Jim Kershner’s This day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

A Spokane waiter-turned-prospector was working his mining claim near Trout Creek in Montana when he mishandled his axe and split his kneecap wide open.

He was alone and 14 miles from the nearest town. So he fashioned a crude crutch from a limb, wrapped his bleeding knee and began to half-hobble and half-crawl his way to town. His knee bled so badly that he was forced to re-bandage it with the clothes he was wearing and “practically used up all of his underclothing.”

But after 36 hours, he made it. At Trout Creek, he was treated by a doctor and loaded on a train. He was recovering at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane.

From the nightlife beat: A woman’s heart-rending screams woke the residents at Fourth and Cedar at 2 a.m.

Police found a well-dressed woman named Mrs. Meeker, 19, lying on the lawn of the First Presbyterian Church and screeching in an incoherent frenzy. She was so drunk she was unable to stand.

Police could not quiet her, so they loaded her in a police car and took her to the station. She “weepingly declared that it was the first time she had drunk liquor.” She also expressed concern that her husband would find out.