This day in history: Bicycle robbers stole teen’s bike, pocketbook. 40 trees, toilets and light poles vandalized at Valley Mission Park

From 1976: Spokane County park officials were exasperated by a recent spate of vandalism at Valley Mission Park.

Vandals “climbed up the light poles, swung from the fixtures and bent them, and smashed four lights.” Then they broke in the restrooms and “shot holes through the toilets.”

This was especially frustrating, since the county had just spent a lot of money to replace the toilets with cast aluminum toilets. Vandals had broken the previous ceramic toilets with rocks.

Also, 40 honey locust trees were broken in half by vandals.

“If you spend all your money fighting vandalism you don’t have any money left for maintenance type repairs,” said the parks director.

From 1926: The days were gone when bandits rode horses – now they rode bicycles.

“Two eccentric masked bandits armed with revolvers and mounted on bicycles” confronted a 15-year-old Vera boy in his home. One of them ordered him “onto the back porch to get his bicycle, then the two went around the house to where another masked robber was waiting with a bicycle.”

They “compelled him to pedal in front of them along country roads for several miles and then took his pocketbook, which contained only stamps and papers.”

Then they tore the boy’s shirt off his back and ripped his trousers to shreds. Then they left him to walk home, half-clothed, along the railroad tracks.

Police later found the boy’s bicycle 2 miles from his home.