Out of the past: March 15

1998

U.S. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond was the keynote speaker yesterday at the 28th Cape Girardeau County Lincoln Day dinner; about 300 tickets were sold for the annual event sponsored by the Cape Girardeau County Republican Women's Club; in his remarks, Bond said President Bill Clinton should tell the truth so government and the nation can get on with the work at hand.

Cape Girardeau firefighters battled a blazing At Your Service Potty House -- a portable toilet -- in Washington Park yesterday evening; no one was injured in the fire, and it was quickly brought under control; newly installed the same day as the blaze, it was valued at $600.

1973

Approximately 200,000 acres of low-lying farmland in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois are under water as area farmers suffer the brunt of flooding by the Mississippi River and its tributaries; the National Weather Service gives the estimated figure as it revises flood crest forecasts for Cape Girardeau; the Mississippi -- now at 38.1 feet -- is expected to crest here at 39 feet on Sunday, about a half a foot below the crest originally predicted for Saturday; at Cairo, Illinois, the crest is forecast at 48 feet Sunday.

The Earl G. Lewis family is on its way west for a family reunion that will introduce their 5-year-old grandson to his father, Lt. Cmdr. Earl G. Lewis Jr., for the first time; Mr. and Mrs. Lewis and their younger son, Cary, leave here by air in the morning en route to San Diego, California; Cmdr. Lewis, a Navy flier and former Girardean, was among 108 prisoners of war released by the North Vietnamese in Hanoi early yesterday.

1948

The Cape Girardeau political pot is boiling, with five contestants for mayor and 16 for commissioner; voters will pick two mayoral hopefuls at the March 23 primary and six commissioner candidates; those nominated will face off in the April 6 general election.

Cape Girardeau's federal income taxpayers have until midnight to mail their 1947 returns without facing penalties; but for those who must also file state income tax returns, there is still ample time; state deadline is March 31.

1923

FAYVILLE, Ill. -- A terrific explosion of nitroglycerine in a packing house of the Hercules Powder Co. near here demolished the building and rocked towns within a radius of 30 miles yesterday at 5:50 p.m.; no one was hurt, the blast occurring 20 minutes after workers had left the building for the day; window lights in Commerce, Missouri, were smashed by the blast, while the jar was felt in Cape Girardeau and other places.

The jury begins arguments in Common Pleas Court which will fix the amount of damages which may be sustained by property owners south of Cape Girardeau because of the operation of the West End sewer; it brings to a close one of the hardest fought legal battles in local court annals; damages totaling $15,000 are asked by the property holders -- the Hunze heirs, Louis Houck and Carroll Junger; the fight centers around the damages which property holders may sustain by the overflow of sewage from the West End residence section and which a 21-inch sanitary sewer may not be able to handle during heavy rains.

-- Sharon K. Sanders