This day in history: Man accused of killing mom, sister and nephews charged. Black club in Spokane targeted in Prohibition raid

From 1976: Lawrence E. Thompson, 27, was formally charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his mother, sister, and two young nephews, ages 1 and 4.

The suspect’s brother – and father of the children – “told newsmen that his brother had been under psychiatric care since his discharge from the Marine Corps about three years ago.”

The suspect had “been living in a camper” outside his parents’ brick farmhouse in a secluded wooded area about five miles south of Spokane.

The suspect’s father said he arrived home to see his son walking out of the house with a rifle in his hand. They talked briefly. When the father rushed into the house, the suspect took his father’s truck and sped away. He was arrested without incident in the Spokane Valley three hours later.

From 1926: An 18-man squad of Prohibition officers raided the Inland Club, which the Spokane Chronicle described as a “negro club” at Trent Avenue and Pine Street.

Those arrested were, in the words of the Chronicle, “white men and negroes, white women and colored women, 17 in all, carousing together.” Every person arrested was named and their profession and race was listed.

Three quarts of bonded whiskey, 22 gallons of moonshine and a “quantity of narcotics” were confiscated.

When police made the early morning raids, they witnessed “drinking, gambling, dancing and carousing,” and said many of the carousers were “half-intoxicated.”

“The Inland Club was completely wrecked by the officers in searching the place,” said the Chronicle. “Every drawer, chest and table was ransacked by the raiders in searching for booze and dope.”