Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

A prominent national prison reformer, the Rev. J. Neilson Barry of Washington, D.C., inspected Spokane’s jails and found them to be “excellent.”

“I have seen the food prepared, and it is abundant and wholesome,” said the Episcopal cleric. “They give the men each a half loaf of bread, good meat, plenty of potatoes and a tin of black coffee. The men appear cheerful, have plenty of good literature and play dominoes. The jailers are courteous and kind.”

He added that “there is an absence of vermin.”

From the divorce beat: In a divorce hearing, Mary Lentes claimed her husband, Nicholas Lentes, threw rocks at her, hit her on the head with a hammer and forced her to live in a tent in the yard.

Mr. Lentes countered that she hit him over the head with a bucket, threw plates at him and “has a terrible temper.”

The judge granted the divorce, but the couple got in another argument outside the courtroom. Mr. Lentes was overheard to shout, “I don’t see how I lived with that woman as long as I did.”

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1962: U.S. ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson presented photographic evidence of Soviet-built missile bases in Cuba to the U.N. Security Council.