100 years ago in Spokane: The Salvation Army gives food baskets to 100 needy families

From our archives, 100 years ago

The Salvation Army provided 100 dinner baskets for Spokane’s neediest families - and “chicken legs protruded enticingly from every one.”

“The baskets were so full that there was no room for loaves of bread, so there was a bread table past which each basket bearer went on the way out,”

Along with the bread and a copy of the “War Cry” (a Salvation Army publication), each family also received a cheery “Merry Christmas,” from the Salvation Army officers, varied occasionally by “Jesus loves you.”

Elsewhere, 50 tots from the Spokane Children’s Home, an orphanage, were taken to the Liberty Theater to watch a Weber and Fields motion picture comedy. Each child also received a mechanical toy, a soap bubble pipe and something described as a “spook cap.” Turkeys were also distributed for the Christmas dinner at the orphanage later in the day.

From the crime beat: A homeowner heard noises on the second floor - and it wasn’t Santa. It was a burglar, attempting to pry open a window sash. The homeowner blasted him with a shotgun, which caused the burglar to jump 15 feet and flee.

A hat, riddled with shot, was found near the scene and police followed a trail of blood drops in the snow for a mile before the trail was lost when rain started to fall.