Looking back: Man mistaken for robber has arm cut off by train, and rats become a problem near Preston
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IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of Feb. 26 to March 3 in east Idaho history.
1900-1925
DUBOIS — A man was mistaken for a robber and was kicked off a train and had his arm cut off, The Sugar City Times reported on Feb. 26, 1914.
Bud Fisher was the man who got his arm cut off by a train near Dubois. The paper said he “seems to be the victim of peculiar circumstances.”
“The story comes in broken lots and is mostly hearsay,” The Sugar City Times wrote. “It appears that a man was held up and robbed of $25. The man who was robbed rustled a gun and went in search of the robber.”
The robbery victim “came upon Fisher” on a freight train and “taking him for the robber, turned loose upon him.”
He shot Fisher in the arm and then kicked him off the train. As Fisher fell, his arm went under the wheels and was severed above the elbow joint.
“The real robber and Fisher bear a close resemblance, it is said, and the mistake could easily be made, as the affair occurred in the early morning,” the paper stated.
Officers later found the man who committed the robbery. However, the man who was robbed and who kicked Fisher off the train had disappeared.
“This man and the man in jail are strangers here,” the article reads. “Fisher worked as a farm hand in the vicinity of Dubois last summer.”
Fisher was brought to Sugar City, where he underwent surgery. He was recovering at the county hospital and was “getting along as well as can be expected.”
1926-1950
PRESTON — The rat population was “increasing at an alarming rate” in Franklin County, the Preston Citizen reported on Feb. 28, 1946.
“One farmer west of Preston reported killing 97 rats in a small chicken coop during the past week,” the local paper wrote. “The farmer further reported these rats were eating large amounts of poultry feeds, which are extremely expensive at the present time.”
A county-wide rat extermination program was tentatively scheduled for mid-March, at which time bait was going to be distributed to central points of the county.
“The bait will then be picked up from the central point and be put out by the property owners,” the article reads.
1951-1975
RIRIE — The 1961 Ririe “Man of the Year” was announced in the local paper, The Rigby Star reported on March 2, 1961.
Marlon Rowan received the award at the annual chamber of commerce banquet held by the Ririe organization.
“Rowan is chairman of the Jefferson County Fair Board, chairman of the Board of Trustees School District No. 251A, manager of Ririe Sales Agency and other business and civic endeavors,” the paper said.
1976-2000
POCATELLO — Two Pocatello men were charged in connection with the arson fire in Pocatello that injured three firefighters and destroyed a city landmark, the Idaho State Journal reported on Feb. 28, 1977.
EastIdahoNews.com reported on the fire in a previous Looking Back. The fire heavily damaged the Dietrich Building at Center and Arthur Streets in the “heart of the downtown business district” on Jan. 24, 1977.
Russell D. Mee, 21, was sentenced to an indeterminate term not to exceed two years in the state penitentiary on a charge of accessory after the fact to second-degree arson. Mee had earlier pleaded guilty to that charge.
“The court will retain jurisdiction over Mee’s case for 120 days during which a compete psychological, social, educational and vocational evaluation will be completed on him,” the Journal explained.
Lloyd R. Lockhart, Jr., 20, was sentenced to an indeterminate term not to exceed 10 years on a charge of second-degree arson. He also pleaded guilty to the charge in a previous court appearance.
“He had also been charged with first-degree burglary in connection with the arson case, but has not been granted immunity from prosecution on the burglary charge,” the article mentioned.
Both men were remanded to custody of the Bannock County sheriff for transfer to the state penitentiary in Boise.