Things happen with a sort of predictability, generally, and we learn to rely on our routines of expected actions and results, making the unexpected all the more noticeable. Surprises were in the news for the third week of December, with a tussle in 1907, a voter in 1932, a body in 1957 and a robbery in 1982.

100 years ago

Disgruntled - Alcova sheep rancher Odmund Josendal had a lot on his mind in mid-December 1907. There was the acquittal of Frank Earnest and Frank Irvine a few weeks before, which in Josendal's opinion let two men who had been stealing from him go free.

The theft, whether it was or wasn't Earnest and Irvine, was on practically an industrial scale. An illegal shearing operation was discovered in a secluded canyon with a camouflaged entrance where sheep by the hundreds were robbed of their wool, Josendal's wool.

So when Josendal went to hire Lute Darnell, he might have missed some early signs that Darnell was a bit twitchy. Darnell worked for one day and somehow got the idea that a day's pay should be $7. Josendal paid his shepherd candidate $1.50. Darnell attacked Josendal.

After the altercation, both men were brought into town, Josendal for medical attention and Darnell to face charges of assault. He pleaded guilty before Justice W.E. Tubbs, who sentenced Darnell to three months in jail, ordered him to pay a fine of $50, plus court costs.

Three rules - Even after the contract was signed, after the issue had been discussed and after the process had chafed on for years, the malcontents were still harping about where Casper should build the new courthouse, according to the Dec. 18, 1907, Natrona County Tribune.

A petition was being circulated to change the location of the new courthouse from the north terminus of Center Street to the "tenderloin district" on David Street, the location of the old courthouse.

Since editorializing in a news story was customary for the Tribune, the article said, essentially, that the location had been given ponderous review, that the majority of taxpayers had approved of the new site, and that petitions to the county commission and injunctions in court were both an annoyance and a waste of time.

75 years ago

Voter resurrected - A man from Casper was arrested in West Virginia on charges that he voted under the name of a deceased person in the November election, and Casper authorities realized they were looking at a legal battle when they received a letter Dec. 17, 1932.

George Bolden was accused of using the name of a dead man to vote in Casper's Elk voting district, so Natrona County Sheriff G.O. Housley sent word to a Sheriff Stevenson in Charleston, W.Va., that Bolden should be arrested there, which he was.

But the person who signed the complaint, Roy P. Richter, was beginning to squirm under pressure. Richter confessed that he didn't believe his charge against Bolden was true and may have initiated the complaint at the behest of someone else. Circumstantial indications pointed to city officials. What was known was that Richter was in Denver the night of the election.

The legal entanglements multiplied: Bolden's possible false arrest and extradition back to Casper, perjury charges against Richter, official corruption charges against those who were trying to discredit Bolden. The investigation continued.

50 years ago

Kids at play - Two boys in Casper were playing close to home when they discovered a dead man Dec. 17, 1957. J.E. Pryor had been missing for about two weeks when his body was identified at the coroner's office by a former employer.

The body was discover by two kids taking a shortcut home from Southridge School. They were scrounging around for wood to shore up their pretend mine works on Dead Horse Hill near Odell Avenue and 25th Street.

Under a stack of boards, they found a dead man. The boys ran to a near-by house and called the police. Police Capt. Con Dalgarno supervised the scene and the removal of the body because Pryor was most likely murdered and his body hidden.

25 years ago

Guns v. knives - A Casper man awoke to a stranger in his room going through the pockets of his pants in the early morning of Dec. 17, 1982. H.E. Bourke knew he was in a rough neighborhood in cabin No. 6 at 435 S. Wolcott, so he slept with a loaded .22 pistol under the blankets.

When Bourke woke up to a burglar in his room he reached for his gun but the intruder was too quick. The phantom snatched away the gun and put a knife to Bourke's throat. The robber was described as a man around 30 years old, 6-feet-tall and with shaggy blond hair. Bourke lost some $250 and other property.

"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.