This day in history: Disturbing dumping at Salvation Army drop boxes spurred a new way of doing business

From 1976: Some of the people who donated to the Salvation Army’s drop boxes were less than charitable.

“People keep dropping dead dogs and cats in our boxes,” said the organization’s Spokane warehouse superintendent. “We finally worked out a deal with the Humane Society to drop off the bodies.”

The Salvation Army’s Spokane commander detailed the other problems they encountered at the city’s 60 drop boxes.

“They tear the locks off our boxes and burn them,” he said. “One lady reported that a pickup truck stopped in front of one of our boxes and they put a little kid inside. He was throwing clothes out to them.”

Because of these problems, the Salvation Army was turning more and more to truck pickups, as opposed to drop boxes.

From 1926: Spokane police staged an evening raid at an alleged “gambling joint” in Trent Alley, between Stevens and Washington streets, and arrested 60 men.

Trent Alley was Spokane’s Chinatown district, but 56 of those arrested were identified by The Spokesman-Review as “white men,” and only four were described as “Chinamen.” Those four, however, were charged with conducting a gambling game.

Police said a “a quantity of Chinese lottery tickets were seized” and “colored inks with paint brushes were also taken.”

Police said the building was called Loy’s Laundry, but it was merely a front for gambling, with no laundry operated there.

The mass arrests caused quite a scene on the streets. People gathered around while men were loaded into the patrol wagon and shouted, “Step right in the hotel bus!” and “Here’s the Spokane hotel special!”