100 years ago in Spokane: Woman abandons six-month-old baby with Lewis and Clark science teacher

A “well-dressed woman” showed up at the home of Lewis and Clark High School science teacher Joseph McMacken and his wife and handed them a 6-month-old infant.

The mystery woman said she had to get to her job as a waitress and asked Mrs. McMacken to care for the baby. She said she would be back the next day to retrieve little “Harold.”

She never returned.

Now, three weeks later, juvenile authorities said they would be willing to give the child to “suitable parents” if the true parents did not step forward to claim him.

“It is a bright child and I assume there are scores of people who would adopt him,” the county probation officer said.

From the court beat: Gussie Webster was convicted of first-degree assault for attempting to shoot Ella Storey.

Webster had accused Storey of stealing her husband.

“The prisoner wept after the verdict was read,” The Spokesman-Review said.

From the flu beat: The devastating 1918-19 Spanish flu epidemic was nearly over in Spokane.

Only six new cases were reported during the week.

Yet the flu continued to take a toll. Two deaths were reported for the week.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1912: The British liner RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton, England, on its ill-fated maiden voyage.