This day in history: Hydroplaning national champion crowned on the Columbia River

From 1976: Two significant events took place in the Tri-Cities, involving nuclear energy in one case, and rooster tails in the other.

Hydroplane racer Bill Muncey steered the Atlas Van Lines boat to victory on the Columbia River, winning the Columbia Cup and clinching the seasonlong national championship.

Muncey overtook the Miss Budweiser boat with two laps to go and cruised to victory after the Miss Budweiser “blew its engine at the start of the final lap.”

The other big story came out of Richland, where the Hanford Metal Trades Council voted to end its 13-week strike at the Hanford Atomic Reservation.

The union members voted to accept a contract proposal that provided wage boosts of about 12.2%.

From 1926: The chilling news arrived that Tom Smith, 45, who confessed to killing 14 people in a murder spree around the West, had been in Spokane less than two weeks before his arrest in Seattle.

During Smith’s confession, he “admitted to pawning a diamond ring in Spokane for $400,” and his story was corroborated by a pawn ticket in his possession. A Spokane pawnshop dealer said the ring was pawned by a man who gave his name as Thomas Hardy.

A Spokane hotel clerk said he saw “Hardy” slip an automatic revolver in his bag, but there was no evidence that Smith committed any of his murders in Spokane.

Smith told Seattle police that he had murdered people in San Francisco; Hazelton, British Columbia; Sioux City, Iowa; and Wichita, Kansas.

“Seattle detectives are inclined to believe the man’s story,” according to a dispatch from Seattle.