This day in history: Owner of derelict hotel ‘embarrassed’ of building’s state; ‘Master cracksman’ arrested in Calif. three years after big Paulsen Building burlary

From 1975: A derelict downtown flophouse, the Northwestern Hotel, was undergoing a major remodel because the owner was “embarrassed” by it.

The owner said he felt bad about having that “ugly old junker sitting across the street from the new Spokane Opera House.”

The old hotel, W. 331 Spokane Falls Blvd., had been “abandoned even by skid road habitues some years ago,” the Spokane Chronicle reported.

The owner was converting the building into a restaurant and lounge. He planned to call it the Trent House. He was installing new steel beams, windows, doors and awnings.

The site would eventually undergo an even bigger transformation. Today the Davenport Grand Hotel occupies that site.

From 1925: Isador Edelstein, “master cracksman,” was arrested in San Francisco on charges of pulling off “one of the most sensational (burglaries) in Spokane’s history,” when he plundered multiple safes in Spokane’s Paulsen Building three years prior.

Police believed Edelstein had somehow worked out the combinations to the outer doors guarding the safes and vaults on each of six floors of the Paulsen Building. Then, he opened the inner doors with a master key, which he “had apparently made ahead of time for the purpose.”

He entered the vaults on a Sunday and had plenty of time to haul away $25,000 in cash and valuables.

Edelstein’s name came up during the subsequent investigation, but he was long gone.

“We obtained several clues about his whereabouts, but he was always a few days ahead of the ‘tips,’ ” a Spokane detective said.

When arrested in San Francisco, he attempted to bribe police into letting him go by offering them $2,900 in cash and two valuable diamonds.

The attempt failed. San Francisco police were holding him for Spokane authorities.