100 years ago in Spokane: A pinochle hand ‘not drawn in a lifetime by many players’ ended tragically for a would-be lucky player

While playing cards in the Pedicord Hotel cigar store, Fred Lauer, 75, drew a hand of “double pinochle.”

This was a hand “not drawn in a lifetime by many players.”

It played a role in ending Lauer’s life.

“He sat in a game with two men called Nick and Jim,” The Spokesman-Review reported. “He raised his hand before him, while his eyes roved in another direction. When his eyes came back on the deck, his mouth opened as in the form of the letter ‘O.’ The players looked at him, as if expecting a word. But nothing came from him. The cards fell from his hand and he reclined in the chair. His mouth still formed the letter, obviously a sign of amazement, when the undertaker’s assistant came for his body a half-hour later.”

The coroner said that death “probably resulted from heart trouble.”

From the skating beat: The Spokane Daily Chronicle had this advice for youngsters: “It’s time to sharpen up the old skates and resurrect the old ‘shinny’ sticks.”

Freezing temperatures had frozen area ponds, and many skaters had already tried out the ice at Manito Park, Cannon Hill Park and on Hangman Creek.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1577: Francis Drake sets sail from England on an epic three-year circumnavigation of the world aboard the ‘Pelican’ (later renamed the ‘Golden Hind’).

1920: League of Nations establishes the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

1989: “Driving Miss Daisy” directed by Bruce Beresford and starring Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy is released (Best Picture 1990).