Jim Kershner’s this day in history
From our archives, 100 years ago
A Spokane jury found Dr. E.E. MacLeod guilty of manslaughter after he performed an illegal “criminal operation” on Mrs. Anna Stanley, which resulted in her death.
A witness claimed that she found him lying intoxicated on the floor of his office shortly after the operation. Jurors were not swayed by the doctor’s testimony, in which he said he performed no illegal operation and was not intoxicated.
He told jurors he was simply napping and often “enjoyed the floor more than a bed.” He faced up to 10 years of prison time. Nowhere in the story did the paper specify the exact nature of the “criminal operation.”
From the accident file: The region was mourning two accidental deaths. The first occurred near Coulee City, when an 8-year-old boy entangled his foot in a stirrup and was dragged several miles by his frightened horse. “Nearly every bone in his body” was broken.
Then an 18-year-old Spokane woman was trying to catch an elevator at the Tyler Millinery Co. building. She looked into the shaft to see where the elevator was, and the gate hit her and knocked her into the shaft. She fell 35 feet to the concrete floor below.
Also on this date
(From the Associated Press)
1962: The Columbus Day Storm, also known as the “Big Blow,” struck the Pacific Northwest, resulting in 46 deaths.