This day in history: A freak accident with a rope nearly claimed a 6-year-old’s life, and a local football player wasn’t so lucky

From 1975: A Spokane woman was driving on the city’s west side when she saw a horrifying sight: a boy, 6, hanging from a tangle of rope in a garage.

She “stopped, got the boy down and applied mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.” Some neighbors also rushed to the scene to help.

Apparently the boy had become tangled in the rope when his 2-year-old brother pushed a button that raised the garage door and the rope.

He was taken to Sacred Heart Medical Center, where he was initially listed in critical condition. The next day, doctors reported the boy had “dramatically improved” and listed him in satisfactory condition.

From 1925: Herbert Simpson, 24, a student at Spokane University, was playing football when he suffered a head injury.

At the time, nobody thought the injury was serious. He was in no pain for 24 hours afterwards.

The next day, however, he began to exhibit symptoms and was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital. He died hours later of what doctors suspected was a “hemorrhage of the brain.”

An autopsy was scheduled to determine the exact cause. He was survived by a young widow.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1989: East Berlin opens its borders at the Bornholmer Strasse crossing when thousands arrive after East German government official Günter Schabowski mistakenly announces that restrictions on travel to the West will be lifted “immediately, without delay.”