Out of the past 9/21/06

25 years ago: Sept. 21, 1981

Although shy of the 100,000 goal again this year, the SEMO District Fair succeeded in setting a new attendance mark for the six-day exposition that ended Saturday; fair board officials say 91,635 people visited the fairgrounds this year, nearly 7,000 more than the old record set in 1979.

A suspect in a Cape Girardeau County burglary is killed and a state trooper is wounded in a shoot-out on Route DD in Ste. Genevieve County; Trooper Randy L. Becker, 27, of Ste. Genevieve, Mo., is shot in the upper right thigh and is in satisfactory condition in a local hospital.

50 years ago: Sept. 21, 1956

Sewer and levee construction work in the North Main Street Levee Improvement District is about 93 percent complete, and all earth for the levee flanking Sloan's Creek should be in place by the end of the month.

Christ Episcopal Church has purchased the home of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Kirchhoff, 316 Franklin Ave., for use as a rectory; the split-level design was built recently by the Kirchhoffs, who moved into the home in March; they will move soon to a house in Rodney Vista, so the Rev. and Mrs. Arthur B. Geeson may occupy the new rectory; Kirchhoff plans to begin construction soon of a new home on a lot he owns at 312 Franklin Ave.

75 years ago: Sept. 21, 1931

Several property owners residing on two blocks of Merriwether Street, between South Pacific and South Sprigg streets, for which concrete paving has been proposed, appear before the city council to oppose this improvement.

The manufacture of butter tubs in Cape Girardeau has been started by the Star Tub Co., a newly organized firm located in the C.J. Reisenbichler Lumber Co. plant, 330 N. Main St.; Reisenbichler, president of the new company, says there is a great demand for the product.

100 years ago: Sept. 21, 1906

The great civil rights trial in which two prominent Sikeston, Mo., men and five farmers of New Madrid County were involved as defendants is at an end, so far as Cape Girardeau is concerned; having been convicted of peonage, the men receive fines amounting to $10,500 and jail terms totaling 15 years.

Jack Adkins, formerly a policeman, and John Hurd, who has 25 years experience as a cowboy on the Texas plains, will give demonstrations tomorrow of their prowess as bronco busters on the lot near Adkin's home; two men-killing horses will be tamed, and they invite all other unbroken horses to the event.

-- Sharon K. Sanders