100 years ago in Spokane: 2 women injured when wall collapses

From our archives, 100 years ago

Mrs. L. Berger, 36, and Mrs. Anna Bond, 37, were strolling on the sidewalk at Monroe Street and College Avenue when suddenly they heard a large crash.

A massive fire wall and cornice, next to the sidewalk, came crashing down in a giant jumble of bricks. Both women were smashed by bricks and suffered multiple fractures. Mrs. Berger had a broken knee and a gash across her head. Almost every rib on Mrs. Bond’s right side was crushed and she had a broken ankle. Onlookers dug the women from the bricks — which covered the sidewalk up to four feet high – and they were rushed to the hospital. Mrs. Bond said she remembered hearing a crash, but nothing else.

Another woman, Mrs. A. Robeson, 33, barely escaped injury because of the quick action of another pedestrian. When he heard the crash he shoved her toward the street. He also escaped in the crash and was lost in the crowd.

The owner of the building was distraught and could think of no reason why the wall and cornice collapsed.

From the flood beat: An ice jam nearly five blocks long was backed up in Hangman Creek above High Bridge Park, threatening to damage the Riverside Avenue bridge.

Guards were posted at the bridge and at the dam in High Bridge Park to prevent people from getting too close to the structures. Officials feared that the dam and the bridge might give way.

In other areas of the Inland Northwest, flood waters were abating.