100 years ago in Spokane: Police raided the women’s section of the jail and ‘made a big haul’ of cigarettes and drugs

Police raided the women’s section of the Spokane City Jail and “made a big haul of tobacco, cigarettes, matches” and even a small amount of “hop” (cocaine) and some hypodermic needles.

The women’s jail matron became suspicious when she discovered that many of the women “would not arise as early as customary.”

In fact, they refused to get up. So authorities ordered a raid.

“Each girl was compelled to get out of bed, clothe herself and go into the detention room,” the Spokane Daily Chronicle wrote. “It took an hour to get them all out of their beds and locked in another part of the jail. A search of the beds then began.”

The women had earlier been told they could not smoke in jail, which sparked a formal protest amongst the prisoners. But the smoking ban was still in effect.

From the tourism beat: A two-hour drive from Spokane to Fourth of July Canyon near Coeur d’Alene illustrated the growing popularity of long distance auto touring.

The head of the National Parks Highway Association, a regional tourism group, counted all of the different state license plates he saw on that stretch of road. The final count was 23.

He spotted cars from as far away as Mississippi, Maryland and New Hampshire. The Midwest, including Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan, were especially well-represented.

This was apparently a typical day on that stretch of highway. The tourism office in Spokane registered cars from every state in the union the previous year.

“The cars encountered today were mostly of a good class, and a majority of them large sized.”