Compiled by CORRYNE DRAKE

Special to the Star-Tribune

Natrona County Tribune, 1909

Mental parity - "Kenworthy on Another Rampage.

"James Kenworthy, who was sent to the asylum for the insane from here three or four years ago, escaped from that institution several months ago and last week reached Salt Lake. About the first thing he did when he arrived in that city was to throw a rock through a large plate glass window. He was captured and taken to jail, and there told the police that he was a Mason of the White Cross, and that he could hold communication with friends in any part of the world. The authorities at the asylum were notified of Kenworthy's prensence in Salt Lake, and he was brought back. Kenworthy used to work in the vicinity of Lost Cabin, and raised a good deal of trouble up there before he was sent to the asylum."

Slow ambulance - "Broke Her Arm.

"Mrs. Frank Jameson of Ervay was kicked on the left arm by a horse Sunday and sustained a fractured bone, and she passed through this city Monday on her way to the Douglas hospital, where she will have the fracture reduced. She was accompanied by her son Lawrence."

Casper Tribune-Herald, 1934

Bar fight - "Argument Leads to Fatal Shooting …

"Clarence Keithman, Edgerton, was shot and killed yesterday afternoon at 5:40 o'clock by Paul Miller, barkeeper in Harvey's place. …

"Keithman slapped Miller and started back of the bar to assault the bartender, when the latter seized a pistol from underneath the counter and fired twice. … The first bullet passed through the head and lodged in the wall of the room where it was later recovered, the second penetrated the neck and severed the spinal column, bringing death a few minutes later.

"Keithman's truculence started the argument, witnesses said. Standing before the bar, he invited Miller to have a drink. The latter refused, whereupon Keithman slapped him. Miller, whose right arm is withered as a result of a fracture which occurred several years ago and which never healed, refused to retaliate with fists.

"Keithman then started back of the bar, to strike the bartender. The latter warned 'please don't,' but Keithman continued his threatening advance, which was halted with the bullets. …

"Keithman … had assaulted Miller about a year previously, and considerable ill-feeling existed between the two men."

Casper Tribune-Herald, 1959

Got milk? - "Fallout Now Past Its Peak For the Year

"The rate of radioactive fallout from last year's nuclear weapons tests apparently has passed its peak, the Atomic Energy Commission reported. …

"(T)he June fallout rate for the nation as a whole was the lowest since September 1958, when the United States and the Soviet Union stepped up their testing programs in anticipation of the existing one-year ban on tests.

"The AEC statement also included a progress report on methods for removing strontium 90 from milk. It said lavoratory tests indicate that up to 94 per cent of the radioactive material can be removed from skim milk. Getting it out of cream is proving a tougher problem."

Visiting nurse - "Casper Girl Visitor in Hospitals Inside Soviet

"Miss Mary Murane of Casper has returned … after a memorable summer of travel in Russia and Europe. …

"In Russia, … (s)he observed that the children received good care, but was surprised at the Russian view on asepsis. The visitors were allowed into the premature nursery to see the babies. They wore only face masks and white lab coats over their street clothing.

"In Moscow, Miss Murane … observed surgery, toured the sick wards, saw the care of badly burned patients, viewed the mechanisms for obtaining cadaver blood for transfusions and witnessed the use of the famous Russian vessel-suturing apparatus which operates on the same principle as a paper stapler."

Casper Star-Tribune, 1984

A healthy bite - "Hospital costs rising faster than average

"… Health care costs in Wyoming are increasing more rapidly than the national average and rose a whopping 148 percent from 1975 to 1980. …

"Wyoming's per day costs rose from $117 to $290 from 1975 to 1980, while average U.S. per day costs rose 86 percent, from $151 to $281.

"The main factor in the increase both national and in the state was daily room charge. … From 1976 to 1982, Wyoming's daily room charge doubled from $65 to $130.

"In response to the alarming rise in costs, Gov. Ed Herschler has urged the state health coordinating council to 'put everything else aside' to develop some solutions. …

"The average cost per hospital stay in Wyoming was also considerably lower than the national average. The 1980 U.S. average cost was $2,126. The average cost per stay in a Wyoming hospital was $1,430.

"In 1978, Wyoming ranked 48th in health care expenditures per capita, at $551, which compared favorably with the national figure of $745.

"In 1979, Wyoming's mental care hospitals housed 263 patients, ranking 44th in the U.S. The number of mentally impaired patients translated to 5.8 for every 10,000 people in the state. The national average was 6.2 people per 10,000."

"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. Quotation marks surround stories as they appeared in the Casper newspapers 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago, with their original grammar, punctuation and spelling, unless otherwise noted.