100 years ago in Spokane: Cases of ‘sleeping sickness’ reported in Spokane; one man dead

Five cases of “sleeping sickness, known to the medical profession as encephalitis lethargica,” were reported in Spokane.

A 21-year-old in Newport, Washington, died after a month’s illness.

This was a particularly dreaded disease. Doctors told the Spokane Daily Chronicle that victims first experience extremely painful headaches, then they quietly “sleep” or become “drowsy and stupid.”

A young woman in Spokane has been “sleeping” for the past three weeks, although she was doing better in the last few days.

From the bank robbery beat: Lee Hartman, alias Chester Clark, the suspect in the robbery of the Union Park Bank, was arrested by authorities in Marysville, Calif.

This information arrived in a telegram along with another intriguing bit of information. Hartman was being held there on a charge of murder. But no other details were given.

From the entertainment beat: The University of Washington’s banjo band, called the Pain Killers, were set to perform two concerts in Spokane.

The group consisted of three banjos, a bass, two violins, a flute, a saxophone, a clarinet, a trombone and drums. It was the only banjo band of its kind in the West.