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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

Joel Lowry, a railroad fireman from Kalispell, appealed to the Spokane mayor about a fleecing he claimed he had from a “lady barber” on Spokane’s Main Avenue.

He said that when he walked into the place, he “assumed the prices were the same I had been accustomed to.”

“Imagine my surprise when I was confronted with a bill for $2,” said Lowry.

That was a whopper of a price by the standards of the day. Yet barber Miss Fay Wilson insisted he pay it all, even though he had already forked over $1.50, all he had.

She said the price was so high because Lowry asked for – and received – “the works.”

She said he had a shave and a haircut for 50 cents, a “hand massage” for 50 cents and a “vibrator treatment” for one dollar.

Miss Wilson took Lowry’s gold ring and was holding it until he paid up. She said that “if he wants his ring back, he had better show up with the other four bits.”

Lowry appealed to the Spokane police and all the way up to the mayor, saying, “Look me over, do I look like I had $2 worth of work?”

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1915: The House of Representatives rejected a constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote.