Daniel Sandoval

Being members of society means, among other things, that our associates have a general idea of where we may be at any given moment, unless one isn't where one is expected to be. Missing persons were in the news for the days of June.

100 years ago

A special train of two locomotives and nine luxury cars bearing a contingent of businessmen from Omaha, Neb., arrived in Casper and the June 3, 1908, Natrona County Tribune devoted nearly half of its front page to their visit.

Knife knave - John Kish was sitting in the Casper jail, finally. Kish confessed to stabbing Charles "Red" O'Neal at the Cadoma shearing pens. Kish wasn't always so cooperative because he fled after the incident and was on the lam for three days.

After a sheep deal had gone badly between the two men, Kish and O'Neal were soaking resentment with alcohol. Saloon patrons described O'Neal boxing Kish upside the head and later Kish brandishing a knife.

Facing a deer foot knife with 4.5-inch blade, O'Neal answered Kish's question by saying he didn't want to be stabbed. O'Neal quit the saloon and Kish followed him to the bunk house.

Kish was said to have called O'Neal out and planted the knife in O'Neal's groin at the bunk house doorway. O'Neal's injury was initially thought to be life threatening but his condition greatly improved.

Immediately after the stabbing, Kish fled and escaped into the dark of night and was seen a day later at Glenrock. Converse County Deputy Sheriff Howard Jackson remembered Kish from a prior incident where Kish cut a man and holed up in a mine at Inez.

Jackson found Kish hiding in the Inez schoolhouse and transferred custody to Casper's sheriff. At his preliminary hearing, Kish, a "Slavonian," pretended to not speak English and the court brought in interpreters.

The case was bound over to district court for a July court date.

Riding away - Albany County Sheriff Alfred Bath was shot and killed by a fugitive from Colorado identified only by the name Summers. The saga began when Summers beat his employer at North Park, along the Wyoming/Colorado border.

Summers took a pistol before taking flight in the direction of Wood's Landing. Sheriff Bath took a car as far as the Chimney Park area, where he secured a horse and followed the rumored direction of the fugitive.

Bath's body was found at the side of the road with a gunshot wound to the heart; his horse was missing.

Once news of the sheriff's death reached Laramie, a crowd of residents organized a posse with the help of a hardware store owner distributing weapons and ammunition. Summers was thought to be heading toward Centennial on the horse taken from Bath.

75 years ago

Casper residents attended commencement exercises for 240 graduates of Natrona County High School, the largest graduating class in the history of the institution according to the June 2, 1933, Casper Tribune-Herald.

Incorrigible - Guards at the prison farm near Riverton were counting heads when convict No. 4243, John Wilson, came up missing. Wilson was convicted in Douglas of using a gun in the course of a robbery.

Prison officials put the word out as soon as the night count revealed the missing inmate. John Simons was on his was to an early morning fishing trip when he picked up Wilson. Simons contacted authorities and Wilson was taken back to the farm.

Records showed that Wilson was earning credit for good time during his nearly six years of incarceration. The escape from custody meant that Wilson would have to serve his entire 14-year sentence.

Simons was entitled to a standing $50 reward for the return of an escaped convict.

Still indicted - Federal Judge T. Blake Kennedy ordered that the 36 Casper indictments of conspiracy to violate Prohibition - cases that were originally on the court docket in Casper - to be tried in Cheyenne.

Among those indicted were Casper Mayor E.W. Rowell, Police Chief Michael Quealy, and Natrona County Sheriff G.O. Housley. The trial date in Cheyenne was July 17, 1933.

50 years ago

The June 3, 1958, Casper Morning Star put grim numbers to the Memorial Day holiday with 380 dying in car crashes across the nation for the three-day weekend, and five of those fatalities perished in Wyoming.

Transportation - Charles Rush Jr. parked his 1956 Chevrolet sedan on Eighth Street near Beech when some unknown motorist ran into Rush's car and drove away from the scene of the accident.

A fidgety child was waiting in the Hilltop Shopping Center parking lot in Billie Lou Norgaard's Buick coupe when the kid accidentally bumped the car out of gear. Rolling backward, the Buick hit Thomas Sandison's station wagon.

Extreme speed - Navy Pilot Joseph Perry was forced to put down on a highway near Walden, Colo. Walden authorities removed mile posts and residents cooperated in keeping the highway clear so the jet could take to the air.

25 years ago

U.S. Sen. Al Simpson held a news conference in Casper and again found himself clarifying his position on abortion, which, according to the June 2, 1983, Casper Star-Tribune, was the same stance he had maintained for 13 years.

Not lost - Three people from Casper turned up after extensive ground and air searches. Skip Gagnon, Linda Stanley and Mike Salsbery were stranded in Outlaw Canyon west of Kaycee when their truck got stuck in the mud.

"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.