100 years ago in Eastern Washington: Ferry County sheriff sentenced to federal prison for aiding bootleggers

Ferry County Sheriff Thomas J. Barker was sentenced to two years in the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, for conspiring with a bootlegger ring.

“I believe he was conniving at the violation of the law and profiting thereby,” said Judge J. Stanley Webster, in pronouncing sentence.

He said he did not believe Barker was a party to the robbery of bootleggers at a warehouse – which is what brought the bootlegging scheme to light. But Barker did give “safe conduct through Ferry County to men who he knew were violating the law.”

“If Mr. Barker had been doing his duty, however, this robbery would not have occurred,” said the judge. “The very fact of his connection with the case was an inspiration to the men who committed the robbery. They felt secure. The defendant’s age (62) makes it regrettable that he must feel the penalty of the law and suffer punishment, but the law of the land is the prime consideration.”

From the convention beat: The state convention of the Colored Women’s organization was being held at Spokane’s African Methodist Episcopal Church at Fifth Avenue and Pine Street.

Officers from the national organization were arriving from Chicago and other distant cities to attend.

Mrs. A.C. Houston of Spokane, the vice president of the state chapter, was one of the convention’s organizers.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1993: The U.S. launches a cruise missile attack targeting Baghdad intelligence headquarters in retaliation for a thwarted assassination attempt against former President George H. W. Bush.