Out of the past: April 1

1992

JEFFERSON CITY -- U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, who is seeking a seventh term, drew one new challenger on Monday and two more on Tuesday; his opponent in the Republican primary is Earl Durnell, a farmer from Cabool, Missouri; his Democratic challengers are Shannen Russell, a farmer from Gideon, Missouri, and Wayne County prosecuting attorney Jon A. Kiser of Piedmont, Missouri.

Astronaut Linda Godwin has been selected as payload commander of a space shuttle flight scheduled in September 1993; Godwin, a Jackson High School graduate, is in Southeast Missouri this week to talk with students and participate in the Southeast Missouri Regional Science Fair.

1967

Three days; that's how long it took to reduce the sturdy block and granite structure at Broadway and Fountain Street to a heap of rubble; it took nearly 18 months of painstaking work to erect the post office-federal building nearly 60 years ago.

Cape Girardeau voters, going to the polls in the city election Tuesday, will be asked to approve the present public library tax of 20 cents per $100 assessed valuation; they will also elect two members to the City Council in an uncontested race; the library tax is an important one; while the 20-percent levy won't change the rate from its present level, voter approval is needed to fix it as a voted tax by the electorate instead of an allocation by the council.

1942

There will be no Easter lilies in Cape Girardeau churches and homes Sunday -- probably for the first time since they became the symbol of the Resurrection; 95 percent of lilies come from Japan.

Three Cape Girardeau families have miraculously receive word from kin fighting in the Philippines; Mrs. Roxy O'Daniell's letter from her brother, Thomas L. Penrod, 21, said little other than that he was well "somewhere in the Philippines"; Mr. and Mrs. W.L. Simmons received word their son, Pvt. William Simmons, is also well and in the Philippines; Mr. and Mrs. C.C. Eddleman receive a letter in the morning from their son, Sgt. William H. Eddleman, saying, "I am safe and well. Outlook is improving. Don't worry. Love to all."

1917

Palm Sunday. The day receives special attention in both Catholic churches of the city.

An extraordinarily heavy rainstorm, accompanied by severe lightning, passed over Jackson Saturday night just before midnight, and the rain continues through most of today, until the government rain gauge registers 3.91 inches; at the beginning of the storm, the Burford Hotel caught fire, but lightning knocked out the telephone; unable to call in the alarm, the night watchman yelled "Fire" and discharged his service pistol until help came; a bucket brigade was formed, but by the time the fire department arrived, considerable damage had already been done.

Jennings McBride and Theodore Heise, who have been working in a large rubber factory at Akron, Ohio, for the past six months, return home for a few weeks' visit.

-- Sharon K. Sanders