100 years ago in Spokane: President Warren G. Harding was on his way to the city, but a stop in Yellowstone eagerly followed by locals was first

The Spokane Daily Chronicle was breathlessly reporting every move that President Warren G. Harding was making in Yellowstone National Park.

“The program of the day called for an inspection of the buffalo and elk herds,” a front page story said.

Why was this of paramount interest to Spokane readers?

Because Harding was en route to the city.

“For the fourth time in the city’s history, Spokane will have as its guest the president of the United States,” the Chronicle said. He was to arrive two days hence for an overnight stay.

The paper printed a front page schedule of what it was calling “Harding Day.” It would include a reception at the Davenport Hotel and an “illustrated address” (for his benefit) about the Columbia Basin irrigation project, followed by a presidential speech at the Spokane Armory.

Downtown Spokane would be “roped off” for a motorcade through the city.

From the Prohibition beat: It took five weeks, but a federal Prohibition agent finally tracked down and arrested a suspected rum-runner who escaped near the Canadian border.

In May, the agent shot out the tires of a suspected bootlegger vehicle a little more than a mile south of the border. Three men jumped from the car. One was captured, but two made their escape.

The agent claimed he had a good look at the face of one of escapees through his rifle sight and could identify the man.

Finally, he found the man living in a Spokane hotel. He arrested Lawrence Janek for liquor smuggling.