This day in history: California, Washington fought over Hecla riches. Idahoans rescued from plane crash site

From 1976: Two Hayden Lake men were rescued via helicopter after their light plane went down near the Idaho-Montana border.

The pilot, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Harold W. Underhill Jr., and the passenger, David Shockey, were airlifted out and were reported in satisfactory condition at East Shoshone General Hospital. An observer at Mullan, Idaho, where the helicopter took the men, reported that both walked unaided out of the helicopter and into a state patrol car.

Underhill had more than 6,000 hours of flight time. He had reported that his plane’s wings were “icing badly” right before the accident.

From 1926: Washington and California were engaged in a courtroom fight that involved a mysterious stranger and a $25,000 fortune.

It all began years earlier when a man walked into a broker’s office in San Francisco and “decided to speculate on 1,000 shares of Hecla stock.” The man gave his name as Henry Arend, “but he also used the name of Robert Zala and William Zeller.”

He died around 1921, apparently without heirs. An administrator claimed the estate for California.

Those Hecla shares were now worth $25,000 and the state of Washington made a claim on that portion of the estate, “contending that ownership of a Washington corporation’s stock was equivalent to possessing real estate here.”

A suit was filed on behalf of Washington, and a trial was set to begin in Spokane to determine which state would win the $25,000 prize.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1939: Spanish Civil War ends as Madrid falls to the Nationalists.