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

From our archives, 100 years ago

Miss Margaret Armstrong, owner of Spokane’s largest flower shop, declared that she married George Howell only because he wielded a “strange and fascinating power” over her, amounting to “hypnotic dictation.”

Miss Armstrong, still technically Mrs. Howell, emerged from hiding in California and said that she was filing an annulment suit because he “mentally coerced” her into marriage.

This successful and seemingly self- possessed middle-age businesswoman said that “once in his company I seemed to lose control of my will.”

More from the marriage beat: The 1911 Spokane County statistics showed: 1,900 marriage licenses issued and 435 divorces granted.

The leading cause of divorce was “desertion and non-support,” followed by “cruelty.” Wives filed for divorce more often than husbands, by a 3-to-1 ratio.

These statistics alarmed the county prosecutor in charge of divorce cases. He attributed the high divorce rate to the fact that most couples knew each other less than three months. He also said that women generally knew very little about their new husbands.

Just ask Miss Armstrong.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1853: The United States and Mexico signed a treaty under which the U.S. agreed to buy some 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico for $10 million.