A century ago in the Inland Northwest

A schoolteacher at Washington School, a Spokane grade school, nearly made an $8,000 mistake.

The teacher stalked over to a boy who was rustling papers at his desk when he should have been studying. She grabbed the papers away, tore them up and tossed them in the trash can.

She had no idea that one of the papers was an $8,000 government bond.

Apparently, robbers stole a tin box full of money and papers from a stable office a few nights earlier. They took the box to the school grounds, busted it open, stole the money and left the papers.

Schoolchildren found the papers the next day and divided them between themselves. The boy ended up with that $8,000 bond.

When police arrived at the school to ask about the papers, the horrified teacher realized what she had done. Fortunately, the torn-up bond was still in the trash can. Authorities were confident that it was still redeemable.