100 years ago in Spokane: New York Symphony Orchestra plays in Spokane

A large crowd gathered at the Auditorium Theater to hear the New York Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Walter Damrosch.

Patriotism was much in evidence. When the orchestra played “the Star Spangled Banner,” the entire audience joined in and sang with “undisguised fervor.”

However, the rest of the evening was given over to a fervor for music. The orchestra played Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3 and a Kalinnikov’s Symphony No. 1.

Efrem Zimbalist played Max Bruch’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. Zimbalist was a violin star, who would later become known as the father of Efrem Zimbalist Jr. of “77 Sunset Strip.”

The paper’s anonymous music critic said, slightly defensively, “If any one had any doubts that Spokane can digest, understand and assimilate a serious orchestral program, he had only to listen to the volume of applause to have every misgiving set at rest.”

From the capital punishment beat: Edward Mayberry continued to hold out hope, based on little evidence, that he would be spared death by hanging.

His date of execution was only a week away, yet his jailers said he eagerly approached the bars of his cell whenever anyone come to call. He hoped that they would bring news of a reprieve.

His jailers said that he had “lost considerable weight.” They also said he “gazes frequently and at length on a photo of Alice Vivian” — the woman he was convicted of murdering.