This day in history: Spokane’s election didn’t go to the dogs

From 1975: Election results were in, and Spokane voters made two things clear: They wanted evening council meetings, and they had no problem with selling stray dogs for veterinary research.

By a four-to-one majority, voters rejected a proposition that would have banned the city from selling stray dogs to the Washington State University veterinary school. This had been a controversial subject for months, but in the end, voters agreed that selling stray animals could advance scientific research – or at least, it was a better option than euthanizing the animals at the city pound.

As for the timing of council meetings, residents voted by a three-to-one margin to mandate night meetings, as opposed to the more traditional afternoon meetings. The council tried night meetings as an experiment earlier in the year, and public attendance had improved.

From 1925: A large crowd, including all 200 of the school children of Troy, Idaho, just east of Moscow, gathered at the train depot to honor Ernest Bohman, 23, “boy hero.”

Bohman’s body was returned to his hometown after he lost his life attempting to secure the rescue of his shipwrecked companions in Alaska.

Bohman and seven others had struggled ashore near Teller, Alaska. Bohman volunteered to make the “long tramp overland to Nome to secure assistance.” He embarked on the hike “without food or firearms.”

Meanwhile, the other victims were picked up by a boat that fortuitously spotted the shipwreck. They discovered that Bohman had never reached Nome.

Searchers later found his body on the banks of a treacherous river.