100 years ago in the Inland Northwest: A double-fatal crash involving a train was ruled an ‘unavoidable accident,’ and the Mermaid Queen was finally crowned

A Spokane & Eastern electric train stuck and killed two men in an auto at a road crossing near Coeur d’Alene.

The motorman and conductor said they blew the whistle and rang the bell repeatedly as they approached the crossing, but the two men in the auto apparently didn’t see the train before it was too late.

One passenger on the train said she was startled by the whistle, bell and loud grinding of brakes. The next thing she saw was a “cloud of dust” and two men tangled in wreckage.

A coroner’s jury exonerated the motorman and conductor and called it an “unavoidable accident.”

From the contest beat: A crowd estimated at 4,000 jammed Liberty Lake to witness the selection of the “inland Empire Mermaid Queen” (bathing beauty).

At least, the Chronicle claimed it was 4,000. This was the Chronicle’s own contest, so some exaggeration was possible.

About 50 contestants in bathing costumes paraded down the beach in front of motion picture cameras and a panel of judges.

“The mermaids marching in this contest are some of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen,” said one judge, John O’Shea.

Most of the judges were men, but not all. One was a “Spokane club woman” and another was a YWCA swimming instructor – although the “mermaids” did not have to know how to swim in order to win.

Ruth Harkins was named the Mermaid Queen. She won $100, a new bathing suit and a 3-pound box of chocolates.