Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

A 63-year-old Spokane widower, H.C. Parker, took out a want-ad for a wife and received more than 100 applications. 

He said he had no idea there were so many women eager to accept a man of his age. He was especially surprised, because he stipulated in the ad that the woman must have property worth $30,000, which he said was the value of his own estate. He said he wanted to “be free of the class of women ever ready to marry an old man for his money.”

One applicant said she had a farm near Edmonton of 156 acres and could match Parker “dollar for dollar.”

“After a man has batched for nearly 20 years, it gets mighty lonesome, and the presence of a good, intelligent woman in the house is a great comfort,” said Parker. “I fear that it will be a hard job to pick the right one from that stack of applicants. They are all apparently good women, but yet it is hard to get one that fills the bill in every particular.”

From the accident beat: The Great Northern “fast mail” train was late, so it was going faster than usual as it rolled through Bonners Ferry. A railroad mail clerk, 27, leaned out the door to operate the arm that catches the mailbag. He fell, broke his neck and died instantly.