This day in history: Famous fiddler appeared at Spokane competition; judge agreed to suspended sentence

From 1975: A photo in The Spokesman-Review showed two of the young contestants in the Northwest Regional Old-Time Fiddle Contest at Spokane’s Masonic Temple.

One of the photos showed “Mark O’Conner, of Mountake Terrace, Wash.”

The name was spelled wrong, but this was in fact Mark O’Connor, age 13, who would later become famous as the finest fiddler in the world. Even at age 13, he was already winning national competitions and had performed at the Grand Ole Opry.

Today, O’Connor is known as an orchestral composer as well as a virtuoso fiddler, guitar player and mandolin player. He teamed up with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and bassist Edgar Meyer for his compositions “Appalachia Waltz,” and “Appalachia Journey,” the latter winning a Grammy for Best Classical Crossover Album.

Yes, O’Connor went on to win his division in the Spokane competition.

From 1925: Billie Chin, a frequent defendant on liquor charges, explained why she needed her rum.

“Your honor, I suffer with chills something awful and a drink is the only thing to get you right,” she said. “… I thought it would be better to take a drink than some ‘dope.’ Besides that, the only thing to keep you from ‘dope’ is drink. Anyone will tell you that.”

“I thought I told you not to come back,” said the judge, noting that he had given her a suspended sentence a week earlier.

He must have been at least slightly moved by her explanation, since he gave her one more chance and suspended her sentence again.