A century ago in the Inland Northwest

The hobo situation was becoming serious in the region, according to news reports.

“The department is going after them hard,” said the Wallace, Idaho, police chief. “There will be no more hoboes supplied with a comfortable place to sleep and plenty to eat without compensation, either.”

He began putting the “willies” to work cleaning up the alleys in the saloon section of the city.

Meanwhile, an incident in Spokane illustrated the problem. A tearful 13-year-old boy at the Northern Pacific depot told police that he was robbed of $35 by hoboes while en route from North Dakota.