Looking back: Boys aquitted of murder charge, gasoline shortage and man forgets to put car in park

EAST IDAHO — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back in time at what life was like during this week in history.

This week is Nov. 22 to Nov. 28.

1900-1925

TWIN FALLS — Two boys were acquitted of a murder charge for being “too young to comprehend (the) crime,” The Rigby Star said on Nov. 23, 1916.

Harold Lovelace, 12, and his brother, Lynn, 11, were “freed” of the charge of killing Professor F. T. Hamill in August 1915.

Hamill was a school teacher and was spending his summer vacation on a homestead near Twin Falls. It was claimed that Hamill caught the Lovelace boys robbing his cabin. They escaped but later returned, pulled out a gun and “held Hamill up.”

“The school teacher grappled with Harold, who, during the struggle, called to his younger brother to shoot,” the paper reported. “This Lynn did, and Hamill’s head was blown off.”

The jury deliberated for less than two hours before making its decision, according to The Rigby Star.

1926-1950

BURLEY — A horse dragged a Burley boy to death, according to an article in the Idaho State Journal dated Nov. 22, 1949.

Darrell Bean, 8, died Nov. 19, 1949, after his foot got caught in a bridle rein and his pony dragged him a quarter of a mile. The accident happened at the farm home of the boy’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ray Bean.

“Hospital attendants said he died of a broken neck,” the paper explained.

1951-1975

POCATELLO — Pocatello gas stations reported they might run out of gasoline before the end of November, the Idaho State Journal said in its Nov. 25, 1973, newspaper.

Several service station managers told the Idaho State Journal the fuel they received from distributors was cut back from 5% to 10%.

“I’m running low,” Joe Anderson of Anderson Auto Service, told the paper. “I might be completely dry the last three or four days of the month. I’ve already gotten all the gas I’m allowed this month, so there’s no place I can get any more until the first of the month.”

He said distributor prices were “pretty much equal, regardless of where you go.” Anderson previously went to Washington to discuss the “dilemma” of service station owners with the Idaho Congressional delegation.

“Car repairs is the only way I make it,” he said. “They (the Cost of Living Council) won’t allow us to make a profit on gas. Everything else is up — social security, taxes, even milk — but we can’t increase our profit. We aren’t asking to get rich. We just want to be able to keep up with the rising cost in living.”

Anderson, like other stations in Pocatello, wasn’t open on Sundays. He had to cut back his hours from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. but noted he “may be forced to go from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.”

“The way I feel about the entire thing is not for print,” Jack Webber of Webber Standard Service said. “Those guys on the Cost of Living Council ought to have their heads examined. What do they know about the gasoline business? What do they know about how much it costs to stay in business? I firmly believe no one should tell us what to do unless they are putting money in our business.”

1976-2000

POCATELLO — A Pocatello man was charged with “failing to secure his vehicle” after it rolled into another car, the Idaho State Journal reported on Nov. 22, 1976.

After pulling out of a private driveway, Kregg Price, 21, placed his truck in neutral before getting out to close a gate, according to investigators.

His one-ton Chevy truck rolled into the path of a car driven by Kenard Harrison. Police said about $300 in damage was done to Price’s truck, and Harrison’s car sustained $250 worth of damage.