Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Joyriding was an ever more serious problem in Spokane, as evidenced by the previous day’s police record.

One man was attending First Methodist Episcopal Church on Sunday morning when a man jumped in his car and roared off, according to a pedestrian who saw the whole thing.

Another man said he woke up to find his auto missing, and it was found abandoned at Trent Avenue and Division Street.

Another auto was found upside down and abandoned on Moran Prairie. Police also suspected joyriders in that case.

The most serious incident took place near St. Luke’s Hospital. P.J. Hunt’s stolen car was discovered crashed violently into a curb. The front wheel was broken and the curb was “scarred for 60 feet as if by a hub.” Two furrows also were found in the dirt, indicating that the passengers were “thrown forward while the car was running on two wheels.”

Nobody was found at the scene, but police felt certain that the joyriders must have suffered injuries.

From the Danish beat: Spokane’s Danish community gathered for a picnic at Hangman Creek in honor of the new constitution of Denmark. The constitution granted equal suffrage to women.

“Several score” of Danish immigrants and their descendants participated in races, games, a tug-of-war across the creek and patriotic addresses.