Daniel Sandoval

People are animals. No matter how much flesh shines through their fur or how smart they are, people are still a specific type of animal - animals with forward facing eyes and canine teeth, predators. Brutality was in the news for the second week of July.

100 years ago

Horse rustling was getting out of control in central and northern Wyoming, and the July 15, 1908, Natrona County Tribune's lead article conglomerated the rash of crime into a single explanation: Horse rustlers could get far and fast away because horses are good runners.

Drug battle - An angry mob assaulted two state officials in Buffalo, reported by the July 15, 1908, Tribune. The officials were in town to put a stop to the selling of morphine by two druggists in Buffalo.

Frank Eggleston and C.B. Gunnell, agents of the state pharmacy board, set up a sting operation and successfully purchased morphine. They then arrested the two druggists.

The druggists pleaded guilty to selling the morphine and both were fined $50. But the sting didn't sit well with some of the Buffalo townsfolk. A group men, about 30 strong, accosted Eggleston and Gunnell and beat the officials.

In a mad dash, Eggleston and Gunnell drove to Sheridan, where they received medical attention for their injuries. The extent of their injuries was not reported, only that their recoveries took several days.

Vindication - Frank Webb, former sheriff of Natrona County and convicted of helping a witness to escape jurisdiction, was sort of pardoned. Webb no longer had to pay the $500 fine, but he still had pay $150 for the cost of the trial.

Webb did get free of the Casper jailhouse he once guarded as sheriff before spending 90 days on the wrong side of the bars. Working for J.M. Carey at the S.O. Ranch, Webb said he would pay the trial costs when he earned enough money.

Living targets - Sheriff Sheffner was reminding Casper hunters that it was illegal to shoot sage chickens out of season. The reason for his alarm was that the cool, wet spring had already reduced the number of hatchlings and the bird population was in distress.

The July 15 Tribune reinforced the point by reminding readers of a time in the recent past when hunters would go into the fields and kill hundreds of sage chickens. It was time to start protecting game instead of slaughtering it, said the Tribune.

75 years ago

Federal money was being allocated to the states for the building of roads on park, forest and Indian lands and Wyoming's share was $3,443,263, as reported by the July 14, 1933, Casper Tribune-Herald.

Get walking - Two men were robbed at gunpoint after they wandered behind a dance hall in north Casper. Charles Erb and W.W. Weisner attended a dance at the Gallegos dance hall.

Erb and Weisner stepped out for some night air, and in the seclusion of shadows they met up with two men, both brandishing guns. The gunmen had Erb and Weisner empty their pockets.

Once relieved of their money, Erb and Weisner were forced to walk in front of the gunmen for a distance of several city blocks before they were released, left in an unfamiliar neighborhood, penniless but alive.

Water dispute - Albert Nietfield was remanded to trial district court in Torrington to face a second-degree murder charge in connection with the death of Roy Ferguson.

At the preliminary hearing, one of the witnesses was the victim's 11-year-old nephew who testified that he saw Nietfield hit Ferguson on the head with a shovel during an argument about water rights.

50 years ago

Three jail escapees from Colorado were nabbed in Casper, and the front page of the July 15, 1958, Casper Morning Star displayed a photo of Sheriff Louis Cooper standing next to the fugitives in front of the cell block. Cooper's eyes are closed in the photo, as if to say he could've caught them that easily.

Uxor probrum - Casper resident Dale Walters pleaded innocent to a charge that he assaulted his wife with intent to commit murder. When police arrived, they found Walters standing over his wife with a .22 rifle while she wrestled to keep the muzzle pointed away from her.

Patience rewarded - Mrs. George Utzinger of Casper received an exotic plant from her sister, Denver resident Mrs. C.R. Walls. Utzinger nurtured the night-blooming cereus but years went by without a blossom.

Finally, after some 12 or 13 years, after being kept at the bus terminal for many of those years, shortly after being moved back to the family home, Utzinger's cereus sent out a spectacular flower, which was photographed for the July 15 Morning Star.

Guided missile - One of the attractions slated for the upcoming Air Fair in Casper was the U.S. Air Force Bomare surface-to-air guided missile, a ground-based interceptor missile.

25 years ago

The Casper Troopers were in giving performances in their home town, and the July 14, 1983, Casper Star-Tribune published a photo of the drum and bugle corps standing in a line with spectators in the foreground all wearing cowboy hats.

Ineffable crime - A preliminary hearing was under way in Casper for the sexual assault and murder of a teenage girl from Evansville. The outcome of the hearing would decide whether Shane Hill was to go to trial on a murder charge.

The victim was found in a Dumpster earlier that year. Hill was seen in the area around the time of the murder, and there was other evidence presented at the preliminary hearing and in chambers to suggest Hill's involvement.

"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.