Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

The state was scandalized by the arrest of diplomat Harry E. Nolan, of North Yakima, recently appointed as secretary to the U.S. legation in Panama, on charges of abducting a 16-year-old Scottish girl in New York.

The pair was found at a “fashionable Broadway hotel, where they had registered as H.E. Nolan and wife.”

Marion McVicker, 16, “broke down and told detectives” that she met Nolan aboard the steamship that was supposed to carry her back home to Scotland. But before the steamer sailed, Nolan convinced her to go back to New York with him.

The girl “wept copiously” during the court proceedings. 

Nolan was not heard from at all. He failed to appear and forfeited $1,000 bail. Detectives were ordered to bring him in.

From the burglary beat: Police arrested a youthful miscreant found huddled in a box in a dark alley at 3 a.m. The boy, John Noonan, was carrying a stolen .38-caliber revolver. After being questioned by police, he admitted to two store burglaries. 

Noonan was 10 years old.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1912: The jungle character Tarzan made his debut as “Tarzan of the Apes” by Edgar Rice Burroughs was first published in The All-Story magazine. … 1962: The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith, a black student.