Out of the past: Sept. 4

1998

Cape Girardeau County commissioners have unanimously endorsed the merger of Saint Francis Medical Center and Southeast Hospital; the commissioners agreed yesterday to work with the hospital antitrust lawyers to draft a letter of support for the merger plan, which will be submitted to the Department of Justice and the Missouri attorney general.

Southeast Missouri State University's renovated social science building will be named after the late Albert Sidney Johnson Carnahan, a former congressman and Gov. Mel Carnahan's father; A.S.J. Carnahan graduated from the university, then Southeast Missouri State College, in 1926; Donald Dickerson, Board of Regents president and a friend of Mel Carnahan, said A.S.J. Carnahan was one of Southeast's most distinguished graduates.

1973

Tenth District Rep. Bill D. Burlison, D-Cape Girardeau, denies he received financial or any other assistance from the Republican party in his bid for re-election to a third term in November; he issues a statement from his Washington, D.C., office in reply to reports last week that he and three other Democratic incumbents from Missouri were on a list of 100 Democrats the White House hoped would win re-election.

BENTON, Mo. -- Stephen A. Burton, 84, a Benton attorney for more than 30 years, is found dead at his home; he had apparently died of natural causes Saturday night; he is survived by his daughter, Ruth Ann Brock, of Memphis, Tennessee; a sister and a granddaughter.

1948

Murray E. Thompson, Republican candidate for governor, speaks in the evening at Jackson, the final night of the annual Homecomers; he is accompanied by other party candidates for state offices, including George H. Miller for lieutenant governor, Roy Scantlin for secretary of state, F. Reed Grainger for state auditor, Vern F. Carpenter for state treasurer and Herbert Douglass for attorney general.

The long Labor Day weekend beckons for many Girardeans as they seek diversion elsewhere, but for the hundreds who will remain in the city, and those visiting here, two picnics are on tap to furnish holiday entertainment; the Central Trades Council will host a picnic at Capaha Park, while the Knights of Columbus hold a two-day picnic and dance on their grounds on South Spanish Street.

1923

Attorney Albert Spradling, 1420 Good Hope St., is carrying his left arm in a sling as a result of a fall down the basement steps at his home Friday; his arm was broken at the elbow, when his foot slipped on the stairs while he was carrying a case of soda to the basement.

A total of 2,293 students are enrolled in Cape Girardeau's public schools at the opening of the fall term; this is an increase of about 143 over the first day of classes last year and is the greatest first-day enrollment in the history of the school system; that count isn't complete, as dozens of students are expected to enroll at Cape Girardeau Central High School this afternoon.

-- Sharon K. Sanders