Good Ol' Days

125 Years Ago

From the Colfax Gazette, Friday, May 20, 1898

ASSAULTED A WOMAN

Mrs. I. B. Doolittle Attacked Almost at Her Door.

The Villian Arrested! Proved to Be G. C. King, a Farmer from Fallons.

Another dastardly case of assaulting a woman occured in South Colfax Tuesday night around 9 o’clock. It is almost a parallel case with that of the Wickoff assault upon ladies of the souther part of the city last October. The only difference is that the villian did not enter the house.

Just before 9 o’clock Tuesday evening Mrs. I. B. Doolittle left the home of Dr. Boswell, where she had spent the evening, for her home in South Colfax. She proceeded unmolested until almost at her door. As she neared the gateway she became aware that a man was approaching from behind, but believed it to be a neighbor. As she turned to the gate, but a few feet from the door, she turned to speak to him.

As she did so the man sprang up on her and took her violently by the throat. In desperation the lady fought, but she could not get hands to him, though she succeeded in tearing his watch from his pocket. After a fierce struggle Mrs. Doolittle was thrown to the ground, with the villains grip still upon her throat and his knee upon her breast. She fought as if for life and the hold her throat was loosened. Then her piercing screams brought her husband and son to her resuce, but before their arrival the assailant had fled.

100 Years Ago

From the Colfax Commoner, Friday, May 18, 1923

WORKMEN START TEARING UP BRIDGE

STRINGERS IN BRIDGE BADLY DECAYED—STEEL, BEAMS ARE IN GOOD CONDITION

Workmen started to work Monday tearing up the Main street bridge and there is at least fifteen men, at work dismantling the old bridge which has been used for t he last fifteen years and which has been declared to be unsafe for the present traffic.

The old bridge was build before the flood, in 1910 and was remodeled after the flood. The steel beams that are in the bridge are being removed and Colfax is to have a fifty thousand dollar concrete bridge to take its placce .The old bridge was designed for use before the automobile came into use. In fact when the bridge the bridge was build the heaviest traffic that crossed the bridge was an occasional tractor engine. The engineers in those days never dreamed that in future years an automobile truck carrying a load as heavy as as box carwould be crossing the bridge at twenty and twenty five miles an hour. When the bridge was first erected the usual sign, of a fine for riding or driving over the bridge faster than a walk was posted in a prominent place.

75 Years Ago

From the Colfax Gazette-Commoner, Friday, May 21 , 1948

JUNIOR SHOWMEN HIGH AT SPOKANE

Of 26 Who Qualified In Fitting , Showing, 15 Win Blue Ribbons

Whitman county’s precentage of top steers shown at the Spokane Junior Livestock show last week was considerably above the average county display, in the opinion of County Agent Troy Lindley, who said that of the 121 baby beef steers shown by 4-H exhibitors 35 graded high choice , 43 choice, 39 good and 4 medium.

Prizes won by 4-H members were the following:

Champion Angus, Boby Matsen, Albion; reserve champion Angus, Don Steiger, Mockonema; first place , sheep judge, Madlyn Brewer, Pullman, first, second and third place in demonstrations, John Schultheis, Colton; Allen Smith, Pine City, and Leonard Stevick and Vernon Henning Onecho, respectively. Hayes, St. John, took first in the mutton division. Jack Ferris, Lacrosse tied for first in judging beef cattle.

Of a total of 51 boys and girls who qualified for the beef showing and fitting contest 26 were from Whitman County and 15 of these placed in the blue ribbon group.

Don Hill, Palouse, won the pig feeding contest and Allen Manring, Pullman, placed high in the lamb classes.

50 Years Ago

From the Colfax Gazette, Thursday, May 17, 1973

Debate duo takes third place

Lee Tempel, left, and Marc Hart placed third in the state debate tournament last weekend at Ellensburg. They represented the Southeast district as the number-one team. The 32 teams in the tourney, limited to schools under 1000, went through five preliminary rounds before six teams were named for t he final rounds.

25 Years Ago

From the Whitman County Gazette, Thursday, May 21, 1998

Garden club members add plants to mini-park

ROSALIA

FAYE HUCKABY

Gazette Correspondent

Rosalia Garden Club members have been planting in the mini-park. Several members donated perennials to be placed in the new raised beds and the FFA Horticulture class from the high school doanted annual plants. The club sold many outdoor and indoor type plants at the community yard sale May 9 as a fundraiser.

The interlocal fogging program was rescheduled last week due to the cool temperatures, wind and rain. The normal schedule will now resume with Waverly and Rosalia on Monday nights and Tekoa and Latah on Tuesday nights. Alternative days for those towns will be Wednesday and Thursday if undesirable conditions persist.

10 Years Ago

From the Whitman County Gazette, Thursday, May 16, 2013

Abbott takes council seat

BY GARTH MEYER

Gazette Reporter

To fill the seat vacated by Kelly Turk, who resigned earlier this year, the Farmington City Council appointed Joel Abbot at its April 15 meeting.

Abbott and wife, Jill, moved to Farmington last year to work for Audiopile, a music components business in town.

Abbott runs his own music production company, Northbound Productions.

He came to Farmington from Moscow where he served as a colunteer firefighter/EMT, for which was HAZMAT certified.

He said he was approached about filling the Farmington City Council seat.

“I’m definitely willing to step up and help out,” Abbott said. “The biggest thing for me was to get more involved in the community. I’ll decide in the next few weeks whether I want to run for the office.”

Turk’s seat was up for re-election in November, so Abbot will need to run for the position.