Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Fred Morrow, a railroad employee, was arrested in San Francisco for stealing $5,500 in railroad paychecks from a baggage car.

Morrow told police another man, still at large, found the paychecks while looking for a suitcase. That man convinced Morrow to go in on the theft and they divided up the checks.

Morrow went to Portland and then by boat to San Francisco. Along the way, he “picked up two women” – apparently attracted to his money. They “deserted him when he was arrested in San Francisco.”

From the gambling beat: Police raided a gambling den on Front Avenue (now Spokane Falls Boulevard) and arrested 19 Chinese and Japanese men.

When police arrived on the scene, someone started playing “Oriental music from a cheap phonograph,” which was apparently a signal for the gamblers inside to scatter. However, they apparently did not hear the music and were taken by surprise. They were booked for vagrancy, the all-purpose charge.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1812: German authors Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published the first volume of the first edition of their collection of folk stories, titled “Children’s and Household Tales.”