Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Several Spokane police officers were under investigation for being just a little too friendly with the city’s women of the night.

The city’s ministerial association was waging a campaign to shut down the city’s houses of ill repute, and a week earlier, they had been told that an officer tipped off a madam in advance of a raid.

After investigating that charge, the ministers found the situation even worse than they thought. They found that four officers were living with women of “bad reputation.”

One of them had indeed tipped off the proprietress of the Spokoma Hotel before the raid.

“In the course of my investigations into various houses of ill fame, I was told about the four police officers,” one of the ministers said. “I investigated carefully, and my investigation convinced me that I was not misinformed.”

When the police commissioner was informed of this, he told the minister he would undertake his own investigation and “certainly dismiss any officer against whom such a charge was proved.”

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1897: The New York Sun ran its famous editorial, written anonymously by Francis P. Church, which declared, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”

1970: “NFL Monday Night Football” made its debut on ABC-TV as the Cleveland Browns defeated the visiting New York Jets, 31-21.