150 Years Ago
Confession from murderer of Jule Bouleite (sic): The Frenchman arrested in Virginia City has confessed himself guilty of the crime after the discovery of the suspected man’s trunk containing nearly all the valuable belonging to the murdered woman. The Enterprise says, “When Chief Edwards showed Millen a number of articles ... he saw that he was caught ... and asked Chief Edwards to take a pistol and blow Millen’s brains out. Afterward he said he wanted to be hung as soon as possible ...”
130 Years Ago
Devil in California: Crime has been on the rampage — A Chinese man attempted to ravish a child at Napa, an Italian in Mendocino County killed a man who accidentally threw a piece of bread in his face, Fred Rogers of Sacramento, ran away with Abraham Harrkins wife, and there are stabbings, shootings and robberies all over.
120 Years Ago
Jail sentence for slackers: The provost marshal general has submitted a plan to sheriffs of the entire country to detain eligible men failing to register for conscription. They will be prosecuted and slackers jailed.
110 Years Ago
An Eye on Them (Wonder, Nev.): A man with a glass eye arrived in Wonder. He had been in South Africa and in charge of a big gang of Kantrs in a deep shaft of one of the gold mines. When he wanted to get up from the mines for a breathe of fresh air, he took out his glass eye, put it between two candles, and the workers in Africa, worked quickly with the glass eye fixed on them all the time… (Eureka Sentinel)
70 Years Ago
New Enterprise: Circle-B gift and antique shop is now operating in Carson City. Ethel M. Johnson of Seaside, Oregon attended Carson City’s Admission Day and took many snapshots. She loved the pictures she had taken and decided Carson City would be an ideal location for a shop.
20 Years Ago
Family victims awarded: One of the first $1,500 awards to be given by the State of Nevada Peace Officers Association was given to the family of William Gibson who was murdered by Peter Elvik on Aug. 31, 1995.
Sue Ballew is the daughter of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.