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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

A Spokane policeman named Tynan came upon a startling sight at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Maple Street: a one-legged dancing skeleton.

“Holy Mackinaw,” said the officer to the rattling bunch of bones. “You are out late.”

Some snickers from the nearby bushes – and a string leading in that direction – gave away the location of two youthful pranksters. They had stolen the skeleton from a physician’s barn and hung it in a tree.

The policeman ordered them to return it to the barn. 

From the adventure beat: Miss Gladys Hardy, 22, embarked on a solo horseback trip from her home in Spokane to San Francisco.

She already had made it to Wenatchee and was headed across the Cascades. She was accompanied only by her horse, her dog and her spare clothing. 

“In the best of health and enjoying every minute of my trip,” she said in a telegram to her mother.

From the world war beat: The big news on the front page was headlined “Archduke Ferdinand and Wife Killed by Assassin.”

The story called it a tragedy for the Habsburg dynasty, since Ferdinand was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne.

What nobody realized at the time was that it was a tragedy for the entire world, setting off a string of events leading to World War I.