Jim Kershner’s This Day in History

From our archives, 100 years ago

Judge Fred H. Witt recently received a letter from a Seattle woman “with a past” who was seeking to reform and settle down with a good man. She asked him to forward the names and addresses of any such men.

Witt shared the letter with The Spokesman-Review, and responses were already flooding in.

One was from a man who said, “I have a splendid homestead, team of good horses, cow, chickens and am 32 years of age. I want and need a companion very much. I have a comfortable cabin and plenty to eat.”

He told the judge that “I mean business and am on the square.” If this all worked out, he would send the judge a box of good cigars. 

From the explosives beat: John Lambert, 11, of Wardner, Idaho, found a dynamite cap on the ground and did what 11-year-olds were prone to do. He lit it.

It exploded with a tremendous boom, but young John was fortunate. The fragments flew everywhere, but none severely injured him, despite the fact that he was standing directly over the cap.

From the hiking beat: Seven young boys from Kellogg, accompanied by two adults, took the train to Taft, Montana, where they planned to disembark and hike 200 miles back home, via the St. Joe River.