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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

The brutal war in Europe continued to be good for Spokane business. The Washington Cracker Co. of Spokane just sent 30,000 pounds of crackers to German ports, destined to feed “part of the German army.”

Like all other local firms doing business with the warring nations, the company received its pay in gold in advance. The buyers assumed “all risk of capture by hostile warships.”

From the drama beat: “Dope,” a drama “exposing the drug traffic and depicting the sufferings of cocaine and morphine fiends” opened a four-day run at the Empress Theater.

The show was endorsed by the New York Medical Institute.

From the robbery beat: Two gunmen held up the conductor and motorman of an empty streetcar, but the bandits were exceedingly polite.

They told the two streetcar men that they didn’t want their watches or their wallets. They wanted only the money of their employers, from the till.

They told the men they were “hungry, desperate” and out of work.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1781: British troops under Gen. Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia, as the American Revolution neared its end. … 1960: The U.S. began a limited embargo against Cuba covering all commodities except medical supplies and certain food products.