100 years ago in Spokane: ‘Golf fiends’ push Downriver expansion; Deaconess lays cornerstone

A delegation of “golf fiends” asked the Spokane City Council to add $37,000 to the park budget for use in enlarging and improving Downriver Golf Course, the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported.

“We have a beautiful course, but it is only half a course,” W.S. Gilbert said. “The city should make a provision tying up the tract needed for enlarging the course while the tract can be had at the present price.”

The golf enthusiasts did not get the reception they were hoping for. City Commissioner Fleming pronounced the proposal “outrageous.”

“I am not in favor of taxing some people out of their homes to provide recreation for others,” said Fleming.

A motion to consider the golf course proposal was voted down.

From the hospital beat: A group of dignitaries gathered at the new Deaconess Hospital to lay the cornerstone.

A “nurses’ chorus” from the hospital provided music. Representatives of the Methodist Church and the Masonic Order presided over the ceremony.

From the investigation file: A construction worker at the State Custodial School at Medical Lake testified that a deaf mute “inmate” told him, via signs, that he had seen Charles Alexander, 17, handcuffed to his bed the night he died. He indicated that an attendant and another inmate had tied Alexander down.

The State Board of Control was conducting an investigation into the death, which the coroner had ruled was from natural causes. The board immediately issued a summons for the deaf mute boy to appear at the hearing.