Out of the past: Dec. 25

1996

Instead of "Up on the rooftop, click, click, click," on Christmas Eve at one Cape Girardeau restaurant, it was "In through the window, smash, crash, bash," as a confused deer got trapped in Bessie's Restaurant & Smorgasbord, 3254 William St.; when police officers arrived around 3:30 p.m., they found a smashed front window and a 250-pound doe cornered in a storage closet in the kitchen; officers managed to corral the animal, and it was released in a secluded area west of town.

There have been no confirmed influenza cases in the immediate area, but many patients have "flu-like" symptoms -- aches, fever, chills, wheezing; emergency services at Southeast Hospital has seen a 30% increase of patients; Saint Francis Medical Center also reports an increase.

1971

The solemn closing of the Christmas novena preceded Mass at 11:40 last night at St. Mary's Cathedral; four Masses are celebrated this morning at the church; pastor is Monsignor Joseph H. Huels.

Mother nature provides more of an Easter setting than one of Christmas; temperatures were in the 60s yesterday and again today, and the promise is the same for Sunday; the lovely weather contributes to heavy traffic on Southeast Missouri roads.

1946

The Rev. Joe Wagner of Maryville, Missouri, is in Jackson to spend Christmas with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Martin H. Wagner, and his sister, Martha, who is home from Central College at Fayette, Missouri; in addition Christmas Day guests are Mr. and Mrs. Richard Wagner and son and daughter, Gene Hacker and Jane Wagner; the Rev. Wagner is religious director for Maryville Methodist Church.

A children's service at 7 on Christmas eve and a matins service at 6 this morning featured the Christmas observance at Trinity Lutheran Church; the Rev. F.H. Melzer preached at the matins service on "Peace Through the Christ Child, the Panacea for the World's Ills."

1921

George Washington Davis, who is well-known about town, is celebrating his 99th birthday anniversary; Davis was born on Christmas Day, 1822, on a plantation in Haywood County, eastern Tennessee; his parents were slaves, the property of Tom Yandell, who brought the family to New Madrid, Missouri, a few years after Washington's birth; "Uncle Wash," as he is known, is religiously inclined: "If God will let me live one more year, until I am 100 years old, I will be satisfied and willing to die. But I do want to live one more year."

A total of 112 baskets of food for the poor families of Cape Girardeau are given out by the Salvation Army and the Red Cross for Christmas dinners; this doesn't include the food furnished by members of the Alias Santa Claus Club, church organizations and other charitable workers.

-- Sharon K. Sanders