Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Louis Davenport announced that his grand new undertaking – “the two-million-dollar Davenport hotel” – was ready for bid.

All of the plans and specifications were complete, and the contracts would be awarded soon.

He also announced that the hotel’s own wells would provide soft water – “almost as soft as rain water” – for the hotel’s baths.

From the music beat: A plan to raise money for a symphony orchestra in Spokane was off to a good start. A member of a Rotary Club committee backing the idea said he had 150 of the 200 subscribers necessary to get this “big musical undertaking” off the ground. Each had contributed $10.

From the theater beat:  A Spokane actress took San Francisco by storm. Sarah Truax starred in a production of “Mrs. Dane’s Defense” at the Alcazar Theater in that city. Audiences gave her seven curtain calls on opening night, and they were only satisfied after she gave them “a clever little curtain speech.”

Critics praised her “sympathy, insight and restraint.” Truax was the wife of Charles S. Albert, local counsel for the Great Northern railroad in Spokane. 

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1862: President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of Jan. 1, 1863.