Daniel Sandoval

Quitters never win, but even winners quit once the contest is won, so losers aren't the only ones who quit. It's the knowing when the game is decided that's the trick. Quitting was in the news for the first week of July.

100 years ago

The July 8, 1908, Natrona County Tribune first covered the Fourth of July celebration in Casper and declared the event a rousing success, even after Lander's baseball team defeated the hosting team, twice.

Misdirected grudge - Choosing a mascot wasn't nearly as important as assembling a team that could win against the Lander Indians, and from the first game during the Fourth of July festivities, it looked like the "Casperites" had the stuff.

Overconfidence, in fact, was the only thing that handed the victory to the Indians because they were down five runs at the next to the last inning - seven of the Casperites' nine runs came in the first inning.

But the Indians scored six runs in the eighth inning and won the game, 12-11.

The second day the Casperites played the team from Douglas, which forfeited the game not long after the Casperites scored 10 runs in the seventh inning. Casper led 17-1 when the Douglas team quit.

Douglas scored its single run in the eighth inning and then forfeited the game.

The third day pitted the Indians against the Casperites again, but this time the losers really tried, and lost the game valiantly with a final score of 4-3.

Ethnocentricity - The July 8 Tribune's mention of the Sundance rites on the Wind River Reservation was filled with a patronizing pity, as the writer boasted that the barbarism of the original rituals was quelled by the government.

In 1908, the Shoshone and Arapaho were limited to dancing toward their spiritual goals, and so, according to the Tribune, the worst consequence was that utter exhaustion left the participants in a "pitiable condition."

Resigned to fate - Three defendants put themselves at the mercy of district court in Casper where they pleaded guilty before Judge Charles Carpenter.

John Kish pleaded guilty to the assault charge that he stabbed Red O'Neall and was sentenced to seven years in the state penitentiary.

John Wolf told a convoluted tale about the saddle he was accused of stealing, but Judge Carpenter didn't budge and Wolf copped to the charge and was sentenced to three years. Carpenter said he was right to plead out because if they had to convict him, Wolf would've received six years.

Richard Callahan admitted signing someone else's name to a $40 check and cashing it in Powder River. Judge Carpenter sentenced Callahan to 15 months in prison.

75 years ago

John D. Rockefeller turned 94 in 1933, and the July 7, 1933, Casper Tribune-Herald published before and after photos of the oil magnate, one in his venerable old age and one as a young man in 1875.

Life on the con - A confidence scheme to fleece a taxi operator in Pocatello, Idaho, spilled onto the duty roster of local authorities after they heard that two of the cons were going to meet their pigeon in Casper.

The arrest of one of their players in Idaho must have tipped off the confident men that their cover was blown because they never showed up in Casper to cinch the deal.

Never trust fire - Miss Helen Cones was using gasoline to remove stains from clothing when the gas ignited. The alarm was sent out and Casper Fire Chief O.T. Gibson carried the fire involved items from the house.

Cones receive burns to her left leg, and Gibson was burned on his left hand.

Retirement - John W. Lacy retired from the practice of law at the age of 84, according to a Cheyenne, July 7 dateline in the Tribune-Herald. Lacy had practiced law in Wyoming for 45 years.

Lacy rose to national attention when he defended Harry Sinclair during the Teapot Dome debacle. Lacy's daughter, Mrs. John McGee, lived in Casper at the time of Lacy's 1933 retirement.

50 years ago

The death of mountaineering instructor Walt Bailey was still in the news a week after his passing and the July 8, 1958, Casper Morning Star published an article that noted Bailey's fellow climbers were still planning to reach the top of Mt. Alpamayo in the Peruvian Andes.

Permanent impulse - Kermit Wilcox was drinking and arguing with his wife when he went to the pickup parked in front of his house, got out a gun and shot himself July 7, 1958. Wilcox, 47, was dead by the time the police arrived.

Slow suicide - U.S. Surgeon General Leroy Burney said that warnings about the dangers of cigarettes needed to be made more menacing after a 1958 report concluded that "excessive cigarette smoking is one of the causative factors of lung cancer."

25 years ago

First Lady Nancy Reagan turned 60 and the July 7, 1983, Casper Star-Tribune teased the story with a photo of her looking at a birthday cookie with her hands on the sides of her face in a gesture of surprise.

Wyoming tides - The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was asking Wyoming mariners to be patient with the fluctuating water level in Alcova Reservoir. David Wilde, BuRec North Platte project manager, said the bureau needed to draw down Alcova to make room for the water trapped behind the Pathfinder Dam.

"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.