Compiled by CORRYNE DRAKE

Special to the Star-Tribune

Natrona County Tribune, 1909

Sticky fingers - "Caught a Young Thief.

"Albert Campbell, 16 years of age, who several weeks ago broke into J. S. VanDoren's harness shop and stole a pair of chaps, a bridle, a pair of silver inlaid spurs and a few other things, was captured at Glenrock … and the goods were recovered. …

"There has been considerable of this kind of thieving going on in Casper lately, and no doubt Campbell is mixed up in more than this one case."

Spoiling for a fight - "Sheep Mix-Up Causes Trouble Among Men on the Range.

"A couple of bands of sheep, one belonging to Lewis Barker and the other to the Bates Park Sheep company, got in a mix-up on the range in Deer Creek park … and Barker claimed that 400 head of his sheep, valued at $2,500, was in the Bates Park outfit, and when he went to get them Jerry Daly drew a knife … and went toward Barker as though he would carve him. Barker withdrew from the scene of action unhurt and uncut, but his herder, Alex Duthie, was not so fortunate, for John Burnett, who is working for the Bates park company, lauded on him several times with a big stick which he wielded with a strong arm, and Duthie was laid low and down and out. …

"Warrants were issued … for the arrest of Daly and Burnett. … A replevin was also issued for the 400 sheep … belonging to Barker.

"It is expected the sheriff will return today or tomorrow, bringing with him all the belligerents."

Casper Tribune-Herald, 1934

Outlaw No. 1 - A heat wave across the country that week claimed nearly 800 people, and may have contributed to the July 22 death of John Dillinger. "Coatless, Dillinger carried his gun … in his trousers pocket. This … varied the Dillinger routine of carrying a weapon under his belt."

July 23rd's top story screamed: "U.S. AGENTS KILL DILLINGER

"… He swaggered from a neighborhood theater last night into the raking fire of government guns. Too late he saw the gleaming steel of the trap set for him.

"His hand went for his gun. Too late. …

"It was the end of John Dillinger."

Another page 1 story announced the circling vultures: "Showmen scrambled for mementoes, the more gruesome the better, of John Dillinger demise today.

"'I'll give a thousand dollars for the shirt he was wearing, if the heirs will sell it,'" said one.

"Another offered $100 to the city for four blood-stained bricks from the alley where Dillinger died. They hoped to exhibit these trophies at fairs and carnivals.

"'It'd be a gold mine,' one [said] enthusiastically."

Let's make a deal - "Casper Man Retains Torn Ends of Robbers's Loot

"D. W. Mills, of Casper, Wyo., has a proposition to offer a thief who robbed him last night" at Scottsbluff, Neb.

"While he was asleep in his car, … someone took $75 in bills of various denominations. … That is, they took about two-thirds of the bills, for the thief tore all of the bills while trying to fish them out of Mills' pocket.

"He awoke to find his trouser pocket torn, and one-third of the bills remaining. …

"Now if the thief will return the two-thirds he possesses, Mills is willing to let bygones be bygones."

Casper Tribune-Herald, 1959

Rebels without a cause - "Casper Hoods Are Held for Sadist Spree"

A "trio of hoodlums" brutalized four boys, aged 15 to 16, "just for kicks."

The victims "were held at knife point, pricked in the stomachs, kicked and beaten for more than two hours after attending a carnival in North Casper. …

"Threatened with their lives if they 'spilled the story,' the four boys nevertheless gave full details of the beatings to police, which resulted in rounding up five older youths."

Three were held for aggravated assault. "Two of their buddies … were arrested on a charge of 'intimidating witnesses' after they drove to the supermarket where the four boys were working and threatened to kill them if they talked to police."

The victims "were taken from the carnival grounds … to a secluded spot in North Casper park and held at knife point, while members of the trio took turns beating them. Buttons were slashed from their clothes. They were forced to smoke cigarets which they were told contained marijuana. They were threatened with drowning in the nearby river. …

"When questioned by police, the trio … said only that they were 'getting our kicks.'"

Casper Star-Tribune, 1984

Most vulnerable - The July 22 editorial pages carried a guest column by Rep. Charles Scott, R-Natrona County: "Health insurance industry abuses power to set rates

"… Based on calls I have received from people who have been victimized, it appears that one of the major insurance companies is using its freedom to set rates and conditions to get rid of a group of policyholders who … have become unprofitable. It is doing this by both raising the rates and raising the deductible unreasonably. …

"I think this practice constitutes fraud in the moral although not the legal sense. …

"The problem is that where people have reached a certain age or have developed potentially expensive health problems they are no longer free to switch companies without paying substantial penalties in higher premiums or reduced coverage. In these circumstances competition is not effective and some form of regulation may be necessary."

"A Look Back in Time" is made possible with the help of Western History Archivist Kevin S. Anderson at the Casper College Western History Center, which is open to the public. Quotation marks surround stories as they appeared in the Casper newspapers 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago, with their original grammar, punctuation and spelling, unless otherwise noted.