Out of the past: Oct. 31

1994

Southeast Missouri State University observed its Homecoming with a variety of activities, including the annual parade down Broadway and the Copper Dome breakfast at the Show Me Center; during the latter gathering, Southeast president Dr. Kala M. Stroup presented Judith Wilferth the Friend of the University award.

Asbestos in the pipes at the old Salvation Army Building -- the former Farmers & Merchants Bank at South Sprigg and Good Hope streets -- has delayed its demolition and added to the expense of the project; the cost for the tests and asbestos removal could run between $30,000 and $50,000.

1969

Cape Girardeau's United Fund, for only the third time in its history, meets its goal and exceeds it; Maurice T. Dunklin, campaign chairman, says contributions and pledges total $114,924, $1,114 more than the goal.

Rear Adm. Herbert S. Matthews Jr., originally from Sikeston, Missouri, speaks to members of the Cape Girardeau Chapter of the Navy League; a member of the Navy since 1941, Matthews was promoted to the rank of admiral in August and is currently commander of the Naval Air Basic Training Command in Pensacola, Florida.

1944

Over-enthusiastic Halloween pranksters in Cape Girardeau couldn't wait for tonight, but started out a day and a night in advance, giving downtown store windows a good soaping.

Service on nine telephone toll circuits, covering territory from St. Louis to Caruthersville, Missouri, is interrupted for 40 minutes shortly after noon, when the boom of a large Army-type crane being taken into the Kopper Co. tie yard on the Missouri Pacific Railroad on Highway 61 west of Cape Girardeau snags a primary toll circuit and breaks it; the huge crane, one of a type used in the assembly of heavy howitzer-type cannon, is equipped with a special grappling hook being tested in the loading of ties from yards onto railroad cars.

1919

Victor H. Drumm of Columbia, Missouri, a brother of M.G. Drumm who teaches agriculture at Central High School, is making preparations to establish a mammoth chick hatchery here; he has a contract for an incubator of 25,000 capacity, which he expects to arrive here in early December; he will operate the business from two of the Houck buildings near the Cape Girardeau Northern depot on Independence Street.

The Baptist Church has purchased a new bulletin board, with interchangeable steel letters, which will be placed in the church yard on the corner of Spanish Street and Broadway; the bulletin board is 6 feet high and is one of the best of the kind; a smaller board has been bought for inside the church.

-- Sharon K. Sanders