Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

The headlines were dominated by the stunning war news out of the Atlantic: “Big Liner Lusitania Is Sunk By Submarine Off Irish Coast: Crew And Passengers Saved.”

The latter assertion turned out to be wishful thinking.

The news would later arrive that 1,198 passengers and crew had died.

The Spokane papers were scrambling to determine if any local people were on board.

They listed the names of some Seattle and Tacoma passengers, but none from Spokane.

Meanwhile, “the stock market was in turmoil” and people were trying to ascertain what it might mean for the U.S., which had so far stayed neutral in the war.

The big steamer had sailed from New York and was on its way to Liverpool, England.

From the golf beat: Walter Hagen, legendary golfer and U.S. Open champion, was in Spokane to play the Spokane Country Club.

He was accompanied by John M. Barnes, a Spokane golfer who had just finished third in a tournament in San Francisco won by Hagen.

Barnes said the “East is fast getting the idea that westerners are serious” about golf.

The paper noted that the Spokane Country Club course “was regarded as one of the best in this portion of the country.”