Out of the past: Oct. 26

1993

Wet fields are hampering the fall harvest and planting of winter wheat in Missouri; September 1993 was the second wettest in more than 70 years in Cape Girardeau; so far this month, rain at the airport totals 2.58 inches.

A new mural will be unveiled in Cape Girardeau, just in time for Southeast Missouri State University's homecoming celebration; the River Heritage Mural Association is working on its sixth mural on the west side of the building that houses Shivelbine's Music store; the mural, the brainchild of Leland "Freck" Shivelbine, pays homage to the city's musical legacy.

1968

Renovation work on the old Bollinger Mill at Burfordville, being restored by the State Park Department, is nearing an end for the season; currently, the dam is being repaired, and a stone retaining wall from the mill pond to the building is being rebuilt.

Twenty-five area artists not represented in last year's show have requested entry blanks for The Missourian's 22nd annual Art Exhibition, to be held Nov. 23 and 24 in The Missourian offices; around 150 artists have received entry blanks.

1943

Cape Girardeau's street department employees are busy hauling leaves; many leaves have fallen on the streets the past few days, and they are piled in heaps by Earl Young, using a special attachment on the street sweeping machine; four trucks are then used to take the leaves to the city dump on Frederick Street and other locations.

Seaman First Class Otha Charles Mefford of Cape Girardeau, who has just returned to the States for hospitalization on the west cost, revealed in a letter to his wife here that he was wounded in action in the Pacific area.

1918

SIKESTON, Mo. -- The disease which is proving fatal to so many people has claimed its first victim in the city of Sikeston; J. Ruddle Greer, 29, a well-known and very popular young man, died at his home here Thursday evening of pneumonia, preceded by Spanish influenza.

After a long, useful life, Julia Gill died last evening at the age of 73 years; the greater part of her life was spent in Cape Girardeau, having moved here in 1877 from Vienna, Illinois; her husband, George Gill, died in 1881; Julia Kiernan Gill was born in Caran, Ireland, June 21, 1845; when she was 2 years old, her mother died, and two years later the family came to the United States; at the outbreak of the Civil War, she volunteered her services to her adopted country in the role of nurse.

-- Sharon K. Sanders