This day in history: A teller’s simple plot to avert a bank robbery was surprisingly effective

From 1975: A man passed a note to a teller, demanding money, at the American Commercial Bank, 120 N. Wall.

The teller gave him an unexpected reply. She said she “had no money.”

“The discouraged and somewhat confused man hesitated and fled out of the bank without being apprehended,” The Spokesman-Review reported.

A silent alarm system notified police, but the man was long gone.

Later, the bank manager confirmed that the teller did, of course, have money at her window.

From 1925: The Spokane chapter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union continued to protest about the “opening up” of Spokane.

By “opening up,” they apparently meant failing to enforce liquor, gambling and vice laws.

“We cannot say who is responsible for the ‘opening up’ of the city, but we are going to find out,” the president of the organization said. “… We feel it is our duty to learn why conditions have become worse.”

The group was planning a meeting to discuss the effect of an “open town” on the youth of Spokane.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1665: The height of the Great Plague of London occurs this day as 7,165 people die throughout the previous week.

1789: Edmund Randolph becomes the first U.S. attorney general; Thomas Jefferson is appointed the first U.S. secretary of state; and John Jay becomes the first U.S. chief justice.

1950: United Nation troops in the Korean War recapture the South Korean capital of Seoul.