Daniel Sandoval

The difference between truth and lies is usually a matter of the side one is on. In other words, one person's truth is another person's lie. Self-righteousness was in the news for the fourth week of October.

100 years ago

In a move inconceivable by today's standards of litigation, Eugene McCarthy called Alex T. Butler a "Shyster Lawyer" and a "Political Bushwacker" in an open letter on the front page of the Oct. 28, 1908, Natrona County Tribune.

Call out opponent: Eugene McCarthy returned to Casper from the "Old Country" (Ireland) Oct. 22, 1908, and found something objectionable written by Alex Butler.

The open letter McCarthy wrote didn't specify the source publication of Butler's villainy, but from the context, it was likely some political swipe at Sheriff J.A. Sheffner's re-electability.

Long on some details and short on others, the issue in McCarthy's letter was $80 that went arrears in the handling of the legal case of Charles Mallory's son. Butler was alleged to have made it look like Sheffner lost the money.

Butler knew the money wasn't missing, according to McCarthy, and Butler violated confidentiality by even bringing the matter up, and it was a good thing McCarthy got back when he did because McCarthy knew the truth.

McCarthy had the money, and it was given to him by the Mallory boy's father for expenses, and Butler supposedly used the money as a red herring to fester doubts in Sheffner.

Suffragettes: Kimball's drug store was giving a nod to Wyoming's tradition of a woman's right to vote by hosting a ladies only gathering for election returns on election night 1908.

With a Western Union Telegraph machine chugging out election returns from across the country, women could keep abreast of election results in the company of their own kind.

The Oct. 28, 1908, Tribune made it clear that the "presence of gentlemen is not desired, and mothers will please leave the children at home in order that there may be more room for those interested in election returns."

75 years ago

The top headline in the Oct. 27, 1933, Casper Tribune-Herald said, "Miller calls extra session," referring to the special session of the Wyoming Legislature scheduled to convene Dec. 4, called for by Gov. Leslie Miller.

Several points of "emergency legislation" were demanding attention: relief for overburdened taxpayers, revision of banking regulation, emergency relief, regulating motor vehicles, convict labor and regulation of liquor sales.

Demon weed: Mrs. Abraham Blas was arrested in Casper for selling marijuana to a youth. Police raided Blas' home after the unidentified youth purchased the pot from her.

Authorities were probably keeping an eye on Blas because similar charges were pending in police court at the time of her arrest. Marijuana was outlawed in Wyoming in 1915, and the federal government would outlaw it nationally in 1937.

Lever of fate: A legislative committee made way for voting machines to be used in larger polling districts by determining that the ballot produced by machine can be legally considered a "printed ballot" required by the Wyoming Constitution.

Singed starlet: Patsy Ruth Miller, movie star, returned to Hollywood after divorcing her director husband Tay Garnett. Miller complained marriages in Hollywood weren't possible with so many stag parties and couples separated by long periods for filming in at various locations.

50 years ago

The news photo on the front page of the Oct. 28, 1958, Casper Morning Star showed a suicidal man being grabbed by a police detective to keep him from jumping 135 feet into the East River near the Bronx, N.Y.

A Catholic priest talked with William Thulin for longer than an hour, distracting Thulin so he didn't notice the approach from behind of Detective James McGee.

Murder spree: Caril Ann Fugate's photo was on page 15 of the Oct. 28, 1958, Morning Star. Fugate was the girlfriend of Charles Starkweather when the couple went on desperate flight from justice that left 11 people dead.

Fugate was being escorted from the courtroom in Lincoln, Neb., where she was charged in connection in the killings. In an article on page 23, the Morning Star reported that Fugate was glum during jury selection of her trial.

The murder spree started in Lincoln and ended outside of Douglas.

25 years ago

The top story in the Oct. 27, 1983, Casper Star-Tribune was about U.S. troops being sent to Grenada to reinforce the invasion of the island. U.S. forces were sent to do battle with Cuban and loyalist troops.

The invasion caused a backlash of worldwide criticism of the United States for its use of "gunboat diplomacy."

Pressure valve: Gov. Ed Herschler responded to overcrowding at the state penitentiary by commuting sentences. The Oct. 27, 1983, Star-Tribune article by Joan Barron reported that Herschler commuted 114 sentences so far that year.

Herschler made the point that the sentences he reduced were for property crimes and that the men released were not a threat to society.

"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.