Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Mrs. Seldell, of Spokane, picked up the phone and heard a tremulous woman’s voice say, “Is everything all right at your house?”

Mrs. Seldell said everything was fine. Then the mysterious woman asked, “Have you looked on your back porch?”

Mrs. Seldell said she hadn’t, but she would.

There, on the back step, she found a newborn baby.

She brought the baby in and returned to the phone. The voice asked Mrs. Seldell to keep the baby and then added, “I know about you.”

The mystery woman was apparently referring to the fact that the Seldells had lost a baby two years earlier. She implied that the Seldells would welcome the new infant. The mystery woman promised to visit but hung up without identifying herself.

The only clue: The baby had a broken arm, which had been expertly bandaged by a physician or professional nurse.

Mrs. Seldell did indeed welcome the baby and was cheerfully caring for it. She was entertaining the possibility of adopting it. But she said she would do so only if the mother showed up in person and told them the entire story.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1942: Nearly 500 people died in a fire that destroyed the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston.