Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Every boy attending North Central High School was on notice: Wear a derby hat on the next Monday, or suffer the consequences.

Any boy not wearing a derby “will be rolled in the snow until he admits he made a mistake by not wearing a derby.”

This “derby day” was apparently a hazing ritual dreamed up by the school’s upperclassmen. The older boys voted for the “derby day” during a mass meeting.

“Many freshmen are already making desperate efforts to secure derbies from some source,” noted the Spokane Daily Chronicle.

The upperclassmen ominously suggested that the boys should find “old derbies,” because “some accident might befall them in the general mixup.” 

The headline said, “All But Derbies Will Be Smashed, Maybe Some of Those.”

From the snow beat: The winter of 1913 continued to take its toll. A roof at the Interstate Fairgrounds collapsed under the weight of snow. In the Cascades, an avalanche swept down on a rotary snowplow on the Milwaukee tracks, instantly killing one of the operators.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1848: James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter’s Mill in Northern California, a discovery that led to the gold rush of 1849.