100 years ago in Spokane: Simmering dispute between coworkers boils over into bar fight leaving one dead

A quarrel between two laborers turned deadly in a Spokane bar.

Mike Milechivich, 40, was playing cards in the Agram Bar when Mike Bosnich, 40, walked in to use the lavatory.

“Oh, here you are,” Milechivich said. “Now we will square matters.”

The two men had worked at a magnesite quarry near Chewelah and had been nursing a simmering dispute. Both men were described as “Slavonian,” although Bosnich called himself Austrian.

“I don’t want to fight,” Bosnich said.

Bosnich claimed that when he came out of the lavatory, Milechivich confronted him with clenched fists and threatened him. Bosnich pulled a revolver and fired twice, killing Milechivich.

Bosnich ran from the bar but was followed to the Astor Hotel on Trent Avenue by an onlooker.

Police searched the hotel, and found Bosnich hiding under his bed. Police also found Bosnich’s revolver under the bed, although apparently he did not threaten the police with it. He was charged with murder.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1822: Florida became a United States territory.

1867: U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward reached agreement with Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million, a deal ridiculed by critics as “Seward’s Folly.”

1970: Triple Crown winner Secretariat was born at The Meadow near Doswell, Virginia.