100 years ago in Eastern Washington: Rival bootleggers shot at each other over a stolen load of cargo

Two rival bootlegger gangs staged a running gun battle over a 5-mile stretch of road near Gifford, Washington, west of Chewelah.

One gang was bringing in two carloads of liquor from the Canadian border. The other gang, consisting of “highgraders,” overtook the other two cars along the road. “Highgraders” were defined as bootleggers who rob other bootleggers.

The highgraders wore fake deputy badges. They ordered the two cars to stop and transferred the cargoes of booze into their own car. Then they roared off into the night.

Their victims realized they had been fooled, so they took off after the highgraders. A number of shots were exchanged along the road. According to some accounts, two of the highgraders were shot in the arm, yet the highgraders managed to escape.

The Stevens County sheriff believed the highgraders might be headed for Spokane, so he set up guards on the highways to the south.

“He has little hopes of intercepting the booze, as there are so many roads leading into Spokane from the north that it would be little more than a chance if the runners were encountered,” The Spokesman-Review wrote.

Word had spread that some of the bootleggers had returned to Colville, but the investigation was hindered because the victims had also been “engaged in an illegal enterprise and are keeping quiet about the fight.”

From the entertainment beat: Spokane audiences had their choice of different musical offerings over the weekend. On one hand, the fledgling Spokane Orchestra, a precursor to today’s Spokane Symphony, presented a program of Brahms, Bach and Grieg.

On the other hand, the Hippodrome presented Tom Brown’s Highlanders, described by a reviewer as “two husky male twins and four chubby women.”

They performed bagpipe numbers, Scottish dances and popular hits.