Good Old Days: Nov. 9, 2017

125 years ago

The Commoner

November 11, 1892

The little city of Garfield Saturday evening was the scene of a fearful tragedy in which Langford Summers, one of the oldest and most respected citizens, lost his life at the hands of a young desperado, Ed Hill, whom he was trying to induce to keep the peace.

The story of the terrible crime as told by many lips is one that will everywhere arouse sympathy for the family of the deceased and create an intense desire on the part of the public to see the guilty parties punished.

On Saturday three of the men implicated in the murder were in Colfax.

They were Ed Hill and Sam and Charles McCowan or one of the McCowan’s and Champ Payne.

All are young men from 23 to 25 years old and live in the country around Garfield.

While here they drank freely and before leaving laid in a supply of whiskey. The three men, Charles and Sam McCowan and Champ Payne, now in the Whitman County jail charged with the murder of Langford Summers at Garfield Saturday night, were taken before Justice Pattison yesterday afternoon for their preliminary examination on a charge of first degree murder. It is intimated that the prisoners expect to show that they had no part in the killing of Summers.

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A little before 9 o’clock fire was discovered in the Farmer’s Hotel, owned by Mrs. J.A. Davis, on Main Street north of the Fraternity block, and in a few minutes the streets were crowded with people from the court house and the opera house where political meetings were being held.

When first seen the blaze was in the kitchen range and it is supposed the fire started from some half burned ashes.

Before the fire department could reach the scene the flames had burst out of the roof and for a time the adjoining building, occupied by Manning & Ewart as a grocery store, was threatened.

The firemen, however, acted promptly and efficiently, and in a short time five streams of water were playing on the flames from the water plugs and fire engine.

By hard work the flames were subdued and the building in which it started was not even burned down.

Most of the boarders at the hotel lost all they had except their clothes.

100 years ago

The Colfax Commoner

November 9, 1917

No trace of the robbers who broke into the Ramsdall Grocery and the Akers hardware store last Saturday night was discovered by the sheriff’s officers this week.

The robbers blew open the safe in both places and carried away amounts estimated at $500.

The explosions of the two safes aroused the people living near the stores and the guests at the Rosalia hotel plainly saw two men running away from the grocery store.

It was about two-thirty in the morning when the officers in Colfax were notified of the robbery and Deputy Sherrif Baker and Cole left at once in a car for Rosalia.

The officers were aided by the citizens of Rosalia in their efforts to locate the thieves but up to Thursday noon no trace of the thieves has been found.

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Fire broke out Wednesday evening in the Cleveland building in St. John when gasoline in the building exploded. The prompt work of the firemen and the new water system which was installed recently, were the main forces that saved many citizens from a heavy loss in property.

75 years ago

The Colfax Gazette-Commoner

November 6, 1942

The trim, unimaginative buttons of a nurse’s uniform are most often worn by Miss Kozisek herself who works at the Bryant and Weisman clinic. But more than one grateful patient has emptied a sewing basket to find an oddity or clipped peculiar buttons from an old coat in the attic. Ranging from a plain pearl button wrought by New York penitentiary convicts to a crystal group arranged in cross form, her collection is varied. Novelty buttons include individual groupings of shoes, hats, animals, vegetables, fruits and flour .

***

In the three weeks drive for scrap which has been undertaken by implement and hardware dealers, grain warehouse and elevator operators, next Wednesday, Nov. 11, has been designated as County-Wide Scrap Day, with each community expected to devote its energy in a concentrated collection of salvage materials rather than celebration of Armistice Day.

50 years ago

The Colfax Gazette

November 9, 1967

James A. Davies, 26, New York City, made a glowing entry into Pullman at 1:15a.m. Nov 2 when the 1963 station wagon he was driving caught fire and burned on the Lewiston highway outside the Pullman city limits. Davies escaped injury by abandoning the car at the side of the road before it was engulfed by flames, Trooper Dave Bacon said the rear suspension on the station wagon broke loose, causing the underside to skid along the pavement and ignite the rest of the car.

***

A charge of riding a motorcycle without goggles, windshield or a face mask brought Stephen C. Leeper, Pullman, a special notch in the history of Colfax justice court Oct 30. Leeper was the first person to forfeit a bond ($5) under the new state traffic laws regarding motorcycles. He was arrested eight miles south of Colfax on highway 195 by Trooper William Haines.

25 years ago

Whitman County Gazette

November 12, 1992

Completion date for the Colfax water reservoir project will be more than three weeks late because of the delay in pumps at the pump house on Clay Street.

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Format for high school sports competition in Whitman County and the area will be changed next year with the growth of enrollments in schools at Tekoa, Oakesdale, Freeman and Dayton. Certain changes for next year will be the addition of Freeman to the Northeast A league which includes Colfax and the move of Tekoa/ Oakesdale to the SE 11 man league for football.

10 years ago

Whitman County Gazette

November 8, 2007

Tekoa fire crews Monday afternoon responded to a report of a house fire on Huffman Street in the south end of Tekoa. The fire started in the attic of the home and was difficult to halt because of additions and compartmentations in the house over several years, according to Duane Groom, Tekoa fire volunteer. The house was occupied by an elderly women who has been taken in by relatives.

Several cats also resided in the house and volunteers are in the process of locating them.

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A high-speed chase of a motorcycle rider ended at Dusty last Wednesday when the suspect was arrested behind the Dusty Cafe building. The chase entered Whitman County on Highway 127 when the northbound rider, then under pursuit crossed the Central Ferry bridge.