Jim Kershner’s This day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

A Wallace man was surprised twice while returning to his rooms at about midnight on Pine Street.

First, he was accosted by a bandit who stepped out of the shadows and bellowed, “Hands up!”

The bandit was holding a .38 revolver. However, the man decided not to comply.

He leapt forward, knocked the gun out of the bandit’s hands, and soon had him pinioned to the ground.

He was frog-marching him to the police station when the bandit broke down crying and said, “I’m a woman.”

She was actually Florence Peterson, 19, wearing men’s clothing. She first told police her name was Katie Summers, but police soon discovered her true identity and that she had recently arrived in the city with her husband, a miner.

Police subsequently took her husband into custody as an accomplice.

From the personal ads: A Spokane man said he was “5 ft. 3 in., healthy, good-looking and sober,” seeking a “good-situated lady, between 30 and 50.” The object? Matrimony.

“German preferred,” he added.

Also on this date:

(From the Associated Press)

1809: Just over three years after the famous Lewis and Clark expedition ended, Meriwether Lewis was found dead in a Tennessee inn, an apparent suicide; he was 35. … 1975: “NBC Saturday Night” (later “Saturday Night Live”) made its debut with guest host George Carlin.