100 years ago in Spokane: A landmark ‘rum-running by airplane’ case was playing out in local courts

Frank Kepl and Benton Warner were found guilty of conspiracy to violate Prohibition laws, in a case that the federal prosecutor claimed was “a victory of nationwide importance.”

Why?

Because the prosecutor believed it was the first case involving “rum-running by airplane.”

Authorities had long been aware that pilots were bringing in liquor from Canada via airplane, but the pilots had been frustratingly difficult to catch.

Kepl and Warner, however, had been arrested because they had been loading the illicit liquor in their sedan after a pilot landed in a field near Five Mile Prairie. The pilot, thought to be named Jack Smith, took to the air when officers approached.

The infamous rum-running pilot still had not been apprehended.

From the charity beat: Spokane residents were generous in contributing money to the Japanese Relief Fund, following devastating earthquakes, and few were more generous than M.E. Gibbs, described as a “blind newsie” (newsboy).

“Half of my earnings of yesterday I promised to give to the Japanese Relief Fund, so here I am,” Gibbs said as he deposited $1.78 into the fund at the Chronicle office.

Gibbs sold papers at a stand at the entrance to the Davenport Hotel.

Also on this date

(From onthisday.com)

1888: Edith Eleanor McLean, of New York, is the first baby to be placed in an incubator.

1996: Rap artist Tupac Shakur was shot multiple times in a drive by shooting in Las Vegas. He dies six days later.