100 years ago in Spokane: Boys wanted in suspected arson; Robert Frost scheduled to make give poetry reading

Two vacant houses were destroyed by fire in the Morgan Park district north of Hillyard, and now authorities were staging a massive search of the countryside from Hillyard to Mead for two boy suspects.

Neighbors reported seeing two boys prowling around the houses just before the flames were discovered. One was described as about 16, and the other about 11. Neighbors gave detailed description of their clothing and general appearance.

From the obituary beat: One of Spokane’s earliest physicians, Dr. N. Fred Essig, 70, died in Rochester, Minnesota.

Dr. Essig had arrived in Spokane about 30 years earlier, and became “one of the city’s foremost citizens.” He was active not only in his profession, but also in business and in civic politics, although he was “never an aspirant for public office.”

He had left Spokane earlier in the year to visit relatives, but became ill and was taken to the Mayo Clinic, where he was diagnosed with Bright’s disease.

From the literary beat: Eight “prominent writers” and lecturers were booked into a Spokane lecture series for the upcoming year.

Most of the names are not well-known today. For instance, have you heard of Ellis Parker Butler, humorist and author of “Pigs Is Pigs”?

Yet one name stands out: Robert Frost, who would present a program of his poems.