Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Spokane was mourning the loss of May Compton Burnett, 48, a Spokane pioneer nurse and one of the “best-known of her profession in the Inland Empire.”

Miss Burnett came to Spokane with her mother and her father, Charles Compton Burnett, the first rector of Spokane’s All Saint’s Cathedral. She graduated from the Baltimore University Training School for Nurses.

She worked in Spokane hospitals for many years and in February 1905 she was appointed superintendent of nurses at St. Luke’s Hospital. She later left St. Luke’s and started her own private maternity hospital at 1522 W. Riverside Ave. Burnett continued to work at her maternity hospital until a “lingering illness” forced her to be confined at St. Luke’s for several months before her death. She had been a charter member of the Spokane County Graduate Nurses Association and had been voted a life membership.

From the peddling beat: Mastaf Hsan and H. Aleck, described as “Arabian” peddlers, were arrested in Spokane on a robbery charge out of Butte.

A fellow countryman told Butte police that they had robbed him. After Spokane authorities picked up the pair, the victim had a change of heart and said he no longer wanted to testify against the two men. So Spokane authorities did not send them back to Butte. However, they promptly arrested the pair for peddling silks and satins without a license.