This day in history: Dry cleaner who bought booze from cop praised, jailed. Spokane-area rivers reached flood stage

From 1975: The tap water was muddy in Kellogg as rivers in the region were cresting near flood stage.

Big Creek, the city’s water supply, was “roily” because of an influx of snowmelt.

A half dozen homes between Enaville and Prichard were cut off by flood waters from the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River.

The main stem of the Coeur d’Alene River reached flood stage at Cataldo, although no damage was reported. The flooding was caused by unseasonably warm weather, with a high of 81 in Spokane.

The weather forecast contained welcome news. A cooling trend was expected to lessen the snowmelt and bring the rivers back down.

From 1925: A Spokane dry-cleaning man was sentenced to 60 days in jail on liquor charges – but was also commended by the police chief for rendering a service to the police department.

After considerable coaxing, the man had confessed that he had bought the liquor from Officer Gibbs, a Spokane policeman.

No, this was not part of a sting operation.

The arrest had been made later, by a detective. Gibbs had been acting on his own as a booze seller and was forced to resign after his role in the incident was revealed.

At first, the dry-cleaning man did not want to be “a stool pigeon” and reveal who sold him the jug of liquor. He changed his mind only after he suspected he was being framed.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

2004: Massachusetts becomes first state to legalize same-sex marriage.