100 years ago in Spokane: A jury gave no explanation when acquitting a Prohibition agent of manslaughter, and a woman named Gertrude ran afoul of the local jail

A Spokane jury acquitted federal Prohibition agent William C. Vest on a manslaughter charge.

The jury deliberated two hours before finding Vest not guilty of shooting Ernest Emley of Keller. Vest and two other officers tried to stop Emley from driving away from a Keller dance hall after they erroneously believed Emley to be a bootlegger.

This was the second trial on the same charge. A jury in the first trial failed to reach a verdict.

The jurors gave no explanation to reporters immediately after the verdict. Vest’s defense attorneys sowed some doubt about whether Vest fired the fatal shot. They also claimed that Ferry County officials were trying to frame Vest to deflect blame from themselves.

Federal authorities said Vest would now continue with his duties as a Prohibition officer.

From the jail beat: Gertrude Wiser ran “amuck” in the city jail after she was arrested on a narcotics charge.

She fought with several police officers for several minutes. It took several officers to get the best of her. Gertrude “weighs 180 pounds and can whip most men of her weight.”

During the tussle she fell against the radiator and cut open her mouth. Officers had to take her to the emergency hospital for stitches. After that, the officers put her in the padded cell.

Gertrude was not quite finished running amuck yet. She had apparently hidden some matches in her dress. She set fire to the padding and when the jailers realized what was happening, the blaze was shooting to the ceiling.

They dragged Gertrude out of the cell and called the fire department, which quickly extinguished the blaze. She spent the rest of the night in “the tank.”

Officers said Gertrude was well-known for her “pugilistic achievements.” She once had a fight with a lumberjack in Sandpoint, which resulted in three weeks in the hospital for the lumberjack.