100 years ago in Spokane: Bank robbery suspects rounded up by police

Police were moving fast to round up the members of a criminal gang thought to be responsible for the Spokane State Bank robbery a month earlier.

One man, Clarence Hyland, aka Jimmy Valentine, was already scheduled for a preliminary hearing in police court. He was one of six men, some of them ex-convicts, in custody.

The roundup had begun several days earlier when two men were arrested on a Spokane street corner. Two more men were soon arrested, including Hyland, who was in possession of a holster similar to the one used in the robbery. He was a parole violator who had served time in San Quentin State Prison.

Police then searched a ranch 6 miles west of Spokane and found a gun that fit the holster. It had been redeemed at a pawn shop right before the robbery.

Meanwhile, John (Dutch) Stokes was arrested at the same ranch. He was suspected of being involved in the bank robbery and with the burglary of the Oakesdale Mercantile Co. about three weeks earlier. He was arrested after a woman connected with the gang gave officers a suitcase filled with silks stolen from the Oakesdale store. She implicated Stokes in both crimes. Stokes was a parole violator, wanted in Montana.

“With these arrests, we believe we have rounded up one of the worst bunch of robbers and ex-convicts which have stopped here in years,” said the captain of detectives.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

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