100 years ago in Spokane: Bootlegger “the Duke” foiled at Interstate Fair

The Interstate Fair provided plenty of excitement – and some of it was of the cops-and-robbers variety.

Two Spokane detectives were strolling along the midway when they saw a notorious criminal and bootlegger nicknamed “the Duke.”

The Duke, aka Ed Smith, had been evading arrest all over the West for months. For example, he was wanted by Missoula police for a particularly nasty incident in which he and two accomplices had contracted to buy a load of illicit liquor from a man named Fred Miles.

The Duke and his pals were supposed to take delivery at a secluded point outside of Missoula. When Miles showed up, the Duke and his associates severely beat him, stole the liquor and left him unconscious by the side of the road.

The two accomplices were arrested and sent to the Montana State Penitentiary at Deer Lodge. But the Duke narrowly avoided capture. One of his narrowest escapes was in Spokane, where two detectives saw the Duke acting suspiciously outside a hotel and questioned him, but ultimately had no reason to detain him. Only later did they discover he was the man wanted for the Missoula assault and robbery.

They were frustrated. But then, at the fair, they finally saw the Duke again, walking down the midway. They recognized him as the same man they questioned at the hotel. This time, the detectives grabbed him before he could get away, and Missoula authorities planned to take him back to stand trial.