100 years ago in Spokane: A former city mayor died shortly after delivering the local eulogy for President Harding, and a ‘mystery girl’ was softening hearts

Charles M. Fassett, former mayor of Spokane, died suddenly of heart trouble at his summer home on Spirit Lake.

He began feeling unwell just after delivering the eulogy to President Warren G. Harding at Spokane’s memorial service.

Fassett served as Spokane’s mayor from 1914 to 1916, and again from 1918 to 1920. After his last term, he accepted a job as a professor of municipal government at the University of Kansas.

He was remembered, in a resolution adopted by the Spokane City Council, as “a profound student of government,” who served Spokane in many capacities.

Fassett was one of the original incorporators of the Spokane Chamber of Commerce. He was known as a progressive who believed in clean politics and government.

He had requested that his ashes “be strewn over the waters” of Spirit Lake and other neighboring lakes.

From the amnesia beat: A “mystery girl” found by police on the Great Northern tracks was being treated at Sacred Heart Hospital.

She gave her name only as Georgia, and she could not remember how old she was or the names of any relatives.

“Why isn’t my mother here?” she murmured. “If I’ve got any brothers or sisters, either, I don’t know.”

When she was found stumbling along the railroad tracks, she told police that “all I can remember is walking, walking and getting very tired.”

The Chronicle said her plight had touched even the most hardened of police officers.

She would lie on her cot for hours, “thinking, thinking, thinking.” But after all that effort, she was only able to sob, “Oh, my head hurts.”

She was wearing what appeared to be an engagement ring, but she did not remember being engaged. Doctors hoped that rest and quiet would help bring her memory back.