Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

A Christmas tragedy was averted in Spokane after a spurned suitor stood outside the window of his sweetheart — and had second thoughts.

“I went out to kill her and her husband on Christmas Day,” wrote rancher Robert L. Ashcraft, 42, in a letter. “I saw her at a window, but she did not see me. Her face was downcast and her heart ached. I had not the heart to shoot. And then it occurred to me that it was not true love to kill.”

So he stayed his hand.

However, his own heartache remained, stronger than ever.

Several days later, police were summoned to the street in front of the Coeur d’Alene Hotel on Trent Avenue (today’s Spokane Falls Boulevard). Witnesses said a man “had assumed a suicidal attitude on sidewalk” with a pistol.

The shot was fired as police officers rounded a corner.

It was Ashcraft, ending his heartache.

On his body was found a wedding ring, tied in a silk handkerchief, along with the letter, recounting his Christmas Day vigil in front of his sweetheart’s window.

He wrote that she had “made a very sad Christmas for me one year ago today,” and that he was writing the letter “through blinding tears.” He said he had been devoted to her for 17 years.