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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

100 years ago in Spokane: Police raid turns comical

From our archives,

100 years ago

A police raid turned into a Keystone Kops-style comedy at the Vera Hotel on Sprague Avenue.

Detective William Ulrich wasn’t exactly laughing, however.

During the liquor raid, Ulrich hoisted himself up to the ceiling on a ladder. His flashlight caught the gleam of 225 pint bottles of beer in the space between the ceiling and the roof.

Ulrich volunteered to “crawl over the dust-covered timbers and hand the loot down.”

“Twisting like an eel, he managed to get partly through the opening.” But then he became stuck fast.

“Try as he could, he could neither roll to one side, go ahead or go backward.” The other detectives pushed and pulled on the unfortunate Ulrich, but all they did was exhaust themselves.

Sgt. Warner arrived on the scene. The sergeant weighed in at 230 pounds, and with some mighty exertion, managed to budge Ulrich only an inch.

A conference ensued. Perhaps they should chop a hole in the roof? Rig up a block and tackle?

Before they had to resort to those extremes, Ulrich managed to wriggle one of his hands free and was able to unstick himself.

The officers prudently obtained the services of a boy to hand down the booze. The landlady of the hotel was arrested on a liquor charge and two chambermaids were arrested on vagrancy charges.