Out of the past: Nov. 15

1997

Every September, somewhere in Southern Illinois, flocks of Canada geese form their familiar "V" while hunting for a corn, sorghum or soybean field, a lake or farm pond, in the first migration from the north; flights will continue through the winter, and by the time the northern visitors start their trek back next year, as many as a million geese will have visited the Southern Illinois area; goose hunters could start firing a half-hour before sunrise today, as the 1997 season opened in the four counties of Alexander, Union, Williamson and Jackson; but few if any shots are heard, as the birds haven't made it to this area yet.

Most of the nearly 400,000 deer hunters in Missouri take to the woods today, the first day of the state's 11-day firearms deer season; enforcing the laws that govern hunters will be 170 conservation agents in the protection division of the Missouri Department of Conservation -- generally only one agent per county; firearms deer season runs through Nov. 25.

1972

Pupils begin occupying the new West Lane Elementary School; fourth and fifth grades are moved to the new building, and sixth grades and special education will move in tomorrow morning; generally, the classrooms are equipped with new furniture, and each youngster will simply take the contents of his desk to the new school with him.

With Thanksgiving still a week away, Cape Girardeau residents are shopping early and filling grocery carts with all the goodies that go into delicious holiday "fixin's"; as tradition dictates, turkey ranks number one again this year as star of the Thanksgiving feast; retail store managers here report turkey is indeed the best buy this year; prices for hens, which are smaller and more tender than toms, range from approximately 38 to 48 cents per pound; toms are going for as low as 32 cents a pound.

1947

Uninterrupted rain marred yesterday's State College Homecoming activities, but not the enthusiasm of those attending; after a noon luncheon today honoring Professor Jeptha Riggs and a football game this afternoon, Homecoming will conclude this evening with the Varsity Club dance and crowning of the year's football queen.

All right of way has been secured and construction should begin within the next few months of an underground coastal telephone and television cable from St. Louis to Memphis, Tennessee, running through Cape Girardeau County between Cape Girardeau and Jackson; the cable will be 310 feet in length; it will come into the county near Old Appleton, run just east of Jackson, cross Highway 74 just east of Dutchtown, go under Highway 25 north of the Little River Diversion Channel and then go under the channel and continue on its route southward past Dexter, Missouri, and toward Memphis.

1922

Cannon C. Hearne, Cape Girardeau County farm agent, was seriously injured last night when part of the woodwork on a porch he was climbing to get into the second story of the Morton Home in Jackson, where he lives, gave way, throwing him violently to the sidewalk; Hearne, out late with his son, discovered upon returning home that he had forgotten his key; not wishing to disturb Mr. and Mrs. Garnet Morton, who live downstairs, he attempted to scale the porch to gain entrance; he struck his head in the fall, and it is feared he suffered a concussion.

The 38-caliber Savage automatic revolver, used by Willie Willeford in shooting the late Chief of Police Jeff Hutson, is taken from Grace Willeford, the former's widow, by Deputy Sheriff Ed Frenzel while she is on the steamer Bald Eagle, docked at Wittenberg, Missouri, in the evening; he confiscates the gun on the grounds she was carrying a concealed weapon in her baggage.

-- Sharon K. Sanders