From our archive, 100 years ago

Doctors feared that Paul Davis, 4, might have contracted the first case of polio in Spokane.

The entire Davis family was placed under quarantine to guard against the spread of the disease, which had been racing through the East Coast in 1916.

The boy’s right leg was paralyzed, but doctors were not entirely certain he actually had “infantile paralysis.” One doctor thought it was, but he said several circumstances argued against it. First, polio was considered a warm-weather disease. Second, the boy had suffered an injury that summer when a tree branch fell on him and crushed his thigh and foot.

Blood poisoning had set in, and his condition might stem from that.

From the exhibition beat: An enthusiastic – sometimes overenthusiastic – crowd of more than 15,000 attended the first day of the National Apple Show in Spokane.

The largest crush was in an area where ducks, geese, turkeys, dolls and teddy bears were being given away. A raucous scene unfolded at the Duck Booth, where a “tall, sandy man” had won a duck and was attempting to walk away with the squawking fowl.

A small boy grabbed one of the duck’s legs, causing “duck and owner” to fall down in the crowd.

“A fat woman gave a grunt as the redheaded man disappeared on the ground almost beneath her,” the paper said. “He came up proudly, clutching a leg of the duck and the crowd yelled with delight.”