Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

A North Idaho rancher stood outside a socialist meeting in Enaville, Idaho, with a rifle in his hand. Then he waited until the crowd of miners started walking out, and he said these words: “I’ll get all of you fellows, if I have to kill 50 of you. And I’ve got the drop on you now.”

Then he opened fire, killing a 48-year-old miner and wounding the dead man’s son-in-law. The gunman, John Louma, 50, apparently had a dispute with them over a timber deal.

Louma then fled to his cabin in the hills and barricaded himself in. Two posses were attempting to capture him, but no further information was available at press time.

From the health beat: Spokane’s health officer, Dr. J.B. Anderson, said he believed he knew how to prevent infantile paralysis (polio): street sprinkling.

He claimed that “the disease does not appear on streets that are sprinkled.” He believed this was why there were few cases in Spokane.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1935: A Labor Day hurricane slammed into the Florida Keys, claiming more than 400 lives.

1969: In what some regard as the birth of the Internet, two connected computers at the University of California, Los Angeles, passed test data through a 15-foot cable.