Out of the past 12/24/04

25 years ago: Dec. 24, 1979

Mrs. Ouida Lee Vasterling is described as "excited" and a bit "flabbergasted" by all the attention she's been receiving lately; she will be 100 years old Christmas Day; some 200 people attended a party for Vasterling yesterday at the Howard Johnson's here.

A youth attempting to rob the Midtown Liquor store, 1215 Independence St., flees from the store with no money, but is lucky to escape with his life, after the husband of the store clerk fires a shotgun at him.

50 years ago: Dec. 24, 1954

City employees were given a Christmas present yesterday, when the city council approved a 5 percent pay increase for all city employees effective Jan. 1; in other action, the council set Jan. 25 as the date for a special election to determine if a successor should be chosen to replace Councilman Philip H. Steck.

The county court enters an order disallowing a petition from a group of residents at Delta asking that the town be dissolved as a city of the fourth class and returned to village status.

75 years ago: Dec. 24, 1929

NEW MADRID, Mo. -- Fire of unknown origin virtually destroys the New Madrid high and grade school building, with the loss expected to be in excess of $50,000.

Cape Girardeau will appropriately observe Christmas Day tomorrow with business and industry generally suspended and a variety of features planned; the Salvation Army will give its annual Christmas party for children at the General Baptist Church in the evening; a pageant, "Mrs. Scrooge on Bain Street," is presented in the evening at the Maple Avenue Methodist Church.

100 years ago: Dec. 24, 1904

Louis Houck recently returned from St. Louis, where he secured numerous items from the Missouri Building of the World's Fair for the Cape Girardeau Normal School, including a mahogany table and eight chairs from the governor's room, the Japanese furniture from the ladies' parlor, a painting entitled "Missouri," half the electrical chandeliers, two mahogany settees, 300 chairs, portiers, draperies, hangings, and 100 yards of Wilton carpet.

The towboat Eagle, which had been stuck on a sandbar near Poe's Landing, passes down the river early in the morning; it was able to extricate itself from the sand after two days of struggle.

-- Sharon K. Sanders