100 years ago in Spokane: Robbery suspect faces California murder charge

Leo Hartman – alias Leo Hoffman, alias Leo Sims, alias Chester Clark – would not be returning to Spokane to face charges in of robbing the Union Park Bank.

Instead, Hartman would face trial in Marysville, Cal., on a far more serious charge: murder.

Hartman fled Spokane for California after the bank robbery and then allegedly robbed and murdered a bootblack near Marysville.

Before Hartman departed Spokane, he left much of the stolen Union Park Bank loot with his young wife. She was arrested with the money in her possession and was serving a six month term in the state penitentiary for grand larceny.

Also from the bank robbery beat: Joe Carney, alias Charles Norton, was arrested in Los Angeles for robbing a bank.

This arrest was of interest in Spokane because Carney was the same man who confessed to, and was convicted of, a series of sensational crimes in Spokane in 1911. During one holdup, he shot and wounded a man.

He was sentenced to 16 to 30 years at the state penitentiary, but was paroled in 1918. He was later reported as a parole violator and apparently made his way to California.

From the high school beat: The North Central High School Girls’ League joined their Lewis and Clark High School counterparts in calling for a midnight curfew.

They, too, passed a resolution calling for high school parties to end in time for them to be home by midnight.

“We believe it is a good plan to begin our parties at least one hour earlier, and disband shortly after 11 o’clock,” said Jennie Gibson, the league’s faculty director.