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Janet Fenimore Robert: Recorder of Deeds

When I wrote about Jackson’s Hanging Tree back in March, I admitted that I didn’t exactly know which tree it was and had to ask at the Mapping Division across from the County Courthouse.

Janet Fennimore Robert quickly commented: I probably shouldn’t admit this because I might also be hung on the tree with the three commissioners but losing a tree that is falling down anyway doesn’t bother me as much as losing all that lawn around the courthouse! It would no longer be the courthouse square but the courthouse horseshoe! Ken, when you were in the Mapping office had you taken a few more steps you would have come to my office, Recorder of Deeds, just down the hall. We have stories to tell, also. And we like Wibs……

She knows who is naughty and nice

Recorder of Deeds, huh? That sounds like a cross between Santa Claus and St. Peter. Not someone you would want to be on the bad side of.

I stopped by to see my Central High School Class of ’63 classmate on primary election day. She was as anxious as I was when I ran for Student Body President. Fortunately for her, she had better results. She was unopposed for the Democratic ticket. (I garnered 163 votes out of a student body of about 1,200. Future Wife Lila didn’t even vote for me.)

She IS facing her first opponent in the general election since 1994. Janet is one of only three Democratic officeholders in Cape County. She was appointed to the office in 1977 by then-Gov. Joe Teasdale. She’s looking for her ninth full term. I won’t even think about getting into the nuts and bolts of a Cape County election. That’s way above my pay grade.

I was afraid to look at my permanent record

I was tempted to ask the Recorder of Deeds to show me my permanent record, but then I remembered that one of the last things I did before I left my newspaper job was to visit H.R. to gaze upon my “permanent record” there.

Ensconced between the covers of a manila file folder was my original job application. When my boss told me I had to fill it out, I figured he was just funning with me because I had already been working for two weeks.

When I got to the part that asked, “What are your qualifications for this position,” I typed, “I’m a damn good photographer.”

Thirty-five years later, it was still there, written in ink that was less faded than me.

I don’t think I want the Recorder of Deeds poking around in my records.

In case of emergency

This elevator sign in her building made me a little nervous.

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Silver Dollar Tavern

The Missourian ran a story this morning about a man who died jumping off the Old Appleton Bridge. A reader asked if that was the same Castor River bridge I showed kids jumping off in another post.

The answer is, “No.” Wrong body of water, wrong bridge. The caller who reported the drowning said the man had jumped off the “red bridge” and had not surfaced. There used to be a water-powered mill just downstream of this bridge. A dam created a deep pool of water that made a good swimming hole.

I’ll write about the Old Appleton bridges later. The bridge on Highway 61 that replaced the “red bridge” was a death trap that The Missourian campaigned hard to get replaced. I spent a lot of time shooting wrecks there.

Silver Dollar Tavern

When we slowed down in Old Appleton this spring, I figured I’d better shoot the landmark Silver Dollar Tavern while it was still – barely – standing. The local gathering place had pool tables, a dance floor and a bar. I’ve read that a lot of Blues music was played there.

I don’t know how old the building is. A Google search of The Missourian’s archives popped up a story from 1948, so it’s at least as old as I am. I’m going to throw in a bunch of stories that ran in the Old Appleton News column over the years. Most of them were written by Rip Schnurbusch.

District News Editor herds stringers

One of my many jobs at The Missourian was District News Editor, riding herd over our country correspondents, or stringers, as they were called. They got the name of “stringers” because they were paid by the column inch and it was easier to measure their copy with a string at the end of the pay period instead of using a ruler and having to do math.

Being a young, serious journalist, I would edit their copy with a meat axe. One day, Editor John Blue called me in and said to cut them some slack. “Not much happens in these little towns, so they make do the best they can. Besides, their little asides are what make their columns fun to read.”

Non-linear journalism

Now that I’ve become a non-linear journalist myself, I can appreciate what jBlue was telling me. I’ve grown to appreciate Rip and Anne Withers from Delta and Anne Lattimore from Charleston in my old age, even though they drove me crazy when I had to read their hen scratch copy. To make it worse, they would send the same stories to three or four papers; you were lucky if you got the TOP copy and not the fourth carbon.

I just discovered a whole manila folder of stringer copy marked “Funny File.” We’ll save it for another time.

This one is too good not to share. It illustrates the news judgment of my stringers: A singing convention was held at the Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Parma Sunday afternoon with feature singers of the Campbell Trio of Gideon. The convention was interrupted by a fire which destroyed the home of John Barker. [Emphasis mine. Mind you, this wasn’t even the TOP item.]

A Smattering of Old Appleton News

  • June 23, 1948 – Jean Balsmann, proprietor of the Silver Dollar Tavern, has added ice cream to his stock.
  • April 20, 1949 – Barney Balsmann, owner of the Silver Dollar Tavern, and his son, Gene, who operates the tavern, are building an addition to the building which will house several pool tables.

  • May 19, 1948 – A chicken fry was held Tuesday night at Silver Dollar Tavern for young men of the community.
  • F.C. Sewing recently purchased a sow and seven pigs from Barney Balsmann.
  • Oct. 13, 1948 – Miss Verda Weisbrod was honored at a miscellaneous shower last week at the Silver Dollar Tavern given by Mrs. Hugo Triller, Marilyn Weisbod and Betty J. Schnurbusch.
  • A tree felled last weekend by Millard Esters and Edward Jarigan killed a raccoon which had holed up in the tree. The impact of the tree, which was to be used to firewood, killed the animal.
  • May 16, 1962 – The Perry County Saddle Club held its monthly meeting Monday night at the Silver Dollar Tavern with a good attendance. Refreshments were served.
  • March 21, 1963 – Classified ad: SILVER DOLLAR TAVERN: For sale or lease. See or contact Gene Balsman, Perryville, MO.
  • March 31, 1965 – The Silver Dollar Tavern changed hands over the weekend, the new owner being Van Ferral.
  • April 30, 1970 – There is one less pony in town. The Edgar Blechle children lost one of their pet ponies this past week when the animal got loose, ran on the highway, and was hit by a small van truck belonging to the Saveway Oil Co. of Scott City.
  • Mr. and Mrs. B.C. Humphrey moved from the Wally Unterreiner home into the former Schaeffer home over the weekend. Mr. Humphrey is employed at the Farmers Limestone Co. as a heavy equipment operator, and Mrs. Humphrey is a cook at the Silver Dollar Tavern. [I wonder how long they had to live there before their domicile would be called the Humphrey home?]


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Cape’s Alice’s Restaurant

Becky Hoppe Jones left a message after I ran the aerial photo of the area around the Common Pleas Courthouse:

I’d be interested in seeing a photo of the old Baptist church just up Broadway from First National Bank.  You can see the white steeple in some of your aerial photos.

I went to church there until the early to mid-70’s. Then our congregation sold it to another congregation.  It was left empty awhile later and then around 2000 was renovated and opened with an antique store in the sanctuary.  The classroom space in the back of the building had been remodeled into living quarters.

As I recall there was a small room up a flight of stairs from the back of  the sanctuary that would have been in the base of the bell tower.  You can  see the arched window in your first shot.  Not sure I’d want to live there, though.

Made me think of Alice’s Restaurant

When I photographed the church last fall, I saw the realty sign on the front and immediately thought of Arlo’s Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant:

“Now it all started two Thanksgivings ago, was two years ago on Thanksgiving, when my friend and I went up to visit Alice at the restaurant, but Alice doesn’t live in the restaurant, she lives in the church nearby the restaurant, in the bell-tower, with her husband Ray and Fasha the dog.”

Boyd Hobbs painted steeple in 1967

The Missourian cutline that ran under one of my photos read, “Boyd Hobbs, a Cape Girardeau painter, is silhouetted against the sky as he applies a fresh coat of paint to the steeple of the General Baptist Church at 200 Broadway.”

How did he tie the rope?

The cutline continued, “The Rev. Elvis O. Wilson, pastor, said he believes both the church and steeple were built in 1893. The steeple was last painted seven years ago.” The question that DIDN’T get answered was, “How did he get the rope loop that he’s hanging from tied to the steeple?

Steeple due for more paint

Looks like Mr. Hobbs better pull out his rope again. The steeple’s beginning to show some rust.

Now it all started two Thanksgivings ago, was on - two years ago on
Thanksgiving, when my friend and I went up to visit Alice at the
restaurant, but Alice doesn't live in the restaurant, she lives in the
church nearby the restaurant, in the bell-tower, with her husband Ray and
Fasha the dog.
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Al Spradling Jr and III

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that this is Al Spradling, Jr., commonly known around Cape as Senator. Spradling was the youngest person to be elected to the Missouri Senate in 1952, when he was 31. He retired from the Senate in 1977, after a 25-year career. He championed mental health programs and helped pass the state’s open meetings law.

He died in 2004 at 84. The Missourian’s obituary contains some interesting tidbits about Al Spradling Jr. that I didn’t know.

Al Spradling III

Al was in the class of ’65. It was a scary thing when I heard that he was actually Mayor of Cape Girardeau. People you grew up with don’t have any business running towns and the country. There are more photos of Al III (I don’t recall anybody ever calling him that in high school) in some negatives Jim Stone had squirreled away.

Al Spradling III and Andy McLean

I shot this photo of Al Spradling III at some event at SEMO, probably a football game. The fellow with his hand brushing his nose is Andy McLean, the best man at my wedding in 1969. I met Andy, another photographer, at SEMO. We ran around together until I transferred to Ohio University.

Sometime in the 80s, long before Google, the newspaper bought a collection of CD-ROMS that had telephone numbers for everybody in the country on them. Of course, we all spent time in the newspaper morgue (that’s what we called the library before political correctness) looking up old friends and relatives.

When I got a chance, I searched for Andy, who had lived in the St. Louis area.

“May I speak with Andy McLean?”

“Hello,” I said. “May I speak with Andy McLean?”

“He’s dead,” a male voice on the other end of the line said matter-of-factly.

Somewhat taken aback, I stumbled on. “The Andy McLean I’m looking for was the best man at my wedding in 1969. I got a letter saying he had been drafted, then nothing else. Are we talking about the same one.”

“OK, I’m not dead.” Andy McLean fessed up. “You’d be amazed at how that cuts down on telemarketing calls.”

Now that I think of it, that was the last time we talked. I guess I should see if he’s still Not Dead the next time I visit Bro Mark in St. Louis.

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