Jim Kershner’s This day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Doctors were baffled by a mystery disease that killed two members of a Spokane household and was threatening to take a third life.

Even the doctor who treated them was stricken with the disease. The paper called it a “disease that seems determined to destroy all who attempted to cheat it of its prey.”

Doctors were calling it a combination of typhoid fever and “grip” (also known as grippe, a word for flu), yet with complications arising from both. It did not respond well to treatment.

It started when a couple died within three days of each other in their Browne Street home. One relative, who had taken care of them, then came down with the disease and “was steadily losing his fight for life.” His wife was also stricken with the disease, but she seemed to be pulling through. Then the doctor and the couple’s mother came down with the disease. Both seemed to be recovering.

Doctors from Seattle were brought in to try to diagnose this strange illness.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1815: Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile on the island of Elba. … 1870: An experimental air-driven subway, the Beach Pneumatic Transit, opened in New York City for public demonstrations. … 1940: The United States Air Defense Command was created.