100 Years Ago Today: Deputies find ‘clew’ related to Spangle bank robbery

Deputies finally uncovered a clue (spelled clew in that era) in the State Bank of Spangle robbery.

Farmers in the area reported seeing two men speeding westward from Spangle in a Ford runabout.

“I believe the men that the farmers saw are the ones who did the work,” said a deputy.

“I don’t see how they can get very far away, for every town along the highway is well-guarded. This is the only clew we have to the robbery and we are going to follow it to the end.”

Deputies continued to question Ruth Jennings, 19, the assistant cashier who was alone in the bank when the robbers entered. She was shot in the arm and chloroformed by the robbers. She was confident she could identify at least one of the robbers.

“I am sure I would recognize the man with the little mustache, for he had a big neck and broad shoulders, something like a prizefighter,” she said. “It would be hard for me to recognize the other man, especially if his Van Dyke beard were gone.”

From the oil fever beat: An oil driller on the South Hill claimed to have hit oil in the vicinity of 12th Avenue and Southeast Boulevard.

When the drill was brought up, it was covered with a “coating of heavy yellow oil,” claimed driller E.W. Conrad.

Was this evidence of the long-hoped-for oil deposit beneath the South Hill?

“What amount of oil has been struck cannot be determined until the water had been bailed out and the drill run into the oil formation, work which may take two days to complete,” said the Spokane Daily Chronicle.