Out of the past: Dec. 3

1999

​Ute and Pete Claussen left Germany 3 1/2 years ago in a 31-foot sailboat named Phoenix; they have visited Holland, Greece, Turkey, the Canary Islands, Gibraltar, England, Barbados, the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes; but for the past week or so, they have been enjoying the view at Honker’s Boat Dock; a balky diesel engine, already rebuilt once since their voyage began, broke down opposite the dock as the Claussens were dropping down the Mississippi River to Cairo, Illinois; Mike Hurst, owner of Mike’s Marine on Water Street, is working to repair the engine.

The Cape Girardeau County Commission says an eight-acre tract of land near South Kingshighway would make a good site for a juvenile justice center, but the price could be a stumbling block; the land, owned by the Southeast Missouri State University Foundation, could cost from $16,000 to $20,000 an acre.

1974

​The City of Jackson must enact a floodplain management program within 30 days or it will be cropped from the Federal Flood Insurance Program, the Jackson City Council learned last night; the warning, given by Gary McClure, flood insurance specialist with the Federal Insurance Administration at Kansas City, spurred a lengthy one and one-half hour discussion on the matter, that at times became heated; councilmen voted to continue participation in the program.

One of Cape Girardeau’s industrial landmarks, the smokestack of the former Marquette Cement Co. dry process plant on South Sprigg Street, will be dismantled in the interest of progress, the company announces; within the next two weeks, the 350-foot high structure will be torn down, this will be in keeping with the rest of the plant, which will also come down; since the plant was shut down in 1969 in favor of a new wet-process plant, 70% of the old plant has been dismantled.

1949

​Cape Girardeau, which parlayed a $1,092.02 investment into 30 years of swimming pool use at Capaha Park, will decide Tuesday at the special bond issue election whether the ancient oval must suffice or whether it will be replaced by a new $200,000 pool; the pool dates to mid-summer 1919, when the Cape Girardeau City Council appropriated just over $1,000 as its part of construction of the present pool, and it is the only tax money ever put out for a pool here; the remaining $2,500 of the total investment was raised by the then Civic Improvement Association and the Home Guard (World War I militia).

Oscar Seyer, out hunting Thursday night accompanied as onlookers by four others, hit the jackpot with his three ‘coon dogs; he brought back eight of the fur-bearing creatures after a 4 1/2-hour hunt, which ‘coon hunters will attest is a good night; in addition, his dogs treed five ‘possums, which got in the way of Seyer’s gun sights; accompanying Seyer were Joe Seyer Jr., Jerry Blechle, Clarence Greaser Jr. of Cape Girardeau and Ed Enderle of Kelso.

1924

​Fire, originating mysteriously in a nearby barn, sweeps the retail plant of Riverside Lumber Co., 314 S. Ellis St., at 1 a.m.; in addition, the blaze destroys three frame dwellings, threatens a half dozen more and cripples telephone service in South Cape Girardeau for several hours; at an estimated $50,000 in damages, it is the costliest conflagration in Cape Girardeau this year; eight head of horses and one mule, the property of T.J. Miller and all locked in the barn on the alley at the rear of 325 S. Sprigg St., where the fire is believed to have started, are burned to death in the fire, which also destroys several hundred bushels of grain, several tons of hay and Miller’s Ford automobile and also levels two garages in the immediate area.

The lives of dozens of persons were endangered and property damage estimated at $100 was caused when a compressed air tank at the North End Service Station, 703 N. Main St., exploded early yesterday; the huge container, 7 feet long and 2 feet in diameter, was hurled nearly 75 feet in the air, landing on the Jones Store, next door to the garage, caving in the roof and several rafters, but not falling into the store building.

Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders compiles the information for the daily Out of the Past column. She also writes a weekend column called “From the Morgue” that showcases interesting historical stories from the newspaper.