Jim Kershner’s This day in history

From our archives,

50 years ago

A visit to Natatorium Park, Spokane’s amusement park, ended badly for a 33-year-old Spokane woman.

The woman, who had been partially paralyzed by polio, was riding the merry-go-round in her wheelchair. Apparently the wheelchair wasn’t secured, and it rolled off the rotating platform. She broke her leg in the subsequent fall.

From the juvenile delinquency beat: Two boys, 11 and 12, admitted to a shocking string of vandalism at three schools the Spokane Valley. They confessed to breaking 45 windows and then ransacking school offices.

A total of 66 keys were stolen from one of the schools. All were recovered.

From the crime beat: Two Spokane 16-year-olds were sentenced to minimum terms of 20 years for shooting a 56-year-old man. The man had given them wine and then made “indecent advances.”

The boys said they attempted to only “scare” the man, but somehow in the excitement one of the boys pulled the trigger of a pistol.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1838: Britain’s Queen Victoria was crowned in Westminster Abbey. … 1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, were assassinated in Sarajevo by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip – the event which sparked World War I. … 1919: The Treaty of Versailles was signed in France, ending the World War I.