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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

The apple was king in Spokane in 1912, and never more so than during the week of the National Apple Show. 

Thousands of apple growers and marketers converged on Spokane for a gigantic trade show and convention. The show featured parades, workshops, cookery demonstrations and the coronation of apple royalty, “King Pip V.” By one estimation, 2.5 million individual apples were on display.

An evening vaudeville show featured Madame Wanda’s Dandy Dalmatians, Arnaldo’s Educated Leopards, Grace Willman (“Spokane’s Melba”) and Tom Stockman, expert banjoist.

The era of the apple in Spokane would not last. The final National Apple Show was held in 1916, and most of the orchards in Spokane Valley were pulled up by the 1920s.

From the canine beat: Local dog experts weighed in on the question of whether dogs bite “out of spite.” A Washington State College veterinary professor said he believed that a dog “has all of the faculties of a man, but in a lesser degree.”

The Spokane dogcatcher offered a more down-to-earth opinion: “Dogs is dogs; some bite and some don’t.”

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1918: Fighting in World War I came to an end with the signing of an armistice between the Allies and Germany.