IDAHO GOES DOWN In this article, EastIdahoNews.com examines the history of east Idaho during the week of July 7–13.
1900-1925
On July 8, 1915, The Rigby Star reported that a 14-year-old kid had killed a RIGBYA monster lynx a short distance west of Rigby.
Floyd Smith observed what he believed to be a wild cat standing on the road when he was walking from his house. He called for a rifle as he was close to the Blackburn residence. Smith then started to fight after one of the kids pulled out a.22-caliber gun.
The animal was killed after multiple bullets, and a kitten was also shot. One of the largest lynxes ever sighted in this region of the nation, the enormous mother lynx was more than five feet long.
The animals were murdered approximately 50 yards from where kids were playing and 300 yards from the town.
1926-1950
On July 7, 1935, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported that a man slugged a sheriff’s deputy and knocked a sheriff to the ground while being taken from a hospital to a courthouse in Idaho Falls.
A.L. Brown, of Calgary, Canada, was being transported by Sheriff Harry Meppen and Deputy Dave Beguin from the LDS Hospital to the courthouse after he became too aggressive there.
In the hospital’s rear driveway, Brown separated from Meppen and Beguin. He knocked Meppen down, sliced Beguin’s cheek, and struck him in the left eye. They caught him when he flung pebbles at them.
Brown weighed roughly 190 pounds and was 28 years old. It appears that he had a mental illness, and his wife had brought him to the hospital. The night before the run-in with the police, they had driven to the hospital after visiting family in Driggs.
According to the article, Mrs. Brown brought her husband here after seeing that he was acting strangely at Driggs.
She expressed her belief that his brain was impacted in some way by the high altitude. Judge W.D. Huffaker was supposed to examine him while he was being kept in a detention cell.
1951-1975
On July 8, 1952, the Idaho Falls Post Register said that a hunt was underway for possible meteor fragments thought to have fallen in east Idaho.
On Monday, a fiery ball—also referred to as a giant sky rocket—spread across the skies of the Pacific Northwest.
The ball of fire was described as red, orange, white, green, and black by residents who witnessed it in Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada.
A meteor’s brightness was extraordinary, according to Charles Osmond of Weber College in Ogden, Utah.
It must have been incredibly large if it was a meteor, according to Dr. R.N. Thomas of the University of Utah.
Two sheepherders claimed that multiple pieces of a fireball had hit the ground northwest of the atomic energy reactor site near Idaho Falls, according to Idaho State Police.
State Police Superintendent A.P. Bunderson and State Director of Aeronautics Chet Moulton were scheduled to fly over the region Tuesday afternoon to look for any indications of meteor pieces.
According to Bunderson, the region where the fragments were thought to have fallen was in the country and inaccessible by Jeep.
1976-2000
On July 13, 1977, the Idaho State Journal reported that a 15-year-old Chubbuck kid had been arrested on counts of assault with a deadly weapon and car grand theft.
The unnamed boy was suspected of pointing a.38-caliber handgun at the owner of a station wagon that had been reported stolen from the parking lot of Irving Junior High School.
Later, the owner saw his car driving by his house and rode his bicycle to catch up with it, according to police reports.
The child fled on foot and was captured by Idaho State Police about 1:30 a.m. After being transported to jail, the child awaited his court appearance.
