Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

The attitude toward mental illness in 1913 can be summed up by the names of the two major institutions in Medical Lake: The Insane Asylum and the School for the Feeble-Minded.

Gov. Ernest Lister toured these two institutions and pronounced both of them exemplary. He said he found “not a single fault with them.”

“Both institutions are not only a credit to Spokane County, but to the state,” he said. “… I hope other state institutions may be developed to the same high standards.”

From the church beat: The Rev. A.J. Baldwin sued the Opportunity Methodist Episcopal Church for back pay.

The pastor testified that when he was hired, the church agreed to pay him weekly, but, he said, he soon discovered that they apparently spelled the word “weakly.”

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1960: South Korean students began an uprising that toppled the government of President Syngman Rhee a week later. The South West African People’s Organization was founded in Namibia.

1993: The 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ended as fire destroyed the structure after federal agents began smashing their way in; dozens of people, including sect leader David Koresh, were killed.