Days gone by: August 12, 2012

100 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Aug. 12, 1912

The Rev. J.M. Cornelison, Presbyterian missionary on the reservation, has grown a turnip that was a “whopper.” It is a pink top turnip and it measured exactly 31 inches around and weighed 16 pounds, according to Mr. Cornelison. The turnip was found growing behind his hen house at the Tutuilla mission. It was a “volunteer” turnip and had neither cultivation nor irrigation. It was blessed merely by good soil and an abundant rainfall this spring. It was allowed to grow undisturbed by its owner who planned to bring the turnip in for the district fair. However he noticed a few days ago that ants had begun a war of extermination against his turnip so he decided to dig it up and see what it really amounted to. “If we can raise a turnip like that on the reservation, what couldn’t we do if the land was irrigated,” says the missionary, who is one who holds that the government should provide for irrigation on the Indian lands and encourage them to farm their own allotments instead of renting them to others.

50 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Aug. 12, 1962

Law enforcement officers in this area have been unable to locate any trace of three men who escaped from the Walla Walla state penitentiary sometime Thursday evening, and now are convinced that the trio left the Rieth area on a freight train. Curtis Bacon, Oregon state police sergeant here, reported a man at Rieth notified officers at 11 p.m. Friday that he saw three men in a coal car on a westbound Union Pacific freight about 9:30 a.m. His description of their clothing pretty well corresponded with articles they were known to have been wearing. The man did not realize there was a search under way for three escapees until last night.

25 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Aug. 12, 1987

When family closeness includes a near-perfect genetic match between siblings, it can mean the difference between life and death. Gale Marshall, 47, of Pendleton is close in age to his brother, Air Force Lt. Col. Terry Marshall, 45, of San Antonio, Texas, and to his sister, Eilene Curtiss, 46, of Portland. When Terry was diagnosed as having chronic myelogenous leukemia in June, Gale soon discovered that he and Eilene were near-perfect matches as potential bone marrow donors for their brother. There was never any question in Gale’s mind about his willingness to donate bone marrow to his brother. It’s a painful procedure that involves removing marrow from the donor’s hip bone with a syringe — about 200 times. “I don’t think I’d want to do it again. But as long as there’s a remote chance of making it, you’ve got to take that chance,” he said. The transplant took place July 24. Terry Marshall, his blood count approaching normal, is scheduled to go home this week.