Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

The Della Olds trial was on weekend recess, which gave the paper more space to chronicle some stories from around the region:

• A 4-year-old Missoula child wandered off during a Fourth of July picnic and toddled around the mountains for three days and three nights before searchers found him. He had eaten part of his straw hat and was in surprisingly good condition.

• A pioneer North Yakima businessman left his home in the middle of the night and led police on a four-mile chase. When police finally caught him, it became clear that he had “gone insane during the night.” His sons were taking care of him.

• A “comely Italian woman,” age 32, became peeved with a Hillyard neighbor, so she grabbed a lead pipe and took a swing at his head. The man, a Washington Water Power machinist, was in the emergency room and the woman was in jail. The argument was said to be over “trivial matters.”

• Two traveling trapeze artists were recovering from a fall at the Orpheum Theatre. A mid-air “catch” was mistimed and both plunged 16 feet to the stage. The curtain went down immediately and most people in the audience weren’t even sure what happened. The male half of the Aerial Sherwoods suffered a broken ankle and his wife suffered “nervous shock.”