Jim Kershner’s This day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

A Hillyard man was in trouble with authorities over an alleged bigamy scheme.

A year earlier, he married a woman in Idaho with whom he had a child. Then he fell in love with his wife’s sister. Without bothering to divorce Wife No. 1, they ran off to Spokane, got married and made a home in Hillyard.

Wife No. 2 wrote to her sister in Idaho and suggested that she come to Spokane with the baby and they would all move to a ranch in Canada and live as, well, man and wives.

“Though all three are said to be Mormons, wife No. 1 refused to cooperate in the deal, but instead turned the letter over to Sheriff F. Dekay of Bingham County,” who ordered the husband’s arrest. He and wife No. 2 were both arrested the next day in Hillyard on a charge of bigamy.

This was not his only legal problem. Turns out the husband was also wanted for horse theft. He was charged with stealing a number of horses and selling them before he left for Spokane with wife No. 2.

He was headed back to Idaho in handcuffs.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1809: The Treaty of the Dardanelles, which ended the Anglo-Turkish War, was concluded by the United Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire.