Jim Kershner’s This day in history » On the Web: spokesman.com/topics/local-history
From our archives, 100 years ago
A Spokane police officer walked into a Japanese fruit store and broke up a gambling game.
The officer said he had received complaints about gambling in the store on Front Avenue (now Spokane Falls Boulevard).
So he entered the store and saw a group of men playing cards in the back. It looked innocent enough. No money and no chips were in sight. The card players looked at him with what he called a “childish air of innocence.”
Then he noticed that a newspaper had been spread across part of the table. The paper had some suspicious-looking lumps, and the men had their elbows on the paper.
The officer swiftly ripped the paper away to reveal stacks of silver and gold coins. The players grabbed the money and made for the door, but the officer drew his revolver and ordered them to stop.
Most did. But a few players escaped with most of the money.
He arrested the other six. He charged one of them with conducting a gambling house and the others with the catch-all charge of vagrancy.
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(From the Associated Press)