100 years ago in Spokane County: Jury clears Great Northern Railway in wildfire that destroyed Milan

A Spokane jury ruled that the Great Northern Railway was not liable for the summer wildfire that essentially destroyed the town of Milan, which is about a mile east of the current Riverside High School in northern Spokane County.

Four Milan residents had sued the Great Northern, claiming that sparks from a train had ignited the fire. Residents of the town were forced to live in hastily erected tents for weeks.

The jury voted 11 to 1 in favor of the railroad. The ruling came after several days of conflicting testimony about the origins of the fire.

The railroad was not in the clear quite yet. One more lawsuit still was pending.

From the court beat: Meanwhile, another jury cleared auto driver Andrew Sherlock of manslaughter charges in the death of Mary Carr, a pedestrian at Second Avenue and Monroe Street.

The jury took only five minutes to declare Carr not guilty. The testimony showed that another car had collided with Sherlock’s car, causing his car to skid into Carr and her companion.

From the entertainment beat: Attendance at Spokane movies, plays and vaudeville shows dropped by nearly 25% in 1921, according to the city’s theater managers.

That drop-off was actually less severe than the nationwide average.

“Theaters featuring movies, vaudeville and stock productions have closed in practically every city of 100,000 … while Spokane’s 13 houses are all continuing on progressive programs,” said the Spokane Daily Chronicle.

The reasons for the nationwide drop-off were unclear.