Posted: Sunday, December 9, 2007 12:00 am
Daniel Sandoval
As winter descends, animals either migrate or stay close to their homes, but the demands of modern life take people far afield without regard for the coming cold. Travelers were in the news for the second week of December, with a doctor in 1907, a bicyclist in 1932, gremlins in 1957 and a reporter in 1982.
100 years ago
Hippocratic hobo - A doctor from Casper had to wear his clothes constantly to protect his garments from being stolen, according to the Dec. 11, 1907, Natrona County Tribune. Dr. A.F. Hoff was on his way to Chicago via St. Louis when the good doctor was robbed of $280 in St. Louis.
Dr. Hoff also described a process where checking in his hat and coat would inevitably result in an exchange and downgrade. By the time he made it to Chicago, Hoff arrived wearing "last summer's straw hat and the lining of what was at one time an overcoat."
In Chicago, Hoff bought a new hat and coat, which he kept by the affront to etiquette of wearing his hat and sitting on his coat while he dined. Hoff blamed the Republican money panic for people coveting his apparel.
Mighty hunter - Game was being distributed around Casper as a hunter returned home in the second week of December 1907, following a three-month expedition around Jackson Hole.
Dave Davidson's hunting party harvested five elk, 10 deer, three mountain sheep, five bear and various other small game and fish. Davidson spent the better part of a week giving steaks to friends.
One of the five bears was a grizzly and Davidson was responsible for taking all of the bruins, and five bears from one hunter was thought to have outdone even Theodore Roosevelt, America's hunting president in 1907.
Casper residents knew Davidson from his saloon, Davidson & Snow.
Jumping claim - Prospecting became a bit more dangerous when a Casper man was expropriated at gunpoint from a claim in the Rattlesnake Mountains in early December 1907. C.M. Flaherty was working a claim for S.E. Pritchard, of Denver, and five men drew guns on Flaherty and told him to abandon the claim.
Flaherty's helper, Rill O'Hara, was also forced away from the claim. Flaherty made his way to town and swore out a complaint against Dan Tracy, Charles Brewer and three other men.
Sheriff Sheffner, warrants in hand, set out for the claim jumpers.
75 years ago
Travelocipede - A man who toured the Western United States on a bicycle arrived in Casper Dec. 10, 1932. Fred McKinney left his Chicago home, riding a bicycle, to go to the Olympic tryouts in Los Angeles. He was ten hours late so he decided to pedal around the West Coast.
Obviously determined, McKinney hit town during cold spell that locked the entire region in snow, wind and sub-zero temperatures. In his travels and owing to his unusual method of covering great distances, McKinney was collecting signatures.
He was on his way to Cheyenne to hopefully get the governor's signature, perhaps the secretary of state's or an impression of the state seal. McKinney already had notable signatures like then-President Hoover and President-elect Roosevelt.
McKinney said that after his visit to Cheyenne, and maybe Denver, he was going to start heading for home because the Depression was making the odd jobs that he did to finance his tour more scarce.
Bad guys - Murder charges were dropped against two men in Casper but authorities took them to Thermopolis to answer armed robbery charges Dec. 10, 1932.
Gus Johnson and Bob Welch, alias Bob Harmon, alias Sam Bern, were charged with the murder of Harvey Perkins, but there wasn't enough evidence to make the charges stick, but Hot Springs County authorities were convinced the duo were responsible for an armed robbery that took place not long after Perkins' murder.
50 years ago
Construction imps - The Dec. 10, 1957, Casper Morning Star carried the photographs of three gremlins that had occupied the First National Bank and office tower being constructed at the corner of First and Wolcott streets.
As it turned out, the gremlins were emissaries, good luck totems, that had appeared at the construction sites of buildings in New York and Portland, Ore., and they were on loan from Paul McKee, president of Pacific Power and Light Co.
Veryl Hoover, Wyoming manager for Pacific, negotiated a deal for the gremlins to be brought to Casper construction project. President of First National Bank Jackson King expressed appreciation for the mascots.
Spotlights were set up so the gremlins could be seen at night.
25 years ago
Reporter miles - A Casper man was tried in Douglas for the shooting death of a security guard and the jury found him guilty of murder, according to the Dec. 10, 1982, Casper Star-Tribune report by Alison Oresman.
Unemployed and desperate, Roy Lee Engberg was found to have shot and killed a Wells Fargo guard during the 1981 robbery of a Casper supermarket. The following day, as reported in another Dec. 11 report by Oresman, the jury gave Engberg the death penalty.
"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.