Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

A Spokane County prosecutor was willing to see if brain surgery might cure the criminal tendencies of M.C. Parsons, 20, charged with various felonies.

Parsons had once “eloped from Pullman with a young girl,” and more recently had stolen a car and driven it to California. He was being held at what was then called the Eastern Washington Hospital for the Insane at Medical Lake. Doctors said he suffered a head injury as a child that “left a section of the brain practically exposed.” They believed that it made Parsons unable to distinguish right from wrong. 

They wanted to perform an operation to relieve the pressure.

The prosecutor said he was willing to let the operation proceed and evaluate the situation after that.

From the dental beat: About 39 people took the state board of dentistry exams in Spokane, and 21 passed. The test included a written section as well as the practical work of installing gold fillings in volunteers.

The paper noted that one of the newly licensed dentists was a woman, and three were Japanese.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1956: The U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws calling for racial segregation on public city and state buses.