Out of the past: Oct. 31

1990

DEXTER, Mo. -- Despite concerns raised by several Bootheel county clerks, a special election to choose a new state senator in the 25th District will be held as planned on Dec. 4; a major earthquake along the New Madrid Fault line has been predicted for Dec. 3 and 4.

A minor earthquake, believed to be an aftershock to last month's larger quake, shakes parts of New Hamburg, Mo., Chaffee, Mo., and Cape Girardeau in the morning, but no damage is reported; the temblor measures 2.6 on the Richter scale at Southeast Missouri State University.

1965

Retired Bishop Ivan Lee Holt taught a course entitled "Mission: The Christian Calling," at Centenary Methodist Church yesterday; this morning he preaches at the morning worship hour at Centenary.

At the meeting of the Scott City Council Friday night, two members surprised each other and other members of the council by tendering their resignations; they were Mayor August Eifert and city clerk L.H. Sutherland; each gave ill health as reasons for their resignations.

1940

A "March of Dimes" is one of the features of Cape Girardeau's Halloween celebration in the evening; during the parade from downtown out Broadway to Houck Field Stadium, some marchers carry a large tarpaulin, into which spectators standing along the streets toss dimes as contributions to the child welfare fund of the community; the money will be turned over to the Parent-Teacher Council to be used in aiding needy children.

Sections of a new Cape Girardeau ordinance providing that only the city sexton may legally dig graves in any cemetery within the corporate limits of the city are held void by Judge Frank Kelly in Circuit Court; the ruling comes in an appeal from City Court of a case in which Ross Shade had been arrested by police on a charge that he had illegally dug a grave in St. Mary's Cemetery, a privately owned burying ground on Perryville Road.

1915

Timothy McCabe of the St. Louis Browns is on the mound for the Cape Girardeau Capahas, as the locals blank the Perryville (Missouri) Fords 5-0, giving the Caps the championship of Southeast Missouri; hurling for Perryville is a man named Fitzmeyer, a pitcher for the Alpen Braus of St. Louis.

Representatives of the Anti-Saloon League of Missouri fill the pulpits at several Cape Girardeau churches in the morning; the Rev. H.D. Thompson preaches at Centenary Methodist Church, and the Rev. W.C. Shup, superintendent of the league, speaks at the Presbyterian Church; holding forth at First Baptist church is the Rev. W.C. Foreman, district superintendent of the league.

-- Sharon K. Sanders