Out of the past: April 18

1997

Less than a week after buying an old house a quarter-mile north of Neely's Landing, Warren Seekell came home last evening to find it engulfed in flames; by the time firefighters arrived from Fruitland, it was nothing but flames and twisted sheet metal; Seekell, 26, and his wife were at work, and none of their three children -- ages 8, 6 and 8 months -- was home at the time of the fire.

Sister Jane Kiefer was given the Vernice Baumstark Award yesterday at the annual Saint Francis Auxiliary and Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon; the award is presented yearly to those who have given outstanding service to the hospital; Kiefer began as a social worker for Saint Francis in 1976, and later became director of social services and then chaplain in the pastoral care department.

1972

Robert B. Hendrix of Springfield, Missouri, widely experienced executive in the field, is named executive vice president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce; he will take over between now and June 1 the post left vacant by the death of W. Allen Robinson; Hendrix and his wife, Rosemary, are the parents of four children.

The Jackson City Council moved to exercise its options to purchase 56.338 acres for parks last night and, after a discussion, decided to hold two other options for further consideration; the land voted upon for purchase was the John C. Crites tract, which adjoins City Park on the north; it runs from the intersection of Highway 61 and Route D south to the park, west of near Union Street, north past Randy Street, west a block and then north to Route D again.

1947

One man died on admission to Saint Francis Hospital, another is in critical condition there and two more were injured late yesterday when two explosions rocked the Atlas Powder Co. plant near Wolf Lake, Illinois; fatally injured was George Foster, 40, of Jonesboro, Illinois; the force of the blasts knocked down an employee 1,000 feet away, although the plant's "dry house" 800 feet from the explosion scene and containing tons of explosives was undamaged; four small steel buildings in the blast area were leveled.

The R. Lowenbaum Mfg. Co., makers of junior girls' dresses, has rented a building at 24 N. Spanish St., and will begin installing equipment immediately; factory managers hope to be in operation around May 1.

1922

The weather station at Cairo, Illinois, is predicting an additional half foot rise in the Mississippi River here, to a stage of 38.2 feet, "barring further breaks in the levee"; Cape Girardeau should see flood crest within 48 hours, if there are no further floods from the north; water, which has been kept at bay using a barricade of sandbags, has finally crept into the Frisco passenger station on South Main Street and is six inches deep in the ticket office; Main south of Independence Street is a veritable sea; north of Independence, the water is four inches deep in front of the Woolworth store on Main.

Hundreds of farmers living in East Cape Girardeau and McClure, Illinois, and in adjoining counties, to Gale, Illinois, are working night and day to maintain their levee; they know if it breaks, thousands of acres of land will be inundated and crops damaged to the tune of millions of dollars.

-- Sharon K. Sanders