Looking back: Ammon girl goes missing after leaving church and baby ejected in crash ends up in gutter with only ‘some minor scratches’
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IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of April 15 to April 21 in east Idaho history.
1900-1925
AMMON — An 8-year-old Ammon girl was missing, The Rigby Star reported on April 20, 1916, from an article originally shared by the Idaho Falls Post Register.
Alice Empey, the stepdaughter of Willard R. Harris of Ammon, left home Sunday morning to attend Sunday school “and was told by her mother that she might visit her grandmother.”
“The child did not return and the grandmother was telephoned Monday and stated that the child had not been there,” the paper explained. “The alarm was given and the search taken up.”
School was dismissed and the students “joined in the search of the fields.” The canals were “dragged without results.”
“The disappearance of the child is a mystery as the road from her home to Ammon, half a mile away, affords no opportunity to become lost, is in plain sight all of the way and there are no canals to cross,” the article reads.
1926-1950
LEWISVILLE — A local couple were the “proud parents of triplets,” The Rigby Star reported on April 16, 1931.
Mr. and Mrs. Beedle, of Lewisville, welcomed two girls and a boy on April 11, 1931. The mother and babies were reported to be doing well.
“The birth of triplets brought many visitors to the Beedle home this week,” The Rigby Star said. “Lewisville is very proud of her new babies and the event has been much heralded.”
At the time of publication, the babies had not been named yet.
1951-1975
IDAHO FALLS — A five-month-old boy who tumbled from the front seat of his mother’s car during a car wreck and landed in the street, miraculously survived, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on April 16, 1962.
“The child was hardly the worse for wear after his experience,” the article said.
Patrick Lee Swigert was treated for “some minor scratches” and released to his “understandably unnerved mother, Mrs. LeAnn Swigert,” according to an Idaho Falls hospital spokesman.
Swigert told police the baby was seated beside her as she drove south on Pine to the intersection at South Water, looked both ways and then proceeded into the crossing. However, she said she didn’t see Leonard B. Rice’s car approach from the east.
His sedan struck her car on the left front side, causing the right front door to fly open.
“The impact did the rest as the baby flipped through the opening, landed on the pavement and ended up in a gutter,” the officer explained.
The officer said the child was laid on a grassy strip nearby and then taken to the hospital where he was checked by a doctor and released.
Rice’s vehicle sustained $350 in damage and Swigert’s $400. Rice was also given a ticket for failure to yield the right-of-way.
1976-2000
REXBURG — An 18-year-old Rexburg man was bound over to district court on a charge of burglary, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on April 21, 1977.
David Gunder’s charge was in connection with a break-in at Rexburg Apartments in March where an estimated $390 in change was taken from various game machines. His bond was set at $500.