100 years ago in Spokane: Police identify suspect in Union Park Bank holdup

Police were convinced they knew the identity of the Union Park Bank holdup bandit: Chester Clark, alias Leo Hartman, alias James Conley.

The 21-year-old was an escaped convict from the Oregon state penitentiary. Police believed he arrived in Spokane in September after his escape and perpetrated a series of store and streetcar holdups before pulling off the Union Park Bank job.

Bank tellers positively identified a photo of Hartman, as he was known in Spokane. He had been living in the Merlin Apartments with his wife, Beth Hartman, 20. Neighbors told police she had just left on a train, and police in Hood River subsequently pulled her off the train and arrested her in Hood River. She was in possession of $595 in cash. But Leo Hartman wasn’t with her.

Detectives said they were on his trail and hoped to nab him soon.

From the weather beat: The cold snap was easing somewhat in Spokane, with a low of 18 above zero. This was 22 degrees warmer than the previous night and positively balmy compared to the 15 below zero temperatures earlier in the week.

Temperatures also eased at Crow’s Nest Pass, where some of Spokane’s coal supplies were mined. The mines had been closed because of 50-below-zero temperatures, but now it was only 15 below and the miners were back at work. Authorities were optimistic that the coal shortage might soon ease.