Jim Kershner’s This day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Liberty Lake was planning spectacular new improvements to secure its position as Spokane’s premier summer playground.

Here’s what the new manager said was in the works: New tennis courts, baseball diamonds, handball courts, croquet grounds, marble rings, a kite flying area, two dance halls, Japanese pergolas, private swimming beaches, beachside tent canopies and “flaming arcs” over the water for night bathing.

They also acquired a 6-foot high “push ball” for use in a game in which opposing teams attempted to push a giant ball over a goal.

There would also be two new launches and 20 new canoes, bringing the total of boats to more than 100.

From the dope beat: Police said they nabbed Spokane’s “Queen of Dope Fiends,” a 28-year-old laudanum addict. They found her sprawled “on a dirty couch in a filthy shack” behind an ice company plant, accompanied by three dogs.

Police officers said her condition was “pitiful in the extreme” and that she was a “ghost of her former self.”

She told police she got her dope on prescriptions but couldn’t get enough. “I must have it in larger quantities,” she said.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

2010: Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokul volcano erupted, spewing an ash plume.