100 years ago in Spokane: Errant comet? Plumb bomb? Object falls out of sky, baffles

Mrs. O. DeCamp was suddenly awakened early in the morning by “a concussion that jarred her house” in east Spokane.

She called her son-in-law who came out to investigate. He found the cause of the disturbance buried about a foot deep in the hard gravel: “a strange, apparently machine-made missile” made of metal, weighing about 10 pounds.

“It is shaped somewhat like a plumb bob, although much larger and heavier,” reported the Spokane Daily Chronicle. “… The missile is perfectly formed and has evidence of having been tooled by a lathe.”

The son-in-law, the police, and the Chronicle were all baffled by the missile and its origin.

“Whether the object … is a projectile from some mischievous aircraft, a message from a celestial planet or a strange fragment from some errant comet is puzzling scores of people,” said the Chronicle.

From the election beat: The Spokane County auditor went to Seattle to observe the municipal elections and reported back favorably on a new voting technology: the voting machine.

“I went to Seattle skeptical about the machines and came back convinced that Spokane should have them,” said the auditor.

Some precincts had returns available in minutes, and complete results were available about two hours after polls closed.