This day in history: Spokane police rescued kidnapping victims trapped in car trunk. Girl mistook firework for candy

From 1975: Spokane police investigated a parked car at Third Avenue and McClellan Street and discovered four Spokane youths, ages 14 to 18, locked in the trunk.

“Two of the youths were naked and two were wearing only T-shirts,” the Spokane Chronicle said.

The boys told police that a man had approached them at gunpoint and ordered them to walk with him to a car.

“All were ordered into a car, and, with one of the youths driving, told to head to the airport.”

They went to a dirt road near the airport, where they were ordered to hand over all of their money and disrobe. Then he made them get into the trunk for the ride back into Spokane. One of the boys was allowed to accompany the kidnapper into a restaurant, where he was able to whisper his plight to a waitress, who called police.

A 19-year-old man was arrested near the scene and charged with 17 felonies. Michael G. Fernandez was later revealed to be from California. He claimed not to remember the incident but pleaded guilty to one count each of kidnapping and assault and was sentenced Aug. 29 to a maximum of life in prison.

From 1925: The mayhem caused by fireworks in Spokane was considered less than usual but still alarming.

The most serious injury came when a 4-year-old Spokane girl, the daughter of a Spokane motorcycle policeman, found a “fancifully covered torpedo” – a kind of firework that exploded when thrown on the ground.

She thought it was a piece of candy.

She bit down on it and “there was an explosion and a scream of terror.”

“Flames and smoke burst from her mouth, according to playmates,” The Spokesman-Review said. “She suffered severe powder burns of the mouth and tongue that were dressed by Stewart Doust at the emergency hospital.”

Doust treated several of the other Fourth of July injuries detailed by The Spokesman-Review.

The total number of house and grass fires on the Fourth of July totaled 21, all but one caused by fireworks. This was the highest number in nine years.