100 years ago in Spokane: The railway worker strike was getting so much attention, President Warren G. Harding weighed in

President Warren G. Harding called upon striking railroad workers – including 1,800 in Spokane – to go back to work.

He suggested that the main sticking point – whether strikers would retain their seniority rights – should be deferred to the federal railroad labor board.

The strikers’ initial reaction was unenthusiastic, to say the least. Local strikers said they had the upper hand, especially after a number of other rail unions expressed their willingness to join the strike and cripple rail service. The strikers were mostly railroad shop workers and repairmen, but if other unions joined, it would include engineers and conductors, among others.

Nationally, Harding’s proposal was not met with favor by the union heads.

From the swimsuit file: The Spokane Daily Chronicle’s contest to pick the Inland Empire Mermaid Queen was attracting plenty of interest – and one bit of larceny.

The Chronicle was asking young women to submit photos of themselves in bathing suits, in hopes of being named the Mermaid Queen. The Chronicle was providing the services of photographers free of charge, and was running photos of women in bathing suits on the front page nearly every day.

Margaret Seidel of Lewiston had her picture taken at the Ihrig photo studio. The studio photographers thought she was so attractive that they made an enlargement and displayed it in a “street showcase” at the Eilers Building in downtown Spokane.

Sometime on Sunday night, the enlargement disappeared. The Chronicle attributed the theft to “the love of an admirer,” but the identity of that admirer remained unknown.