Each week we’ll take a step back into the history of Great Bend through the eyes of reporters past. We’ll reacquaint you with what went into creating the Great Bend of today, and do our best to update you on what “the rest of the story” turned out to be.

On May 15, 1934, the Department of Justice offered a $25,000 reward for the capture of John Dillinger, the Great Depression era’s most notorious gangster, after he escaped from an Ohio prison using a wooden pistol and proceeded to plan and pull off numerous bank heists.  
It was just one example of the lawlessness that desperation brought out in some people during that time.  Bank heists and kidnappings and ransoms filled the front pages of the newspapers.  In fact, this week, The Great Bend Daily Tribune reported on an Arizona kidnapping of a young girl with local ties.

Girl found in desert ‘grave’
According to the caption under a photo of young June Robles, her mother, “formerly Miss Helen Mauler before her marriage, was the daughter of Mrs. Joe Mauler, Sr., who resided in Barton County until 13 years ago when she and her husband, whose death occurred about five years ago, moved to Arizona.  There are two aunts and an uncle who still live in the county, Mrs. John Lichter of Olmitz, Mrs. A.P. Budig of Beaver and Joe Mauler of Hoisington.”
This brought the horror of the kidnapping close to home for readers.  The young girl had been kidnapped 19 days earlier, and upon receipt of an unsigned letter from Chicago, she was rescued by her uncle and the Pima County (Ariz.) Attorney.  No ransom was paid, the story reported, though earlier a sum of $15,000 had been demanded.
“The child was literally rescued from the grave.  Her prison was a boxlike hole dug in the desert nine and a half miles from her home.  It had virtually the same dimensions as a grave,” it was reported.  “Over the grave was a roof of cacti, tin and burlap, crudely put together.  There were several holes in the roof and the sun poured down to make the pit, despite the covering of cacti, a sweltering inferno by day, a chill, horrifying tomb by night.”
She was chained by the ankles to an iron stake, and was found ill and too weak to walk.  A small amount of food was found with her.  The child told authorities the two men that took her had returned a few times to bring her food and water.

D.I.Y.
In other news, 88 girls in Great Bend High School’s home economics classes modeled dresses they’d completed at the high school auditorium the afternoon of May 15, 1934. Following the show, a reception held for the mothers and friends of the girls in the home economics classroom.  
“House dresses, school dresses, sport dresses, afternoon frocks and street ensembles went on parade this afternoon at the high school auditorium with girls in the home economics department pirouetting and wheeling about as models.”  
Home sewing of clothing has been on the downslide for decades now, in part because women now work outside the home, and in part because the cost of ready-made clothing has decreased so much because of global competition, that in most cases it costs more to sew it yourself than to buy off the rack.  And the majority of women don’t wear dresses (an item of clothing that is relatively easy to make,) everyday anymore either.  
Back-to-the-horse
The Barton County Clerk, W.E. Beardsley, commented the number of gasoline permits issued in to farmers had decreased over the course of a year.  
The permits allowed farmers to purchase gasoline for agricultural work free of the state tax of three cents.
“It appears that a considerable number of farmers are allowing their tractors to remain in sheds and using horses for plowing and cultivating and general farm work.”
It could be too, that some farmers were taking advantage of the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act that incentivized not planting crops in order to bring prices up.  It was part of Roosevelt’s New Deal.  
Actually, horse-powered agriculture has never completely fallen to the wayside, particularly among those with small acreages.  In fact, a movement of sorts supports a magazine that focuses on diversified small farms, The Small Farmer’s Journal.  Browsing through articles in back issues of the magazine, one can find authoritative articles about the modern-day use of draft horses for cultivating and harvesting.  And, with recent surges in the price of fuel, these 21st century agrarians are seeing their profitability become more pronounced.

Pool progress
An update on the progress on plans to build a swimming pool in City park indicated the project was on track, and specifications were expected to be completed within a few days.  
The Public Works Administration approved a grant to the city for $9,000, fulfilling the voter approved bond issue for $30,000 from the previous September.  That pool was built, and served Great Bend’s swimmers for several decades until in the mid-2000s, the pool was closed for renovations, reopening as The Wetlands at Great Bend.  Countless numbers of Great Bend youth attended swimming lessons there over the years, and it provided summertime enjoyment and employment for many, as it continues to do today.  The Wetlands will open for the 2014 season on May 24, and will remain open until students head back to school.