This day in history: Could a passion for pinball land three local kids in the Guiness Book of World Records?

From 1975: The Spokane Chronicle was monitoring the progress of three local pinball wizards who were attempting to break the Guinness Book of World Record’s mark for continuous pinball play.

They had just completed their 21st hour of playing at North Bowl. They were aiming for 42 hours straight to beat the record, but “we’re shooting for 55.”

“We’re a little weak, but I think we can make it,” said Stan Decker, 16.

He and partners Curt Hutchinson, 17, and Dana Palmer, 18, had been trading turns on the machine.

The most astonishing part of their attempt? They had put only 75 cents in the machine and had won 744 free games.

From 1925: Prosecutors wanted to introduce evidence into the Isadore Edelstein trial that showed that “he was in the habit of robbing such buildings as the Paulsen.”

Specifically, the prosecutor wanted to tell the jury that Edelstein was sent to the penitentiary at Walla Walla in 1918 for just such a building heist. Previous convictions are often disallowed in trials because they have no bearing on the crime for which the defendant is accused. But the prosecutor claimed that it would show Edelstein had the know-how to commit such a massive heist.

The defense said that if the judge allowed such testimony, it would be a “reversible error.”

The judge had not yet ruled on the question.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1961: Gideon Hausner in Jerusalem demands the death penalty for Adolf Eichmann, one of the primary Holocaust organizers.