100 years ago in Spokane: A dog saved a toddler’s life by pulling him from the tracks as a streetcar came toward them

A St. Bernard named Major was now the “idol of several dozen Union Park kiddies” after the dog pulled an 18-month-old child off the streetcar tracks.

A streetcar was speeding toward the child when, according to an adult witness, Major “sprang out, grabbed the boy by the clothing and dragged him to the walk.”

Major’s owner said he was proud of his dog. The dog was going to be rewarded with a porterhouse steak, calf livers and chicken hamburger, the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported.

“He’s just 3 years old, but he has a lot of good sense,” the owner said.

From the court beat: A jury found P. Clive Heddle guilty of manslaughter in an auto accident that killed three of his passengers.

The jury deliberated only a few hours in the afternoon before returning with the verdict. Testimony showed that he had been drinking that night before seven revelers piled in his car for the return trip from a dance hall.

When he was racing down Northwest Boulevard at high speed, he collided head-on with a streetcar.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1958: Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, were spat upon and their limousine battered by rocks thrown by anti-U.S. demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela.

1981: Pope John Paul II was shot and wounded in St. Peter’s Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca.

2002: President George W. Bush announced he and Russian President Vladimir Putin would sign a treaty to shrink their countries’ nuclear arsenals by two-thirds.