Looking back: 25-year-old hunter goes missing and man who cut hand at work ends up in jail for the night
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IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of Oct. 9 to Oct. 15 in east Idaho history.
1900-1925
RIGBY — A unknown person who walked on a new cement sidewalk in Rigby was called out by the local paper in an article dated Oct. 12, 1916.
The Rigby star reported that “Someone — with evidently more avordupois than brains — has been industriously engaged in seeing what his footprints would look like when impressed on the new cement sidewalk on First South Street.”
The article explained the footprints belonged to an adult “as the footprints are large size.”
“It is indeed fortunate for him (and) his pocketbook that he was not caught in the act,” The Rigby Star stated.
1926-1950
UCON — A man working for the Gem State Roller Mills was seriously injured after falling at the Ucon mill, The Rigby Star reported on Oct. 12, 1933.
John M. Harris was on a ladder while using both hands to move a grain spout, extending from the top of a freight car, when the ladder slipped and he fell into the cars.
He broke the lower part of his back in three different places. He was taken to the hospital where he was reported to be “recovering very well, considering the seriousness of his injuries.”
1951-1975
CARIBOU COUNTY — Search parties were looking for a missing 25-year-old man who went hunting and disappeared, The Caribou County Sun reported on Oct. 14, 1954.
Charles Miller, of Utah, was last seen around 5 p.m. on Oct. 10, 1954, by Odell Stoor, of Wayan, Idaho. Stoor and his party were camped near the spot where Miller and his hunting companion, Mark Campbell, of Arimo, Idaho, were camped.
Stoor met Miller at the head of Brush Creek and mentioned they better head for camp before dark, according to the article. Stoor headed towards camp and Miller “unaccountably went in the opposite direction.”
“His companion awaited him and finally, alarmed, reported him lost, presumably to the checking station,” The Caribou County Sun explained. “Lights were flashed, but there was no response.”
Sheriff Ralph Marriott found out about the lost hunter around 3:30 a.m. on October 12, and he immediately organized a search. However, due to early season snow, the “37-man posse” led by the sheriff was forced to pause their search.
“Upwards of 14 inches of snow at the lower elevations and perhaps 20 inches higher in the mountains held the search to a standstill Wednesday,” the paper added.
Six planes from the Idaho Falls Civil Air Patrol flew over the mountains looking for Miller. Friends of Miller’s from Utah and Rexburg also arrived to look for him but because of the depth of the snow, it was “doubtful they could penetrate high enough (on foot) for a search.”
Miller was reportedly a diabetic and needed insulin but had no medicine with him on the hunting trip.
“There was doubt whether he had matches and he had no food except possibly some cookies,” the paper mentioned.
Miller’s wife was staying with friends in Arimo.
1976-2000
POCATELLO — An “angry Pocatello man” who severely cut his hand at work ended up walking away from Bannock Memorial Hospital before being apprehended, the Idaho State Journal reported on Oct. 13, 1977.
The 35-year-old man was working in American Falls when he cut his hand. He was taken to Pocatello because “Bannock Memorial was reportedly better equipped to treat the wound.” Hospital officials told police the man, a former patient at State Hospital South in Blackfoot, appeared “mentally disturbed.”
He ripped the bandage off his hand and at first declined further medical attention. He finally allowed a nurse to place a gauze on the deep cut.
He ended up leaving the hospital and kicking out a rear window of a police car. The man tried to fight off at least five officers and “repeatedly threatened” arresting officers while also asking officers to “Let me go home.”
The hospital refused to admit the man due to his violence. Police took him to the Bannock County Jail for the night “but not before spraying mace into his face to subdue him.”
He underwent surgery for his hand injury the morning the article was published and was reported to be in fair condition. The article said Sixth District Magistrate Court “may order an evaluation of the man’s mental condition.”