100 years ago in Coeur d’Alene: 27 indictments against officials dismissed

From our archives, 100 years ago

A Coeur d’Alene judge dismissed 27 indictments against the Kootenai County assessor and his two deputies.

The judge ruled that the statute of limitations had run out on many of the incidents, which had occurred more than three years earlier. A grand jury had recently brought the indictments for what it characterized as a massive and longtime swindle of county taxpayers.

However, not all of the charges were dismissed. Some of the “shortage” incidents on the county tax rolls had occurred more recently.

From the old-timer beat: C.T. Diamond, a 101-year-old pioneer merchant from Turk, Washington, walked 8 miles to nearby Fruitland, and then took a 70-mile stage ride to Spokane to conduct some business.

A reporter for the Spokane Daily Chronicle tried to get him to tell some stories about the old days, but he wasn’t interested.

“Haven’t any time to spare for talk,” said Diamond, who had lived in the Northwest for more than 50 years. “Business first, last and all the time with me.”

He explained his unwillingness to talk to a reporter by saying someone recently talked him into posing for a photo – and that photo later ended up in a tobacco advertisement without his permission.

The reporter noted that Diamond comes to Spokane frequently and “goes about the city as if he had attained no more than half his present age.