Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

A Spokane entertainment era ended with the sale of the Sullivan & Considine theatrical syndicate to Marcus Loew and associates of New York. 

The Sullivan & Considine circuit, one of the nation’s biggest vaudeville circuits, had Spokane roots. John W. Considine ran the People’s Theater in Spokane just before joining up with Big Tim Sullivan to form this successful chain.

Spokane’s Orpheum Theater, a Sullivan & Considine theater, was a part of the sale.

A story on the sale noted that it was “not expected to have any immediate effect upon the local house (the Orpheum) except to increase the quality of the bills.” 

From the medical beat: Mrs. Susan Higgins, of Spokane, was trimming her rose bush when one of the thorns slightly punctured her finger.

Two weeks later, she was dead. The tiny wound had become infected. An abscess developed, followed by blood poisoning and “general septicemia.”

The paper noted that her case was similar to two other local cases, one in which a Spokane physician nearly died and another in which a Coeur d’Alene judge died from a toothpick sliver.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1884: The first telephone line between Boston and New York was inaugurated.