Out of the past: Dec. 24

1994

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Thirty-one Perry County property owners have decided to accept a government buyout of residences flooded last year in the Bois Brule Bottoms east of Perryville; four other property owners have buyout offers, but haven't yet made a decision about them.

Ghosts of Cape Girardeau's musical past, present and future played Christmas songs at Broussard's last night to help abused and neglected children; the event was the second annual Cape Girardeau Musicians Christmas Hoot, which this year benefited the Cottonwood Residential Treatment Center in Cape Girardeau.

1969

Suzanne Jones Lewis received word last night she will be one of 12 wives of American servicemen being held prisoner in Hanoi who will receive a letter from her husband this Christmas; Lewis, the wife of Lt. Earl Gardner Lewis Jr., lives in San Diego but is spending the holiday in Cape Girardeau with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson Jones, and her in-laws.

The long-rumored purchase of the Hotel Marquette by Thad Bullock became a reality yesterday, when Bullock entered into a contract with The Berberich Co. of St. Louis to acquire the property at the northeast corner of Broadway and Fountain Street; Bullock reports the purchase price at $150,000.

1944

The Rev. Robert C. Holliday, superintendent of the Cape Girardeau district of the Methodist Church, delivers a Christmas message in the morning at Centenary Methodist Church; the choir, directed by Mrs. James A. Waller and with Alene Sadler at the organ, provides special music.

A Christmas Eve midnight Mass is heralded by the sound of chimes and trumpets playing carols in the tower of St. Mary's Catholic Church; the ceremonies are inaugurated with a candlelight procession with the vested boys' choir taking part in a dark church; officiating at the celebration is Monsignor H.F. Schuermann.

1919

A boat, heavily laden with cases of whiskey, is ice-bound near Commerce, Missouri; a revenue agent yesterday investigated the situation and found 290 cases of whiskey on board, valued at $44,000; the boat is embedded in the ice about 500 feet from the Missouri shore, opposite the Post Brothers warehouse at Commerce.

All trains coming into Cape Girardeau bring large crowds of Christmas shoppers, the two motor cars being loaded to capacity and the Gulf train and through train also carrying many passengers.

-- Sharon K. Sanders