Yesterday's Phillips County News Memories for August 14, 2019

100 years ago

August 10, 1919

A special election had been called for September 2, to decide upon a location of a courthouse and jail. Two sites had been offered and feelings were running high concerning the selection. R.M. Trafton had offered a complete block at the "west edge of town," the present site, and a group of businessmen were offering six lots at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Survant Street (where the Woman's Club is now located.)

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The Fifth Avenue Dining Room was opened to the public by Manager Wheat.

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The County Commissioners had voted a $75,000 bond issue for relief of drought sufferers.

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A sale was advertised at the Herb Kibler farm south of Malta.

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Vern Ludwick was offering for sale a new single-seat buggy.

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Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Cabot were the parents of a daughter.

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B. H. Koke had been appointed alderman from the second ward to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of J. M. Brayton.

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Henry Hoffman had signed a contract as an instructor in manual training for the ensuing school years.

75 years ago

August 17, 1944

Citizens plan for hospital for county

At a meeting in the Malta City Hall, Wednesday evening was attended by 30 citizens representing various communities in Phillips County, and plans were perfected for the formation of the Phillips County Hospital Association, for the purpose of acquiring funds with which to erect a hospital.

The plan proposed calls for public subscription to build the main edifice, this is hoped to be supplemented by a wing to be built by Phillips County for the county's use.

Public is warned against racket being worked

An unknown clipping bureau is getting from 20-cents to $1 from families of servicemen by sending them a postcard telling them they have a newspaper clipping about their son, father, or husband which they will forward for a stipulated sum. In most cases, the clipping is from the hometown newspaper, one the family already had.

This is a cheap racket that can't be prosecuted because it comes within the letter of the law.

President's train

President Franklin D. Roosevelt and party passed through Malta early this week on the special train carrying them from the west coast where the president had completed a tour of the Hawaiian and Alaskan defense fronts.

50 years ago

August 14, 1969

Boiler explodes

Karl Harms received painful burns on his left arm Tuesday afternoon when a boiler in the extractor room in the Meadow Valley Honey Plant blew up. His eyebrows and hair were singed. No fire resulted from the explosion.

No substance to hitchhiker's story, sheriff reports

"Just a hitchhiking nut," was the way Sheriff Pete Messerly described a "New York lawyer" who made state headlines last Sunday when he claimed he had been held prisoner in the Great Northern Train Depot at Saco for 12 hours by a "group of men" who had been following him.

The Sheriff's Office in Malta was contacted by the Associated Press and Deputy Sheriff Orlie Linn of Saco started an immediate investigation. He reported that the hitchhiker had been brought in to Saco by a local man and that after their arrival they had a few beers. Apparently, after they had refreshments, the man had forced a window at the depot although the room is left open for public convenience. He made use of the telephone to make a number of calls, one of which may have been to the Associated Press.

The complaint signed by the man states "two boys and a girl had allegedly told the hitchhiker 'We aren't going to let you leave until we cut off your hair'." The officer said the man had fairly long hair but didn't appear to be a hippy.

Lodgepole brawl ends in death of Larry Healy

Larry Healy, 28, a lifetime resident of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, was shot through the heart and instantly killed in a free-for-all group fight at Lodgepole last Saturday night.

Sheriff Murdo McLean of Blaine County stated that the FBI is conducting an investigation of the affair and that as far as he knows at that time no arrests were made. He said the brawl included an unknown number of people and Healy, known as Larry Gun Healy, is married and the father of four children.

25 years ago

August 17, 1994

Fires ...fires...fires...fires

A lighting storm kept county firemen busy into the wee hours of the morning Tuesday as fires broke out across the county.

Fire Chief Ross Simser set up a command post and pumping station in a field near the Ruud Farm as pumper trucks went to various spots to combat the fires.

Ghosts of 'old-timers' ride with the 25th Wagon Train

When the Milk River Wagon Train rolls out for the 25th time September 1-5 don't be surprised if you hear claims that the ghosts of old hands like Louie Perry, Ray Benson, Bill Rowe, Vic Nicholson, Birdie Boyce, and a bunch of other older-timers will be spotted by the flickering glow of the nightly campfires.

A lot of the old-timers who made that first wagon trip in the fall of 1969 have since been memorialized at the annual service which has become a regular feature of subsequent trains.

They'll be much on the minds of those who make up the 25th-anniversary trip, according to Wagon Boss Bud Hasler of Malta.