Looking back: School building burns down and boy hospitalized after eye hit with toy arrow
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IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of April 10 to April 16 in east Idaho history.
1900-1925
SUGAR CITY — A number of Sugar City boys were arrested for “disturbing the peace,” and if it continued, they were going to “be severely dealt with,” according to The Sugar City Times.
The paper wrote about the issue on April 16, 1914. The article said Judge Heath gave the boys a “good talking to” and “discharged the offenders.”
“Future offenders will be dealt with more severely because the town officers are tired of the rowdy work done by a few boys,” the article states. “Hereafter, fines will not be tolerated but jail sentences will be given.”
1926-1950
VICTOR — A fire destroyed the Victor school building forcing the school-year to an early end for 230 students, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on April 15, 1940.
The blaze “completely gutted the structure, leaving only a skeleton framework standing.” The fire broke out sometime Saturday night on April 13 and was discovered at about 11:30 p.m. A group of people were coming home from a party when they saw the flames and “sounded the alarm.”
“Victor firemen immediately summoned Driggs firefighting equipment, but all attempts to halt the blaze failed,” the Post Register explained.
It’s believed the fire started in the auditorium.
1951-1975
IDAHO FALLS — A four-year-old boy was hospitalized after being struck in the eye with a toy arrow, The Rigby Star said on April 15, 1954.
Jimmy Monroe, son of Mrs. Helen Royer, was at a birthday party in Idaho Falls when the accident happened. One of the children playing with the bow and arrow hit Monroe’s eye.
“He has been hospitalized since last Tuesday as the eye hemorrhaged for six days,” the paper mentioned. “A small rubber tip was attached to the arrow tip which the doctors say saved the eye from greater injury.”
1976-2000
IDAHO FALLS — A man and woman were “presumed drowned” in the Snake River, an article in the Idaho Falls Post Register dated April 13, 1976, explained.
Sherri Davis, a teacher at Bonneville Junior High School, and David Strommer, were the two involved in the incident.
“Members of the sheriff’s department conducted a search of the Snake River Saturday and Sunday after receiving reports of a person in trouble,” the local paper said.
Bonneville County Sheriff Blaine Skinner said a rubber raft with one chamber deflated, fishing tackle, seat cushions and other floatation devices were found during the search but there was “no trace of the possible victims.”
“But in addition to not finding any bodies, Skinner said no missing person reports had been filed,” the article reads.
According to the preliminary investigations, Skinner said it’s believed Davis and Strommer went boating around 1 p.m. Saturday. They were seen at the upper dam around 3:40 p.m. A railroad employee called “Idaho Falls paramedics” at 4:35 p.m. after he saw a man “swimming slowly in the river above the railroad bridge north of the John Hole Bridge (north of Idaho Falls).”
Skinner said Strommer’s vehicle was found near the river upstream from where the raft and other items were found.