Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

An affluent Scandinavian mechanic/rancher, 40, of Orofino, Idaho, placed a classified ad in The Spokesman-Review for an “American or Swedish girl, not over 32 years of age, not more than 5 feet six inches tall, with blue or gray eyes” to be his wife.

The ad sparked “scores” of replies from “unannexed young women and widows.” They had some questions, however. Some asked about his appearance and habits, but “the majority of them had an eye to business and were chiefly interested in his worldly wealth.”

One woman called long distance to ask if he would buy her a piano if she married him, but “he refused to commit himself to any promise along such lines.”

From the vaudeville beat: New York Giants baseball star Rube Marquard was at the Orpheum in Spokane, in a vaudeville act in which he proved that he could not sing or dance.

“He goes to the trouble of telling the audience he can not, but the confession is absolutely superfluous,” wrote a reviewer. 

Yet he charmed the capacity audience at two shows with his “hearty grin, contagious laugh and twinkle in his eye.”

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1783: Spain formally recognized American independence.