Looking back: Penicillin flown to Idaho to treat Fremont teen with ‘severe infection’ and dogs let loose during burglary
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IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of April 18 to April 24 in east Idaho history.
1900-1925
BLACKFOOT — A car hit and killed a cow but the driver walked away unharmed, the Blackfoot Idaho Republican said on April 21, 1916.
H.C. Holland was returning to Blackfoot from Idaho Falls in his Ford touring car when the crash happened. The paper said he “was coming fast” when a “thoughtless cow” walked out from behind a fence and stopped Holland’s car. The cow immediately died.
“We trust (that) rising into a newer and more glorious existence, there are no Ford cars and butchers, but only hay and sunshine,” the paper wrote.
1926-1950
ST. ANTHONY — Penicillin was rushed to a Fremont boy in hopes it would save his life, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on April 18, 1944.
Bates Westerberg, 13, contracted a severe streptococcus infection. The paper noted the boy had been sick with pneumonia during the winter.
Through the efforts of Rexburg’s Dr. Parley Nelson, president of the state medical association, and Idaho Gov. C.A. Bottolfsen, penicillin was obtained from the army at Chicago and flown to Idaho to help treat the boy.
“The boy is doing fine now and I think will completely recover,” a St. Anthony doctor said.
1951-1975
SALMON — A 22-year-old inmate of the Idaho State Prison confessed to setting on fire the Brough Warehouse in Salmon.
The Salmon Recorder Herald said on April 24, 1975, the inmate was serving a term on a burglary charge from another area. The prisoner wrote a letter to the judge who sentenced him saying he wanted to confess another crime. The judge sent the letter to Sheriff William Baker.
“The prisoner was able to say where the fires had started, what had been taken from the Furniture Mart the same night and other details,” the local paper explained.
The inmate said he didn’t have a reason for starting the fire and indicated he’d been drinking at the time.
1976-2000
POCATELLO — Dogs at an animal shelter were let loose during a burglary, the Idaho State Journal said on April 20, 1976.
“Several dogs had a brief taste of freedom … after burglars entered the animal shelter … and opened doors and cages,” the article states.
The burglary happened in upper Ross Park, and at least eight dogs were released. A shelter worker discovered the break-in around 10:45 p.m.
“Burglars had left a door open after ransacking several offices and opening several of the large cages,” the Idaho State Journal explained.
Police said it wasn’t clear how many “dog care items” were stolen. At the time the article was published, all of the released dogs had been found except for a Terrier Chihuahua mix puppy.