Eighty-two years ago, a construction worker tipped a copy of The Salt Lake Telegram into a wall before sealing it up. It wouldn't see sunlight until this spring, when contractor Kevin Wayman opened up those same walls damaged in a basement flood. My basement.

I would rather have had the paper without the flood, but the Sept. 16, 1928 edition of the Telegram turns out to be a nice consolation prize. It's a time capsule from when my father was just learning to walk, Sugar House park was a prison, and south of 1300 South was largely pastures and farms.

Reading it, you want to go back and warn the folks contemplating the ad from People's Finance and Thrift Co. ("We have loaned over ONE MILLION DALLARS") that in a year's time the world economy would collapse, and, oh, by the way, should you really be doing business with a financial institution that can't spell "dollars?"

The Salt Lake Telegram , launched in 1902, was conceived as a moderate voice between the anti-Mormon Salt Lake Tribune and the church owned Deseret News . In truth it was more of an ugly stepchild that never made money. The Telegram would eventually be bought and sold and bought again by the Tribune, only to be acquired by, and rolled into, the Deseret News in 1952.

Sept. 16th was a Sunday and among the stories on the front page:

» Bryce Park to Be Dedicated: Ceremonies Scheduled for Sunday

» 285 Gallons of Booze Destroyed by County (Prohibition wouldn't be repealed until 1933)

» Suspected Dope Seller Lands in County Jail

» Hit and Run Driver Sought; Cyclist Seriously Hurt

» Norman Thomas to Speak in S.L.: Socialists Plan Rally for Presidential Candidate Monday (Slated to speak at the First Congregational Church, local socialists hoped to spur turnout by promising that Republican and Democratic issues would be thoroughly "debunked" and that Thomas would "raise welts on the hide of the Tammany tiger and the G.O.P. elephant.")

Taking up the largest news hole were photos and story about Utah ex-convict, D.E. Mayer, wanted for murder. Besides the mug shot of Mayer, there is also a picture of his mother (believed to be an accessory) and one of a derringer-looking "poison gas pistol" that was found on Mayer by Oakland, Calif., police inspectors (also pictured).

Divorce was front-page news in 1928. At the bottom is a story which identifies, by name, four women who filed for divorce the previous week. Their marriage history is listed along with the reasons for divorce (abandonment, nonsupport).

Page 2 is dedicated to the gridiron prospects of the University of Utah, BYU and the Aggies. On page 3, Lon Richardson writes in a feature called "Sports Talk and What Not," that for the first time in 30 years, Salt Lake can finally boast a baseball champion in The Salt Lake Bees.

Page 5 sings the praises of "The Barbless Hook," an aid to conserve Utah fishing streams in danger of becoming seriously depleted.

Page 6 lists stocks, including Indian Motorcycle (28¼), US Steel (158), and General Motors (207¾).

Pages 8 and 9 offer a through-the-looking-glass experience with classified ads. A large home on 1300 East and 428 South rented for $40 a month. A 1926 Ford Tudor Sedan (think Al Capone) could be yours for $300. Homes in the Avenues were selling for $5,000 and a house on 900 East and 1300 South was asking $3000. A luxury home with double garage, $10,000.

The paper is yellow and frayed and falling apart, but it is a physical link to another time. Someone, now probably dead, deliberately stuffed this paper into a wall, either because he meant it as a time capsule or was using my house as a trash bin.

In any case, the thing has value beyond its crumbling paper. The ghosts that populate its pages were vital, living people the day it was entombed. Sealing one's laptop into a wall just wouldn't be the same.

Pat Bagley is The Salt Lake Tribune's editorial cartoonist.