Peek at the Past

100 Years Ago

July 17, 1924

It may have been noticed in and about Beulah that for the past few weeks Sheriff Otis Zimmershied and Deputy Frank C. Haselton have been devoting some time to whipping the Sand Creek stream, but it now develops that the sheriff and his deputy were not so much interested in the finny members of the tribe disporting themselves in the Creek as in a much larger fish located further up on Sand Creek. The fishing operations were apparently a well-planned screen for a thorough investigation of the locality, which on Friday, July 11, succeeded in landing behind the bars George Ferguson, a second offender against the prohibition laws, and the capture of a quantity of moonshine whiskey and a seventy-five-gallon moonshine still, which is now on exhibition in the sheriff's office. About 500 gallons of mash ready to be made into whiskey was destroyed. The officers were working under great difficulties in this arrest, for while rumors of the operations of a moonshiner in that vicinity have for some time come to their ears, repeated searches had failed to locate the still, which was cleverly concealed behind a waterfall in the canyon, and it was only by the most persistent effort on the part of the sheriff, and many sleepless nights of watching and waiting that his fish was finally landed. The still is one of the most complete and expensive outfits that has yet been found in Crook County, and because of the difficulties in locating it and securing the evidence against Ferguson, the officers are entitled to great credit. Ferguson was brought before the District Court Saturday, July 12, and placed under bond of $2,000.00, and upon his failure to furnish it, was remanded to the county jail.

75 Years Ago

July 14, 1949

Evidence of a murder committed in Crook County before the turn of the century was uncovered Tuesday with the discovery of the skeleton of a man one-half mile north of the old Kara siding east of Mooreroft at the head of the west fork of Wind creek. The skeleton was found by a rider of the Barton ranch who reported it to sheriff's officials in Mooreroft. The remains were recovered by County Sheriff William Blakeman. The man had been shot in the head. The body had been buried in a shallow grave and part of the bones had washed out over a period of years. Sheriff Blakeman theorized that the murder occurred more than fifty years ago as no one has been reported missing in that vicinity during that time. He said that he would attempt to throw light on the case by obtaining information from the remaining pioneers of the area. Dr. J. F. Clarenbach estimated that the man was about 45 at the time of his death. He was large in stature.

The desire to return to the days of the "old West" which led to the arrest of Johnny Ivan Smith, 20, of El Past, Tex., last week at the Campstool ranch near Devils Tower, will have a chance to relax in the Crook County jail. Smith was sentenced to 60 days in the county jail and fined $25 and costs when found guilty of the "threatened use of a dangerous and deadly weapon" in the court of Justice of the Peace Sidncy Harvey in Sundance, July 7. Smith had been arrested by Crook County Sheriff William Blakeman after Smith had threatened several members of the Campstool ranch with an old .45 Colt pistol. The arrest of Smith, July 5, in a truck, ended a two-hour night search and a brief period of terror for the residents of the ranch.