Looking back: Young men fined $10 for street fight and taxicab driver burned after car goes up in flames
Published at
IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of Sept. 30 to Oct. 6 in east Idaho history.
1900-1925
BLACKFOOT — A street fight took place in Blackfoot and those who fought were fined $10, The Bingham County News reported on Oct. 1, 1914.
The incident took place in front of the Club Saloon. The paper mentioned that “quite a crowd of men found much sport and amusement” watching the two young men fight.
“(They were) brutally beating on another in the street where they fought like dogs for about 15 minutes,” the article reads. “They were arrested after the fight and fined $10 each, which their parents paid.”
1926-1950
BONNEVILLE COUNTY — The first sheriff of Bonneville County died in 1940, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on Oct. 1, 1940.
Harry Culver Bucklin, 67, died Monday evening in a Salt Lake City hospital.
“His colorful career dated back to that period when western law enforcement officers rode with six shooters swinging at their hips and ‘Winchesters’ ready in their saddle sheaths,” the article states.
Bucklin was appointed Bonneville County sheriff in 1910 by Gov. James Hawley after Bingham and Bonneville counties were divided that year.
“He was elected sheriff of Bingham County, but he decided to take the then infant Bonneville division when the two counties were divided,” the paper explained.
1951-1975
IDAHO FALLS — An Idaho Falls taxicab driver was burned when his cab caught on fire, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on Oct. 1, 1954.
Don Fouts, 52, was burned when fumes from the butane fuel used in the cab he was driving caught fire after the vehicle had been refueled.
“Butane is used in place of gasoline by one Idaho Falls taxi firm,” the article states.
Firefighters said someone near the cab lit a pipe right after the cab had been refueled and “before residual fumes from the butane had a chance to escape the car.”
“The fumes burst into flame, doing extensive damage to the car and injuring Fouts,” the paper said.
Fouts was burned on his face, neck and hands. Doctors were waiting until Friday morning to complete tests to “accurately determine the severity of his burns.”
1976-2000
IDAHO FALLS — Throughout one night and into the early morning hours, an apparent arsonist reportedly started 10 fires throughout Idaho Falls, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on Sept. 30, 1977.
The first fire began at 11:09 p.m. and the last one started around 4:30 a.m. The most serious fire, the last one set, consumed three empty trailers and damaged another at Ellswood Trailer Sales on South Yellowstone Highway. Firefighters said flames were shooting 30 feet into the air when they arrived.
“A preliminary police report indicated the trailers contained nothing which would have started the fires, no electricity nor gasoline,” the paper reads. “Firemen listed the official cause of the fire as unknown … and indicated they had turned investigation of it and the other nine over to police detectives.”
Police detective Ralph Hutchison, who was assigned the case, said he didn’t have enough information regarding the fires to tell if they were arson caused. However, a spokesman from the fire department said the nine “relatively minor fires, mostly set in dumpsters, were definitely arson.”
Hutchison said he wouldn’t say more about the fires until the investigation was complete.