This day in history: A heroic pool rescue and a controversial pardon were making headlines

Sun., April 26, 2026

By Jim Kershner The Spokesman-Review

From 1976: Roger A. Furman, 26, walked onto the balcony of his apartment in Browne’s Addition and saw an alarming sight.

He saw a child, motionless, in the apartment complex pool.

“Furman said he ran down three flights of stairs, jumped into the pool and pulled the child from the water,” the Spokane Chronicle reported. “Officers said Furman applied artificial respiration and got the child breathing before police and ambulance attendants arrived.”

Justin Holliday, 5, recovered and later posed for a newspaper photo with his rescuer. He apparently fell into the pool and did not know how to swim.

Furman was honored with a commendation by the Spokane Police Department.

From 1926: The ongoing saga of Isadore “Izzy” Edelstein, convicted master safecracker, took an odd turn when news arrived from Missouri that Edelstein had been “befriended” by the governor of Missouri, who restored his “full citizenship rights.”

Edelstein was currently living in St. Louis while out on bail pending a “habitual criminal” charge in Spokane. He had most recently been convicted of burglary in the spectacular Paulsen Building heist. Before that, he had several other burglary convictions, including one in Springfield, Mo., for which he served time in a Missouri prison.

He was released on good behavior, and “numerous citizens of St. Louis” had petitioned the governor for return of his citizenship rights.

The Spokane County prosecutor was not pleased with this development, which he believed would be used in Edelstein’s favor in the upcoming habitual criminal proceedings.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1986: The world’s worst nuclear disaster occurs when the fourth reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Soviet Union explodes, resulting in 31 deaths and radioactive contamination spreading to much of Western Europe.

2005: Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troops from Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of the country.

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