Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Eibert Abitz, a German shoemaker, and L.T. Jacobs, described as a “colored Navy veteran,” wound up in police court after they got into a fight over the sinking of the Lusitania.

Jacobs said he heard Abitz “rejoicing over the sinking.” That got under Jacob’s skin, as a former Navy man.

“I asked him why he didn’t go over and fight for the kaiser if he felt that way,” Jacobs testified, “and then he started calling me names.”

Jacobs responded by whacking Abitz with a cane. They were engaged in a scrap when a police officer came up and arrested both men. Judge Witt fined each of them $5, but suspended it on the condition they avoid that particular subject in the future.

From the hiking beat: The Rev. W.R. Wright, of Spokane, and his wife planned to walk from Spokane to Seattle and “preach the gospel of Jesus Christ along the route,” he said.

He said this was not his first long hike. He once walked from Syracuse to Chicago and he believed it was “the best of exercises.” He and Mrs. Wright intended to wheel their luggage in a cart.

They planned to go at a leisurely pace, “with time out for hunting, fishing and preaching.”

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1940: The original McDonald’s restaurant was opened in San Bernardino, California.