In late June 1913 a hired man from the Bannock valley drove a wagon load of hogs to Pocatello and did not come home. On July 1 the Pocatello Tribune put his story on its front page under the headline "Foul Play Now Feared," and the next day the Semi-Weekly Pocatello Tribune printed it again word for word. The man was John Ryan, and his neighbors from Bannock Creek had come to town to ask the sheriff and the Pocatello police for help in finding him.
Ryan worked on what the paper called "the Evans and Daniels ranch on Bannock creek." On a Monday the ranch sent him to town with the hogs. The article was written on Tuesday, July 1, and since the team then stood unattended for a couple of days before the police were told, that Monday was most likely June 23. He sold the hogs at the City Meat company's shop on the east side of Pocatello and was paid by check. On the Tuesday, probably June 24, he left the team and wagon in the shed of the Blyth & Fargo company and dropped out of sight. The team stood there for a couple of days with no one tending it before the company's employees told the police.
By July 1 the check had not been cashed, no one had come for the team and wagon, and no trace of Ryan had been found. The Tribune described him as "an elderly man, somewhat morose, but still well liked by his neighbors." It did not give his age or say where he came from.
The paper listed the guesses going around: that he had drunk too much and left, that he had fallen into the river, that he had quit his job and quietly gone away, or that he had been robbed and murdered and his body hidden. Friends of his from Bannock Creek were in Pocatello that day, and the Tribune said a systematic investigation would begin.
The liquor theory had a local edge. Pocatello was dry territory in 1913, and on the same front page the Tribune reported the seizure of eight cases of whiskey brought into town by automobile from American Falls, which the headline called a "Wet Town." The paper's phrase for what Ryan might have been drinking was "dry" town liquor, with the word "dry" in quotation marks. The next year Arbon and Crystal had their own say on liquor, as Wet or dry tells.
The article does not say which Evans or which Daniels owned the ranch. The Daniels family ran cattle at the lower, north end of the valley, around West Fork and Pauline. In March 1917 the American Falls Press counted "Evans and Daniels, of American Falls and Pauline," among the oldest stockmen and largest cattle shippers in Power County, and that June it reported that "the Evans and Daniels boys" were running the spring roundup on the reservation with fifteen or twenty riders. Ryan's employers may have been that same outfit, but no paper read for this post says so. American Falls had its own Evans family, and nothing here ties the ranch to the Evans family of Arbon.
No later report of John Ryan has been found. The Pocatello papers read for this post, from July and August 1913, and the issues of the American Falls Press searched for 1913 and 1914 do not mention him again, so whether he was found, alive or dead, is not known. Nothing more is known of who he was. If a family history or a later newspaper tells what became of him, the site would be glad to hear of it.
The article as printed
Semi-Weekly Pocatello Tribune, July 2, 1913, page 1. Transcribed from the page scan. The same text appeared in the daily Pocatello Tribune of July 1, 1913, page 1.
FOUL PLAY NOW FEARED
BANNOCK VALLEY FARMER MISSING
John Ryan Drops Out of Sight After Selling Wagon Load of Hogs in Pocatello—Left Team in Shed Last Tuesday and Suddenly Disappeared
Where is John Ryan?
That is the problem which neighbors of his from Bannock creek are asking the sheriff's office and the police department to help them solve.
There is a fear that he has either met with foul play or has elected to disappear of his own accord.
Ryan was employed on the Evans and Daniels ranch on Bannock creek. Last Monday he was sent to town with a load of hogs. These he disposed of at the City Meat company's shop on the east side of town, receiving a check in payment. He left his team and wagon in the Blyth & Fargo shed on Tuesday and dropped out of sight. His team stood for a couple of days unattended until employes of the B. & F. company notified the police. Since that the mystery has remained unsolved. The check given Ryan in payment for his hogs has not been cashed, no one has appeared to claim the team and wagon, and not a trace of the missing man has been found.
Ryan was an elderly man, somewhat morose, but still well liked by his neighbors.
All sorts of theories have been advanced to account for his disappearance. One is that he imbibed too freely of "dry" town liquor and skipped out; another is that he fell into the river; still another is that he decided to quit his job and quietly left town; still another is that he was murdered and robbed and his body hidden.
Friends of his from Bannock creek are in the city today, and a systematic investigation will be started.