Jim Kershner’s This Day in History

From our archives, 100 years ago

Spokane police were confident one of Spokane’s most famous fugitives, murder suspect Preston Thayer, finally had been nabbed by authorities in Boulder, Montana.

The man held by Boulder authorities “answers the description of Thayer in every detail, even to the lame foot,” police said. Thayer was wanted for the brutal murder of a taxi driver in 1912 on Nine Mile Road. Thayer was the prime suspect from the beginning, but he went on the run. Unfortunately, the Boulder report apparently turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. The paper never followed up on the Boulder report, but a month later it ran a story saying Thayer was still at large. 

From the basketball beat: A “break in athletic relations” was threatened between Lewis and Clark High School and North Central High School over the date of a basketball game.

Lewis and Clark asked that the game be moved from Tuesday night to Tuesday afternoon, because its winter commencement ceremony was scheduled for Tuesday evening.

North Central demurred and suggested that the game be held next semester. This upset the Lewis and Clark coach, because his star player was graduating and wouldn’t be available next semester. The LC coach was considering calling off the game and declaring itself the winner of the season series, since it had already beaten North Central twice.