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

100 years ago in Spokane: Apprehended ‘urchins’ don’t spook easily

 (Spokesman-Review archives)

Police did their best to scare the daylights out of “five small urchins” brought into the police station, apparently for swimming under the Howard Street bridge.

Two other cops said they saw them smoking cigarettes and “worrying the passengers down at the depot.”

“Aw!” protested the boys. “We did not do no such things.”

The police chief winked at the other officers and the newspaper men, and intoned, “Let the deepest dungeon be made ready immediately.”

However, the boys “didn’t scare worth a whoop.” They were sent not to a dungeon, but to the juvenile authorities.

From the police beat: Police spotted a man walking along Main Avenue carrying a suitcase. The officer was suspicious that the man was carrying booze, so he hauled the man in and ordered the man’s suitcase pried open.

Inside, they found “12 new suits of fashionably cut clothes.”

The man told police he was a Hollander, and that he bought the suits for $11 in Chicago and was going to sell them in Spokane for $15 each.

However, the suits bore the name of a tailor on the West Coast. Police questioned the “mysterious” Dutchman further, but he “shut up like a trap.” Police suspected the suits were stolen and they were continuing to investigate.