Out of the past: Sept. 26

1995

Money is tight and its building is too small, but Southeast Missouri State University officials and state lawmakers have no intention of letting the Regional Crime Lab close; school officials met with state Reps. Mary Kasten, Joe Heckemeyer and Pat Naeger recently to discuss creative ways to pay for a new crime lab building; the lab serves about 45 law enforcement agencies in Southeast Missouri, including local offices of the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, from an old house on the edge of the university campus.

Preliminary work on a 500-foot mural that will grace the floodwall along Water Street has begun; Anthony Spinazola, a muralist and painter for Weatherford Sign Co. of Carbondale, Illinois, is working with two helpers tracing the outline for the "Wall of Fame" mural on the wall; painting the mural should begin in October.

1970

Republican state auditor candidate Kit Bond and State Rep. Robert Pearce Jr., charge that incumbent State Auditor Haskell Holman has failed to audit most state agencies every two years as required by law; the Cape Girardeau legislator reveals he has just completed a study that indicates some major divisions of state government have never been audited by the state auditor.

Two men on their way from the Arctic Circle to New Orleans, Louisiana, by canoe are scheduled to stop in Cape Girardeau today; Barry Lane, 19, of St. Peter, Minnesota, and Sam Pokeelo, a 23-year-old Eskimo from Baker Lake in Northwest Territory, began their journey May 27 when the left Repulse Bay on the Arctic Circle, their canoe lashed to an Eskimo sled.

1945

The Salvation Army has purchased two lots at the southeast corner of Lorimier and William streets for the purpose of constructing a large citadel to fit into the future development of Cape Girardeau; each lot has a frontage on William Street of 90 feet and a depth of 180 feet, one of them being bought from E.L. Markham and the other from Beulah Flynn, the latter of St. Louis.

In preparation for future expansion, the Superior Electric Products Corp., 1507-15 Independence St., has purchased a sizable tract of land adjacent on the southwest of its present factory building; the land, roughly 300 by 400 feet, lying on the west side of the factory, runs north from the Missouri Pacific Railroad to within 150 feet of Independence Street and west to Minnesota Avenue.

1920

The clothing store of George P. Richards, better known as "Mack's Place," 110 N. Main St., is badly damaged by fire early in the morning; the fire is discovered at 6:10 a.m. by George W. Tallent, barber across the street, who sees smoke emerging from the building; he raises the alarm and evacuates those living above the store; through good work on the part of firemen, the flames are prevented from spreading to adjacent buildings.

Baseball fans here may yet have a chance to see a big league team in action at Fairground Park this season; Capahas manager Dep Barenkamp and the management of the St. Louis Browns are working on a plan to schedule a game here.

-- Sharon K. Sanders