The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
50°F
Current Conditions
Broken clouds
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

This day in history: Gonzaga University pledged to help Vietnamese refugees. Investigators remained baffled by suitcase bomb sent to Spokane Masonic Temple

Spokane and Los Angeles police officers and American Express special agents were continuing to investigate the suitcase bomb sent to Spokane
Spokane and Los Angeles police officers and American Express special agents were continuing to investigate the suitcase bomb sent to Spokane's Masonic Temple, The Spokesman-Review reported on May 6, 1925. The newspaper also ran a frontpage comic making light of changes in women's fashion. (Spokesman-Review archives)
By Jim Kershner The Spokesman-Review

From 1975: Gonzaga University announced that it would grant scholarships and room-and-board assistance “to as many qualified Vietnamese refugees as the university can adequately handle.”

University President Bernard Coughlin estimated that the number could be around 30. He said that Gonzaga, as a Jesuit university, could not ignore “the obvious human plight of the Vietnamese refugee.”

Vietnamese refugees were pouring into the U.S. after the collapse of anti-Communist resistance.

Coughlin said that “many communities in this country are now running cold on the Vietnamese” – but not Gonzaga.

Spokane detectives were still baffled by the Masonic Temple suitcase-bomb, which had been opened but did not explode, the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported on May 6, 1925. The newspaper also reported that Spokane poet Vachel Lindsey was travelling to Portland to give a reading and that students of Central Valley High School were performing the operetta "The Belle of Barcelona." (Spokesman-Review archives)
Spokane detectives were still baffled by the Masonic Temple suitcase-bomb, which had been opened but did not explode, the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported on May 6, 1925. The newspaper also reported that Spokane poet Vachel Lindsey was travelling to Portland to give a reading and that students of Central Valley High School were performing the operetta “The Belle of Barcelona.” (Spokesman-Review archives)

From 1925: Spokane detectives were still baffled by the Masonic Temple suitcase-bomb mystery.

Only by good fortune did the bomb fail to explode and kill many people in the building.

Investigation revealed that the suitcase had been shipped from Los Angeles, but the name of the sender, “Harvey E. Holbert,” was bogus. There was no person by that name in the entire Los Angeles city directory. No building existed at the man’s purported address.

It appeared that the mysterious sender was “well acquainted with Spokane and lodges here,” said detectives. They said the bomb was sent “at a time when members of the lodge were busy preparing for a show” and the sender “evidently hoped to have the satchel opened at a time when a large crowd was present.”