Out of the past: Feb. 12

1994

Cape Girardeau anthropologist Scott Grantham has seen his share of graves in recent months; from last August through January, Grantham was involved in moving the skeletal remains from some 2,500 graves in an abandoned, predominately black St. Louis cemetery to make way for completion of the MetroLink route to Lambert Airport.

PUXICO, Mo. -- Fire destroyed a furniture store here yesterday, but several other downtown buildings were spared thanks to a two-foot thick fire wall and the combined efforts of eight fire departments; the S&J Variety and Furniture Store was destroyed, but firefighters were successful in containing the blaze to the nearly century-old store.

1969

Plans for renovation of the exterior of the Arena Building are announced by A.C. Brase, chairman of the Arena Improvement Committee; included in the project will be the painting of the building, planting of new shrubbery, placement of more modern lights and erection of a sign reading "Arena."

City Councilman Hoard C. Tooke files as the first candidate for one of two seats on the council to be filled at the April 1 election; he files for the one-year unexpired term of former councilman A. Robert Pierce Jr., now a state representative.

1944

The cold wave, striking Cape Girardeau with great intensity overnight, drops the mercury to 4 1/2 degrees above zero in the morning; there is little prospect of relief in the forecast before Sunday.

Contests for nomination of party candidates for state representative and sheriff in Cape Girardeau County may furnish spice in the August primary; Maj. Frank A. Lowry, serving in the Army in India, is the county's representative; whether he plans to be a candidate isn't known, but several others have been named as possible candidates, including R.R. Schade of Jackson, who is now sheriff; under the law, Schade cannot succeed himself as sheriff.

1919

The forbidding looking walls of the old John Albert house on Spanish Street have been torn down; the house burned on St. Patrick's day 18 years ago, and the walls have stood ever since; at one time, the house was beautiful, with frescoed interior walls that were the admiration of all; the house was built before the Civil War.

The Frisco Railroad Co. is laying 100-pound rails on its Cape and River Division from St. Louis to Memphis, Tennessee, the work having begun from Southeastern Junction and is coming south; this heavier steel with many new ties will assure a better road bed and will make heavier equipment possible on this division.

-- Sharon K. Sanders