100 years ago today in Spokane: Three rail cars fall into Spokane River

Three railroad freight cars were submerged in the Spokane River after they were mistakenly driven off the end of the track in the Great Northern freight yards.

A fourth car was teetering on the bank.

A switch engine was moving a string of empty freight cars when the engineer backed them too far. The cars plowed 120 feet through the dirt before falling into the river.

From the court beat: Ella Storey testified that she was walking up Sprague Avenue, minding her own business, when Gussie Webster stepped out from behind a sign and “a gun went boom.”

Storey ran away and Webster followed, shooting all the while, but missing. Storey asked why she was shooting “your best friend,” and Webster replied, “You don’t have no business living.”

When Storey grabbed her by the wrist and held her, Webster said, “Turn me loose, I’ve got 40 more to kill this morning.”

Webster was on trial for first-degree assault with intent to kill. She pleaded temporary insanity. Jealousy was offered as a motive.

The Spokane Daily Chronicle noted that both women were well-known to police. The defense counsel questioned Storey’s character by asking her how many times she had been arrested. She replied that she did not know, because she “could only count to 10.”

The correct answer, apparently, was in the 20s.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1959: Architect Frank Lloyd Wright, 91, died in Phoenix, Arizona.