Good old Days: July 30, 2020

125 years ago

The Commoner

August 2, 1895

Wm. Marsh, of near Endicott, on Wednesday afternoon, met with an accident that narrowly escaped being a fatal one. As it is, the wound received will probably result in partial disablement.

Just after dinner, Mr. Marsh, who lives about three miles west of Endicott, while working about a pig pen, caught a good-sized porker by one leg with his left hand. In the right he had a large keen knife. In his struggles, the pig, kicking out with one of his feet, struck Marsh’s right arm violently, driving the knife into the left arm between the elbow and shoulder.

The blood burst out in great jets, and it was at once seen that an artery had been severed. Every attempt was made to stop the bleeding, at first unavailingly. As soon as possible, a telegram was sent to Colfax to have a surgeon sent at once, as the wounded man was bleeding to death. Dr. Boswell was at once informed, and started for Endicott immediately. He made the drive to that place in an hour and twenty minutes.

On his arrival he discovered that Dr. Farmer had succeeded in stopping the flow of blood. It broke out again about five o’clock, when Dr. Boswell performed an operation. It was discovered that the brachial artery had been severed, and that there was strong probability that the arm would have to be taken off. The attempt to save it will be made.

Mr. Marsh is well-known in Colfax, and he and his family will have the sympathy of everyone. He has lately suffered by the accidental death of a little girl by burning and financial troubles have stripped himself and wife of the savings of years.

***

L.N. Boggs is not insane. Examination as to his sanity was pursued on Friday before Judge J.Z. Moore, of Spokane, who came down on request of Governor McGraw. When Boggs was brought into court he demanded a jury, which was empaneled from people obtained on the streets.

A.N. Edwards, the complaining witness, testified that when Boggs found his wife had gone to Spokane, he became very angry at those who, as boggs said, “Had induced that woman to leave him,” and that he also said something about the likelihod of there being “a dark night for such a person.”

Boggs later explained the matter to the jury. He talked about ten minutes, and although he showed considerable temper, the jury agreed with doctors that Boggs was not insane, and before Judge Moore discharged Boggs, he gave him a severe lecture upon his constant display of intemperate wrath.

The Gazette is informed that as soon as the examination was over, Boggs filled himself up with liquor and began to gamble, succeeding in winning quite a sum.

100 years ago

The Colfax Commoner

July 30, 1920

E.W. Etter of Garfield pleaded guilty to attempting rape on his step-daughter when arraigned before Judge R.L. McCroskey Tuesday and the man was sentenced to from 2 ½ to 10 years in the penitentiary.

E.W. Etter was arrested on complaint of his step-daughter, who stated that the attempt of rape was made about the 28th of June. The girl is about 16 years of age and is a girl of model character.

Etter is said to have been a poor provider for the family and those in Garfield who know him say the family will be much better off with the man in prison.

75 years ago

The Colfax Gazette-Commoner

July 27, 1945

Bids will be opened in Olympia August 4 by the state parks committee for construction of a road to the top of Steptoe Butte in the aftermath of a verbal contract made in May with Harold Mast, later determined to be illegal.

Mast, operator of the Colfax Iron & Machine Works, said this week that he had been told of the illegal procedure June 26, the day he was to move a crew and tractor onto the location to start construction of approximately six miles of roadway.

The illegalities occurred, said state park committee representatives when here last week, in the making of a verbal agreement without having advertised a call for bids on the project; also that in conveyance of the road right-of-way by Virgil T. McCroskey, the land had been deeded to the state instead of the state parks committee.

***

A postcard from a sister in Rotterdam, Holland, received last week by A.D. Vanos, Colfax, substantiated earlier Red Cross information that his father, Peter Vanos, about 70, had been killed in a German air raid November 17, 1940. The elder Vanos was in his Rotterdam home, which was blown to pieces in a raid that reportedly took 15,000 lives in an hour.

First information of the father’s death was conveyed to the son, then in Pullman, by telephone from the Red Cross in Sacramento, Calif. in December, 1940.

50 years ago

The Colfax Gazette

July 30, 1970

Work on the front of Fonk’s store in Colfax is expected to begin Monday, according to Keith Steffan, co-owner. Plans call for the construction of a center alcove approximately 12-feet wide as an entry to the building.

Steffan said sides of the alcove will be glassed to form display cases. Aluminum framing for the glass and formica tile, similar to the type used on the Stueckle real estate office, will be applied to the front of the building under the awning, Steffan said.

10 years ago

Whitman County Gazette

July 29, 2010

In the month since the Tekoa city council passed regulations against pit bulls, the new enforcement officer has already responded to several complaints.

After pit bull attacks that bloodied a horse and a woman earlier this year, the Tekoa city council June 21 banned residents from bringing additional pit bulls into town. The council had originally set a deadline of July 31 for owners to comply with new city regulations, but at the last council meeting extended the deadline to Aug. 31.

The council at that same June 21 meeting also voted to create a code enforcement officer position that will enforce the pit bull along with other civil code ordinances.