100 years ago in Spokane: Police bust teen gambling gang

Eight newsboys, ages 13 to 18, were nabbed on gambling and liquor charges.

Detectives, apparently acting on a tip, went to the the room of one of the boys in the Granite building. Detectives burst through the door and found “the boys squatting around in a circle with little piles of money before them and a bottle of liquor.”

When they were taken to the station, police asked one of the boys if it was a “regular game.”

“Aw, you never seen one of us throw two bits,” one youngster answered. “We ain’t got that much.”

The boy who rented the room claimed that the liquor was his and he had obtained it on a permit. Other than that, he had nothing to say to the police. He was thought to be the leader of the “gang.”

From the dynamite beat: Police in Moscow, Idaho, discovered that dynamite and black powder had been stolen from the Moscow Fire Brick and Clay Products Co. a few days before an explosion rocked a store and catapulted store owner Joe Blalock through the roof.

Blalock was on the verge of death in the hospital. He had not been able to make any statement. Police “are silent as to their suspicions, but sensational developments are expected,” a correspondent said. Earlier, authorities had noted that Blalock had enemies in the neighborhood.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

2016: Republicans meeting in Cleveland nominated Donald Trump as their presidential standard-bearer; in brief videotaped remarks, Trump thanked the delegates, saying: “This is a movement, but we have to go all the way.”