Out of the past: Dec. 30

1998

Burlington Northern merchandise train, heading from Galesburg, Illinois, to Memphis, Tennessee, derailed in northeastern Cape Girardeau County yesterday, sending two cars into the Mississippi River and spreading chemicals in the river and on its banks; 24 of the train's 86 cars went off the track in the sparsely populated area about a mile south of the Cape Girardeau-Perry County line, but no one was hurt; four of the 24 derailed cars contained hazardous materials, but a Burlington Northern spokesman said none of them was leaking and none posed an immediate danger.

James Sexton, president of Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, has resigned to take a job as CEO of North Iowa Mercy Health Center and Network; Sexton's last day at Saint Francis will be Feb. 5; merger talks between Saint Francis and Southeast Hospital will continue as scheduled, says Harry Rediger, chairman of the board of directors at Saint Francis.

1973

When the new year starts, one of the first commercial projects to be constructed will be an addition to the P.N. Hirsch Co. store on Plaza Way; the present store, covering 6,210 square feet of floor space, will have an addition on the north side of 11,730 square feet, with a frontage of 85 feet and a depth of 138 feet; the project was initially conceived by the late John F. Popp.

Cape Girardeau lucks out; the predicted snow of between 4 to 14 inches fails to materialize; instead, .11-inch of freezing drizzle and sleet with only a trace of snow covers city streets between 4 p.m. and midnight; north of Cape Girardeau, the State Highway Patrol reports Interstate 55 and Highway 61 are ice and snow covered, making travel difficult.

1948

After a span of 57 years, there no longer will be an I. Ben Miller Drug Store in Cape Girardeau; the Miller family announces retirement plans for the store and its supplementary food service at 429 Broadway, effective at the close of business Friday; the first Miller Drug Store was started by the late I. Ben Miller on Main Street; it moved to its present location in 1928, and it has been operated by Edwin A. Miller, a son, since then.

That un-inspected meat is appearing in some Cape Girardeau markets and that home-butchered meat is being peddled in the city is reported by Health Commissioner Cleo Johns; he says it is believed the meat is coming from shooting matches and farm houses were annual butchering is underway; city ordinances require that all meat be inspected after butchering and that the animals be inspected before being killed.

1923

Theodore Lehmann, a brother of the Rev. Reinhart Lehmann, pastor, preaches at the evening services at Christ Evangelical Church; Theodore Lehmann is a student at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis and is spending his holiday vacation in Cape Girardeau.

The Rev. J.R.A. Vaughan, retired minister of the Methodist church, and now a resident of Cape Girardeau, preaches at both the morning and evening services at Centenary Methodist Church; the pastor, the Rev. J. Richard Spann, is suffering with a throat ailment and has been forbidden by his physicians to preach.

-- Sharon K. Sanders