This day in history: Group lobbies for better Amtrak schedules in Spokane; Escaped convicts use beadsheets, springs to build ladder

From 1975: A citizens group called the Washington Association of Rail Passengers was lobbying for more convenient Amtrak schedules for Spokane.

Trains left Spokane westbound at 2:25 a.m. daily and at 11:40 p.m. three days a week. The group suggested that changes in this and other timetables would stimulate ridership and provide better service throughout the northern Amtrak routes.

A check of 2025 Amtrak schedules out of Spokane shows that the timetable has become, if anything, less convenient, with departures in the wee hours of the morning both directions.

The group also lobbied for Amtrak to improve local train service within the state.

From 1925: Officials were “spreading a dragnet” for two escaped convicts thought to be headed toward Spokane.

Three inmates had escaped from the Washington State Penitentiary a few days earlier, and a guard received information that two of them were on the way here. They were last seen leaving Dayton in a car, headed north.

They were described as “dangerous men.” They made their escape by overpowering guards in the invalid’s ward and then “climbing over the wall by means of a rough ladder, fashioned from bed springs and sheets.”

This day in history

(From onthisday.com)

1674: Dutch formally cede New Netherland (New York) to the English.

1989: Germans begin demolishing the Berlin Wall after East Germany opened the border on Nov. 9, 1989.