Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Detective C.L. Harris was in church on Sunday when he looked out and saw a young boy jump in a car and drive away. Harris thought it was odd, so he wrote down the license plate number. He discovered that the car had earlier been reported stolen.

After doing some sleuthing, he and a fellow detective tracked down the boy, who turned out to be a 15-year-old. Then they discovered that two other boys were involved in an auto theft ring. The detectives confronted the other two boys, who took off through the alleys in Spokane’s Chinese quarter, between Trent and Main avenues.

After a footrace, the detectives finally nabbed the boys, also 15. The detectives discovered that the three boys had stolen three Ford automobiles, which were found abandoned at various spots around the city. The boys said they “borrowed” the cars to “have a little fun,” and their method was to drive one car until it ran out of gas and then look for another.

The boys – named Rex Bell, Charles Frazier and Tom Connors – were all turned over to juvenile authorities. Police were not certain the boys understood how much trouble they were in. “The boys persisted in regarding the affair as a good deal of a joke and laughed while they were being booked,” said the paper. “One of them had a spark plug key by means of which he could complete the ignition circuit necessary to start a Ford car.”