100 years ago in Eastern Washington: An unlikely suspect emerged in a strange incident at a Grant County bank

A suspect gained entry into the Grant County State Bank by “crawling through the coal chute” – but that wasn’t the strangest part of the incident.

The suspect was the bank president.

During a sensational trial in Ephrata, Washington, prosecutors accused bank president E.C. Davis of crawling into the “coal hole” and writing the word “cancelled” on a stock certificate.

Davis was on trial for falsifying bank records in the period before the bank failed. His attorney admitted that Davis crawled through the coal chute that night, but that he wrote the word “cancelled” on the certificate only because he believed that the cashier had “forgotten” to do so.

“The courtroom here is packed to suffocation, and many spectators are occupying the aisles,” an Ephrata correspondent reported. “… Former depositors among the audience are drinking in every word of the evidence.”

From the bootlegging beat: Cline Ledgerwood, on trial in the Ferry County bootlegging case, admitted on the stand that he lied to the U.S. marshal following his arrest – but he said he had a good excuse.

“Why should I tell the truth when you weren’t doing it with me?” he asked.

Ledgerwood was notorious as the fugitive who hid out in the Ferry County woods for months before being arrested in a cabin at gunpoint.

On the stand, he said he camped out most of the time, shooting game, until the snow began to fly. He said he snuck into Republic as often as once or twice a week to visit his wife and children. He also claimed he had a “special messenger service” to get letters to his wife “and a red-headed girl.”