Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

The senior girls of North Central High School decided on an admirable project: To make their own graduation dresses, at under $5 per dress.

They all decided to make the same simple gowns, and “wear black slippers and stockings, no gloves and instead of the large bouquets sometimes carried in the past, each girl will wear only one lily of the valley and a few sprigs of green.”

A faculty adviser first brought the idea to the girls, who “embraced it with enthusiasm.” The choice was based not only on economy, but also on equality.

“Of course, it means a sacrifice for some of the girls, but they are doing it out of consideration for their classmates who could not possibly spend as much as is customary just for a graduation dress,” said the class adviser. “I think they will look just as sweet as they would in more expensive dresses.”

The $5 limit will “cut in two” the “lowest local cost of graduation dresses ever known,” said the paper.

From the opium beat: Police went on an opium raid at the Spokoma Hotel and caught Bob Lumpkin, a cook, attempting to flee on the fire escape. 

Lumpkin denied using opium, but officers found “a card of Yen Shee and a hot bowl” (a pipe) thrown into an alley behind the hotel. Then Lumpkin admitted he threw more opium paraphernalia onto an adjoining roof, which officers retrieved. Lumpkin was booked on the all-purpose charge of vagrancy.