100 years ago in Spokane: Mom organizes book donations for soldiers in Alaska

Mrs. C.A. Russell of Spokane had a son, Private Robert Russell, serving in Fort Gibbons, Alaska. Through him, she learned that some 200 soldiers, stationed at isolated stations in the “land of the midnight sun,” had no communication with the outside world except by dog team.

She took it upon herself to collect books and magazines and send them to these isolated soldiers. She announced, through the Spokane Daily Chronicle, that she was accepting donations of books and would send them to Alaska at her expense.

“The result was amazing,” she said. She was flooded with so many offers that she didn’t know whether she’d ever be able to collect all of the material offered, she said.

From the traffic beat: Spokane officials were threatening to crack down on auto violations.

“The driver who passes streetcars on the left-hand side of the street, the man who does not stop his car when fire apparatus is on the street, the fellow who takes the Manito hill and other grades about the city with his muffler wide open is in for considerable grief if caught,” said the city’s public safety commissioner. “Speeders have lately taken Grand Boulevard for their own. It will have to stop. In the vicinity of the Sacred Heart Hospital, drivers have opened their mufflers to get a little bit of added power, and that must stop, too. It disturbs patients at the hospital.”

Also on this date

(From Associated Press)

1997: Evander Holyfield retained the WBA heavyweight boxing championship after his opponent, Mike Tyson, was disqualified for biting Holyfield’s ear.