Fall Festival shaping up, Willows coming to opera house, Pemberton update

Chamber of Commerce

The Harrington Area Chamber of Commerce met September 4 at noon at the Post & Office with Tim Tipton, Paula Harrington, school superintendent Wayne Massie, Cindy Haase, Karen Robertson, Debbie Chapman (Coalition of Developmental Disabilities), Karen Cady (member of Ritzville Chamber and business owner), Shelley Quigley, Bunny Haugan, Rollie Behrens, Jill Barth, Heather Slack, Mike Hayes and Anita Smith present. The primary focus for this meeting was preparation for the Street Dance and Fall Festival on Sept. 27 and 28.

Most details for the Street Dance on Friday evening on Willis Street between 3rd and 4th are completed. Advertisements are out and the committees seem satisfied that the planning is working out. Gavin Wagner is planning a new vendor item for people to take their own photos or selfies. He is painting boards with a hole in them so a person can put their face in the hole creating a head-shot using an American Gothic design. These will be at the Street Dance on Friday and with plans to set it up at the park on Saturday as well.

That Friday will also be the town clean up day with the school children helping. The kids will be given lunch at 11:45 and then go to work. At noon the local businesses will have their annual customer appreciation BBQ organized by Cindy Haase, which is not a Chamber event. As in previous years, it will be held in the grassy area north of US Bank.

The Beer Garden on Friday night is not for the Fall Festival, but rather is a part of the Street Dance fund-raiser event. It will be set up on the Electric Hotel grassy area between the hotel and the Herrons' building. The hours for that night with the street dance activities including the beer garden are 6 to 10 p.m. The Beer Garden on Saturday is a part of Fall Festival, the hours for which are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the corner of the Harrington Tokio Rd and Hwy 23, where the mud bogs take place.

The pieces for the Chamber mailer are due by 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13, and the assemblage will take place the week of the 16th.

The Willows

The Harrington Opera House will present a multimedia concert Saturday, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m. by The Willows, a quartet of entertainers who promise a "Tribute to Peter, Paul and Mary." Their concert will feature songs accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation and narration, giving a historical and musical look at the 1960s through the lens of the famous trio. Song histories, mini-biographies and social commentary are integral to this engaging program.

The Willows are Kelly Bogan (as Peter Yarrow), Bill Klein (as Paul Stookey), Valerie Hughes (as Mary Travers) and Bruce Pennell (as Dick Kniss). One might anticipate hearing some Bob Dylan songs, such as "The Times They are a-Changin," "When the Ship Comes In," or "Don't Think Twice." This group also had marked success with "Puff, the Magic Dragon," "If I Had a Hammer" and "Blowin' in the Wind." These are some of the potentials. One can anticipate a great time of reflection on these many hits. Come early for a good seat to this exciting performance which is "admission by donation," making it easier for families to attend.

Update on Dr. Pemberton

Two weeks ago The Record reported that Harrington had two Wickwire brothers come to town to research their grandfather, Harrington's early-day dentist, Dr. W.S. Pemberton. They spent two days reading fine print, searching but not locating an article about how the dentist discharged his gun and shot off the thumb and index finger of his left hand. Pemberton had been born in 1883 in Corbin, Whitley Co., Kentucky. In 1907, he came to Spokane, and in 1908 to Harrington. He married Ethel Adams in 1912 and they had two daughters before Ethel's death in 1919.

The family story was shy of details about the missing digits, but what was known was that he drove himself to the hospital with his daughter helping to drive. With no date and no local knowledge of the incident, it was surmised that the accident precipitated Pemberton's move from Harrington in January of 1926. He had taken a job and gone on the road as a salesman with his headquarters in Spokane, where his daughters were lodging with the maternal grandparents, the M.F. Adams.

The Wickwire brothers found many interesting details about Harrington and about Dr. Pemberton in the archives of The Harrington Citizen at the local library, but were not able to find an article about the accident. Curiosity is a strong motivator for some people, and the Wickwires were of that persuasion. They contacted the Spokane Public Library and were well rewarded for their perseverance.

"Blew Off His Thumb, Finger. Dr. W.S. Pemberton Did Not Know Shotgun Was Loaded. Dr. W.S. Pemberton, W. 1017 Sinto Avenue, a dentist with offices in the Fernwell building, while cleaning a shotgun preliminary to a hunting trip, blew off the thumb and index finger of his left hand at his home last night. Dr. Pemberton did not know the gun was loaded. In charge of Dr. H.E. Wheeler, Dr. Pemberton was brought to the emergency hospital, where it was thought the thumb and finger could be amputated, but the pain was so great it was decided to take him to the Sacred Heart hospital for the operation where an anesthetic could be administered. The digits were taken off even with the hand, it was said." (Spokesman-Review: 10-28-1928) "Hand Mutilated-accidental discharge of a shotgun which he was cleaning Saturday evening cost Dr. W.S. Pemberton, E 1017 Sinto, a dentist, the thumb and index finger of his left hand. The shattered members were amputated at Sacred Heart hospital." (Spokane Chronicle: 10-29-1928)

Harrington's archives of accidents did not contain the story of Dr. Pemberton, but held many others of comparable trauma. One of the earliest Harrington tragedies was the death of William Kals near Harrington in November of 1884. According to the news he was 38 years of age; however, it is more likely that he was 28, a son of Rudolph Kals. He was considered quite an expert in setting off dynamite while putting in wells through rock ledges. He used a heavy iron bar with a steel head for tamping purposes, but on this occasion Kals tamped too hard and created the premature explosion. The incident occurred on the Frank Glascock farm while Kal's sister was there visiting Mrs. Glascock. Nothing could be done for the unfortunate man as he literally blew his brains about 40 feet from the well. Kals was reportedly the main support of his "aged father and mother" and he was buried on their homestead. On the 1885 census, Rudolph Kals was 57 and his wife 51.

In the Sprague vicinity in August of 1896, Albert Schneider was driving a mower in his hay field and had his gun on the mower. "In some manner the gun fell from the mower, was discharged by the fall and its contents struck Mr. Schneider inflicting a mortal wound."

In a September 1899 back-page article entitled: "Accidents and Tragedies of a Week" ended with this item: "At the mouth of Moses Coulee, Willie Gillespie, a boy from Coulee City, was shot through the breast and killed. A party was at target practice, when the rifle in the hands of one of the contestants was discharged accidentally with the above results."

"A Painful Accident. Thomas Snyder, brother of J. Snyder, the blacksmith, came in from a goose hunt on Monday afternoon, laid his shotgun, cocked, on a table in his cabin, and started to remove his gloves when the gun went off, the charge from one barrel passing through his overcoat. The concussion knocked the gun to the floor, discharging the other barrel. This second charge of chilled goose shot passed into his foot at the instep, completely shattering all the bones of the foot. The wounded man heroically attempted to reach his nearest neighbor, Bob Green, two and a half miles away, but after covering half of the distance by crawling over the frozen ground in the bitter cold, he became exhausted, and would undoubtedly have bled or frozen to death, had W.J. Green, who happened to be passing that way, not found him. He was brought in to Dr. Setter's residence, where the mangled flesh and shattered bones were removed and the three middle toes amputated. The foot, if successful in healing, will still be useful. Mr. Snyder was removed to his brother's house on Tuesday and at present is resting easily." (Citizen: 1-31-1902) The following week, the doctors decided that amputation would not be necessary.