Good Old Days: June 27, 2019

125 years ago

June 29, 1894

Weekly Commoner

The fight of the American Railway Union against the Pullman Car Company, because the company refused to arbitrate with strikers, took the threatened turn Wednesday. The union gave the company the time to make a move toward the settlement of the dispute.

The Pullman management ignored the union, and a strike was declared that has tied up all the passenger trains on the Northern Pacific, Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroad systems.

***

A committee from the American Railway Union today waited upon Vice President Wicks of the Pullman Palace car company to once more ask the Pullman company to arbitrate the difference between the company and the men on the strike. Wicks replied that he already stated the position of the company, and that the situation remained unchanged.

***

An ex-convict who figured in the murder trial at Colfax last month, missed his footing and hold while boarding a train at this station, early this morning, fell under the wheels and had both legs severed from his body.

100 years ago

June 20, 1919

Colfax Commoner

Plans have been completed for the largest celebration ever held at Colfax. Committees have been named to furnish accommodations for the soldiers of the entire county, who are to meet at Colfax on the third of July to form a permanent organization.

Mr. Thompson stated that nearly seventeen hundred men entered some branch of the service during the war, and the names and addresses of these men have been forwarded to Washington, D.C.

***

A car load of high grade thorough-bred Shorthorn cattle passed through Colfax last Friday on their way to Moscow. There were nineteen head of cattle in the car, and they represented a valuation of $18,000.

75 years ago

June 16, 1944

Colfax Gazette-Commoner

With the most important elections in the history of the nation fast approaching, civic organizations as well as County Auditor Gertrude Blew and City Clerk Grace Stapleton are urging the registration of unqualified voters before the registration books close at the courthouse and city hall at 5 p.m. Saturday, June 24.

***

Fear that some of the citizens of Colfax will go cold next winter, unless they order and take delivery of their firewood and coal for the year immediately, was expressed today by Mayor Geo. O. Lee.

"Information reaching me from the O.P.A." the mayor continued, "indicates that while strenuous efforts are being made to avert any firewood or coal shortage, federal authorities charged with the responsibility of keeping Pacific northwest homes supplied with fuel are gravely worried as to whether a critical shortage of these two fuels can be averted."

50 years ago

June 19, 1969

Colfax Gazette

Two suspects were arrested in Steptoe at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday morning, ending a 14-hour manhunt which started after a 1951 sedan made a high speed crash into the Colfax flood control project.

***

Colfax school directors voted to accept the low bid of Speed Space Inc ,. Santa Rosa, Calif., for two portable classrooms. Bid price was $5,643 per unit on a lease-purchase agreement which would make the units the property of the district after three years.

25 years ago

June 23, 1994

Whitman County Gazette

Endicott School board members will meet tonight at the school and attempt to counter an approximate $200,000 gap in the funding of the new school project. The funding dilemma emerged last Tuesday when bids for a general contractor exceeded estimations.

"The bid response was a bit of a setback," Supt. Tim McCarthy said.

***

Tourist train tours along the Palouse River have had a strong response over the past three weeks and the tour operator expects to book some type of repeat performance next year.

10 years ago

June 25, 2009

Whitman County Gazette

With or without permission from the town council, Rosalia Motorcycle Association still plans to present a motorcycle rally Aug. 14-15.

"We're definitely going to have a rally of some sort," said Kelley Messinger, president of the association.

***

Dusk settled in over a North Palouse town, and mosquitoes are sharpening their proboscis, ready to feast on the flesh of human neighbors. However, before the evening tormenters can suck up scrumptious blood, John Sypher drives by in an old Ford pickup, a flashing yellow light preceding a trail of mosquito-killing fog.

"There's really not a whole lot to it. The hard part was taking the test to get licensed," he said.

***

The historic Perkins House got a little nip and tuck over the past year at the hands of local contractor Tim Sullivan of Hay. He has been working since last August to lay down new brick paths around the home and refinish the front and back porches.