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

From our archives, 100 years ago

Should Spokane’s mayor use the city’s police automobile as his personal taxi?

That question launched a nasty feud between Spokane’s Mayor Hindley and Police Commissioner Hayden.

It came to a head after an evening banquet in which Mayor Hindley called police headquarters and ordered up a ride from the police “greyhound” (slang for fast car).

Soon afterward, the police commissioner issued a new edict forbidding the use of the police auto for anything other than official business.

The mayor was incensed.

“When I have been downtown on official business, working 18 hours a day, I intend to (use the police auto), and I don’t give a durn who knows it,” said the mayor.

The commissioner shot back, “If the mayor wants to call attending a banquet city business, that’s for him. He’s the one to judge. … But I don’t like to have a chauffeur called up and ordered to bring the machine.”

The mayor said he needed a safe ride home because he had a “drawer full” of letters threatening his life. He said he did not “propose to jeopardize” his safety and would use whatever city machine was available.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1789: Congress passed a Judiciary Act that provided for an attorney general and a Supreme Court.