Jim Kershner’s This Day in History

From our archives, 100 years ago

An accordion performance by Tony Lombardo turned into a brawl when Lombardo refused to stop playing.

He was performing at a gathering at the Argo Hotel when he was asked to play the finale. Then when the hotel owner tried to get him to leave, he “made the instrument say something that sounded like ‘bah.’ ” Then, he turned his back on the hotel owner and struck up a “vigorous war tune.”

One of the guests then said something that Lombardo took offense to. He charged the guests, “laid hold of a young woman and threw her downstairs,” witnesses said. A general melee ensued.

Lombardo was sentenced to 30 days for disorderly conduct and “separated from his accordion at the booking window.”

From the murder beat: Spokane detectives found clues that the murderers of old soldier Charles Semmler, 74, near Fort Wright, might have been acquaintances of his.

They said that fingerprints were found at Semmler’s house. Police believed that Semmler was still alive when he was carried from his own house after being beaten and slashed. Then they ransacked his house. Only later did they go outside and finish him off.

“They wanted to make sure he would tell no tales,” the paper said.

The investigation continued.