This day in history: Police were processing evidence in major murder case. Movement was underway to create choral society like those in major West Coast cities

From 1976: Spokane police said they had “a tremendous amount of evidence” to process after searching murder suspect Thomas Mahrt’s apartment.

Mahrt was being held without bail in solitary confinement in a maximum security cell after being charged with the first-degree murder and kidnapping of Nanette Marie Martin. He was arrested after “one of the most intensive manhunts here in recent history,” said the Spokane Daily Chronicle.

Meanwhile, Mahrt’s 4-year-old son, who had been in Mahrt’s custody during a divorce action, was placed in a foster home.

From 1926: A “movement has started to create for Spokane and the Inland Empire a choral society similar to that of San Francisco, which has a chorus of 600 voices and an 80-piece symphony orchestra.”

“The movement has the endorsement of the Chamber of Commerce,” said the Spokane Chronicle.

The organizer said Spokane’s choral society currently had a membership of 180, so it might take another year to organize such a large choir. Yet it would help establish Spokane as a major music center.

The organizer noted that all of the “large Pacific coast cities, even San Diego” were already recognized as musical centers.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1861: Robert E. Lee is named commander of Virginia’s Confederate forces during the Civil War.

1984: AIDS virus is identified as HTLV-III.

2003: Beijing closes all schools for two weeks because of the SARS virus.