Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Clarence L. Farquhar, the 14-year-old boy who was shot on his way to church a few weeks earlier, was not the victim of an unfortunate accident.

He was “shot by an enemy,” according to a letter written by the boy’s neighbors to the county coroner. They said they had discovered evidence that someone had ambushed the boy and shot him as he rode to church on his pony near his ranch just outside Spokane.

At first, authorities were baffled by the shooting and theorized that he had been hit by a stray bullet from a hunter. Two friends of Farquhar’s testified that they had stopped and chatted with him on the road earlier that morning. Later, they said they heard a shot ring out. They raced around a bend in the road and found Clarence shot in the back.

Police arrested a man for questioning, but after this new development, they released him because it was clear he had played no part in the crime.

Police were not saying where suspicion was now being cast, but the prosecutor and sheriff spent the day “going over the ground” and gathering evidence near Foothills, where the murder occurred.

“There is no question but the boy was murdered,” said a deputy prosecutor.