Looking back: Bats let loose in Idaho Falls High School on April Fools’ Day and Idaho Mother’s week to take place
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IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of March 28 to April 3 in east Idaho history.
1900-1925
POCATELLO — A woman drowned in the Portneuf River above the upper bridge, The Pocatello Tribune reported on March 28, 1900.
“Mrs. Louise Eichoff … was going to call on a friend in that vicinity and as the night was intensely dark, it is supposed that she walked into the river,” the article explained.
A search party headed by A.W. Jones, Chief of Police Snyder and John Kane was organized. The body was recovered in roughly 12 feet of water about an hour and a half after Eichoff went missing.
Eichoff was “about 45 years old.” She was a sister of councilman J.G. Sanders and had a son living in the east. Her remains were buried in Mountain View Cemetery.
1926-1950
IDAHO FALLS — Bats filled the inside of Idaho Falls High School as part of an April Fool’s joke, the Idaho Falls Post Register said on April 2, 1935.
“There being no belfry in the school house, the frightened creatures, some dozen of them, released by a student prankster, aided and abetted by others, flitted about the school rooms and nearly disrupted classes for a time,” the local paper said.
The bats came from the walls of a cave about 16 miles west of Idaho Falls amid the lava beds. The paper said the bats “afforded an opportunity for an intimate study of the habits and characteristics of native bats.”
“One by one the little furry mammals were caught by the more fearless and agile of the boys and went to make up an extensive collection, brought together by Louis F. Nuffer, biology instructor,” the Post Register said.
The paper mentioned women, teachers and schoolgirls were scared of the bats because they believed bats would get entangled in their hair.
“But as far as is known, no bat has ever flown into a woman’s hair,” Nuffer added.
1951-1975
PRESTON — Two Preston women were nominated as candidates for “Mother of the Year,” according to The Preston Citizen’s March 29, 1951, newspaper.
The local paper said Idaho Gov. Len Jordan made a proclamation that the following week would be Idaho Mother’s Week. As part of the festivities, an Idaho “Mother of the Year” was going to be selected.
Two people from Franklin County — Lucy C. Tanner and Myrtle R. Goff — were nominated to represent.
Tanner’s husband died when their youngest child was 10 years old. Since then, she “maintained a home and provided for material, educational and moral needs of her children.” Tanner worked in the office of County Treasurer Emma Davis.
The other nominee, Goff, was the wife of a city engineer in Preston. She was an active worker in the American Red Cross for 30 years and had 10 children.
1976-2000
POCATELLO — Bullets fired from a passing car damaged a local church, the Idaho State Journal said on March 31, 1976.
Five bullets were fired and damaged a chapel belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“(The bullets) nearly struck two people in a Bishop’s office Tuesday night,” Bannock County sheriff’s deputies explained.
Authorities said the bullets damaged several windows but no injuries were reported.