100 years ago in Spokane: A close Congressional race led to a political ‘standstill’ after new absentee ballots came in

Thomas Corkery of Spokane was vowing to take court action after his opponent, Charles E. Myers of Davenport, defeated him by eight votes for the Republican nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Corkery was ahead in the balloting until 10 absentee votes from Lincoln County, counted days after the election, threw the majority to Myers.

Corkery said he was preparing to contest the absentee votes if the Washington Secretary of State’s office accepted them as official votes. He contended that some of his own voters applied for absentee ballots in Lincoln County and were turned away.

“Meanwhile, the entire political situation is at a standstill,” the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported.

From the drowning beat: Police were investigating a mysterious death in the Spokane River.

The body of an unidentified man was found near the Fort George Wright foot bridge. The man was clad in underwear, but most of his outer clothing was tangled about his feet, “indicating that he might have tried to kick off his clothes.”

Police were working on one promising theory.

A car had plunged into the Spokane River a week earlier. A man named R. Parker swam to safety, but he told police that he was a passenger in the car. He said the driver had probably swum to safety. Parker said he did not know the name of the driver.

Police believed the drowned man may have been the mysterious driver, but “the possibility of identification” of the body seemed remote because of how long the victim had been in the river.