Out of the past: June 16

1996

Yesterday's Riverfest crowd was light during the hot, muggy summer afternoon; but before the festival was over, Riverfest officials estimate more than 40,000 people crowded into the downtown streets Friday and Saturday to participate in the festivities and enjoy free entertainment; events were capped by a giant fireworks display and main-stage entertainment by Lonestar, a country band that hit the top with a number one single, "No News," and top-five hit, "Tequila Talking."

Sterling's Houston, a German shepherd, wins "Best in Breed" for the herding group at the 75th annual All-Breed Dog Show at the A.C. Brase Arena Building; the show is sponsored by the Southeast Missouri Kennel Club; hundreds of dog owners, breeders and handlers watch as more than 700 dogs from all across the United States and two foreign countries compete.

1971

The Vietnam conflict has claimed another Cape Girardeau victim: Army Sgt. Carroll J. Benton, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur D. Benton of Cape Girardeau; the young sergeant was killed when a tank he was driving struck a land mine near Da Nang, South Vietnam, late Saturday afternoon; Benton had been in Vietnam since September.

Charles Pearl Harris, the man who brought State College its only national athletic championship in its near 100-year history, and who then went on to gain prominence in the insurance industry, dies at his home in Memphis, Tennessee; he was 62 years old; Harris, perhaps the most outstanding athlete and coach to come from Cape Girardeau, was a three-sport star at Central High School in the 1920s; he won 12 sports stars at State College; he coached basketball at State College from 1935 to 1943, and in 1942-43, his Indian team won the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championships in Kansas City, Missouri.

1946

A new marquee, 30 1/2 feet long, has been installed at the Rialto Theater, 420 Broadway; the nose of the marquee is 9 1/2 feet high, and it extends 9 1/2 feet out from the building, with two-foot letters and lighting controlled by 14 transformers; all of the material used in the new installation were manufactured by Cape Neon Sign Co.

Theon Martin, 37, an oven operator at Master Baking Co., 700 Broadway, is seriously burned in the afternoon when a gas-fired oven he had lighted to bake bread explodes; the force of the blast blows open the oven door, tears away a portion of the top of the oven and shatters panes of two windows on the east, or opposite, side of the building.

1921

A party composed of H.H. Wiedman, Emil Walters, Bill Walters and S.P. Siebert is spending the week camping on the farm of Gus Gisi, where the big and little Saline creeks join; it is reported to be an excellent fishing spot.

A Main Street merchant reports a suit of knickers has arrived here, ordered by a local woman and golf enthusiast; just who ordered the knickers is a mystery, as the merchant won't tell; knickers are being worn by women in the East and on the links of the Pacific coast, but have been slow to make an appearance at the Cape Girardeau County Club.

-- Sharon K. Sanders