Looking back: Burglar escapes family’s home after yelling, ‘Boo!’; family given a bed in jail cell for the night
Published at | Updated at
IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of Sept. 8 to Sept. 14 in east Idaho history.
1900-1925
BLACKFOOT — A skylight fell in a local hardware store, but nobody was standing under it when it came crashing down, The Bingham County News reported on Sept. 9, 1921.
The skylight fell inside the Neil F. Boyle Hardware store and damaged washing machines and cream separators.
“As luck would have it, none of the employees or customers were standing or walking beneath the skylight at the time it fell,” the paper mentioned. “If it had fallen on anyone, there is little doubt that there would have been fatalities as a result.”
The glass was almost a half-inch thick. It’s not clear how much it weighed, but it was heavy enough to crush the wooden parts of the machines it fell on. The entire skylight was broken into small pieces.
The paper said there was no reason for the collapse, other than it “just gave way and fell.”
1926-1950
IDAHO FALLS — A burglar hiding in a bedroom got away after yelling “Boo!” and escaping through a window, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on Sept. 9, 1940.
Bonneville County Sheriff’s officers were searching for the burglar. Sheriff Harry Meppen said he was given a complete description of the youth by Gretchen Kemper, 19, who came face-to-face with the burglar when she closed a bedroom closet door. The description of the burglar was not provided in the article.
Meppin said the burglar “was just about as scared as Miss Kemper,” who was in her family’s farmhouse, 10 miles northeast of Idaho Falls. She was home with her older sister, Helen, an Idaho Falls school teacher.
“Miss Kemper was ironing some clothes and went into the bedroom to hang them up,” Meppin explained, and noted Helen was in another part of the house.
He continued, “She noticed the closet door open and started to close it when she saw the burglar. He shouted, ‘Boo!’ and threw up his hands.”
Kemper began screaming and yelled so loud neighbors showed up at her house but the burglar had already fled through the bedroom window. He took bedding and an Eastern Star ring with him.
The sheriff said the burglar got inside the house by removing a screen from the window.
1951-1975
RIGBY — One night in 1975, a family whose car broke down was given a place to stay for the night inside a cell in the Jefferson County Jail, The Rigby Star reported on Sept. 11, 1975.
Mr. and Mrs. Franklin D. McClane, of Elkhart, Indiana, and their three small children, became stranded south of Dubois when their car stopped working.
They had been following a truck from Seattle. McClane had been helping the driver of the truck with loading and unloading items when the car broke down. Apparently, the truck driver didn’t notice the McClanes weren’t following him anymore, and he drove on without them.
Mr. McClane had been helping the driver to gain travel expenses for his family.
Pete Madsen with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office brought the family into Rigby late Friday night. When they arrived, they only had .75 cents. Madsen gave the family sandwiches kept at the jail for prisoners and provided them with a bed in the jail.
The following morning, the Jefferson County commissioners made arrangements for the family to stay at a local motel and have their car repaired. A local restaurant also provided the family with meals.
Mr. McClane, a railroad worker in Indiana, said he was put out of work during labor disputes. He heard of jobs on the railroad in Seattle, so they went there. When they arrived, they found there was a waiting list of more than a year for work, and at that time, they had already used all their savings.
Mr. McClane said as soon as he can return home and get a job, he intended to pay back those who helped his family.
1976-2000
INKOM — A Pocatello delivery man suffered a severe leg injury while making a routine delivery, the Idaho State Journal reported on Sept. 9, 1977.
Gerald Pratt, a delivery man for Jim Leese Oil Company, was making a delivery to the Dale Matthew residence in Inkom when the accident happened.
Police said when Pratt engaged the truck’s power takeoff, he accidentally released the emergency brake and his vehicle rolled forward, hitting another truck in its path.
Pratt was struck by the truck door, fell and was run over by the rear wheel. Pratt’s status and the specific injuries he suffered were not mentioned in the article.
This story is brought to you by Newspapers.com, where a simple search of our newspaper archive transports you to the past. Get a front-row seat to famous events and hidden histories in more than 28,000 historical newspapers from small towns and major cities across the U.S. and beyond. The past: read all about it!