100 years ago Spokane: “Pretty” prostitute suspect shocks college

From our archives, 100 years ago

Martha “Bobbie” Tonjes, the “pretty” Northwestern Business College student arrested on suspicion of prostitution, was released on bond into the care of a married sister “on the promise that she would reform.”

The arrest shocked the faculty and staff of the college.

“She had been enrolled about six months and had conducted herself with the utmost propriety,” said a college spokesman. “There was nothing in her conduct so far as we could observe that would lead us to believe that she was other than a girl desirous of educating herself. In such high regard was she held by the students who knew her best that many believed there must be some mistake, and they expressed their willingness to testify on her behalf.”

From the police beat: Mayor Charles Fleming dismissed the two police officers he had accused of an “inexcusable blunder” in letting a streetcar bandit escape with two hostages. Detective Clarence Harris and patrolman Kinzie Robert “Red” Akers had 10 days to appeal the dismissal.

Fleming called the offense “so glaring” that it “could not be condoned with minor punishment.” The officers were given a chance to resign, but they chose not to.

The Spokesman-Review’s editorial page heartily approved of the dismissal. It said that Fleming “administered a healthy lesson to the Spokane police.” Anything less would have “demoralized” the force’s fearless and efficient officers and “put a premium upon sloth and ineffectiveness.”