Jim Kershner’s this day in history
From our archives, 100 years ago
A Spokane man and his bride found an unusual venue for a wedding – in a taxi, on the busiest corner of Butte.
John D. Keist, of Spokane, and Mary E. Dennis, of Dillon, Montana, were in a hurry to get married because they had to catch a train.
So they raced in a taxi to the county clerk’s office, and then recognized Justice of the Peace J.C. Conn standing on a street corner. They pulled up next to him and asked him to marry them.
“Do we have to get out, judge?” asked the groom.
“No, I can marry you right where you are,” said the judge. “I can tie you just as tight as I can inside. This may not be as romantic as a flying machine wedding, but you know it’s a whole lot safer.”
They found two witnesses, one of whom was the taxi driver, and performed the ceremony with a “crowd of curious people blocking traffic and cheering.”
Then the happy couple raced to the station and caught a train to their new life in Spokane.
From the baseball beat: Local inventor E.L. Rice unveiled his newest creation: an automatic baseball pitching machine.
Rice declared that his machine could even simulate a curveball. The machines were being manufactured in Spokane.
Also on this date
1876: Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for his telephone.