100 years ago in Spokane: Escaped zoo bear on day 6 of freedom

From our archive, 100 years ago

The escaped Manito Park Zoo bear emerged victorious for a sixth straight day in an epic bear chase south of Spokane.

This time, the juvenile bear may have achieved permanent victory, since its pursuers appeared to lose all hope of ever catching it.

Bear hunter Tom Hopper and zookeeper Felix Paquin said that the “bruin should now be allowed to return to his native haunts without further effort at recapture.”

The demoralized bear-chasers said the bear led them even farther south through the snow and cold, to a point near Spangle. Hopper’s bear hounds caught up with the bear at one point and attacked the bear. However, the bear fought off the dogs and the men were so far behind they were not within sight of the encounter.

From the banking beat: Spokane was awarded an important economic prize. It was named as the site of the federal farm loan bank for the entire Northwest.

Spokane emerged on top of the other finalists, Billings, Helena and Portland.

The announcement “establishes the city as the agricultural and farm loan center of the north Pacific states,” said the paper.

From the police blotter: Police were called to a fight between Mrs. and Mrs. John Countryman in Hillyard.

Apparently, during a Christmas Eve altercation, Mrs. Countryman “beat her husband with her crutch.”