FROM THE FILES

125 Years Ago

Adams County News

December 7, 1898

Local and Personal

Monday morning three inches of snow and the thermometer at zero was the greeting we received. The sky was clear however and the weather since has been sunshiny and pleasant.

An opera house company was organized this week by the following named gentlemen: Benj. Martin, J.E. Prouty, H.E. Gritman, Wm. Snyder, O.M. Greene, W.R. Cunningham, Jr., and C.O. Greene. It is proposed by this company to purchase at least a half block of ground in the most convenient part of the city and build an auditorium that will accommodate the public as demands may reasonably require and the investment justifies.

John McDonald of Cow Creek, the man with the vice-like grip, was in town from his stock ranch Tuesday, crippling the fingers and disabling the hands of nearly everyone who had the good fortune to extend him the friendly greeting of a hearty handshake. The struggling editor of this paper in an unguarded moment placed his noble left hand in the mighty compressor and had the middle finger broken for the second time within the last two months.

100 Years Ago

Ritzville-Journal Times

December 6, 1923

Get no trace of safe blowers

Officers have been unable to obtain any trace of the men who blew up the safe at Myers-Shepley Co.'s store last week and escaped with a bag of cash amounting to about $60.00. They were driven off by Marshal Starring before they had time to break open the cash drawer. The men escaped by breaking through The Journal-Times plant. Across the track were found a discarded flashlight and some empty bullet shells. A fingerprint expert from Spokane came down and examined the safe and office in an endeavor to secure finger prints, but none could be secured.

Arrest Hille on liquor charge

Chris Hille was arrested Tuesday night by Deputy Sheriff Buehler on a charge of selling liquor to boys at Lind. Officers have previously raided the Hille place on suspicion that he was manufacturing liquor, but did not locate any still or liquor. Hille is a young farmer residing near Ralston. He was released on a $1,000 cash bond posted by Simon Kison.

75 Years Ago

Ritzville-Journal Times

December 2, 1948

Church fire is third

on list of costly blazes

The $50,000 Trinity Methodist church blaze Tuesday morning was the third most costly fire Ritzville has experienced in the past 20 years. Heading the list is the Ritzville Flour Mill warehouse fire of November 1939, which destroyed an entire warehouse nearly filled with flour at an estimated loss of $100,000. Cause was not determined.

Ranking second is the fire in June 1930 in the Myers-Shepley store located on the Main Avenue property now occupied by Rummer's Style Center. Caused by an overheated stove in the grocery department, the blaze spread through dry goods counters with a total loss placed at $75,000.

In September 1942, a Main Avenue building occupied by Charles and Harry Womack's restaurant, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Janes' beauty parlor, and George Kagele's OK Barber shop, burned with damages estimated at $10,000. The structure was never replaced.

At the Cozy

Theater – Lind

"Summer Holiday" starring Mickey Rooney and Gloria DeHaven.

At the Ritz

Tyrone Power and Anne Baxter in "The Luck of the Irish."

50 Years Ago

Ritzville-Journal Times

December 6, 1973

Scientist, 16,

experiments alone

Scott Kembel, 16-year-old youth here, calls the experimenting he does in electronics "just something I messed together." Scott's first-floor bedroom has a corner table and bench devoted to his experiments where tiny motors whizz and relays activated by photo cells turn the motors off and on.

Scott is the older son of Mr. and Mrs. Thom Kembel, 515 W. Main Ave. "My dad comes down once in a while and takes a look around my room and asks some questions," commented Scott. Otherwise, the youth is living in a world all his own as he probes the secrets of electricity, and the world of electronic controls. Few, except perhaps college physics students, would really know what is going on there.

25 Years Ago

Ritzville-Journal Times

December 3, 1998

Losses being

assessed from local burglary

Tuesday morning Ritzville police were continuing to investigate a burglary which occurred in the evening hours of Monday, Nov. 30. At 10:28 p.m. a 911 call reported the break-in at the Coast-to-Coast store on W. First Avenue. Ritzville Police Chief Dave McCormick said it is possible that one of the store owners could have scared off the thief or thieves when the owner returned to the store at that time. Ritzville Officer John Bartz arrived on the scene shortly thereafter and advised that entry had been gained through the broken front window.

-The Journal