Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

A miner almost lived up to his nickname, “The Gunner from Galway,” when he whipped out a pistol in a saloon, pointed it at his head and announced, “I’m going to die tonight.”

He made this dramatic announcement because the saloonkeeper at the Club Saloon in Spokane wouldn’t serve him another drink, the Gunner already being thoroughly inebriated. 

He “acted the part” of the suicide so well that saloon patrons called police.

The Gunner did not fire the gun, but when a patrolman took it away from him, it was discovered to be loaded in every chamber.

The Gunner – whose nickname came from his propensity to carry a gun everywhere – was booked into jail for inebriation.

Police found a second concealed pistol and a bottle of strychnine in his sock.

He said he kept the strychnine because he used it to put himself to sleep when drunk.

From the school beat: A dangerous scuffle occurred on the highest fire escape at the new Lewis and Clark High School.

Some seniors planted a class pennant on the fire escape, and some underclassmen attempted to tear it down.

A teacher broke up the melee after they came “dangerously near falling.”