100 years ago in Spokane: The Interstate Fair featured aviator, jumping horse

From our archives, 100 years ago

More than 69,000 people attended the Interstate Fair, a record.

Here are a few of the spectacles they enjoyed:

A daring aviator named Maroney “set a new altitude record for Spokane.” He touched an altitude of 7,100 feet above the fairgrounds, or about 9,000 feet above sea level.

A “high-jumping horse” named Credential cleared 7 feet “for the astonished and delighted throng.”

The “children’s dancing” event and the “special boys diving event kept the crowd interested in spite of the chilly temperature.” (Snow actually fell, according to reports, during the second heat of a trotting race.) The dancing event involved children from the grade schools, and the diving event included Frank McBride, Northwest junior champion.

From the accident beat: A man with a badly bruised face was found stretched unconscious across the city streetcar tracks. The man’s identity and the nature of his accident were a mystery – until he sobered up.

He said he had been drinking and was on his way downtown on a streetcar when his Panama hat flew off his head. So, naturally, he dived out after it.

He was unable to provide details about what happened after that, but it clearly wasn’t pretty. He suffered, among other things, a contusion of the nose. He was booked for drunkenness.