100 years ago in Spokane: Inmates escape jail, jump gate, only to land in the arms of an officer

Two Spokane County jail inmates used a hidden piece of hack saw to cut through the bars of their cell window. It took four hours.

Then they fashioned “dummies” in their beds to fool the guards, tied blankets together and lowered themselves from their third floor window.

These were the only parts of their plan that did succeed, however. Once in the courtyard, one of the men climbed up onto an iron gate and dropped down – right into the arms of merchant’s policeman E.S. Jackson.

“I was passing along in front of the jail yard when I saw a man climb over the gate,” said Jackson. “I grabbed that one.”

The other escapee was about to climb the gate when he saw what happened. He tried to hide, but police found him crouching in the jail yard.

Both men subsequently pleaded guilty to jail breaking and had one to 15 years added on to their terms.

From the Gonzaga beat: The Rev. James M. Brogan, the president of Gonzaga University, announced plans for a “Greater Gonzaga” fundraising campaign to build a new dormitory and a new classroom building and to erase the institution’s debts.

He hoped to raise “several hundred thousand dollars.”

The new dormitory will “tend to relieve the housing situation,” which had become acute due to a postwar influx of new students.

This would be the first time that Gonzaga “has come before the people of Spokane for financial support,” and Brogan said there was “every indication” it would be a success.