Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Lydia Murray, of Spokane, claimed that her doctors mistakenly removed her appendix – even though the operation was for a different, unspecified, disorder. 

So she refused to pay for the operation. Her doctors took her to court in order to make her pay the $285 she owed. They insisted they had not taken out her appendix. The doctors won the case, and she was ordered to pay.

So an adamant Murray obtained another doctor to – well, open her up and take a look. That doctor and several other physician witnesses submitted affidavits saying that Murray’s appendix was, in fact, missing. They said it had clearly been removed in a previous operation.

Murray filed a new motion asking for a new trial.

From the women’s beat: A band of 15 prominent Spokane women and one prominent male editor made a strong argument in favor of establishment of a women’s hotel in Spokane. N.W. Durham, a former newspaperman and historian, addressed a group of women’s clubs and deplored the fact that “there is no home for business women or working girls, except for the hotels and lodging houses whose prices are beyond their reach.”

The group urged an immediate fundraising campaign to establish such a hotel.