100 years ago in Spokane: Corbin estate auctioned as widow is sent to mental hospital

Trustees were auctioning off all of the possessions in the landmark D.C. Corbin house, as part of a plan to liquidate the estate of the late Spokane railroad tycoon and his widow, Anna Corbin, who had been committed to Eastern State Hospital.

“Bidding was keen and women showed great interest … when mahogany bedroom sets went on sale,” reported the Spokane Daily Chronicle.

Bidders found a number of bargains. A player piano and 30 records went for $55. A Peerless auto, which originally cost $7,500, went for $300.

A few oddities were found.

“A stuffed fish about five feet long, which hung in the dining room of the Corbin residence, was sold for $3,” said the Chronicle.

From the Prohibition beat: Two rum-runners were arrested just south of Laurier, near the Canadian border, with a huge haul of booze.

A U.S. Customs inspector stopped their panel van at gunpoint and found 40 cases of Scotch, 12 sacks full of gin, 12 sacks of beer and another sack of whiskey.

Authorities believed the men picked up the liquor at Grand Forks, B.C., and were delivering it to Spokane.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1939: Albert Einstein informs President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the possibilities of an atomic bomb.

1983: Dr. Kathryn D. Sullivan is the first U.S. woman to complete a space walk.

1998: A Congo Airlines Boeing 727 is shot down by rebels in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 40 people.