They just don’t make scandals like they used to

Contrary to opinions expressed in letters, phone calls and e-mails I receive, The Spokesman-Review is NOT the scandal sheet you all make it out to be.

Oh, sure, we’ve had some sensational sagas. Mayoral Internet love-trolling, firehouse furnace room sex romps, cow-Tasering sheriff’s deputies …

But when it comes to the consistent dissemination of crime and misadventure, one Spokane newspaper stands alone:

The Criminal Record.

Many of you may not have heard of this fine and free publication. That’s understandable. The Criminal Record is just four issues old.

I discovered the Record last week while settling up after a meal in a North Side restaurant. From a news rack across the room, the headline on the Record’s April issue stopped me like a wet mop to the kisser.

“Crime Of A Fiend Startles Society,” it blared.

I grabbed a copy and couldn’t put the thing down. The Record’s four pages are packed with lurid Lilac City tales. And here’s the compelling catch: Each and every story is pulled from the Spokane Press, circa 1906.

Take the aforementioned fiend. One night in a fit of jealous rage, the brute put a bullet through his wife’s right hand in a sadistic attempt to “ruin her career as a pianist.”

Another story told of the violent end of Edward Donnelly. The railroad man was shot dead when a detective caught him burglarizing the Spokane Cloak & Suit House.

The Record’s old-time headlines are as seductive as the stories.

“Woman Takes Carbolic Acid,” reads one. “Victims Of Mine Disaster Eat Comrade,” states another.

I do so love a cannibal story.

The Criminal Record is the brainchild of Steve Oliver. The local writer is best known for authoring a series of Spokane-based detective novels published by St. Martin’s Press of New York. Oliver’s gumshoe hero is Scott Moody, an eccentric guy “who has a tough time getting through a day at Disneyland.”

I actually met Oliver about eight years ago when he was closing Dark City Books, his small mystery bookstore at 111 S. Cedar.

The Criminal Record came about when Oliver started poring over old issues of the long-defunct Spokane Press to research his family genealogy. One of Oliver’s relatives, Daniel K. Oliver, apparently was a councilman back in the 1890s.

The Spokane Press, a Spokesman- Review competitor, often chronicled the city’s seamy side with a tabloid, flamboyant flair. Oliver became captivated by what he read and decided to share some of the stories.

“Immersing myself into the newspapers of 1906 is a kind of time travel,” he said. “I thought for a long time about doing this and still don’t know if there’s a practical reason for me to do it – I just need to publish this wonderful writing.”

Oliver has unearthed some gems, like the story he showed me about J. O. Burley and his wife, Grace. The elderly couple shocked Spokane sensibilities in 1906 by divorcing – just four months after the wedding.

“The marriage record shows that the Burleys were 66 years of age at the time they stepped down into the waters of matrimony which they have found uncongenial if not of a proper temperature,” reported the Spokane Press. Those were the days.

The Record can be found at 100 area locations, Oliver said. Or you can check it out on his Web site, www.darkcitybooks.com.

He isn’t expecting to make a fortune with this. If the Record can pay for itself through advertising, Oliver will be a happy man.

This is a tribute to the journalists of yore more than it is a business. “The writers of that time were allowed to write,” Oliver said. “Fortunately they were terrific writers. Their work deserves to be seen again.”