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

From our archives, 100 years ago

Mrs. Dora Russell, of Vera, was “completely prostrated” and nearly an invalid after the latest in a long series of tragedies involving her family. 

About two years earlier, three of her brothers were killed in a mine accident. Six months later, her husband died after falling into a well he had just completed at their home.

Then came the latest telegram: Another brother, who had been supporting her after her husband’s death, drowned in a river in Mexico, where he was the manager of a mine.

Mrs. Russell was checked into the hospital after receiving this latest news. She was the mother of four children. 

From the beer beat: Spokane’s drinkers were the winners when beer dropped to 10 cents a bottle in a citywide beer price war. The price war was initiated by a dealer who said he wanted to “break the brewery combination,” meaning an alleged price-fixing scheme by local breweries.

The Art Bar, the Stockholm Bar and Durkin’s Saloon were busy handing out bottles of cheap beer. A reporter said it looked like the old “wide open days of Spokane.” The crowds spilled out into the streets and everywhere was the “hum of animation.”

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1972: The three-day National Black Political Convention convened in Gary, Ind.