Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

A posse near Waverly admitted that the Spangle robbers had somehow escaped their clutches and had disappeared with their loot into the timber near Rattler’s Run.

Tracks indicated that they had circled around the town and were probably making their way into Spokane.

The three young bandits had robbed the State Bank of Spangle the day before and sprayed townspeople with bullets as they escaped.

“Moving picture men, Pinkerton detectives and hundreds of citizens in autos joined the hunting parties yesterday and scoured the timber,” said the paper.

Police were mystified about how they could have gotten away with such a heavy sack of gold and coins. They surmised that there could have been a fourth member of the gang, who sped off on a motorcycle with the loot.

One Spangle farmer believed the bandits were the same young men he had chased out of one of his abandoned buildings a day before the robbery.

He described them as young men in worn clothes, eating breakfast out of a can.

At one point, three young men were taken into custody, but were released when they convinced police they had just arrived from Sandpoint, looking for work.