Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Two armed men held up the Astoria Bar and cleaned out the cash register and the pockets of all 14 men at the bar.

Later that night, two Spokane police officers spotted the robbers near the Northern Pacific rail yards. A tussle ensued, and one of the robbers was wrestled to the ground. The other raced away down the street.

The officer fired several shots at the fleeing robber but missed him. Unfortunately, one of the bullets hit a Norwegian lumberjack named Gustav Froistad, walking with his friends two blocks away. Froistad remained in a coma at Sacred Heart Hospital with head wounds.

His friends said they heard muffled shots from far away and Froistad suddenly fell forward on his face.

From the escape file: A police guard handcuffed five prisoners together and was leading them to the Great Northern Depot to board a train for prison in Monroe, Wash.

One prisoner, Walter Barth, slipped out of his handcuffs, took off running and jumped between two stopped train cars. 

The other four prisoners got on the train to Monroe, but Barth, who had been convicted of ransacking a downtown store, was running free somewhere in the city.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1947: The Voice of America began broadcasting to the Soviet Union.