Looking back: Dead body found and helium-filled balloon goes from Salt Lake City to Soda Springs
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IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of July 22 to July 28 in east Idaho history.
1900-1925
POCATELLO — A dead body was found about four miles northwest of Pocatello, The Bingham County News reported on July 24, 1913.
“After nine days of unremitting search, covering a territory from McCammon on the south and east to Blackfoot on the north, and American Falls on the west, the dead body of Charles D. Chandler, the Short Line machine shop foreman who dropped from sight … was discovered,” the paper stated.
Chandler vanished during the morning of July 13, 1913. His body was found by former sheriff D.T. Quigley, who was acting as a “special officer for the city.” It was “at the foot of a rocky cliff, half a mile west and a little south of the Short Line water reservoir.”
“The body was in an advanced state of decomposition and it was impossible to tell whether it bore any marks of violence,” the article reads.
It continued, “From the position of the body when found it is believed Chandler fell from a cliff while weak from hunger and exposure, and suffered such painful hurts that he lay still until death came,” the local paper wrote.
Dr. Steely, county coroner, believed the dead body had laid in the same position for at least six days.
1926-1950
BURLEY — A six-year-old Burley girl died from an insect bite, The Burley Herald reported on July 23, 1929.
Shirley Jean Meyer died at her home. The local paper said it was due to “poison following an insect bite, presumably a spider.”
The girl was born on Oct. 11, 1923. She left behind her parents and “a number” of brothers and sisters.
1951-1975
RIGBY — Two tourists played a role in the arrest of a man accused of robbing a sporting good store, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on July 22, 1965.
A woman and her father were parked and asleep in the rental camp area at the Northway Sport Center on North Yellowstone in Idaho Falls. They woke up around 3 a.m. Wednesday after hearing a noise at the store and “observed a burglary underway.”
They called the Idaho State Police, who in turn, notified the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office. Idaho Falls and Rigby Police, as well as ISP, assisted the sheriff’s department in the hunt for the suspect.
A large amount of firearms — the exact number was unknown — had been taken from the store. Eleven rifles and one pistol were eventually recovered from a hiding place near Ucon.
At 4:30 a.m., the suspect, Dave Currington, 51, of Rigby, was apprehended. At 6:55 a.m., he was booked into the Bonneville County Jail on a charge of burglary.
“The excellent assistance given by other law enforcement departments in this case is deeply appreciated,” Sheriff Hopkins said. “However, a special thanks is to be given to Mrs. Kelley and her father.”
He added, “This is in contrast with the often heard story of people who do not want to become involved. Without this kind of help we cannot effectively police crime.”
Hopkins said Currington is the same man who was shot in the leg by a Rigby police officer while fleeing from a burglary there two years ago.
1976-2000
SODA SPRINGS — A helium-filled balloon flew from Salt Lake City and was found near Soda Springs, the Caribou County Sun reported on July 28, 1977.
On May 6, 1977, Hansen Planetarium staff — Pat Wiggins and Wilf Sommerkorn — in Salt Lake, were testing balloons to be given away free to children attending the Children’s Festival the following day.
“As an experiment with these helium-filled balloons, they coupled two of them together, attached a message and released the balloons, which drifted slowly northbound,” the paper said.
Wiggins and Sommerkorn received a letter from 12-year-old John Reed Findlay, of Soda Springs, reporting he found the note while working on his grandfather’s farm 10 miles north of Soda Springs on June 14, 1977.
“He has received a guest pass to visit the Hansen Planetarium from Mr. Wiggins and Mr. Sommerkorn,” the article mentioned.