100 YEARS AGO TODAY
March 2, 1913
A fire that caused a loss estimated at about $12,000, a third of which is covered by insurance, broke out in the Darr hotel in Ruston yesterday afternoon, and destroyed the town hall, the hotel, the Eagle bar and a small store adjoining the bar. The flames were first seen about 2 in the afternoon, and by 4:30 the fire was completely under control. J.S. Boyd, town marshal, was in the lobby of the Darr hotel when the fire broke out. He said today the blaze started in a downstairs bedroom, apparently from an overheated flute and that the flames bursting from the back office wall were the first sign the building was afire.
50 YEARS AGO TODAY
March 2, 1963
You might have thought someone was giving money away. That’s the way the crowds looked downtown last night for a Moonlight Jamboree sale announced in a special News Tribune section recently. Most of Tacoma’s major downtown outlets were open from 7-11 p.m.; some, in fact, were open past midnight because of the traffic generated by the sales. Herman Lehrer of Lyon’s Apparel reported that crowds were so thick the doors had to be locked with someone to control traffic.
25 YEARS AGO TODAY
March 2, 1988
Federal officials believe 46,200 gallons of heavy oil that escaped from a sunken barge near Anacortes won’t do much damage because it has dispersed widely in small globs in the Rosario Strait area. “We don’t predict there will be huge impacts to any particular organism. At this point we don’t expect there to be a real significant impact,” said Dave Kennedy, scientific support coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But state officials clearly are worried. Tony Floor, a spokesman for the state Department of Fisheries, said the spill has occurred near important fishery resources.
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