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

From our archives, 100 years ago

Spokane merchants were reveling in their biggest Christmas season ever – but the rest of Spokane was buzzing about the sensational break in the Anna Weber murder case.

Police asked prosecutors to arrest her brother Herbert, 20, and sister Elizabeth, 17. Police weren’t directly accusing them of committing the crime but wanted them held as witnesses. Police said they “had every reason to believe the crime was committed in the Weber family.”

Police believed the brother was withholding information and was planning to flee to the family’s native Austria.

The police said Elizabeth had earlier told police that “the father’s relations with Anna Weber were improper and that the family was immersed in conditions that shocked even police officials.”

Anna’s “desire to break away from these surroundings led to a family quarrel,” said police. But there was still some doubt about who struck the fatal blow and left the 22-year-old housemaid’s body on the slopes below Summit Avenue.

The prosecutor was studying the case. As of Christmas morning, he had not yet ordered the siblings’ arrest.

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(From the Associated Press)

A.D. 336: The first recorded celebration of Christmas was in Rome.