Looking back: Grain elevator catches fire and group of kids almost get electrocuted
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IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of April 17 to April 23 in east Idaho history.
1900-1925
BLACKFOOT — A Blackfoot grain elevator located south of the power plant caught on fire late one night, the Blackfoot Idaho Republican said on April 21, 1921.
A Blackfoot man named William Knox was leaving a barber shop when he noticed “the light in the top window of the elevator.” As he walked down the street, he remembered that usually all those windows were dark. He then noticed a “flicker that never comes from an electric bulb” and he ran to Manager Hubbell’s home.
“Mr. Hubbell took one look at the window and rang for service,” the paper explained. “He hastily jerked on some clothes and his shoes and ran out and unlocked the doors.”
Ross Glassburn, a firefighter, knew the building and the location of the “little one-man elevator.” He quickly began to make his way “to the top” with a nozzle in hand.
“In the meantime, Mr. Hubble and a fireman with a tank of pyrene had reached the seat of the fire and attacked it with chemicals and salt water, there being a barrel of salt water on each floor,” the article stated. “It was hot and smoky but the fire was out when the hose arrived.”
Firefighters were unable to determine the cause of the fire. The article said there were no electric wires in that part of the building and no oils and gases “or anything on which to hang a suspicion.”
“Mr. Hubbell is profuse in his praise for the volunteer fire department on account of their promptness and the dispatch with which they moved and made connections from the time the siren screamed until the fire was out,” the paper said.
1926-1950
RIGBY — A group of kids decided to hold hands while throwing a “fine coil of wire” over an electric power line, The Rigby Star wrote on April 19, 1934.
“The resultant crack was heard by an electrician who happened to be practicing ball on the baseball grounds adjacent, and he lost no time in apprehending the kids and took the wire from them,” the local paper said.
The electrician explained to the kids, who were about 10 years old, that “only some unknown cause of providence saved them from being killed by the high-voltage line.”
None of the kids were injured except for one who escaped with only a burn on the finger.
1951-1975
RIGBY — A Ririe man swerved to avoid hitting a calf that darted onto the highway and, in the process, spilled empty milk cans all over the road.
In an article dated April 17, 1952, The Rigby Star said Elmer Radford told authorities he was going about 40 miles per hour at the time of the accident.
“As he gave the wheel a quick turn to avoid the animal, the truck and (trailer) rolled over, (and landed) right side up on the highway,” the paper said. “The truck started on up the highway, the engine being still running after the roll-over.”
The driver had minor bruises, and it’s believed the calf escaped uninjured.
1976-2000
POCATELLO — Bannock County authorities were receiving warrants from other Idaho counties against a Caldwell man who was being held in the Bannock County Jail, the Idaho State Journal reported on April 22, 1977.
Arden Naillon, 35, was being held in jail on charges of robbing Pocatello’s Grizzly Bear Pizza and kidnapping three parlor employees. The hostages were released unharmed near Lava Hot Springs.
“A bench warrant with a bond of $15,000, a warrant charging bail jumping with a $5,000 bond and a warrant charging grand larceny with a $5,000 bond have been sent from Canyon County,” the paper stated. “The Bannock County Sheriff’s Department is also holding a detainer warrant from Twin Falls County charging second-degree burglary with a $5,000 bond set.”
Local authorities expected warrants to be filed from Blaine County, where Naillon allegedly kidnapped a police officer and escaped an earlier two-day manhunt.