Out of the past: May 12

1995

Cape Girardeau Municipal Court isn't the moneymaker it used to be; revenue declined significantly this fiscal year and will likely finish the year about $116,000 behind last year's total; city officials, including Municipal Judge Edward Calvin, blame the revenue slide on police writing fewer traffic tickets.

CHAFFEE, Mo. -- Former Mayor Robert H. Capshaw, 76, of Chaffee dies at a Cape Girardeau hospital; Capshaw was widely known in Southeast Missouri, having served as Chaffee's mayor from 1971 to 1987; he had previously served as a city council member and was involved in area community organizations for many years.

1970

Cape Girardeau has a population of 31,969; this is the preliminary 1970 census figure released by Byron C. Mercer of Cape Girardeau, district census manager; the 1970 total is 6,122 larger than the count made in 1960.

State chairman of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee, USDA, John Hutchison tells Jackson Rotarians and farmer guests that a lack of communication is making it harder for both rural and urban problems to be solved; agriculture, he says, is the basis of society, and its problems must be solved in order for other major problems to be solved; the occasion is the Rotary Club Rural-Urban Banquet at Hanover Lutheran Church.

1945

First Lt. Raymond H. Littge of Altenburg, Missouri, a Mustang fighter pilot credited officially with destruction of 10 1/2 enemy planes in combat over Europe and 13 on the ground, has been promoted to captain at an Air Force base in England.

The 1945 edition of the Cape Girardeau Capahas will make its initial appearance of the season tomorrow at Fairground Park in a game against the Mount Vernon, Illinois, Car Builders; players back from last year are Harley Eddleman, Clyde Schwab, Barney Oldfield, Dick Schroeder, Pete Russell and manager Lou Weiss; newcomers include Alton Bray, Martin Radmer, Clifford Cromer, Junior Gross and Norman Ruhl.

1920

In a quest for wood to make pulp and paper, manufacturers have their scouts searching the country and getting all available timber; Henry Metheny of Cairo, Illinois, representing the Mead Pulp and Paper Co. of Chillicothe, Ohio, is in Cape Girardeau looking into the possibilities of securing paper woods in this district.

Cape Girardeau business houses are arranging to have a large amount of freight transported from St. Louis to this city, and without cost, by taking advantage of an invitation to permit the vehicles in the big truck tour to transport their merchandise, arriving here May 19; more than 60 trucks will be in the tour and, as the owners want them to come loaded, they have invited Girardeans to give them orders to bring along freight shipments.

-- Sharon K. Sanders