Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Miss Edith Cosgrove was outside her parent’s home on West Sixth Avenue when she looked up at the second floor porch and saw a burglar dangling from the railing. The burglar saw Miss Cosgrove so he swung himself back onto the porch “with the skill of a gymnast.”

But Miss Cosgrove was not deterred. She raced into the house to confront the man. He dashed down the stairs, right past her, brandishing a gun and making a threatening gesture. Then he fled into the night.

Miss Cosgrove chased him four blocks, shouting the alarm the entire way. Other people joined the chase, but they eventually lost the man when he disappeared into the Northern Pacific rail yards.

Miss Cosgrove returned to find that the bureau drawers had been ransacked, but the man had been frightened away without stealing anything.

From the labor beat: The president of Spokane College weighed in on the perils of the proposed eight-hour workday law.

He said his instructors are on duty seven hours a day, yet they do approximately four hours of outside work in correcting papers and preparing lectures.

Enactment of the eight-hour law would “force us to employ five or six additional instructors,” which would “seriously hamper the college.”