100 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Sept. 17, 1920

A father’s love and anxiety for his erring son are expressed in an intelligently written letter received today by the Salvation Army from W. Z. Bancroft of Denver, father of Emmett Bancroft, alias Neil Hart, slayer of Til Taylor. Death by hanging on November 5 was the penalty imposed on Hart by Circuit Judge G. W. Phelps for the crime. The father pleads for news of his son whom he had not heard of in the past year until word of his plight reached him from the Pendleton Salvation Army post. Hart broke down when the heart rending letter from his father was read to him. In his half illiterate style, the convicted man penned a letter expressing his remorse at the deed committed and the grief he had caused his parents. After his confession Hart appeared genuinely sorry and asked that Mrs. Til Taylor be told of his repentance and that her forgiveness be asked. Until hearing the letter from his father the man who shot Sheriff Taylor in a jail break had never once showed signs of weakening.

50 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Sept. 17, 1970

Bob Chambers had been forced to give up his participation in rodeos, done in by the rigors of the sport on top of the shell shock, malaria and other physical ailments incurred when he was in Burma with the armed forces. For two years after he gave up bronc busting and bull riding, “I was the most unhappy guy in the world,” he said. Then came a move that was to lead Chambers to a place of prominence among rodeo announcers in the West. Just to be around the sport, he wrote the director of the Condon rodeo and asked for the chance to announce it. He got the job and was on his way. He said it wasn’t easy and he almost gave it up several times, but with “the kindness of so many people, particularly in Pendleton” he got bigger shows, then another and other. Now he’s so busy announcing rodeos from April to November it’s unusual to find him in Pendleton. Unless, of course, it’s during the Round-Up, the fourth of which he’s announcing this week.

25 Years Ago

From the East Oregonian

Sept. 17, 1995

A sophisticated new radar system that resembles a giant white volleyball resting on a four-story-high support is coming soon to the Pendleton area, and the National Weather Service wants you to be forewarned. The wild-looking contraption is part of a $4 billion improvement the weather service began in the late 1980s that is now nearing completion. Construction of the Doppler radar this fall completes the transformation of the Pendleton office into full-fledged forecasting system. The main purpose of the Doppler radar is to protect human life. The advanced technology allows meteorologists to spot snow, wind, hail, thunderstorms and rain well before it arrives. Because the radar can “see” inside a storm, forecasters can more easily determine a storm’s development and intensity and thus provide timely and precise weather warnings to the public.