nearly $500, to the Missouri Veterans Home here; the flags will be placed in the living area of each wing at the home.

1966

While most Cape Girardeans are gathered in family homes this Christmas Day, one local woman, Mrs. Dennis Turner, will be spending the Yule season entertaining military troops overseas; the vocalist has been with the Sand Pipers three years.

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Douglas Wayne Thompson yesterday was convicted a second time of the murder of Cape Girardeau auxiliary police officer Herbert L. Goss; he was sentenced to life imprisonment, thus escaping the gas chamber in which his partner in crime, Sammy Aire Tucker, died.

1941

The Red Cross $10,000 war relief campaign in Cape Girardeau County gains new impetus with an additional $662.25 being deposited with treasurer Robert Vogelsang at Farmers & Merchants Bank to bring the total in the treasury to $3,279.50, but leaving $6,720.50 still to be raised to reach its goal.

Establishment of a unit of the Civil Air Patrol, an organization of civilian pilots to serve in national defense, is being considered for organization in Cape Girardeau.

1916

The celebration of the White Christmas in the Presbyterian and Centenary Methodist churches in the evening is one of the largest the churches have ever enjoyed; at the Presbyterian Church, the Sunday school departments bring in gifts for the poor, filling a large wagon to capacity with clothes, food and toys; the celebration at Centenary is equally as beautiful and impressive and is attended by the members of the congregation and friends crowding to the very doors.

The Jackson milling company, instead of giving its employees a holiday bonus, as other concerns did, gave each employee a substantial Christmas present: A check for $5 and a bag of Gold Leaf flour, the best grade made by the company.

-- Sharon K. Sanders