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

From our archives, 100 years ago

Corks were popping in Coeur d’Alene after the vote totals rolled in: Kootenai County would be “wet” once again.

Saloons and booze were back after voters revoked a 1-year-old law that prohibited intoxicating liquors. The vote was tight: The wet vote beat the dry vote by only about 100 votes out of 7,000 cast.

It was plenty to spark a wet celebration, but not in saloons. The vote had to be certified before the saloons could reopen, and that would take another week or so.

In a surprise development, women voters actually helped swing the vote to the wet side. Women in most parts of the country were aligned with the dry cause, but apparently Kootenai County women looked at the issue a little differently.

The rural areas voted predominantly dry, but Coeur d’Alene voters tipped the balance toward the wets.

A vote in Idaho County to the south also went to the wet side.

“The fight was the bitterest ever known here, neither side giving or asking quarter,” said a correspondent from Grangeville.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1963: President John F. Kennedy was assassinated during a motorcade in Dallas; Texas Gov. John B. Connally was seriously wounded. A suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald, was arrested.