Good old days - July 1, 2010

125 years ago, July 3, 1885

Mrs. Hiram Hill, residing on Spring Flat, sends to the Gazette a quart or more of gooseberries as large as pigeon eggs.

An Indian named Jim Kamiakum was up before Justice Porter Monday, charged with stealing a horse from Louis Ayers on the Sprague road. Evidence was conclusive, the Indian having the horse in possession when captured, and he was bound over in the sum of $500.

W.F.M. Ricketts of Colton has patented a harrow which covers novel features for giving increased flexibility to the harrow and varying the angular position of the teeth, with facilities for removing and replacing the teeth as required, and for supporting the harrow frame in front, with or without sulky attachments in its rear.

Four horses were killed near Lone Pine recently by a thunderstorm.

W.M. Martzall has opened a store at Endicott and the probabilities are that he will be appointed postmaster.

100 years ago, July 1, 1910

Last Monday evening in the city council chambers, Mayor Lippitt had a private consultation with Messrs. Connolly and Robb of the O.R. & N., (railroad) in regard to the plans submitted by the city council for the proposed change in the river channel. The gentlemen inspected the drawings and specifications of both plans submitted, took notes on some and will report to their head office in Portland.

Loren Breeding, who last year escaped from the county jail while acting in the capacity of a trusty, was recaptured this week in Palouse. He was serving a four month term for vagrancy.

County Attorney Chamberlin and Deputy Sheriff Cole were induced to go to Palouse by an unknown man, claiming to be a detective, who was positive he had found Mrs. Bell Gunness, the woman who is supposed to be the murderess of her children and 13 others whose bones were found buried on her farm in Ohio. The suspect was brought here and questioned by the prosecutor and by Justice Carey. The officers claim her vindication was complete. She is said to have felt hurt over being brought before the officers under suspicion.

75 years ago, July 5, 1935

Following an autopsy here, officers have accepted a theory of murder in the discovery that afternoon of the body of an unidentified man found floating near shore in the Snake River at the mouth of Steptoe Canyon. Drawn tightly around the head and over the bridge of the nose was a rope, the knot in which had been tied behind the ear, in a position difficult for the man to have tied it himself. The loose end of the rope was ragged, indicating, officers thought, a weight had been attached and later worn off by the action of the river current.

The autopsy, performed by Dr. R.J. Skaife, county physician, and Dr. W.A. Mitchell, city health officer, disclosed no outward sign of violence. The body probably had been in the water five or six days. In his pockets were a razor, a bar of soap, a jack knife, a lead pencil and a clean handkerchief, but no wallet or money. The man is believed to have been a transient, probably a lumber “hitch,” and there was a lung condition to indicate he may have been a coal miner.

The body was found by Tom Adkins, a farmer of Steptoe Canyon, and two men from the soil erosion station near Pullman. They summoned Deputy W.W. Nicley and Coroner John D. Evans, who investigated with Sheriff Harry Dent and the chief of police in Lewiston.

They reported no one from Lewiston had been missing and that the only clue by which identity may be established are laundry marks on his clothing.

The body was buried Saturday night in the Colfax cemetery. It was described as that of a man about 5 feet 6 inches tall, dressed in dark coat and trousers that did not match.

Deputies Nicley and Ora Rees spent all day Sunday talking to transients in the river camps and miners on the river bars but found no one who had seen a man answering the description of the victim of the tragedy, nor any clues that might lead to an assailant.

50 years ago, June 30, 1960

Colfax City Council Monday night upheld building inspector E.C. Livermoore in his refusal to permit the erection of three new billboards on the Abby apartment garages. Empire Outdoor of Spokane had requested permission to install signs at the corner of Cooper and Main streets at an approximate cost of $1,200. Erection of the signs would be a relocation from the railroad property now leased to Ace Food Store to the corner site. Livermoore said the signs would be “unsightly.”

Opening of a bowling alley in Tekoa next fall was assured this week with announcement that a group of local businessmen and farmers have organized a cooperative to construct a building to house the lanes.

Whitman County Sheriff’s Posse took first in the calf roping division and placed fifth in overall competition at the 11th annual Washington state posse convention in Port Angeles.

25 years ago, July 4, 1985

Dr. Roy Chatters of Pullman, one of the originators of the Whitman County Historical Society, has resigned as director of the Boomerang Newspaper and printing museum which was developed under his leadership in Palouse.

Ten lawnmowers were wrecked Friday afternoon when a sedan driven by W.A. Johnson of Colfax crashed through the Shep’s Outdoor Power lot on south Main Street. Assistant Chief Jim Gants said the throttle on Johnson’s sedan jammed while he was backing out of the Washington Mutual Savings lot across Main street, jumped the curb, and struck the mowers, a portable cleaner and Shepherd’s pickup.

Paving and lining at the Rosalia airport was expected to be finished this week, according to Mayor Ken Jacobs. The grand opening will be the third weekend in July.

Three Niehenke youngsters from Colfax placed at the national Old Time Fiddlers contest in Weiser, Idaho, last week. Kiyomi, eight years old, won first place out of 38 contestants in the “small fry” division.

10 years ago, June 29, 2000

Fire hit at home base early Wednesday morning when a blaze broke out at the back of the Colfax fire station and roared across the top of the three-bay area which houses fire rigs for the city of Colfax, District 11 Rural Department and Colfax volunteer ambulances.

Pomeroy Grain Growers has signed a lease agreement with the Port of Whitman County and will begin grain storage and farm chemical operations on a 9.04-acre site at Central Ferry.

Most of the new sidewalks along Cedar Street in the North Flat are now in place as part of the Colfax construction project.