100 years ago in Spokane: ‘King of Bootleggers’ sentenced; police say only 1 person cracked 80 safes at Paulsen Building

Charles Dale, Spokane’s “King of the Bootleggers,” was sentenced to five months in jail after he was found operating a still in Worley, Idaho.

This was not exactly Dale’s first brush with the law.

“For many years, Dale’s arrests here were regular events,” said the Spokane Daily Chronicle.

Many of those arrests led to dropped charges, or sentences overturned on appeal. This current case seemed fairly solid – Dale was found with about 100 gallons of moonshine. His attorney, however, was confident that this sentence would also be overturned.

From the accident beat: Herbert Peterson, a Spokane United Railways track worker, drowned in Natatorium Park’s swimming pool.

Two boys, age 13, said they saw him sink underwater and at first “marveled” at how long he could hold his breath. Soon, however, they became alarmed. They notified lifeguards.

It was too late. Attempts at artificial resuscitation failed.

From the burglary beat: Police had a new clue that indicated that the Paulsen Building heist was the work of “one scientific burglar.”

The captain of detectives declined to divulge the exact nature of the clue, but he said he now was confident they could solve the burglary. A total of 80 safes on nine floors were broken into, making it one of the biggest burglaries to that date in Spokane’s history.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1775: The U.S. Continental Congress creates the United States Post Office in Philadelphia under Benjamin Franklin.