Out of the past: July 11

1997

The honor system hasn't been enough to ensure the safety of deputies at the Cape Girardeau County Jail in Jackson, especially after a violent escape attempt in February; so Sheriff John Jordan had a steel-bar cage installed to replace the honor system -- a thin yellow line -- that served to keep inmates away from a potential exit; at a cost of $11,000, two walls of steel bars covered by a shield of Plexiglas were placed around a door leading from the jail's control booth to the commons area where inmates gather; the door can only be opened from the booth, and only if the door of the cage is closed.

Recent demolition of a frame house at 127 S. Frederick St. by employees of Taylor Glass and Remodeling have revealed a log house under the 20th century dressing; the cabin is believed to have been built in the 1830s and may be one of the earliest houses constructed here; the owner of the house is hoping to preserve the log structure by donating it to the city.

1972

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce goes on record as opposing the proposed $730 million mass transit bond issue, charging it would divert approximately $235 million from state highways; Clarence Lee Shirrell, chamber president, says the board of directors agrees with a report of the chamber's highway and transportation committee, which pointed out that too much of the proposed money would be used on projects other than upgrading and expanding state highways.

While campaigns in Cape Girardeau County for the August primary election are the quietest in many years, they are expected to become unusually hot before November; the reason for low-key campaigns now is that there are few local races in the primary; virtually every candidate will have opposition in November, however.

1947

The three young men who escaped Tuesday night from the county jail at Jackson are captured shortly after daybreak by a posse of 50 men -- largest in Cape Girardeau County since its famed manhunt in the extortion case of 17 years ago -- in a dense woods near the Fleas clubhouse, northwest of the Cape Rock Drive-Middle Bend Road intersection, three miles from downtown Cape Girardeau; the trio are captured without a show of resistance.

Now falling more rapidly, the Mississippi River drops an additional 8 1/2 inches in the 24-hour period ending at 8 a.m., clearing the Spanish-Independence Street intersection and allowing another store -- Schiff Shoe Store -- to reopen; Main Street at the shoe factory intersection is still covered with a foot of water, but is expected to reopen Monday.

1922

The Southeast Missourian gave the first of a series of six community meetings at Whitewater last night to an audience of between 500 and 800 people, mostly farmers and their families from the southern and western part of the county; a motion picture -- a light comedy called "Passing Thru" -- was shown in the open air, the screen being hung on the side of the Woodmen building and a great pile of logs supplied as an amphitheater; in addition to the moving picture, the publishers of this newspaper spoke of the service The Missourian renders its readers and the community.

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- With more than 350 shopmen, employees of the Frisco Railroad, out on strike against the proposed reduction of wages, this place is anxiously awaiting settlement of the differences; little trouble between the strikers and the company has developed here, and little is anticipated; at Fornfelt, no attempts have been made by officials of the Cotton Belt Railroad to replace the 89 men who walked out of the railroad shops July 1.

-- Sharon K. Sanders