Jim Kershner’s This day in history » On the Web: spokesman.com/topics/local-history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Police were investigating a stabbing by what they called “black hand operators” – a term for Mafia-style thugs.

An Italian laborer said he was stabbed twice with a stiletto while in bed in his shack on Front Avenue (now Spokane Falls Boulevard).

He said he had successfully wooed a certain Italian woman, angering some of his fellow countrymen. That night, two men snuck in and stabbed him in the head and face. He was treated for gashes.

From the soda fountain beat: The paper reported that innovative new drinks – some imported from Seattle – were causing a sensation at the Palm Soda Fountain and the C.G. Staples Soda Fountain.

Some of the new drink names: Skidoo Freeze, Mabel’s Delight, Grape Snowball, Spokane Flip, Mt. Baldy, Moorish Sherbet, King Dodo, Lover’s Delight and Possum Bill, made from brick ice cream, topped with cherries and an American flag.

From the lodge beat: The Colored Masons of Washington convened their annual statewide gathering in Spokane, with more than 100 delegates.

Several white people would be attending as well, said The Spokesman-Review. Those were “white women who are married to colored Masons.”