Looking back: Mother, daughter have babies same week, and man steals ambulance outside hospital
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IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of Dec. 5 to Dec. 11 in east Idaho history.
1900-1925
BLACKFOOT — A mother deserted her two children, the Blackfoot Idaho Republican reported on Dec. 8, 1905.
Lizzie Weeks “was called up on the carpet” by the county attorney on the charge of desertion of her kids, ages 2 and 4. The paper said her stepmother in Idaho Falls was the complaining witness.
Weeks, the daughter of the Blaylock family, who were “former residents of this locality,” married at the age of 15. But according to the paper, she hadn’t had “any particular husband for some time.”
“She deserted the children at Idaho Falls and went to Pocatello,” the Blackfoot Idaho Republican wrote. “(She) had a very good time for a while and then went to Minidoka where she again took up the thread of gaiety of the shady order.”
The article continues, “In the preliminary examination … (she said) she was looking out for a good time for herself and was unmoved when the stepmother described how she had stood in her home and cursed the 2-year-old daughter, who was crying and holding out its little arms pleading toward the bosom from which it had lately been weaned.”
Weeks was described as a “rather attractive looking” 21-year-old woman. She was being held in jail at the time the article was published. Judge Fackrell “bound her over to await the action of the district court.”
If she was found guilty of desertion, she would be sentenced to “not less than one, nor more than seven years” of incarceration.
1926-1950
IDAHO FALLS — A mother and daughter had babies during the same week, according to an article The Rigby Star shared from the Idaho Falls Post Register.
The article, dated Dec. 5, 1940, said, “You must follow the details closely so as not to become confused.”
The two people involved are Mrs. A. E. Rose, 43, a resident of Humphrey, Idaho, and her daughter, Mrs. Ralph Stosich, 22, of Idaho Falls.
Rose gave birth to her 10th child, a boy. Earlier in the week, Stosich gave birth to her first child, also a boy. Stosich is the oldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Rose.
“The strange case finds both mothers in the same room — No. 409 — at the Idaho Falls L.D.S. Hospital,” the article states. “Mrs. Rose’s son becomes the brother, of course, of Mrs. Stosich and the uncle of Mrs. Stosich’s child. Mrs. Stosich’s son, in turn, becomes the grandson of Mrs. Rose and the nephew of Mrs. Rose’s child.”
1951-1975
RIGBY — Thieves stole Christmas lights from a local family, The Rigby Star said on Dec. 10, 1970.
“We would willingly pay for the Christmas lights for those who have been taking the lights from our outdoor Christmas decorations,” Mrs. Glen Strupp told The Star.
The lights were stolen while the family was away from their home. The paper said this has been a yearly practice at the Strupp home. On several occasions, the tracks in the snow revealed which way the thieves came and left.
“The Strupps’ offer to pay for lights for the thieves, rather than have their own taken, is a generous offer,” the paper mentioned.
1976-2000
POCATELLO — A 21-year-old man was arrested for investigation of grand larceny in connection with stealing a Med-Alert ambulance outside Bannock Memorial Hospital.
The Idaho State Journal said ambulance personnel completed an “emergency run from within the city to the hospital” around 3:45 p.m. on Dec. 5, 1977, when the vehicle was reported missing. Police spotted the ambulance, and a chase ensued.
“Moments earlier, the ambulance driver reportedly had pulled up to a drive-in and had demanded free food,” the Journal wrote. “The vehicle was stopped on Interstate 15 after it was sandwiched between pursuing city police units and an Idaho State Police car.”
No further details were released except for the suspect appeared to have mental problems, according to the article.