Looking back: Man receives 100 stitches on head, teen ‘severely injured’ after car backfires and woman allegedly forces husband into car at gunpoint
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IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of Aug. 21 to Aug. 27 in east Idaho history.
1900-1925
BLACKFOOT — A man employed at the Blackfoot Idaho Republican left his job without telling anyone at the paper and was called out for “jumping his job.”
The Blackfoot Idaho Republican reported on Aug. 21, 1908, Harry Malon, who operated the linotype (a machine using a technique that printed an entire line instead of each character on the printing surface) for six months “left us without notice” when other staff were at Montpelier with the Press Club. The article said Malon “spiked” the linotype, “so it took a couple of days to get it into commission again.”
“He had often expressed satisfaction with his job,” the paper noted. “If he had any grievance, he never presented it and exercised his ‘dynamite’ disposition in leaving.”
The article continues, “Some of the people he dealt with report he left bills unpaid, though he had built up a little bank account out of his salary.”
The Blackfoot Idaho Republican said they found another operator in Salt Lake to take Malon’s place, and he arrived in Blackfoot on Aug. 20, 1908.
1926-1950
IDAHO FALLS — An Idaho Falls man hurt in a car accident made the news after having to receive 100 stitches to close a scalp wound, The Rexburg Standard reported on Aug. 25, 1927.
Tom Farmer was injured on a highway south of Sandpoint. The details are unclear, but a letter from his wife mentioned “they were crowded over an embankment,” and the car was upside down.
Farmer, who also broke eight ribs, was “on the operating table” for two hours. His wife received a cut on the right side of her temple. The two of them were going to be in the hospital for about a week, the paper mentioned.
1951-1975
RIGBY — A Rigby teen was “severely burned” while trying to start an old car, The Rigby Star reported in its Aug. 25, 1955, newspaper.
Robert Kite, 16, son of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Kite, was injured near the city dump grounds. Kite was with Andy Ray Lawrence and Lynn Baird when the accident happened.
“Robert, sitting on the hood of the car, was pouring gasoline into the carburetor intake when the car backfired,” The Rigby Star said. “The gasoline ignited and exploded, covering young Kite with flaming gasoline.”
The explosion threw Kite from the car, and he started to run. The two other boys caught Kite and “rolled him on the ground, putting out the flame.”
“He was brought to the Tall Clinic where he was given emergency treatment and taken to the LDS Hospital, where he is being treated for second-degree burns, which are all over his body, save his legs and head,” the paper explained.
Kite’s father said his son “spent a very poor night at the hospital.”
Lawrence, who helped roll Kite on the ground, received second-degree burns on his hands.
1976-2000
FORT HALL — A Fort Hall woman accused of forcing her estranged husband into a car at gunpoint was arraigned on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon, the Idaho State Journal reported on Aug. 23, 1977.
Romanzetta “Roma” Sheppard, 46, was returned to the Bannock County Jail on a $20,000 bond. She was accused of threatening George K. Sheppard with a .357-caliber pistol, forcing him to leave his apartment, and telling him to drive her to her home.
“(George) Sheppard reportedly told Pocatello Police that Ms. Sheppard said she had killed the couple’s four children, and she wanted Sheppard to see the bodies before she killed him,” the article states. “Fort Hall Police, who captured Ms. Sheppard later that night, reported the children were unharmed.”
George told police he “wrestled” the gun away from his wife while inside the car.