Out of the past: Oct. 17

1992

Ste. Genevieve is one of 11 cities and counties in Missouri that is running a local option issue to allow riverboat gambling on the Nov. 3 ballot; if they pass, the local options will take effect only if voters statewide approve Proposition A, which would allow gambling on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.

A mock earthquake will strike Southeast Missouri next Friday causing hundreds of injuries, knocking out communications in the region and testing response plans for national, state and local agencies; in preparation for next weekend's "Operation Steel Cure II" drill, military personnel are in town setting up radar and communications equipment.

1967

Firemen battled a two-alarm blaze in the 400 block of Broadway almost five hours yesterday and this morning; the fire destroyed one business and badly damaged two others; hardest hit was Railroad Salvage, 431 Broadway, where only a few charred shelves and canned goods remain in the burned out building; damaged by heat and smoke are SueAnn's Unique Fabricks, 429 Broadway, and Shirley's Hair Fashions, above 431 Broadway.

McBRIDE, Mo. -- About 10,000 acres of bottomland in this area have been leased to the Murphy Oil Co. of Eldorado, Arkansas, apparently for oil-drilling purposes.

1942

The Roof Construction Co. of Webster Groves, Missouri, which has been awarded a contract to erect four large hangars at the new Army airfield on Highway 61, began moving materials to the site yesterday; construction work on the first of the buildings will begin next week.

WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Powering a ground attack that netted 251 yards, mixed with an aerial bombardment, the Teachers College football Indians of Cape Girardeau defeated the Warrensburg Teachers 27-0 yesterday before a big homecoming crowd; it was the opening conference game of the season for both teams.

1917

According to a report of the Missouri Public Utilities Co. made to the Cape Girardeau City Council last night, the company lost $25,918.35 in the past six months' operations, "which information so startled the council that it hastily received and filed the report for fear it would get away."

Mercer and Joe Wilson, large corn farmers in the Big Field district near Arbor, a few miles south of Cape Girardeau, are losers of about 35 acres of unusually productive corn to a forest fire that has raged in the woods nearby for some days.

-- Sharon K. Sanders