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

From our archives, 100 years ago

A Spokane man who was arrested for screaming “obscene and abusive language” at the corner of Second Avenue and Post Street came up with a unique excuse in court: He had been “eating a limburger sandwich.”

Limburger is a kind of cheese, notoriously smelly but not typically known for causing people to shout obscenities.

The man also admitted to a more plausible excuse.

“I guess, your honor, that it was the drinks in me that was making the noise,” he told the judge. “… I had about 50 or 75 drinks when I first saw the officer.”

Not that he was keeping particularly close count.

From the murder beat: Spokane police were still stumped by the “revenge assassination” of Louis J. Vetterman, brewmaster for the Inland Brewing Co. One promising lead had already vanished when a suspect proved to have an ironclad alibi.

Police were now pinning all of their hopes on an enticing bit of “bait”: A $1,000 reward from the Inland Brewing Co. for information about the killing.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1909: The first automobile races were run at the just-opened Indianapolis Motor Speedway.