100 years ago today in Spokane: Gunman robs $1,000 from Standard Oil manager

A lone gunman robbed the city’s Standard Oil manager as he was carrying $1,000 in receipts in a satchel, collected from the city’s nine Standard Oil gas stations.

The manager had barely walked into his own office and set the satchel down, when “in walked a stranger carrying a gun,” which he pointed at the manager and a clerk.

Police suspected that the gunman was aware of the manager’s daily collection trips.

From the court beat: A jury found Dr. Mary Swartz, midwife, not guilty of manslaughter in the death of Fay Hamilton.

The jury deliberated only three hours before returning a verdict.

An earlier trial had found Dr. Swartz guilty, but a new trial was granted on appeal.

From the murder beat: The most hotly anticipated trial in years began in a Spokane courtroom – the trial of the McDonald siblings for murder.

At issue was whether Fay McDonald Wilkinson, Jewell Marie McDonald and Ted McDonald murdered Spokane real estate man W.H. McNutt and buried him in a shallow grave near Newport.

The first day consisted of jury selection. The Spokane Daily Chronicle noted that the two McDonald sisters were fashionably dressed and that Fay was wearing a black turban hat and a fur coat.