Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Railroad workers in Chicago opened up a boxcar full of lumber – and also opened up a murder mystery with a Colville connection.

The workers found a bloodstained woman’s underskirt, an empty revolver and a schoolbook with the inscription “Elsie Helba Day, Springfield, Ore.,” and “Dr. H.A. Day, Colville, Wash.” It also contained the names of several other people, including a Spokane man.

At first, investigators feared that Elsie Day, 17, had been murdered.

Dr. Day, her brother by adoption, told authorities that Elsie had been staying with him in Colville but had left for Spokane in the summer and that he had not heard from her for three weeks.

Yet as the investigation continued, Elsie Day turned up, alive and well. She was in Des Moines, visiting relatives.

But who did the bloodstained garment belong to?

Police were still attempting to unravel the mystery. Check this space tomorrow for the answer.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1963: President John F. Kennedy was shot to death during a motorcade in Dallas. Texas Gov. John B. Connally, in the same open car as the president, was seriously wounded. A suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald, was arrested.