Out of the past: Dec. 26

1996

Santa delivered about 30 parcels and Express Mail in Cape Girardeau yesterday; mail carrier Jimmie Roberts of Chaffee, Missouri, donned the red suit, white beard and black gloves and boots to make the holiday deliveries.

One minute it's sleeting, the next snowing, and the next raining; then it changes back to snow; it least it seems that way to Don Semancik of Midwest Weather Inc., as he observes the morning's rapidly changing precipitation; motorists slide on slick roads in Cape Girardeau after less than a quarter of an inch of sleet mixed with rain and snow falls early in the day; snow follows, but doesn't accumulate.

1971

The Salvation Army and other organizations helped make Christmas merry for less-fortunate families in the area; Capt. Eugene Harris, corps officer, says the Salvation Army distributed 470 baskets of food to provide Christmas dinner for 1,947 persons; Mrs. Clarence W. Suedekum and Ida Daume, in charge of toys for the Army, report 7,104 toys and 500 pounds of candy were given out in the baskets or at parties for underprivileged children.

Construction start on a major project marks the final days of the old year in Cape Girardeau; preliminary work has begun on Cape LaCroix Apartments, a 12-building complex on Bloomfield Road representing an investment of more than $2 million; the dozen two-story Spanish style buildings will range in size from eight to 12 apartments, the apartment sizes ranging from one to three bedrooms.

1946

The Christmas tree and toys and gifts for the nine children of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Beal, residing on the farm of Mrs. J.T. McDonald between Cape Girardeau and Jackson, went up in flames, along with practically all else the family possessed Tuesday afternoon, when a faulty flue caught the roof afire and destroyed the four-room house; Assistant Prosecuting Attorney and Mrs. Raymond E. Vogel, passing along Highway 61 at the time of the fire, brought Mrs. Beal and the smaller children to Cape Girardeau, where the the entire family is now staying with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Leroy Pringle.

Anton H. Haas, almost 75 years old, is reported to be resting comfortably at Saint Francis Hospital; the building contractor was taken there Tuesday following a fall while supervising work on a building project on West Broadway; Haas suffered a fractured spine, when a scaffold he was on tipped, and he fell 8 or 10 feet.

1921

With one new street car in operation and the probability that a second will be put on tomorrow and the third the latter part of this week, Cape Girardeau's Christmas presents appear to be highly successful; the adjusting of the cars and the training of the local motormen by the expert who has been sent down from the company is delaying placing all the cars in service; the one new car in operation did a thriving business yesterday and today.

The first community Christmas tree and program in the evening at Jackson is a complete success in every way; several hundred persons gathered at the courthouse square to hear the singing by the public school children; many useful gifts for the deserving poor are brought to the giant cedar and turned over to the committee in charge.

-- Sharon K. Sanders