100 years ago today: Women tossed from ‘tourist camp’ for fighting

Pandemonium briefly reigned at Spokane’s “tourist camp” at Highbridge Park when two women engaged in a bout of “pushing, pulling, shoving and hair-pulling.”

It ended when one woman knocked the other to the ground.

A Chronicle reporter witnessed the incident and noted that one of the two women was handicapped by “a child in arms,” while the other woman “might be entered in the heavyweight class.” The smaller woman was the loser of this battle, which was quickly broken up by the camp caretaker, the Chronicle reporter and several tourists.

Apparently, the two women had met in a different tourist camp earlier in the season and argued over their respective conduct. When they discovered they had both spent the night in the same Spokane camp, “the smoldering flame burst.”

The caretaker said troublemakers would not be tolerated. Both women and their parties were “invited” to leave the camp within 90 minutes.

From the aviation beat: Airplanes were no longer a novelty in Spokane. On a recent day, 10 planes were on the grounds of the Foster Russell Aviation Field in Spokane.

Several of them belonged to “aerial sightseers,” including one pilot from Pomeroy, two from Walla Walla, one from Moscow and one from Ritzville.

The remainder were for use by the students at the Foster Russell flight school.