Jim Kershner’s This day in history » On the Web: spokesman.com/topics/local-history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Spokane millionaire August Paulsen and other directors of the failed State Bank of Commerce in Wallace, earlier indicted for fraud, were vindicated by a new court ruling.

The ruling not only set aside the indictments, but it accused one of the members of the grand jury of “malice” in handing down the indictments in the first place. The juror was being held for contempt. A second grand jury was called to look into the conduct of the first grand jury.

The case would drag on for a while, but the directors, including Paulsen, were eventually cleared of all charges.

From the crime-fighting beat: A reporter asked a cross-section of Spokane women: “What would you do if you woke up to find a burglar by the bed?”

A number of women reported they would “faint.” But not all.

“Miss Carlotta Smith has little patience with women who faint and shriek and grow hysterical,” said the story. “She has never fainted in her life and the sight of a mere man will never drive her nerves up the flue. She’d give the burglar such a thrashing that he’d pay her to get away.”

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1818: Illinois was admitted as the 21st state. … 1947: The Tennessee Williams play “A Streetcar Named Desire” opened on Broadway.