Out of the past: July 16

1998

Police and fire investigators are probing a series of suspicious fires across midtown and South Cape Girardeau Wednesday night; a fast-moving blaze that spread black smoke across midtown at quitting time Wednesday destroyed the Teen Challenge Thrift Store at 10 N. Sprigg St.; as firefighters wrapped up their work there, they were quickly called out to three more fires, all between approximately 8:20 p.m. and 9 p.m.; they included an apartment building on fire at 216 William, a boat on fire behind the Girardeau Distributors at 221 Merriwether, a van on fire behind the Missouri Department of Revenue at 112 S. Spanish and a trash container fire behind Meyer Supply at 614 Good Hope, behind St. Mary Cathedral School.

The Missouri Republican Party wants the federal Justice Department to monitor November elections in the Missouri Bootheel as well as the St. Louis and Kansas City areas; GOP spokesman Daryl Duwe said the party wants the Justice Department to monitor elections in Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Dunklin, Stoddard and Scott counties and will take that request to Attorney General Janet Reno.

1973

The Cape Girardeau chapter of the NAACP has adopted a list of grievances against the City of Cape Girardeau as a result of the confrontation between about 20 Black youths and police officers outside St. James AME Church in the 500 block of North Street Tuesday night; among the demands adopted are the hiring of Black police officers, teachers, school administrators and firefighters and establishment of a human relations commission.

Two firemen from the Cape Girardeau Fire Department, with its aerial truck, were among firefighters from seven area communities who joined early yesterday to battle a blaze that destroyed Barkett's Big Star Market and Country Kitchen restaurant in the Midtowner Village Shopping Center on East Malone Street in Sikeston, Missouri; damage to the businesses is estimated at more than $1 million; both are owned by Phillip J. Barkett of Sikeston.

1948

A Civil War saber, presented by grateful citizens of Cape Girardeau after the conflict to Col. Lindsay Murdoch, commander of Union forts here during part of the war, will make its return this fall to a permanent place in the museum at State College; arrangements are made by Dr. H.S. Murdoch, a grandson of the Civil War colonel, and president W.W. Parker of the college; with his familial line diminishing, Murdoch determined to give the memento to the residents of the city, with the college acting as caretaker.

Two-hundred dogs are vaccinated at a rabies clinic held at the Cape Girardeau police headquarters; Dr. L.W. Hathaway and Dr. G.E. Yallaly issue certificates for each dog receiving the $1.50 treatment.

1923

E.A. Grimes, a St. Louis banker, is appointed receiver for the Elks Realty Company, owner of the Elks Building on Themis Street, by Judge John A. Snider of Common Pleas Court; the appointment is prompted by a suit filed by the Southeast Missouri Trust Company, largest creditor of the Elks Realty Company, asking for the receiver; Grimes has full charge of the building; he will rent the rooms, pay the taxes and have all repairs made; the Chamber of Commerce will continue to use the second floor for meetings and the secretary's office.

An ordinance establishing a "quiet zone" in the block on Good Hope Street in front of Saint Francis Hospital and barring all heavy trucks from the street is passed by the City Council; trucks weighing over three tons and any vehicle equipped with solid iron or metal-tired wheels are forbidden from traversing the street.

-- Sharon K. Sanders