100 years ago in Spokane: Hillyard School Board says it needs new high school; teen admits involvement in major theft ring

The Hillyard School Board, stung by a shocking state inspection, proposed to build an entirely new high school.

The new high school would also include a community auditorium, assembly hall and gymnasium.

The inspector said the present high school was grossly inadequate and overcrowded. The school’s principal heartily agreed with that assessment.

Hillyard voters had rejected a slate of high school improvements a year ago, but the school board president said “conditions have become much worse since then.”

From the crime beat: Spokane police walked into Lewis & Clark High School and arrested a 19-year-old student who was part of a $12,000 theft ring.

The boy confessed that he had been working with two other young men, 19 and 20, now under arrest in Great Falls.

The boys admitted that they rented rooms near the places they intended to burglarize, including the Crescent department store. Then they broke into the basements of the stores and worked through the early hours of the morning, loading the loot into suitcases.

The 19-year-old cooperated with police after his arrest and led them to several suitcases full of loot. The boys arrested in Great Falls were also in possession of large amounts of stolen goods.

Also on this date

(From Associated Press)

1587: Mary, Queen of Scots was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in England after she was implicated in a plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.