Thought for today: Examine what is said, not him who speaks — Arab proverb.

Thought for today: Proust has pointed out that the predisposition to love creates its own objects: is this not true of fear? — Elizabeth Bowen

“It was definitely arson,” was the ruling this morning from Louis Gray, an investigator for the State Fire Marshal’s office. “The fire had multiple points of origin, and involved the basement, second and third floors of the building.”

Thought for today: The most exhausting thing in life ... is being insincere — Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American writer (1906-2001).

When he wasn’t fighting fires John Bowen was fighting for firemen.

The lifelong Hannibal resident takes pride in both accomplishments. For two decades Bowen extinguished blazes in the city of Hannibal. But of equal importance, in Bowen’s opinion, is the state legislation he helped propose which gave fellow firemen more rights and higher salaries.

Standing stately yet often unnoticed in Hannibal’s Central Park is a monument to a statesman who did much to improve the lot of Midwest farmers. A statue honoring William H. Hatch, whose career in Congress brought him fame and placed his home of Hannibal prominently in the public eye, was placed in the park after a Hatch Monument Association was formed in Hannibal during 1908.
Led by a group of local citizens, the association was organized to accomplish the erection to Hannibal of a suitable monument to the congressman. George A. Mahan was president of the group; Frank L. Schofield, vice president; John T. Holme Jr., secretary and A.R. Levering, treasurer.

Silk hosiery and airplanes aren’t usually linked together, but the Marguerite Broaddus, the combination was her link to fame in the 1930s.

Thought for today: Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood — Marie Curie, Polish Nobel Prize-winning chemist (1867-1934).

Hannibal firefighters conduct an inspection at Western Printing & Lithographing Company in Hannibal during October 1963.

Not only did Joyce Anderson witness the development of Mark Twain Lake, but she was an integral part of it.