100 years ago in Spokane: Three men were extradited to Montana for a string of bank robberies that used an acetylene torch

J.J “Johnny” Reed and two other members of his bank-robbing gang were transported from Spokane to Montana to stand trial in Teton County.

Reed and his accomplices were to be tried in connection with a bank robbery at Fairfield, Montana. This was only one of the many banks in Montana and Washington that police believed to have been victimized by the gang.

“In the event that they are not convicted in Montana, they will be brought back to Washington to face charges for robberies here,” the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported.

Reed was one of the few bank robbers skilled in the use of the acetylene torch to burn his way into vaults. An acetylene torch was found abandoned at the Thornton, Washington, bank robbery.

From the dance beat: Whitehead’s Dancing Palace was renamed The Garden, and 2,000 people were present for its reopening.

A “pageant of fancy dances” was part of the festivities. Little Geraldine Smith danced “as a young butterfly,” and Rose Wosepka and Thelman Fryle “were delightful in their Waltz Dainty.”

Four other girls danced in red and blue “wooden soldiers costumes.”

The Whitehead orchestra proved to be in “more than a pepful mood.”

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1803: French flag lowered in New Orleans to mark the formal transfer of the Louisiana Purchase from France to USA, purchased for $15M.

1960: The National Liberation Front, better known as the Viet Cong, is officially formed in South Vietnam.