FROM THE FILES

125 Years Ago

Adams County News

July 5, 1899

The strangers within our gates must be tapped for all there is in it when they fight and brag they can whip any man in this place. Such conduct won't go. If the would-be toughs will take a tumble and behave themselves, they will never have any trouble in Ritzville and they will be treated as gentlemen whether they deserve it or not. Judge French will take care of them all right. If they are not good they will be raked fore and aft.

Many a lover has turned with disgust from an otherwise lovable girl with an offensive breath. Karl's Clover Root Tea purifies the breath by its action on the bowels, etc., as nothing else will. Sold for years on absolute guarantee. Price 25 and 50 cents. For sale by Olmstead & Rosenoff.

100 Years Ago

Ritzville-Journal Times

July 3, 1924

Expert tests pumping plant

The city council met Tuesday evening. Final settlement was made with N.C. Jannsen for his account for drilling the well and installing pumps. Mr. Jannsen agreed to stand half the expense of shutdown last winter owing to "frozen bearings" in the new pump.

This week Mr. Bowler of Lane and Bowler Pump Co. of Los Angeles was here and gave the big well at the park a thorough testing. He found the pump needed adjustment which he gave it. Then he tested out the well and found that the supply of water was not up to the pumping capacity of the pump. It was found that by throttling down the delivery pipe to about 275 gallons per minute that the amount could be delivered continuously. So the big pump is being run at that capacity now.

75 Years Ago

Ritzville-Journal Times

July 5, 1951

Highway area cleaned;

welcome sign goes up

Sixteen volunteer workers gave the highway area in Ritzville a beauty treatment Sunday and erected a "Welcome to Ritzville" sign just outside the east city limits. Clean-up squads patrolled both sides of the highway from one city limit to the other and hauled six full truckloads of bottles, cans, paper and other trash to the city dump.

Flash floods kayo

game at Harrington

Most Big Bend league baseball games Sunday were interrupted by violent winds which brought first dust, then rain-but apparently the Harrington-Wellpinit game here was hit hardest of all. Eight innings had been played, with Harrington leading 8-0, when the winds and rains created one of the worst flash floods in the community's history. Considerable damage was done to city streets and the ball game never was resumed.

50 Years Ago

Ritzville-Journal Times

July 4, 1974

Train causes grass fires

A train with a dragging brake ignited a chain of fires from Tokio to Connell Saturday morning. The initial fire, which started a half mile west of Keystone Rd. and burned for close to two miles, was the worst. It burned a section of grass and pasture land between Keystone and Tokio. The John Hennings farm suffered most of the damage with the Cliff Telecky and Bob Schoessler farms also suffering some damage.

Commendation given Foulkes

Navy Hospital Corpsman Richard R. Foulkes of Lind participated in the evacuation of a critically ill Indonesian merchant seaman, according to the Fleet Home Town News Center at Great Lakes, Ill. As a crew member of the USS Chicago, a guided missile cruiser deployed in the western Pacific, Foulkes was on hand when the seaman was transferred aboard from a Greek freighter. The Chicago's medical staff determined the illness to gastrointestinal bleeding and the patient was evacuated by helicopter on Okinawa.

25 Years Ago

Ritzville-Journal Times

July 8, 1999

Numerous musical talents at Blues Fest

Some new faces and some old friends are coming to Ritzville this Saturday to entertain for the sixth annual Ritzville Blues Festival. The headliner for the event is Charles Musselwhite who for over 30 years has been engrossed in a wide variety of blues music. His harmonica playing has led The New York Times to call him the "harmonica master."

-The Journal