Natrona County Tribune, 1909

Bound for the Big House -- "Ten Sleep Raiders All Get Penitentiary Sentence. ...

"Herbert L. Brink was convicted of murder in the first degree for the part he took in the Ten Sleep raid, in which Joseph Allemand, Joseph Emge and Jules Lazier, the three sheepmen, were killed, and their wagons burned and many of their sheep slain. ... (T)he death sentence of Brink was commuted, and he was allowed to plead guilty to murder in the second degree and receive a life sentence." Two more defendants pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received "twenty years of hard labor in the penitentiary." Another two were each sentenced to three years for manslaughter.

"Farris and Keyes, the informers, will later be taken before the court, plead guilty and be granted freedom under the immunity promised by the state. ...

"It was on Farris' testimony that Brink was convicted. ... of the murder of the man [Allemand]. ...

"At first there was opposition to compromise in the case of Brink, the death penalty being the only one possible under the verdict against him.

"Brink offered to let his sentence be carried out if it would save his friends, but they refused and [one] declared Brink's life must be saved or they would all hang to the same tree."

Casper Tribune-Herald, 1934

Pilfered petrol -- "MAN ARRESTED FOR STEALING GASOLINE EXTENDED CLEMENCY

"Arrested Friday in the Salt Creek field, ... Oral Morris was arraigned yesterday before district Judge C. D. Murane. He pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing drop gasoline from the Stanolind Oil and Gas company pipeline. Suspending sentence, the judge placed him under a five-year parole, instructing him to report to the county sheriff every six months.

"Morris, an employe of the Stanolind firm, was stealing the gas for personal use and not for illicit marketing. ...

"All deputies on pipeline duty in the field are conducting a rigorous campaign to stamp out pipeline tapping and the theft of casinghead gasoline. At one time the traffic was a serious one, aimed at tax evasion."

Casper Tribune-Herald, 1959

Cheap thrills -- "Discarded Beer at Dump Attracts Many Salvagers

"A buried cache of 40,000 cans of 'flat' Coors beer at the city dump has been the source of intoxicants for some minors arrested for illegal possession -- not to mention midnight raids made on the city dump by adults.

"Despite repeated efforts to destroy and cover the beer cans with a bulldozer, the 'human moles' have persisted in digging into the pile of cans over a period of seven to eight months.

"(T)he 1,600 cases of beer were trucked to the city dump and unloaded in a trench after they were found to be part of a shipment that was 'flat' due to mechanical difficulties at the Coors factory, which resulted in lack of carbonation. ...

"Ora Williams, bulldozer operator at the city dump, recalled that the Coors distributor, accompanied by an Internal Revenue agent, had poured diesel fuel over the beer cans and set them afire. 'Some swelled up and some exploded,' he said

"The cans were dumped in a trench six to eight feet deep, mashed down by the treads of a caterpillar tractor, and covered with dirt. ...

"Whenever an excavation into the buried cache was found, Williams said, it was refilled with dirt. 'But even covering the beer cans with a dead horse could not deter the raiders,' he added.

"'It wasn't just kids,' Williams said. 'Sometimes at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning we would find adults--men and women--parked on the hill above the dump, waiting to dig into the buried cache.'"

Casper Star-Tribune, 1984

Scary statistics -- "County suicide figures indicate major problem

"There is, on average, one suicide a week in Natrona County. ...

"There have been between 40-45 suicides in the county so far this year. That figure does not include the number of deaths that appear accidental but may be deliberate.

"'It scares me to death. It is darn near an epidemic,' [Sheriff John] Barrett said. ...

"Formerly a United Way Agency, the [Suicide Prevention Intervention] hotline operation was forced for a time to discontinue service for lack of funds. ... Down from a peak of 28, six hotline volunteers are now answering calls. ...

"One businessman sketched a scenario made more likely by the limited manpower.

"'What if I get a call at 3 p.m. and I am with a client and my receptionist tells the guy I'm busy? Can you imagine how he's going to feel,' the volunteer said."

"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. You can contact Corryne at corrynedrake@gmail.com.