The article below was published in the daily newspaper The Spokane Daily Chronicle, Spokane, Washington, USA, page 61, on July 10, 1947.
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The latest of the flying disk stories came today from a St. Maries, Idaho, man who said he observed hundreds of "round objects" in the air three months ago and even exploded two of them with a .22 rifle.
Omer C. Walker said he watched the objects with his wife and son in early April and thought at first they were new army weapons.
"Then when the sky became full of the objects, I took my rifle and fired at some of them," he said.
His explanation: A group of neighbor children, a half mile away, were blowing soap bubbles from a clay pipe.
"The equipment for those bubbles can be purchased in any novelty store. The bubbles are very tough and will carry a great distance," he said. "In the air, they appear to be traveling very fast and could easily create a flying disk illusion."
Meanwhile, a Chewelah rancher, Buell Throop, formerly of Spokane, said he observed a flying saucer north of Chewelah yesterday.
He said the object was traveling south at about 4000 feet but vanished in 30 seconds before he could reach a neighbor's house to call attention to it.
A young Dishman war veteran and student pilot said he had spotted a flying disk from his airplane and had shot away at it with a camera.
The student pilot, James Davidson, a Spokane naval supply depot employee, said he sighted the object while flying at about 500 feet altitude in the Mt. Spokane district one afternoon this week.
"It was not flying fast," he said. "It appeared to be about the size of a wagon wheel. The side of the disk which was exposed to the sun was shiny. It looked like it had a hole in the center."
Davidson said he took three pictures of the disk with a small camera. The negatives, however, did not reproduce well.
"I didn't believe in the flying disks at first," he said. "but I do now."
Three flying disks were reported to have spun over the Sperry flour mill at 6:15 p. m. yesterday, and one appeared to land near the river bank.
Cliff Markham, N1019 Crestline, member of a crew of the Layrite Concrete Products plant, Trent and Erie, said he and other members of the crew sighted the objects. He said they estimated their speed at from 50 to 60 miles an hour. One, he added, appeared to land near the river. Some of the men made a search but could find no evidence a disk had landed.
