100 years ago in Spokane: Bootlegger used his 8-year-old daughter to try to hide Kentucky Dew

From our archives, 100 years ago

A sweet little “maid” of 8 years was seated on the lid of a wooden box, “industriously sewing,” when Spokane detectives arrived at her Peaceful Valley home.

The detectives said they hated to disturb such a nice little girl, “but would she move until they could look in the box?” Buried beneath some firewood, they found 16 pints of Kentucky Dew whiskey, bottled in bond. In another room, they found another 16 pints hidden in an underclothing drawer.

Her father James McKay, 35, was later arrested on bootlegging charges, along with Roy Shaw, 28, who allegedly brought the whiskey in from Montana.

Police had been tipped off by a “tramp lumberjack,” who said that he had ridden in on the train with Shaw. The lumberjack said Shaw bragged about how he “feigned sleep” at the Spokane station and talked the conductor into letting him off at the Highland siding, where a yellow taxicab was waiting to transport his illegal booze into Spokane.

From the murder beat: Jury selection was complete in the trial of Miss Edith Colby, a former Spokane city commission candidate, who was accused of murdering A.C. Thomas, a Sanders County, Montana, Republican Party official.

Several “prominent club women of Spokane,” arrived in Thompson Falls, Montana, where they were scheduled as character witnesses. The trial was attracting widespread attention. A number of Eastern newspapers had sent her telegrams asking for her photograph.