Jim Kershner: This day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

A hunting outing two miles southwest of Fort George Wright ended in tragedy in 1911.

Muriel Miller, 17, and her sister Lillian were in search of game when they came to a steep wall.

“We had been climbing through the rimrock of the canyon wall for an hour and we were using our guns as canes,” Lillian said later.

“Muriel had a 12-gauge shotgun and I think it slipped through her hands. I was some little way behind her at the time.”

The gun discharged and the full load struck Muriel in the back. Lillian, “with perfect coolness and nerve,” made Muriel as comfortable as possible and raced for help. Lillian ran to the nearest house – a half-mile away – and found a woman to stay with Muriel.

Then Lillian raced off to Fort George Wright and alerted the soldiers, who came “at top speed” with a stretcher.

Muriel was given little chance to survive.

From the “newsy” beat: Two young Tulsa “society girls” were working their way around the country as “newsies.”

They were here selling the Spokane Daily Chronicle on street corners. They said they were globetrotters, and wanted to “see the world on the money they earn themselves.”