100 Years Ago in Spokane: Girl awakes to, scares off burglar in her room

Caroline Cozetto, 11, and her 8-year-old sister were asleep in their home in West Central when they were awakened by a strange noise.

Here’s how Caroline told the rest of the story:

“I woke up and saw him. He had a flashlight in one hand and I could not tell what was in the other. I made up my mind I would call mama no matter what he did. He was going through the bureau drawers when I yelled. My little sister helped me yell. He dropped the stuff and ran.”

Their father was not home because he was working in Plummer, Idaho, so Caroline “went next door and told Uncle Joe, who called the police.”

Detectives suspected he was the same man who was had attempted to burglarize several other homes in the area.

From the fire beat: A mother and her seven children died in a house fire in Copeland, north of Bonners Ferry, and only the father survived.

Now, however, the father was being held by the sheriff pending further investigation into suspicious circumstances.

The father claimed that he discovered the fire that night while the entire family was sleeping upstairs. He went to get some water, but was compelled to go some distance, and when he returned the house was fully ablaze and he was unable to enter.

Investigators found what appeared to be wounds on the heads of the children, who ranged from nine months to 14 years.

This led a coroner’s jury to suspect that the fire was not the sole cause of the deaths. The investigation continued.