50 years ago in Expo history: Tours proved too distracting as crews rushed to finish the fair grounds in time

The Expo ’74 grounds would soon be closed to site tours as workers rushed to finish construction and landscaping.

The final public open house was scheduled on March 16.

In other news, a pair of local beauty pageant queens was embarking on a lengthy Expo publicity tour. Miss World USA (Lexie Brockway of Richland) and Miss Washington (Leslie Ann Mays of Mercer Island) were headed to Australia, where they were scheduled to meet with the nation’s prime minister. Their itinerary was not fully set, but they were also hoping to visit South Korea, the Philippines, Japan and the Republic of China.

Their tour would also include a national leg, visiting Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and a number of other cities. A representative of Eastman Kodak Co. would accompany them and show Expo-related films.

From 100 years ago: The man suspected of being Ephrata triple-murderer Owen Hudson arrived back in that city for positive identification – but it did not work out as planned.

He was not Owen Hudson. He was Joe Houston, as he had claimed all along.

“All the people who have seen Houston and knew Hudson agree with the officers that the man is not the alleged slayer,” a correspondent reported.

Also on this day (from onthisday.com)

1885: Mark Twain publishes the “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” in the U.S.