Good Old Days 08-01-14

Compiled By The Sidney Sun-Telegraph Staff

These stories from the past first appeared in The Sidney Telegraph. Original writing is preserved, though some stories were shortened for space reasons.

100 YEARS AGO

August 1, 1914

4 Stages Held Up!

One Hundred Sixty-Five Passengers Robbed Of $3,000, Two Men

Pull Off Job!

Four Conveyances are halted in Yellowstone Park Robbers now believed Headed Toward Jackson Hole Country.

Stage couches of four of the largest transportation companies operating in Yellowstone park, Montana, were held up by two men. The 165 passengers on the stages were robbed of their money, and it is reported that the robbers secured a total of $3,000.

The holdups occurred at different times at Spring Creek canyon, four miles from Old Faithful, a geyser. Lieutenant L. M. Brett has a large force of men pursuing the robbers, who reported to be headed toward the Jackson Hole Country, in Wyoming. Only one robber participated actively in the holdups, the second man remaining behind trees as a lookout.

The transportation companies offered rewards aggregating $500 for the capture of the bandits. Passengers on the stages said that the one man who did the actual work of robbing held up each stage as they passed the canyon by pointing a gun at the driver. The highwaymen had the advantage because government regulations prevent any person except those with permits from carrying arms in the park.

75 years ago

August 1, 1939

Ensilage Tips Are Featured By Agent

For the past year many farmers have been restocking their farms with hogs milk cows. Much of the foundation livestock was bought at rather high prices. They can't afford to run the risk of losing them again or selling them at a sacrifice prices. This is the reasoning of practical minded farm people, reports Agriculture Agent Swinbank.

Many farmers carrying over a little feed last spring failed to realize this danger and did not plant an adequate acreage of drought resident feed crops. Many planned on feed from other sources which have no mater. Regardless of the cause for possible feed shortages the greatest care is now necessary to preserve in its best form every bit of feed now available. Immature corn is of little value as fodder but if put into a silo it has from 2-3 to 3-4 the value of mature corn. The nearer the corn reaches maturity before cutting it, the better silage and larger tonnage it will make. However, in the case of drought damaged corn it should be cut before the leaves become so dry that they may be shattered or blown from the stalk.

Because of this situation farmers are being urged by Agricultural Agents all over the state to watch their corn carefully. As long as it has a chance to grow and approach maturity it should be allowed to do so. However, as soon as growth has stopped and it seems improbably that rain would revive it, cutting for silage id definitely recommended.

Plans for construction of trench silos can be secured from Agriculture Agent Swinbank. An ensilage cutter is not needed to make good silage, Swinbank said, though the cutter does make it easier to handle when fed. With the final outcome of Nebraska's corn crop is still extremely uncertain, livestock men at the Nebraska college of agriculture are suggesting prompt ensilage of whose fields have been damaged beyond hope of recovery.

50 YEARS AGO

August 3, 1964

Tiny Viruses Are Elusive Villains

Viruses are the smallest of all known agents, so small they can be seen only with extreme magnification. They are found in many forms of living tissue animals, plants, and human beings. Even bacteria, small as they are, are attacked by viruses, says the Nebraska Dept. of Health.

They are divided into four general groups:

1. These which affect the skin such as measles and chicken pox.

2. Those which attack the spinal column and brain such as rabies and polio.

3. Those which attack the respiratory system such as flu, common cold and grippe-type infections.

4. Those which attack the internal organs, such as the ones which cause mumps and intestinal troubles.

Only recently were scientists able to prove that new strains of viruses can come from mutants or changes in the form of existing viruses which give them a different character from that of the original. The Asian flu is thought to be a mutation of one of the influenza viruses. A new vaccine had to be developed to fight it because of its resistance to the older type of vaccines.

It is possible to prevent some virus diseases by immunization against them, and thus break the chain of transmission.

25 YEARS AGO

August 1, 1989

Three Arrested In Local Drug Bust

Three Sidney men have been arrested and charged with selling marijuana to an undercover narcotic officer of The Nebraska State Patrol. Cheyenne County Sheriff Darrell Johnson said this morning the arrests followed an investigation of about six months jointly by his office, the Sidney Police Department and the State Patrol.

Arrested July 27 were Howard Ray Glenn, 1939 1st Ave; 29, Terry Lee Nation, 21, of rural Sidney, and Jeffery Earl Anderson, 1234 6th Ave. Johnson said each was arrested individually over a period of about an hour and a half. Cheyenne County Court Judge Thomas Dorwart set bond on each man at $25,000, requiring that 10 percent be in cash. This morning Glenn was out on bond but the other two were still in county jail.

The three are charged with Class III felony: unlawful manufacture and/or distribution of a controlled substance. According to the warrants issued for the man's arrests, am undercover State Patrol narcotics officer, working with a "confidential informant," approached each of the three men individually and asked to buy marijuana from them. The court documents say the officer and informant went to a residence about three miles west of Sidney, March 8 and asked Nation to sell them Marijuana. He told them to meet him at a convenience store in Sidney where he sold the officer a quarter-ounce for $35, officers allege.

In each case, according to the court documents, the undercover officer wore a transmitting device, a "body wire" on his person. The Officer approached Anderson at his apartment, 1900 Ash # 3, May 7, where the officer purchased two quarter-ounce plastic bags of marijuana for $70, according to the warrant. Also May 7 the State Patrol narcotics officer said he purchased a quarter-ounce of marijuana from Glenn at 1931 1st Ave. for $40. The marijuana purchased from the three was sent to the Nebraska State Patrol Criminalistics Laboratory for analysis to the men's arrests.

10 YEARS AGO

August 3, 2004

Bush Embraces Intelligence Reforms But Not As Outlined By 9/11 Commission

Washington (AP) – President Bush urged creation of a national intelligence director Monday to coordinate the war on terrorism but without the sweeping powers for hiring, firing and spending at the CIA, FBI and other agencies as recommended by the Sept.11 commission. "Were a nation in danger," Bush said in a White House Rose Garden appearance where he announced his support for a national intelligence chief and the establishment of a national center to plan counter-operations in the United States and abroad. "Were doing everything we can in our power to confront the danger."

While Congress works on legislation to create the new intelligence director post, the president will tell the CIA director to tap all the authority he has under current law to manage the nation's 15 spy agencies, a senior administration official said on condition of anonymity. The official would not speculate about who would be put in charge of carrying this out. He said Bush might name acting CIA John McLaughlin to the job, and later, after the new post is created, would nominate him or someone else to be America's first national intelligence director.

The President also needs to fill the CIA director's slot by picking McLaughlin, who's been warming the seat since Gorge Tenet resigned in June, or someone new. "I expect he'll have more to say on that soon," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.

Bush's announcement showed his determination to keep what polls show is a substantial advantage over Democratic rival John Kerry on the issue of fighting terrorism. Kerry's aides said Bush's appearance and a new terror warning covering financial institutions in New York. Washington and New Jersey was an example of the presidents ability to control the campaign agenda.

Kerry said Bush should act more quickly. "I regret that the president seems to have no sense of urgency to make America as safe as it needs to be," said Kerry, who has endorsed all of the commission's 40 or so recommendations. He said it had taken Bush three years to deal with changes, "some of them very obvious.

Bush aside a recommendation from Kerry, Bush said he had no plans to summon Congress back into a special session this summer to address the proposed changes. "They can think about them over August and come back and act on them in September," said Bush.

The creation of a national intelligence director and counter-terrorism center were the central recommendations of the independent commission to strengthen the nation's fight against terrorism. In a scathing report, the commission said intelligence and law enforcement agencies mishandled clues that might have led them to the Sept. 11 attackers. The report warned that the nation was still at substantial risk, and panel members urged the president and Congress to embrace their recommendations in full.

Commission leaders welcomed Bush's announcement as "an important step in the progress of reorganizing the U.S. government for a new era."