Looking back: Man catches ‘monster fish,’ youth cuts off finger tips and man kills mother before trying to stab officer

EAST IDAHO — Every week, East Idaho News is looking back in time at what life was like during this week in history.

This week is Sept. 13 to Sept. 19.

1900-1925

AMERICAN FALLS — The American Falls Press explained that farmers had created a “large surplus of hogs” in its Sept. 13, 1923, paper.

“A hog glut is now facing this country,” the paper wrote.

It explained that hogs had been “such a good market for cheap corn” that farmers had created the excess of hogs. There was a surplus of 6,000,000 hogs and 250,000,000 pounds of stored pork, according to the paper.

“For those who have already expanded, it is too late to say anything, but it is still timely to say to the one about to plunge: ‘Go slow.’ Generally, cheap hogs follow cheap corn by a year or two.”

1926-1950

SALMON — A local man caught a “monster fish” near Salmon on Sept. 15, 1926.

The Salmon Herald reported that C.N. Krogstad was fishing in the Austrian Hole when he caught a Chinook Salmon. It was 48.5 inches long and weighed 31.5 pounds.

“It comes here in the fall run, and is as fat and fine as any fish ever taken out of this river,” the paper mentioned.

Krogstad said he used a casting rod that was only 4 feet 5 inches in length to catch the fish. He also said his bait was a homemade spinner.

“So far as known, this is the biggest one ever taken here with hook and line,” The Salmon Herald said.

1951-1975

TERRETON — A Terreton youth lost the ends of four fingers on his right hand in an accident at a local pellet mill, according to The Rigby Star.

On Sept. 14, 1974, Ron Gillstrap was attempting to bring a heavy piece of machinery to a complete stop with his hand while working on the pellet mill. The weight of the machinery caught his glove and pulled his hand into the equipment, cutting off the fingers, the paper said.

Gillstrap was taken to the community hospital in Idaho Falls but was said to be in good condition despite what happened.

1976-2000

POCATELLO — 33-year-old Kelly Khalil Thomas was arraigned on Sept. 16, 1977, at his hospital bedside on charges of first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon.

He was being treated at the hospital for what may have been a self-inflicted stab wound in the chest, which happened before his arrest on Sept. 14, according to the Idaho State Journal.

The paper said Thomas is accused of killing his 62-year-old mother, Mabel L. Thomas, with a knife and trying to stab a Pocatello police officer with an ice pick.

Thomas was released from Bannock Memorial Hospital in the afternoon of Sept. 16, and taken to the Bannock County Jail without bond.

Sixth District Magistrate Robert W. Bennett appointed a public defender for Thomas. A preliminary hearing on the charges was supposed to be held within 10 days.