Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

George R. Dodson, the pioneer jeweler of Spokane, just returned from a modern kind of adventure – a 5,000-mile auto tour through Europe.

He and his family went in a Packard, with a modified interior that he designed himself, which was shipped to Europe and back.

“It worked splendidly,” said Dodson. “We were in many rainstorms and snowstorms, but were always comfortable.”

They toured the English Lake District, Scotland, France and the Alpine countries. In the Alps, they encountered their most trying conditions, with ice and snow over Tundra Pass. Even “the villages in the valleys were literally snowed under,” he said.

They tried to tour Italy, as well, but “the Italian roads are almost impassable for automobiles.” So they put the car in a garage for that portion of the trip and went by train.

Mrs. Dodson and their two daughters remained in Europe. The two girls planned to study music and languages in Dresden, Germany, for the next two years. They had no way of knowing, of course, that within months World War I would erupt in Europe.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1954: The U.S. Supreme Court, in Brown v. Board of Education, unanimously struck down racially segregated public schools.