100 years ago in Spokane: Streetcar bandit takes hostages and uses them as human shields

From our archives, 100 years ago

It looked like police were about to finally nab the streetcar bandit who had been terrorizing Spokane’s trolley lines for weeks.

A citizen who lived along the East Sprague Avenue streetcar line notified police that something was amiss with the streetcar near his house. He said he thought he heard gunshots.

So two plainclothes officers stationed themselves in the shadows at the end of the line and waited for the streetcar to pull in. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned.

The bandit was indeed on the streetcar, but when the officers approached, he used the conductor and motorman as human shields. They jumped out of the streetcar and the bandit, two guns drawn and blazing away, forced the two men to run ahead of him as they raced “down Sprague Avenue at top speed.”

The bandit fired 10 shots but didn’t hit the officers. The officers did not fire a shot.

They said they “feared to shoot because the crew were in line with the robber.” The bandit yelled, “Don’t come any closer or I’ll shoot you and the streetcar men, too.”

The bandit and his captives ran into the brush “along the rimrock near Carnhope School” and disappeared. The two officers, as well as others sent to the scene, followed the trail for a while, but lost it in “the darkness and blinding sleet and rain.”

The bandit forced the two men to walk for miles. He released the motorman after walking about 2 1/2 miles, but forced the conductor to walk with him for 5 miles before turning him loose.