Out of the past: March 28

1999

Palm Sunday; a procession of palms is held at Good Shepherd Lutheran Chapel during the morning worship service; 11 children are confirmed: Amanda Carr, Jonathan Fritzler, Amanda Herbst, Darren Neels, Dean Richardson, Kyle Schuessler, Kristin Smith, Andrew Tiehes, Lauren Touchette, Calen Wills and Paul Wunderlich.

About 100 children from LaCroix United Methodist Church are praying for members of Cape Girardeau’s police and fire forces; the youngsters are members of the church’s prayer patrol; the children and police officers and fire fighters meet for the first time during a reception at the church in the afternoon.

1974

Loy W. Welker, vice president of Cape Insurance Agency Inc., filed yesterday afternoon with County Clerk Rusby C. Crites as a Democratic candidate for county auditor, establishing a contest in the November general election; Welker will oppose Republican incumbent H. Weldon Macke, who is seeking re-election.

A registered Holstein cow valued at $2,000 was killed and carried away from a field next to Interstate 55 about one-half mile north of Bainbridge Road near Jackson on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning; Fred Ristig, Cape Girardeau Route 2, found the remains of his cow in the field just east of the interstate late yesterday; sheriff’s officers say it appears the cow was killed by two blows to the head with an ax, gutted and the carcass hauled to a waiting vehicle on the interstate; it was the first recent report of rustling in the county following a rash of cattle thefts last summer.

1949

The body of Joseph Leo Ledure, 61, a resident of Commerce who was drowned in the Mississippi River at 2 a.m. when he fell from a barge on which he was working near Memphis, Tennessee, is brought to the Earl J. Smith Funeral Home at Oran for services tomorrow; Ledure, a native of Commerce, was a commercial fisherman and also worked on commercial river boats.

Considerable damage was done on a strip a mile long, between Lutesville and Glen Allen, on Saturday, when a whirling storm ripped across an area a quarter mile wide; one man was injured and a home was blown down; a house near Highway 34, occupied by the Davis and Joe Kirkpatrick families, was blown over and badly damaged.

1924

The pro forma decree of the Cape Girardeau Court of Common Pleas, establishing the incorporation of the Afro-American Burial Association, has been filed in the county recorder’s office at Jackson; the incorporators — R.M. Williams, J.M. Cookfield, J.A. Banks, the Rev. Sherman Carter, James Bryant and W.L. Smith — state the object of the corporation is “to pay an amount at the death of a member, or death of one of the family of said member, said mounts to be: Between the ages of 5 and 21, not more than $50 nor less than $25, above the age of 21 years not more than $100 nor less than $50.”

The beautifully located, nine-room home at 6 S. Fountain St., was sold yesterday by the Ben Vinyard Realty Co., for the owner J.F. Vogelsanger, to H.H. Halleck, who is moving his family to Cape Girardeau from Dallas, Texas; the consideration was $8,500; the home has been occupied by Mr. and Mrs. George P. Marsh.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a blog called “From the Morgue” that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper. Check out her blog at www.semissourian.com/history.