This day in history: Spokane orphan sent to work on Okanogan County farm killed by cougar

From 1974: Mayor David H. Rodgers ripped the City Council and city management for “inept operations” and stepping “into a trap of our own making.”

He was irate about the council approving a 15% wage increase for firefighters at a time when the city budget was struggling with deficits.

Some council members said they had to approve the raises, considering the high rate of inflation. Yet Rodgers said that number was “way out of line.”

“We’re the ones that have to take the bull by the tail and say, ‘Whoa, that’s enough,’ ” the mayor said.

At the same meeting, a “worried and irritable City Council” appeared ready to pass utility cost increases to the public.

From 1924: Jimmy Fehlhaber, a 13-year-old Spokane boy, was killed by a cougar in the hills north of Brewster, Washington.

The boy had been orphaned two months earlier and had been sent to work on a ranch near Brewster. He went into the timber to round up some stray cattle and failed to return.

A search party found his body, surrounded by the tracks of a large cougar. They found a knife in the brush, which “indicated that he had put up a game fight with the beast.”

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1917: The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, authorizing prohibition of alcohol, is approved by the U.S. Congress and sent to the states for ratification.

2019: U.S. House of Representatives votes to impeach President Donald Trump for abuse of power (230-197) and obstruction of Congress (229-198).