Out of the past: May 3

1994

Illinois funding for a new Mississippi River bridge here is included in its five-year transportation improvement program contingent upon federal funding; in addition, funding has been set aside for early work on Route 146, which leads from the bridge into Illinois.

Bob Pritchard is too busy filling prescriptions to notice the bank robber who runs right past his window at Doctor's Park; at 12:09 p.m., the First National Bank at 37 Doctor's Park is robbed, and a white man with a gun makes his getaway on foot, running westward between buildings 36 and 37 to a waiting vehicle; no one is injured in the robbery.

1969

CAIRO, Ill. -- City officials and representatives of Cairo's black community met last night to iron out differences and ease tensions in this Southern Illinois river town; some term the three-hour session fruitful, while others say it "didn't solve anything"; 200 National Guardsmen and 60 state police remain on duty here, and there is no indication when they will be withdrawn.

Gasoline trucks leaving the Sinclair Oil Co., terminal on North Main Street are being routed temporarily over Park Drive and North Street to keep them out of the downtown business district during the present high stage of the Mississippi River; the rerouting was asked for by the Main Street Levee District out of fear a truck accident would cause gasoline to flow into the activated pumping station at the foot of Merriwether with a resulting explosion.

1944

The Mississippi River, ravaging lowlands with its second most disastrous flood in a century, shows a slight fall after reaching a stage of 40.75 feet at Cape Girardeau early last night; the stage of the river at 8 a.m. is 40.70 feet, a fall of five-hundredths of a foot since midnight.

The U.S. Employment office here reports 650 employees of the shoe factory, which was closed by high water at the end of the work day last Thursday, had filed applications for unemployment compensation for the period they will be off duty; each will receive a maximum of $18 per week -- the amount being based on the regular pay.

1919

A jury in the circuit court of Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri, late last night returned a verdict against John R. Parmenter rewarding $8,000 to Mrs. Albert DeMortiers for the killing of her husband; Parmenter was convicted last year of the Oct. 27, 1917, murder of the Cape Girardeau police officer; that conviction is under appeal.

The Rock Levee Road is finally open to traffic again; for two days vehicles have been crossing it; the approaches to the new bridge over the Diversion Channel aren't finished, and there are still a few bad spots in the road, but eight teams are busy making the approaches and the road the best possible.

-- Sharon K. Sanders