25 years ago: June 16, 1984

With temperatures hovering near the 100-degree mark, crowds swarm downtown Cape Girardeau for Riverfest; two big attractions for revelers are the paddlewheeler Delta Queen, here for several hours, and the Coast Guard vessel Sumac.

Some unexpected repairs and a larger-than-average paving machine combined to back up traffic on the river bridge yesterday afternoon; traffic on the Illinois side was backed up as far as Route 3 as people tried to make their way to Riverfest; on the Missouri side, traffic was snarled as far back as Sprigg Street.

50 years ago: June 16, 1959

Cape Girardeau's tax levy will remain unchanged in the new fiscal year starting July 1; the city council Monday pegged it again at $1.33 per $100 assessed valuation; also at the meeting, the council appointed Raymond H. Vogel, former prosecuting attorney and representative from Cape Girardeau County, as city attorney.

State and federal agents are investigating the issuance of two bank charters in Cape Girardeau County.

75 years ago: June 16, 1934

BENTON, Mo. -- Making good his daylight break for liberty from the Scott County jail in Benton, a 50-year-old ex-convict is being hunted in this and adjoining counties; the prisoner forced the outer jail door open yesterday afternoon and ran to some woods southwest of Benton.

A fire that converts Happy Hollow and its rubbish heaps into a roaring furnace shortly after noon is brought under control by Cape Girardeau firefighters after a two-hour battle; scores of automobile bodies, tons of paper, old clothes, boxes, barrels and other junk go up in the blaze.

100 years ago: June 16, 1909

Thomas Hinkle, who always has a string of good horses at the Cape Girardeau fair, has made arrangements with J.T. Nunn, superintendent of the fairgrounds, to bring seven racehorses here for training; Hinkle will erect a tent on the fairgrounds and will stay during the summer.

The long deadlock in the school board over the election of a Cape Girardeau school superintendent was broken last night by the unanimous choice of John Laidlaw of Columbia, Mo.

-- Sharon K. Sanders