100 years ago in Spokane: One winner of a newspaper limerick contest had a cheeky take on Prohibition

The Spokane Daily Chronicle printed several limericks sent in by readers as part of its Limerick Contest.

This one, by reader Dorothy Chrysler, addressed the hypocrisy surrounding Prohibition:

‘“There once was a slick politician,

Who said: ‘Sure, I’m for Prohibition.’

When they gave him a job.

Making laws for the mob,

He said: ‘I’ve – hic – ’chieved my ambition.”

From the counterfeiting beat: A U.S. Secret Service agent said money from a large counterfeiting gang had found its way into Spokane.

One $20 bill was turned in from a local bank, and the agent said more bogus bills had been found in Spokane and Seattle banks.

A nationwide hunt for the counterfeiting ring resulted in arrests of three married couples in San Francisco. They had been “well-known to the Spokane police,” and several of them had served prison terms in Walla Walla.

Local banks and merchants were on the lookout for the bogus bills, many of which were relatively easy to detect. The agent said the $20 bill they found was “a trifle blurred, the paper was rough, and the whole had the appearance of stage money.”

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1632: Galileo’s book “Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems” is published comparing the Copernican and Ptolemaic systems and whether the Earth orbits the sun.

1980: “Miracle on Ice” happens when the U.S. hockey team beat the Soviet Union 4-3 at Lake Placid.