Looking back: Man misses train in Pocatello, dies walking to Blackfoot and thieves steal a prosecutor’s snowmachine
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IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of Jan. 8 to Jan. 14 in east Idaho history.
1900-1925
FORT HALL — A man who missed his train in Pocatello and started walking to Blackfoot was found dead, the Blackfoot Idaho Republican reported on Jan. 10, 1908.
George Beckley was traveling from Delta, Colorado, to Blackfoot to eat Christmas dinner with his wife and kids. He missed his train in Pocatello on Christmas morning and started walking to Blackfoot.
“He took the wrong road, and in the evening, met an Indian on Fort Hall Bottoms who invited him to his camp,” the paper explained. “The invitation was declined, although, the Indian says, the poor old gentleman was so exhausted he was tottering.”
The article continued, “He asked for some matches, which were given him, and he started in the direction which the Indian directed him to take to get to Blackfoot.”
A quarter of a mile away, Beckley threw away his overcoat and two miles father, he walked into a little inclosure on a knoll and laid down. That is where Beckley’s body was found Jan. 8, 1908.
“The Indian who gave him the matches knew nothing of the search for a missing man, until Monday of this week, when he found the coat,” the article stated. “After making a search for the man, he went to Ross Fork and reported to Major Caldwell what he had seen and found.”
Beckley had a son and two daughters living in Blackfoot. His wife had been in Blackfoot for several weeks.
“She, as well as the other members of the family, are suffering a terrible trial, and the sympathies of the whole country are theirs in this unfortunate and unpreventable loss of the father,” the Blackfoot Idaho Republican wrote.
The remains were taken to Pocatello and were shipped to Colorado for burial.
1926-1950
JEFFERSON COUNTY — Jefferson County had no fatal car accidents during the year 1941, The Rigby Star reported on Jan. 8, 1942.
The county was one of six counties in Idaho to have a perfect record for the year. Jefferson County’s record for 1941 was the “first clear record” in several years. Four car fatalities happened in 1937, seven in 1938, five in 1939 and two in 1940.
1951-1975
RIGBY — Window panes and other targets in Rigby were being shot at by BB guns, The Rigby Star reported on Jan. 8, 1959.
The paper said since Christmas, “the effect has been most noticeable.”
“Peace officers desire to alert all parents who have boys or girls possessing BB guns to place a restraint upon their use in this respect, and to caution them of the danger they place themselves in if they persist in destroying public property,” the article mentioned.
1976-2000
POCATELLO — Two thieves stole a snowmobile off the front lawn of a Bannock County prosecuting attorney’s home, the Idaho State Journal reported on Jan. 13, 1977.
Around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, the thieves hot wired the snowmobile belonging to Garth Pincock and headed west to a frontage road east of Interstate 15. From there, the pair went south into the foothills.
“Using two snowmobiles and a four-wheel drive vehicle, Pincock, a neighbor and local police officers gave chase,” the Journal said. “Following the snowmobile tracks, authorities led by Pincock, recovered his machine in a gully.”
Near Pincock’s snowmachine, another snowmobile with a Wisconsin registration was found abandoned.
“The chase continued as Pincock’s posse followed the thieve’s foot tracks,” the paper reads. “However, those ended at the east end of Ardella Street where the pair apparently were picked up by another four-wheel drive vehicle.”
The Wisconsin snowmobile was impounded by police. Pincock’s $500 snowmachine had $200 to $300 worth of damage. Another snowmobile in Pincock’s yard was also vandalized.