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This day in history: 12-year-old was acquitted in mother’s killing. Accused safecracker went on trial in brazen Paulsen Building burglaries

Isadore “Izzy” Edelstein, alleged master safecracker, pleaded not guilty to the sensational Paulsen Building burglaries in 1922, the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported on Nov. 7, 1925. The newspaper also reported that Major R.D. Gwydir died at Sacred Heart Hospital on his 80th birthday. Gwydir was formerly the U.S. Indian agent on the Colville Reservation. The article said that until his hospitalization, he still slept in a tent “winter and summer” outside his home, 2510 W. Boone Ave. in Spokane. (Spokesman-Review archives)
By Jim Kershner The Spokesman-Review

From 1975: A Liberty Lake Sewer District bond issue was defeated by voters, but now Spokane County was launching an investigation into whether opponents broke campaign laws.

Two days before the election, a group calling themselves Concerned Liberty Lake Taxpayers, sent a letter urging voters to vote “no.” The letter contained no names, phone numbers or addresses which would identify the group’s sponsors. The groups also had never registered with the Washington Public Disclosure Commission, nor had it filed a campaign disclosure statement.

Spokane County was launching an investigation into whether opponents to a Liberty Lake Sewer District bond issue broke campaign laws, The Spokesman-Review reported on Nov. 7, 1975. The newspaper also reported that a 12-year-old boy had been acquitted in the shooting death of his mother. A judge determined that the boy, who lived in a school bus with his mother and stepfather in Cheney, had been mistreated by his parents. "Hostility had built up over an extended period of time leading to this wild, bizarre act," Juvenile Court Judge Del Cary Smith Jr. said. (Spokesman-Review archives)
Spokane County was launching an investigation into whether opponents to a Liberty Lake Sewer District bond issue broke campaign laws, The Spokesman-Review reported on Nov. 7, 1975. The newspaper also reported that a 12-year-old boy had been acquitted in the shooting death of his mother. A judge determined that the boy, who lived in a school bus with his mother and stepfather in Cheney, had been mistreated by his parents. “Hostility had built up over an extended period of time leading to this wild, bizarre act,” Juvenile Court Judge Del Cary Smith Jr. said. (Spokesman-Review archives)

Depending on findings of the investigation, the situation could lead to a new election.

In other news, a 12-year-old Cheney boy was acquitted of murdering his mother – not because he did not shoot her, but because he was “mentally irresponsible” at the time and had been subjected to abuse and mistreatment by his stepfather and mother.

The juvenile court judge did, however find him “delinquent” in the nonfatal shooting of his stepfather.

From 1925: Isadore “Izzy” Edelstein, alleged master safecracker, pleaded not guilty to the sensational Paulsen Building burglaries in 1922.

He was accused of breaking into dozens of safes and vaults over one weekend in 1922 and coming away with at least $25,000.

During his hearing, Edelstein wore “a sardonic smile” and proved himself a “stickler for detail,” when he asked the judge to read his arraignment details over again.

He had been arrested three years after the Paulsen heist after authorities tracked him down in California.