Good Old Days

125 years ago

September 2, 1887

Seven or eight tin-horn gamblers, representing as many “skin games” accompany Barrett’s circus, but it was noticeable none of them attempted to do business in this city. Sheriff Berry had given them to understand nothing of the kind would be tolerated here.

Yesterday was a cold day for the water melon trade.

The race track at the fair grounds is being ploughed up at a depth of about four inches, having become too hard to be worked. It will be all the better when again worked smooth. There are now about 45 horses on the grounds.

A new grocery store, tobacco and fruit stand was opened on Spring street this week by Geo. W. Bell & Co.

Miss Theressa Buck, one of Whitman county’s most popular teachers, leaves today for Ritzville, where she will assist Mrs. C.E. Granger, in charge of the public school there.

100 years ago

August 30, 1912

Tekoa was the scene of a terrible tragedy last Saturday which resulted in the death of four men. The list of dead includes John B. Eastep of Colfax, a deputy sheriff of Whitman County; Grant Dickinson, marshal at Tekoa; Ernest Gardner, a Tekoa saloon man who shot the top of his head off after killing the two officers; and Patrick Collins, a laborer who died from being beaten over the head with a gun in a card game at 2 o’clock in the morning. Wilford Gardner, better known as “Curley,” is in the county charged with the assault on Collins which led to the killings.

A hurry-up call came for the sheriff from the J.P. Stein ranch near Almota Saturday afternoon.

The telephone said a crazy man had been at large in that vicinity frightening women and had at last been rounded up by a harvest crew.

The crew was found by Dr.

F.A. Bryant guarding a long haired man who held a big club in his hands.

The doctor ordered the man to throw down his club but was not obeyed.

After motioning for the man to throw away his club it was done instantly.

The doctor then discovered the man was deaf and dumb.

He went across the canyon to find water.

When he came across two women, he motioned wildly with his club to ask which way to go.

The young women apparently mistook the wild arm movements as threatening.

The new Plymouth Congregational church building in Colfax will be dedicated Sunday, Sept. 1, with appropriate exercises.

The Great Northern railway will offer a silver cup valued at $50 for the best agricultural exhibit at the Whitman County fair to be held the week of October 14-19.

75 years ago

August 27, 1937

Two new stokers, costing about $1550, and 200 tons of coal have been ordered to keep the 375 or more Colfax high school students toasty this winner.

Bernice Benton, Colfax, has entered the preliminary trial in Spokane in which Bing Crosby is to select candidates eligible for a contest which may establish motion picture careers for boys and girls who will be sent to Hollywood.

Theft of 150 Rhode Island Red pullets Tuesday evening was reported by Mrs. Don Greenwell of Pullman. The young hens were just beginning to lay, she said.

Mrs. Robert Sawhill is still looking for a card table she lost over a year ago at a local church supper. Mrs. Sawhill’s friends, to whom she mentions the loss intermittently since the mishap, finally induced her to insert a message in the Gazette-Commoner columns. The table has Mrs. Sawhill’s name underneath.

Three new arena events will be featured at the Colfax Round-Up this year. There will be a pony express race each day for boys and girls from 12 to 15. A cowboys’ relay race is scheduled for each day, as will a saddle horse race for cowboys. Each event will be contested for purse money.

50 years ago

August 30, 1962

More than 200 men battled five hours Saturday before a stubborn grass fire along the Snake river breaks in the Colton area was brought under control after covering nearly 7,000 acres.

Across-the-board $15 pay increases for all courthouse employees may be included in the county’s 1963 preliminary budget.

Colfax’s promising “girl golfer,” 16-year-old Carol Hochsprung, will participate in the Spokane Women’s Open at Esmerelda golf course tomorrow. Carol will play in the 1-10 handicap division.

Petitions urging the county commissioners to put a $1.5 million bond issue or special levies on the November ballot to build roads to Almota and Riparia are being circulated by a “citizen committee to encourage development of roads to the Snake river port sites.”

25 years ago

August 27, 1987

Recently developed by the McGregor Co., an applicator that can apply anhydrous ammonia, sulfur and phosphate fertilizers directly into pea and lentil ground without prior tillage is scheduled for presentation to the public at a program and tour at the Palouse plant.

Wilbur-Ellis will move its district office to Colfax in late October and will locate in the former Kirkpatrick, Utgaard and Perry offices in the Whitman County Growers building.

Mr. and Mrs. William Swannack of Lamont have as guests until mid-week here niece, Ricki Shadden and sons, Jarrell and Eric of Bakersfield, Calif., who arrived after many delays Aug. 20. They left their home by train, but it broke down and the 54 passengers were loaded onto a bus with Oakland as the next stop. Their bus driver got lost and arrived in Oakland hours late, missing train connections to Spokane. They spent the night in an Oakland hotel and arrived in Spokane in the wee hours the following Thursday, to be met by a cousin, Janet Swannack, who brought them to Lamont.

10 years ago

August 29, 2002

After 42 years of service as a roost for CHS Bulldog fans, bleachers from the high school gym have been removed and placed on the back lot. The school district, which received a $100,000 grant from a federally funded program, has purchased new Kodiak Brand plastic bleachers from Dupree Building Specialties of Spokane for $124,000.

Whitman County Hospital was without water at 8:45 a.m. last Wednesday when construction crews for the new surgery wing hit an eight-inch water line. Water was restored at 1 p.m.

Golf carts which were used in a private rental business at St. John were taken by youths in the early morning hours Saturday and driven around town, causing extensive property damage. The EZ-Go carts were returned to their parking places at the home of Jon and Dawn Bass.