100 years ago in Yakima: Girls from ‘best’ families found in ‘semi-cave,’ arrested

Yakima was humming with the news that five high school girls from the “best” families had all been arrested and placed in juvenile detention, The Spokesman-Review reported.

The girls – daughters of attorneys, a judge and legislators – were found “in a semi-cave which the girls had built.” In the cave were a number of auto parts and flashlights, which had been reported stolen during the last month.

Police did not believe the girls had stolen these items. They said they had “received the stuff from a gang of eight boys who were picked up some days ago, and are also in the detention home.”

Police believed that while the boys were out stealing from auto dealers, “the girls remained in the cave and cooked treats for the successful young bandits.”

From the auto beat: The auto was no longer a novelty in Spokane – it was a “necessity.”

At least, that’s what a local auto dealer declared, and it was hard to argue with him. Spokane’s auto dealers had just enjoyed one of the most prosperous seasons in their history.

“Ten years ago, to unload a carload of cars in Spokane was an event,” said one dealer. “The lawyer would leave his office, and the merchant his business to go and watch the job, while today, a trainload is of no special interest.”

The auto dealer noted that, “geographically speaking, Spokane is a natural distributing point over a wide area of the West.” Auto shipments had been “unusually heavy,” all winter.