Out of the past: June 1

1996

After talking to a suicidal man perched 60 feet above the railing of the Mississippi River bridge here early yesterday morning for more than an hour, reserve police officer Debi Oliver was able to persuade him to come down; police officer Bridget Huff and firefighter Brad Dillow went up in the fire department's aerial truck to bring him down.

Police Chief Howard Boyd Jr. may permanently park Cape Girardeau Police Department's two motorcycles in the wake of serious injuries to two officers within the past two years; Boyd said he had considered grounding the department's two motorcycles after the accident two years ago, but other officers talked him out of it; Cape Girardeau is the only major city in Southeast Missouri with a motorcycle unit and one of only two major cities in the region that have motorcycle officers; the other is Carbondale, Illinois.

1971

Western Union telegraph machines in Cape Girardeau and across the nation are quiet, stilled by a strike called by two unions representing 20,100 employees; agencies in 12 Southeast Missouri communities and two main offices in the area are shut down; three employees of the Cape Girardeau office and one at Sikeston are on strike.

Fishermen line up their boats at Lake Girardeau and take off at the stroke of noon like runners from a starting gun; the reopening of the Cape Girardeau County impoundment after two years for restocking brings a surge of more than 200 anglers ready to do battle with bass, bluegill or whatever might hit their lures.

1946

Participating in a nationwide safety campaign sponsored by the National Association of Police Chiefs, the State Highway Patrol in Southeast Missouri is making a systematic check of safety equipment on all automobiles stopped for violations.

With this weekend definitely ending the set time for planting cotton in the rich fields of Southeast Missouri, planters, delayed by continued rain in May, look to two other proven crops, corn and soybeans; a few are taking their chances and planted cotton this week, after spring rains had flooded out a great portion of that which had been planted early.

1921

Mary Bergmann, Cape Girardeau Central High School senior, is announced as class leader by school superintendent J.N. Crocker and winner of scholarships offered to the student ranked highest in the class; Helen Lamb comes in second; Bergmann, the daughter of A.W. Bergmann is entitled to a year's free tuition at Cape Girardeau Teachers College and another at Missouri University-Columbia.

A large crowd milled about Hirsch Bros. Cash Bargain Store, northwest corner of Sprigg and Good Hope streets, in this undated photo.(Southeast Missourian archive)

Hirsch Brothers Mercantile Co. is observing its 45th anniversary; the company was established July 4, 1876, as a small general store and has since grown to be one of the largest in all Southeast Missouri, covering 12,000 feet of first-floor space, besides the vast basements and other storerooms; last year it did over $25,000,000 in business; William Hirsch, the present owner and manager was only 10, when his father, George Hirsch, opened the store, known for a number years as the Centennial Store.

-- Sharon K. Sanders