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

From our archives, 100 years ago

The creation of a new county, Pend Oreille County, was approved by state House Committee on County Lines and Boundaries, making formal passage “practically assured.”

The Legislature made it official on March 1, 1911. The new county was carved out of the east half of Stevens County.

From the rasslin’ beat: The professional welterweight wrestling championship of the Pacific Coast passed from a Portland wrestler to a Seattle wrestler – by a toe.

And the bout wasn’t even part of the official regional wrestling event being held in Spokane.

It all started when two wrestling club members started taunting each other in the billiard room of the Spokane Amateur Athletic Club.

Ed O’Connell, of Portland, the welterweight champ, offered to settle his two-year feud with Frank Vance, of Seattle, “for anything from a nickel to $1,000.” Vance accepted the challenge “just for the fun of it.”

They dropped their billiard cues and put on their wrestling togs.

They walked over the nearby ring and started going at it “with no preliminaries.”

Vance was losing until he “managed to grip O’Connell’s toe.” O’Connell attempted to “fight the agony caused by the hold,” but eventually gave up.