Looking back: Teenager steals all of his father’s money before leaving town, and 85-year-old woman takes first-ever plane ride

IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of Oct. 28 to Nov. 3 in east Idaho history.

1900-1925

BLACKFOOT — A 19-year-old boy made headlines after he “betrayed his father’s trust,” The Bingham County News reported on Oct. 28, 1915.

The boy, Sidney Busenbark, and Dan Robbins (whose age wasn’t mentioned), both of Willow Creek, “suddenly left their parental roofs.” They took two horses and two saddles belonging to Busenbark’s father.

“They brought the horses to Blackfoot and put them in Mowery’s feed yard and sold the saddles, spurs and chaps to the second hand store for $27,” the paper explained. “The horses were recovered by their owner who paid their feed bill and took them back to Willow Creek.”

The Busenbark boy then withdrew all his father’s money in the First National Bank and “outfitted himself and companion” with $78.35 worth of clothing.

“They bought a ticket to Reno, Nevada, where they were last heard from,” the article reads. “They made their sneak from Blackfoot by means of a hired auto to Fort Hall where they took the train for Reno.”

Busenbark’s father was described as a “well-to-do stock raiser” who “had implicit confidence in his only son with whom he entrusted all his business.”

“Although he deplores his son’s ungrateful and dishonest departure, (he) will not have him arrested, and hopes the experience of his waywardness will make him a better and wiser boy when he returns to the forgiving father whom he has so shamefully deceived and injured,” The Bingham County News stated.

1926-1950

POCATELLO — A “pioneer woman” took a plane ride to celebrate her 85th birthday, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on Nov. 1, 1933.

Mrs. Lena Cathcart — who rode for four days in 1872 in a stage coach from Kelton, Utah, to Placerville, Idaho, to be married — rode for the first time in a plane for her birthday.

“It was a wonderful ride,” Cathcart, who had been a Pocatello resident since 1891, told the paper. “I hope to go again.”

1951-1975

IDAHO FALLS — Burglars broke into an Idaho Falls home and stole money from a piggy bank, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on Oct. 28, 1952.

The home of L.J. Richards was “thoroughly ransacked,” according to a police report. About $6 to $10 was taken from a piggy bank.

No further details were released in the article other than police were still investigating the case.

1976-2000

POCATELLO — A 13-year-old Pocatello boy was arrested for allegedly “passing forged documents,” the Idaho State Journal wrote on Oct. 28, 1976.

The boy was charged with passing several checks totaling $194 at a local Albertsons.

“Store employees told police the boy used each check towards the purchase of groceries, leaving a small amount of change,” the paper reads.

The article continues, “Because the checks were made out before the boy arrived in the store, the Albertsons clerks apparently assumed they were made out by the boy’s parents.”

Pocatello Police were investigating how the boy obtained the checks.

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