This day in history: Geologist warned a Washington volcano ‘could blow suddenly’; new manslaughter trial ordered for driver
A geologist from Eastern Washington State College warned that Mount Baker “could blow suddenly and take us by surprise,” The Spokesman-Review reported on April 6, 1975. (Spokesman-Review archives)
From 1975: A geologist from Eastern Washington State College returned from a research trip and warned that one of Washington’s volcanoes “could blow suddenly and take us by surprise.”
Mount St. Helens?
No, he was referring to Mount Baker, one of several Cascade volcanoes on the “potentially active” list. He did concede that Mount Baker could “subside into another period of inactivity.”
He did include Mount St. Helens in his “potentially active list,” along with Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount Adams and Mount Hood.
He and his fellow scientists donned gas masks and descended into a crater on Mount Baker and found “heat, fumes” and other evidence of activity.
From 1925: A new manslaughter trial was ordered for Bernard Newman, accused of running down pedestrian Joseph Kennedy on Apple Way in the Spokane Valley.
Newman was tried in January on the same charges, but the jury was deadlocked.
“The state is to contend that Newman had been drinking,” the prosecutor said.
Also on this day
(From onthisday.com)
1917: The United States declares war on Germany and enters World War I on the side of the Allies.
1994: Plane carrying Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down by surface-to-air missiles, abruptly ending peace negotiations and sparking the Rwandan Genocide. Those responsible have never been identified.