100 years ago in Spokane: Women use hotel fire escape to flee gunman

Terrified residents of the Britton Hotel fled in their “nighties” via the fire escape after Henry N. Martin, 54, a former Davenport lawyer, fired gunshots into their room.

Martin apparently went in search of the landlady, “with whom he had difficulties some time ago.” He did not find her in her room, and then went to another room where he thought she might be.

The occupants of that room refused to open the door, so Martin began shooting through the door and trying to break it down. Several women escaped down the fire escape.

Then Martin grabbed another woman, who was just coming into the hotel, by the throat and threatened to shoot her.

Officers arrived and found Martin “hiding in the dark in one of the rooms.” He was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

From the college beat: Faculty hiring was nearly complete at two Spokane institutions: Spokane College and Spokane University.

Both schools announced their roster of teachers, covering subjects ranging from chemistry to music to Greek to typewriting and shorthand.

These were two of the four colleges in Spokane at the time, the others being Gonzaga University and Whitworth College.

The latter two institutions are still thriving, but Spokane College was gone by 1929 and Spokane University folded in 1933.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

2003: Comedian Bob Hope died in Toluca Lake, Calif., at age 100.