FROM THE FILES

125 Years Ago

Adams County News

Local and Personal

Quite a serious accident occurred at Lind on Monday night in which one man was killed outright and another probably fatally injured. They were engaged in unloading coal into the bunkers there, and in some way the brakes failed to work and a car was thrown to the ground some thirty feet. The regular heaver, an Italian by the name of Joe Sirinnie, was buried under the car and killed. The brakeman, Albert Nesbet, jumped and received injuries to his spine from which he can hardly recover.

The man killed last week on the track east of here proved to be Thos. McMann. He had been here about a year and was addicted to the use of liquor, which was no doubt the cause of his death.

Lind is strictly on the boom. Will soon have four stores, four warehouses, two blacksmith shops, a livery stable, new school house, new church, and many more improvements. All that we need now is a bank. We also have Mr. Barnum and his circus.

100 Years Ago

Ritzville-Journal Times

August 23, 1923

Local Brevities

Sheriff Joe Schafer is out again after his accident last week when he was thrown from a motorcycle. His shoulder is improving though it has given him considerable pain.

Pete Thiel has been laid up for a week with a severe attack of rheumatism. He is confined to his bed. The trouble seems to have lodged in his back.

A white spitz dog left a bloody trail in the Carico hills last week. He appeared at the G.J. Luiten place where he killed 30 chickens. He finally wound up at the Paul Schwerin place where he killed some chickens and bit some hogs. Mr. Schwerin killed him.

75 Years Ago

Ritzville-Journal Times

August 19, 1948

Champ marathon piano player now in Ritzville

A gentleman identifying himself as Bill Hajek, holder of the world's record for endurance piano playing, arrived in Ritzville Wednesday and promptly announced plans for a dance at the Legion hall Saturday night. Bill produced a bulky scrapbook which showed he had broken the record for consecutive hours of piano-playing no less than three times. In 1930 he played 188 hours-eight days and seven nights-at a music company in San Francisco, cracking the former record of 115 hours held by Johnny Clark of Chicago.

Blaze breaks out with owners away

A slight surprise awaited Mr. and Mrs. Jess Graber when they returned to their farm home near Packard last Friday. Neighbors informed them their barn had caught fire. The Grabers left home about 3 p.m., and shortly afterwards Harold and Clarence Schoessler, neighbors, discovered the blaze. It was controlled by the group of farmers which quickly collected, and by the rural fire department.

At the Ritz

Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney in "The Iron Curtain."

50 Years Ago

Ritzville-Journal Times

August 23, 1973

I-90 opens Tuesday; ribbon cutting near here

The new four-lane divided highway between Ritzville and the Grant County line will be opened to traffic Aug. 28, replacing the last section of the two-lane road on the Interstate-90 route between Seattle and Spokane. An opening ceremony and ribbon cutting is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Paha-Packard road on the new route. Although the new route is less than half a mile shorter than the old two-lane highway, the new $16 million stretch of I-90 has been estimated to cut cross-state driving time 15-30 minutes, depending on traffic conditions. The old roadway will be turned over to Adams County for use as a farm-access road.

At the Ritz

Paul Newman in "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean," and Ryan O'Neal, Jacqueline Bisset, and Warren Oates in "The Thief Who Came to Dinner."

25 Years Ago

Ritzville-Journal Times

August 13, 1998

Royalty attend Penticton fest

Ritzville Junior Miss Jessica Marshall and finalist Kamie Parrish represented Ritzville at the Penticton Peach Festival on Aug. 8. The Ritzville royalty rode in a convertible furnished by Bob Brown Chevrolet. The car was driven in the parade by John Marshall. Other escorts included Jan Marshall, Jeff and Monica Marshall, and Jim, Karrie, Kasandra and Kali Parrish. The Ritzville float, "Hawaiian Sunset," will be back in action in Pullman on Aug. 22.

Football meeting Friday for Ritzville Broncos

There are two groups of people who basically are glad to see summer come to an end. The first group is (secretly, of course) parents as they see their kids off to school and chaos around the house quiets; the other group is football coaches and aficionados who are ecstatic that the new season has finally arrived. Count Bronco coaches Mike Lynch, Alan Boatman, Greg Whitmore and Jason Aldrich among the football group who are anxious to get the year started.

"We won't know for sure, but when the smoke clears after we pass out gear Friday morning and we get the stragglers in on Monday, indications are that we will have somewhere in the early to mid-40s for numbers at practices. This pleases us to no end," said Coach Lynch.

- The Journal