100 years ago in Spokane: Uncertainty over age lands local youth in hot water

Two boys who fudged their ages to obtain liquor permits found themselves in trouble with federal authorities.

The boys had previously sworn that they were 21 when they applied for the liquor permits.

However, when the draft required all men age 21 to 30 to register, they did not do so because they didn’t think they were actually 21 yet. They claimed they were “uncertain” about their ages.

After learning that federal agents were going through the liquor permit files to find the names of men who failed to sign up for the draft, they appealed to the county prosecutor’s office for advice about what to do in their predicament.

The prosecutor told them to register without delay, and he also delivered a stern lecture about the legal consequences of perjury.

From the bootlegging beat: Police confiscated a new Cloverleaf model Overland roadster, along with 18 quarts of whiskey. The car’s owner, S.A. Enright of Hillyard, was convicted of transporting liquor with intent to sell.

In another case, James Setty, a Syrian, “well-known in police circles as Jimmy the Turk,” was sentenced to 30 days in jail for having liquor with intent to sell.

Also on this date

(From Associated Press)

1967: During the six-day Middle East war, 34 American servicemen were killed when Israel attacked the USS Liberty, a Navy intelligence-gathering ship in the Mediterranean Sea. (Israel later said the Liberty had been mistaken for an Egyptian vessel.)