Looking back: Man shoots black bear that falls dead 50 feet in front of him; teen jumps from moving car

IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of Sept. 1 to Sept. 7 in east Idaho history.

1900-1925

ISLAND PARK — A local man killed a black bear that he shot dead about 50 feet in front of him, The Rigby Star reported on Sept. 1, 1921.

P.G. Sessions had been tending his sheep in Island Park during the summer of 1921. He discovered a black bear close to his sheep about six miles south of the Island Park station.

Sessions took a shot at the animal with a .45 automatic, and the bullet hit the bear in the side. At this point, the bear turned towards Sessions. He fired two more times at the bear and killed the animal, which weighed between 500 to 600 pounds.

“Mr. Session intends to bring the hide of the big bear down as evidence of his experience,” the paper wrote.

Sessions said he had seen 19 bears over the 1921 summer and had lost many sheep because of the bears.

1926-1950

REXBURG — A teenager believed to be missing was found safe, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on Sept. 6, 1932.

Louis C. Thompson, 14, of Rexburg, went missing Aug. 31, 1932. He was last seen in a rowboat on the Snake River, west of Rexburg. The sheriff’s office searched the river for Thompson but couldn’t find him.

It later came out that Thompson had boarded a train headed south and was located alive in Burley. Information regarding Thompson’s whereabouts came from his aunt, who he was living with, who called his parents.

The teenager was reportedly working in Burley.

1951-1975

IDAHO FALLS — A 19-year-old woman was reported in good condition after jumping from a moving car, The Rigby Star reported on Sept. 4, 1952.

Bonneville County sheriff Dean Wilkie said Alice Rowher told him she accepted a ride from Rigby to Idaho Falls with a young man who is a friend of her brother, but whose name she didn’t know.

She said she asked him to let her out in Idaho Falls but that instead, he drove across the John’s Hole Bridge and onto the airport road.

Rowher said she became frightened and jumped from the car which she estimated to be traveling at 40 miles per hour.

An employee of a nearby grain elevator saw her jump and notified Jesse Clark, manger of the elevator, who called the sheriff. The girl was rushed to the hospital by ambulance.

Wilkie said the girl told him she did a complete somersault after jumping out of the car.

“Although stunned, she was able to talk,” the article mentioned. “She said the driver stopped and offered assistance, but she refused to ride with him further. He then apparently drove away.”

Rowher was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Rowher, of Rigby, and a student nurse at the LDS Hospital.

1976-2000

POCATELLO — A woman was arrested in Pocatello on a charge of indecent exposure, the Idaho State Journal reported on Sept. 7, 1977.

Maxiene Virne, 32, of Nevada, was accused of running in the afternoon wearing nothing but ankle socks and blue tennis shoes.

She plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge and was given a three-day suspended jail sentence and fined $7.50 in court costs.

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