Last Thursday night the two young fellows, Harry Smith and Albert Evans, who have been in the county jail for some time, broke out by crawling through the ventilators in the ceiling of the room in which the jail is located. After making their escape, they broke into the Missouri Pacific Depot and carried away chewing gum, some passenger tickets and other small articles such as ticket punches and some money. The loot was secreted near the Oscar Flats and the boys took the push car from the section house near the depot and rode it almost to Woodston where they threw it from the track. Going to a barn just west of Woodston and near the railway track, they slept until morning and then proceeded to town where they bought some tobacco and foodstuffs, and then took to a wheat field. By this time the news of their escape had reached Woodston by telephone and S. D. Atkinson, marshal, and W. T. Smither captured the young fellows and brought them to Stockton just before noon. The boys each made a full confession of the burglary at the depot and the larceny of the property from the station. They were in jail upon a charge of robbing the home of the station agent at Palco a couple of weeks ago. Albert Evans will be taken to the reformatory at Hutchinson and his “Buddy” Harry Smith will go to the industrial school at Topeka.

Opening of the new hospital was delayed by building damage from the storm that had demolished the construction trailer and some of the storage containers on site. A new date of September 22nd was given as the scheduled opening date.

DOWNER HULL (center) had replaced Chris McDonald (left) as the area American Family Insurance Agent in the summer of 1997. District manager Scott McCoy of Salina was on hand for the picture..

* And So They Say: Don Unruh: “My boy was pretty proud of the fish he caught even if the bait was bigger than the fish.” Erma Jean Price: “What I need is a vacation from a vacation.” Harold Maddy: “My dad caught the most fish and the biggest fish of anyone on the boat the day we went deep sea fishing.” Les Sheahorn: “It rained as soon as McCaslin, Hamilton and McMichael left town. Why didn’t someone get them out sooner?”

Monday of this week. I. R. Elred, a real estate agent of Logan, accompanied by two men by the name of Post and Scott went to Wakeeney, Ellis and other points of that section all riding in a Ford owned by Elred. They returned by Damar in the afternoon and at that place there appeared to be some bad feelings between the trio. Some fistic encounters took place, but still there was that brotherly love that prompted them not to testify against each other. Late in the afternoon they started north. About a half mile north of Damar on the level road, the car upset with the result that Elred was pretty badly bruised up. The sheriff made a journey to the place and brought the three men to Stockton. After spending the night in jail, each plead guilty to being drunk and paid a fine of $25.00 and costs of $5.00 and were then released. There was a suspicion at Damar that Eldred’s companions had robbed him of some cash, but he steadfastly denied that he had any cash to be robbed of. There seemed to be no use to attempt to find out who had injured him when he insisted that he was not hurt. He paid his fine with the others and went his way.

THE FRIENDS AND SISTERS TOGETHER (FST) organization had kept the younger generation busy during Stockton’s 1989 Summer Picnic by hosting the Children’s Games. Shown are the Hot Wheels, tricycle and bicycle riders. (Front row, from left): Beau Riffel, Danie Emery, Denison Colburn, Ginger Carsten, Amber Kollman, Maggie Arnhold; (middle row) Daniel Richie, Chase Look, Chelsey Foerster, Aaron Glendening; (back row) Chris Walker, Joey Casad, Scott Havlas, Matt McShea, Kit McShea and DJ Peterson. (A few of the kids in the back were not identified in the picture when it appeared in the 1989 edition. Can you name them?)

The Emerald City Gala Dinner Theatre kicked off Stockton’s Summer Festival on Friday, July 18, 2008 at the Nova Theatre with over 90 advance tickets sold for the evening. The cast for the children’s play “The Magical Land of Oz,” included the following talented actors and actresses: Cayden Conyac, Hannah Wildeman, Allison Saunders, Cecelia Beck, Lexi Winklepleck, Emily Conyac, Emily Grace Long, Morgan Beougher, Delilah Griebel, Braden Higdon, Andrea Buss, Dacota Starbuck, MaryLynn Griebel, Miranda Wildeman, Audrey Green, Hannah Lindsey, MaKayla Reed, Caitlin Lingg, Chandler Nyp and KayCee Chesney. The play was sponsored by the Pat Berkley Taylor Memorial Fund and the Stockton Area Arts Council. Those “behind the scenes” who made it all happen included director Joan Balderston, Sheila Latham, Ruth Phelps, Terri Bennett, Bonnie LaRue, Joanne Steeples, Maxine Bates, Paulette Wildeman, Elaine Maddy, Char Heenan, Janice Miller, Jane Cunningham, Madison Reed, Jonathan Reed, Bart and Donna Hamilton, Katie Baughman, Wayne and Diane Madison, Vicki Novotny, and Sandi Rogers.

* And So They Say: Gene Miller: “The only thing there is to talk about is the weather.” Dorothia Lytle: “Our new granddaughter was supposed to be a grandson.” Freddie Baughman: “Where are my shoes, you ask? Well, they are where I left my dignity.” Curley Walker: “I don’t bother to weigh a fish if it’s less than three feet long.” Arnold Dix (at Tuesday night’s ball game): “I’ve been missing a lot of good ball games because I thought the Legion team was the little kids team.” * Mr. and Mrs. James

Matthew McMichael, who lives on the Jim Creek Ranch northeast of Stockton, was severely burned by lightning during the electrical storm on Tuesday evening. Matthew and a brother, Howard, were in the barn and had finished milking the cows and waiting for the storm to subside. He was sitting on a milking stool with his back resting against the wall of the barn. The bolt of lightning struck a few feet above his head, followed a wire over to a nail on which it was attached, then down the side of the building where Matthew was sitting and entered his back. Portions of his body were badly burned. Howard was sitting only a few feet away from his bother, but was not injured outside of being stunned. A cow standing in a stall near Matthew was killed and two others were knocked to the ground. The electrical storm of

The Rooks County Health Center staff was preparing for transition into the new hospital in a little over two months. RCH had been perfecting their transition plan and working with area emergency response agencies, the Kansas Department of Health and the local government to make certain all were informed of precise move details.