Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

A student at the University of Idaho rescued his sister, also a UI student, from their burning home in Moscow.

Mayrus Mitling woke up to the smell of smoke and immediately went upstairs to find his sister, Caroline, in her room above the kitchen.

He found her stumbling across the burning floor, which collapsed beneath her, burning her feet and legs. He dragged her to a window, broke the glass and dragged her onto the roof. From there, he slid down the snow-covered roof to the ground, where he “pleaded with his half-dazed and freezing sister to also slide to him before the roof should fall in.”

She made the slide and he caught her before she could hit the ground.

The cause of the fire was unknown.

From the coal beat: The paper breathlessly reported that extensive deposits of coal had been discovered on Peone Prairie, within 10 miles of downtown Spokane. A coal syndicate said it was beginning negotiations with landowners for further exploration.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1941: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, outlined a goal of “Four Freedoms”: Freedom of speech and expression; the freedom of people to worship God in their own way; freedom from want; freedom from fear.