Out of the past: Sept. 14

1999

Livestock is arriving at Arena Park, as owners vie for ribbons at the SEMO District Fair; in the evening, the entertainment includes a baby girls contest and a tractor pull; also in the evening, the YELL time capsule containing historical items and copies of the annual YELL newspaper edition is sealed and prepared for burial; the capsule will be opened Sept. 14, 2049.

It’s YELL Day in Cape Girardeau; volunteers from civic and service organizations hawk the YELL Edition, published by the Southeast Missourian, for $2 apiece at street corners in Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Gordonville, Fruitland, Scott City and Chaffee; the money raised during the event will fund literacy programs throughout the area.

1974

Rays of sunshine spread over Arena Park to help attendance at the 1974 SEMO District Fair regain its footing, after slipping yesterday when heavy showers fell until mid-afternoon; although it was All Counties Day at the Fair and pupils from rural schools were out of classes, only 5,755 persons went through the gates yesterday; there were 16,955 fairgoers on the grounds on Friday last year; because of the muddy track, the Joie Chitwood show as canceled last night.

Unless there’s a break in the deluge of rain and frequency of cloudiness in Southeast Missouri, area soybean and corn producers are in for more problems, particularly those who planted late crops; what farmers need now is the impossible, says University of Missouri Extension Division agronomist Phillip G. Stryker: at least 50 days of 70-degree-plus temperatures, accompanied by clear skies.

1949

As the SEMO District Fair nears the half-way mark of its week-long stand at Arena Park, fair officials are rounding out arrangements for Cape Girardeau Day tomorrow; it will be a half-day holiday for many Girardeans, and all public schools and most parochial schools will be closed all day; the Cape Girardeau Central High School Band, directed by Anthony Carosello, will give a concert in front of the grandstand at 12:30 p.m.; it will open the afternoon card of horse races, which will have live ‘coon drag trailing events sandwiched between heats.

The bodies of two crew members of the Frisco freight train that plunged through a wooden trestle of a flooded creek near Seventy-Six late Monday night were recovered late yesterday, and efforts are continuing to remove the body of a third; brought from the twisted wreckage of the engine, tender and freight cars were the bodies of John Faulkner, fireman, and William N. Nunn, head brakeman; still pinned beneath the wreckage is the body of the engineer, Quinton Briggs; all were from Chaffee.

1924

Louise Malone-Braxton and her “Kentucky Harmony Singers” entertained a large crowd at the St. James AME Church Friday night, and today the singers perform at Grace Methodist Church in the evening; along with the concert of “old-time spiritual songs”, Malone-Braxton speaks on “Industrial Education for the Negro”.

Organization of a church of the United Lutheran Church of America is discussed at a meeting of interested persons in Security Hall, 833 Broadway, in the morning; the Rev. E.C. Dolbeer, field commissioner for the church, presides at the meeting and receives the application of the members for a pastor; formal organization of the church will be made Sept. 28, when Dolbeer returns here; a committee composed of Dr. A.E. Dalton, E.J. Drum, Garrett Seabaugh, Collin Bender and Matilda Seabaugh, is named to secure subscriptions for construction of a new church building.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a blog called “From the Morgue” that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper. Check out her blog at semissourian.com/history.