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

From our archives, 100 years ago

Nell Pickrell, Tekoa’s cross-dressing cowgirl, walked out of jail “nattily attired in the male dress that has won so much publicity.”

“There is no reason I should not dress as I like,” she told reporters, “though that seems to be the only reason for my frequent arrests.”

Pickrell, who also went by the name Harry Allen, had actually been arrested for “selling liquor to an Indian,” a federal crime. But the charge was dismissed.

Pickrell (sometimes spelled Pickerell) said she wanted to “go back to Tekoa and drop out of sight.”

From the Idaho liquor beat: Suspense was building in Coeur d’Alene over an upcoming vote to decide whether Kootenai County would become “wet” again, following a yearlong “dry” spell.

The county had gone dry in 1910 following a local option vote, in which the county’s voters prohibited liquor.

This time, sentiment in Coeur d’Alene was definitely leaning “wet” a week before the vote, said a correspondent. But the smaller towns in Kootenai County were still leaning “dry.”

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1959: The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “The Sound of Music” opened on Broadway.