Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

The casualties were mounting at the Interstate Fair.

A man exhibiting a monkey encouraged a little boy to come closer. It “won’t hurt you,” said the keeper.

Whereupon the monkey lunged at the little boy and bit him on the hand and the lip. The injuries were not serious.

In another case, a 6-year-old girl was bitten on the leg by a dog that “had gotten loose at the dog show.”

The strangest case was that of a Missoula woman who fainted when she thought she saw a man being grievously injured.

She was apparently unfamiliar with the concept of the dunk tank.

Here’s how The Spokesman-Review described it, using the language common in 1912:

“The fellow sits on a bar and baseballs are thrown at a plate above him. When the plate is hit, the seat is released and the negro falls into the vat. The woman saw a good thrower hit the mark and the negro tumbled into the vat. The woman, thinking he was injured, fainted.

“While she was being carried to the hospital in an unconscious condition, the colored man was waiting for another thrower to upset him again.”

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1947: President Harry S. Truman delivered the first televised White House address as he spoke on the world food crisis.