Out of the past: Feb. 26

1993

Coming on the 14th anniversary of the "Blizzard of '79," the Cape Girardeau area received only 6 inches of snow yesterday, far less than what had been predicted; 11 to 12 inches of snow fell in a heavier band along the Interstate 70 corridor between Kansas City and St. Louis.

A unmanned, runaway locomotive that finally was stopped at Hayti, Missouri, on a diversion track yesterday started its renegade journey in Cape Girardeau; sometime after 9 p.m. yesterday, someone climbed into the Burlington Northern diesel engine, which was parked along the 700 block of South Fountain Street; police believe he started the locomotive and then jumped clear of the moving train.

1968

The field of candidates for the Cape Girardeau City Council widens to three with the filing for re-election of Councilman J. Ronald Fischer and a newcomer, James F. Jackson; Ivan L. Irvin, a real estate developer, previously filed for the post.

Richard G. Randol of Cape Girardeau is in serious condition at St. Mary's Hospital in Cairo, Illinois, from injuries suffered early yesterday morning; Randol, blinded by a spotlight, stepped through an open hatch on a barge in a tow, falling 15 feet; the accident happened at Mile 10 above Cairo.

1943

Fishermen in Cape Girardeau and the vicinity have initiated a movement to ask the State Conservation Commission to open fishing for all types of fish in the diversion channel, probably from the river to Greenbrier, Missouri, on March 15; it would place the channel in the same classification as to season as the Lake of the Ozarks and Lake Wappapello.

The seven-county 21st Senatorial District Republican committee, in session at Poplar Bluff, Missouri, nominates Fred Naeter, Cape Girardeau newspaper publisher, as candidate for the state constitutional convention.

1918

Boat agent Irvin Albert announces he expects the boat season to open between March 10 and 15, with the steamer Bald Eagle plying the waters between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau; it recently was reported Capt. Henry Leyhe of the Eagle Packet Co. went to New Orleans to purchase the steamer William Garig, intending to have it overhauled at once for the season's business.

At a special election, the voters of Cape Girardeau approve the commission form of government by a majority of 191 in a light vote; the election means a mayor and two councilmen will be elected at the regular city election, March 5.

-- Sharon K. Sanders