100 years ago in Spokane: There was a run for residents to get their ‘obscure diseases’ diagnosed at a medical conference, but one ‘huge lumberjack’ just ended up running

Hundreds of physicians were in Spokane attending the Pacific Northwest Medical Association convention, and many residents were showing up at the meetings in hopes of having their “obscure diseases” diagnosed.

The doctors complied, but usually in consultation with the patient’s own physician.

Sometimes, the doctors used these cases to highlight their lectures. But in one case, that plan backfired.

A “huge lumberjack with an Irish accent” approached one doctor, worried that he had a cancerous tumor on his lip. The doctor diagnosed it as a benign tumor and invited the lumberjack to his lecture.

“When the Irishman saw the audience, he bolted, all the restraining efforts of Dr. Jennings being unavailing against his 200 pounds of brawn and 6-foot stature, and the case disappeared down the alley, as frightened as any of Dr. Bloodgood’s laboratory rabbits,” the Spokane Daily Chronicle wrote.

From the church beat: The striking new building of the Second Church of Christ, Scientist was formally opened at Lincoln Street and Indiana Avenue.

The Chronicle noted that the building, with its dramatic front columns, was of “the latest type of architecture.” The building today houses the Holy Temple Church of God in Christ.

Also on this date

(onthisday.com)

1928: Sliced bread was sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Co., Missouri, using a machine invented by Otto Frederick Rohwedder. It was described as the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped.