This day in history: A Spokane author died trying to stop her runaway car, and Colville came up as a possible state capital

From 1975: Mary Avery, a Spokane author, historian and archivist, died when she attempted to halt her rolling car in a Spokane parking lot.

She had exited her car and noticed that it was rolling backward.

“She ran to the door, unlocked and opened it, and reached for the brake pedal when she was knocked under the left front wheel by the door, police reported,” The Spokesman-Review wrote.

She was the author of several books on Pacific Northwest history and Washington state government.

She was the former archivist of the Washington State University’s Holland Library and was the archivist for the Eastern Washington Historical Society at the Cheney Cowles Memorial Museum, today’s Northwest Museum of Art and Culture.

She also produced a radio program called “Washington Archives,” a collection of pioneer stories gathered from letters and writings of the region’s early day settlers.

Her book, “Washington: A History of the Evergreen State,” was used widely as a high school textbook.

From 1925: The Spokane Chronicle ran a startling headline: “Colville Now State Capital.”

Well, not quite.

Gov. Roland Hartley informed Lt. Gov. Lon Johnson of Colville that “he will be out of the state for 24 hours and requests him to guide the ship of state during that period.”

“Colville will be the capital while I am governor,” Johnson said, with a laugh.

“If any of you people want to view the 24-hour capital of the state, just ride up to Colville to look it over.”