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

From our archives, 100 years ago

Emma Eslic blamed the Schade Brewing Co. of Spokane and saloonkeeper Jimmie Durkin for the death of her husband. So she brought a $54,000 suit against them.

Her husband was a construction worker who had been working on a large building. One of the contractors apparently went to Durkin’s saloon and brought back a bucket or two of Schade beer.

Eslic was apparently quite thirsty. He drank so much beer that he fell down the stairs and died, leaving his wife and eight children with no income.

The suit, said the paper, was being “hotly contested” during the early phases of the trial.

From the Idaho beat: Some Lewiston men were bathing in Lapwai Creek when the banks began to crumble. And a dead body fell out.

They thought they had uncovered a grisly murder scene. But a coroner investigated and found that the stream was washing away an ancient Indian burial ground. As soon as the bones were uncovered, they crumbled to dust.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1777: The Continental Congress in Philadelphia adopted the Stars and Stripes as the national flag. 1954: The words “under God” were added to the Pledge of Allegiance.