Jim Kershner’s This Day in History

From our archives, 100 years ago

Spokane was suffering through what the local weather forecaster called “one of the longest hot spells in the history of the city.” The temperature hit 97 degrees two days earlier, and the average high since Aug. 1 had been over 90.

For that reason Natatorium Park, with its famous pool, had been drawing huge crowds.

From the divorce file: The wife of a Spokane department store employee knew her husband had some bad habits, but she assumed they were the usual ones, such as a fondness for liquor. 

She had an unpleasant surprise when private detectives investigating her husband at work told her the truth: He was living a dual life and was supporting another woman in Union Park.

He had deceived her for five years. The court granted her a divorce.

Also from the divorce file: A husband on a remote Idaho ranch had an irrationally jealous disposition, his wife testified.

“He accused me of associating with men,” she told a judge, “but there were none in that part of the country.”

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1867: President Andrew Johnson sparked a move to impeach him as he defied Congress by suspending Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.

1981: IBM introduced its first personal computer, the model 5150, at a press conference in New York.