This day in history: A Vietnamese orphan found safe haven in Spokane, and film star Nell Shipman’s exotic pets were up for bid

From 1975: A chartered plane carrying more than 400 Vietnamese orphans recently arrived in Seattle, and one of those orphans was now at home with the Howes family of Spokane.

Local donors had contributed more than $3,600 to a fund at the Old National Bank, which helped pay for the chartered plane.

Robert Chamness, a Whitworth College graduate, was in charge of the operation for the Holt Adoption Agency.

“We’re proud of the fact that no children scheduled to come to the United States were left behind,” Chamness said.

From 1925: Silent movie star Nell Shipman’s wildlife “menagerie” – including bears, skunks and moose – was set to be auctioned off at Coolin, Idaho.

Shipman brought her “zoo” up from Hollywood four years earlier because she had purchased a Spokane movie studio at Minnehaha. The animals would be featured in her wilderness adventure movies.

Before long, this plan hit the rocks. She moved her movie operations – and her zoo – to Priest Lake, but financial difficulties proved insurmountable.

Shipman went bankrupt and moved to New York. The court ordered her Priest Lake assets – including the animals – to be auctioned off to pay creditors.

In a week, buyers interested in “skunks, minks, wildcats, cougar, deer, bear, moose, elk, eagles, white mice, malamute dogs and husky dogs” could make a bid.

Shipman, undaunted, pledged to “return to North Idaho next fall to make a big picture.”