100 years ago in Spokane: The wounded daredevil who was expected to recover ended up dying from an infection

Price Miller, the 21-year-old daredevil balloonist and parachutist, died of his injuries at Sacred Heart Hospital.

Hundreds of Interstate Fair attendees had witnessed his accident five days earlier, when one of his parachutes failed to open soon enough to break his fall.

Miller suffered fractures of his leg, an arm and some vertebrae, but at first doctors were optimistic that he would make a full recovery.

After a few days, infections arose in some of his wounds.

His arm was amputated in an attempt to stop the infection. Yet it had already spread.

Despite his young age, he had already served in the Royal Air Force for the British. Lately he had been doing stunts at fairs. He had been accompanied to Spokane by his 17-year-old bride.

From the sports beat: Spokane was in the midst of a golf craze, and some traditionalists were complaining that new golf balls had become “too lively.”

But one golfer spoke for the masses when he defended it.

“All this talk abut the golf ball being too lively gives me a pain,” he said. “I never have been able to get a respectable drive until I got hold of a lively ball this season. Now I can look my friends on the veranda squarely in the face and tell them, without lying, that I drive the ball more than 200 yards.

“For all I care, they can put wings on the ball.”