100 years ago in Eastern Washington: Police feared the suspects from the Reardan bank robbery were headed to Spokane, and prosecutors pushed for hanging in the Gracio murder

A robbery gang that tried to crack the safe at the Reardan National Bank was still at large, despite a manhunt by 75 officers and an airplane.

“Practically all hope of finding them before they get to Spokane has passed,” the Spokane Daily Chronicle wrote.

Patrolman Tony Allison was in improved condition at the hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg. Officers and the gang engaged in a lengthy gun battle along the Sunset Highway.

Police were now hunting for leads in Spokane.

From the murder beat: The prosecutor in the Louis Adams murder case said that Adams deserved the gallows.

“Spokane County should witness a hanging for the shooting of Gracio, because it is my firm conviction that Louis Adams murdered Joe Gracio in cold blood,” the prosecutor told the jury. “Witnesses you have heard testified that Adams struck Gracio on the head three or four times after he had fired shots into the body of the man. If this is not cold-blooded murder, what do you call it?”

The case was headed to the jury.

From the transit beat: The slow-motion demise of the region’s rail transit system continued when auto bus service began between Cheney and Spokane. It was intended to replace service along the Washington Water Power Co.’s electric interurban rail line between the two cities.

WWP had earlier said it intended to discontinue rail service in March if patronage did not increase. WWP had already removed its early train, and there was little reason to suspect patronage would pick up.