This day in history: An inner tube tragedy and a shocking downtown act of ‘simply justice’

From 1976: The Spokane River claimed another victim when a 16-year-old boy fell from an inner tube and was swept over the downtown waterfalls.

His younger brother and sister were rescued upstream before they reached the falls. All three put in their large inner tubes near the Trent Avenue bridge. When they reached the Division Street bridge, the inner tubes overturned.

Witnesses saw what was happening, and Kathleen Acheson, 23, pulled the younger boy from the water. His sister was carried farther downstream to a log boom behind the Sheraton-Spokane Hotel. Dennis Baird “jumped into the water and held the girl” until the fire department rescue units arrived.

Two witnesses said they saw the older brother disappear over the falls. Searchers combed the area downstream until dusk, but no trace of him was found.

From 1926: Phineus Saffron, a Spokane pawnbroker, walked up behind prominent banker R. Lewis Rutter on a downtown sidewalk and shot Rutter twice in the back.

“It was simply justice,” said Saffron, who had lived in Spokane for decades after immigrating from Russia.. “… I also tried to shoot Connor Mallot, secretary-treasurer of the company.”

Rutter was president of Spokane and Eastern Trust Co., which had foreclosed on Saffron’s pawnshop on Washington Street.

“They broke me and that was my reason for shooting him,” said a “softly crying” Saffron, after his arrest.

Rutter was hit near the spinal column and in the back of the shoulder. He was taken to the hospital in serious condition. Mallot was also hit by a bullet, but his injury was not as severe.

Rutter would survive, and became well-known for his philanthropy and welfare work during the Great Depression. His name lives on today in Rutter Parkway, along the Little Spokane River.

Editor’s note: This article was changed on May 11, 2026, to correct the spelling of Dennis Baird’s last name.