This day in history: Wallace High School principal died while attending school’s basketball game. 2 men accused each other of killing rancher.

From 1976: John L. Reager, Wallace High School principal, died of an apparent heart attack while watching a Wallace High basketball game in Coeur d’Alene.

He was rushed to Kootenai Memorial Hospital and pronounced dead on arrival.

He had been principal at Wallace for 11 years, and was a former principal at Plummer High School. He was well-known as an enthusiastic fan of his school’s team and other area sports teams,

Reager, known as “Big John,” was a former University of Idaho Vandal football player, and a longtime Vandal booster.

He was “famous for leading students and fans in cheers at recent Idaho home football games,” said the Spokane Chronicle.

From 1926: Spectators continued to jam the Wallace courtroom where Lee Foyte was on trial for murdering St. Joe area rancher James Montgomery.

Much of the drama revolved around the fact that Albert Timmel was also arrested for the same murder. Both suspects accused each other of solely committing the crime.

The Shoshone County sheriff took the stand and said that the two men had once confronted each other in jail.

“Why don’t you come out and admit this case?” Foyte allegedly said. “You know you killed that man and if I am going to hang for it, you’ve got to hang, with me.”

“You snake in the grass” was Timmel’s only reply, according to the sheriff.

Timmel, known as “The Big Swede,” had lived in the St. Joe country for many years and “has many friends who are in Wallace attending the trial.”