100 years ago in Spokane: A booze runner was facing a federal trial related to whisky, but not in the way you think

Mike Foley, alleged booze runner, was facing trial in federal court – but not for bootlegging.

He was charged with printing $550 in counterfeit bills to pay for 10 cases of whisky from a Canadian liquor dealer.

Foley, a rancher on the U.S. side of the border, was accused of photographing a $10 bill and then “making a zinc etching” to print counterfeits.

He was caught after the liquor dealer took the bills to the bank, where they were rejected as bogus. The liquor dealer came to Spokane and notified authorities, who caught Foley with more of fake bills.

They were “poorly made, but could probably be passed in the dark,” a Secret Service agent said.

From the mountaineering beat: Spokane was captivated by an account of a climbing tragedy at Mount Eon, Alberta, Canada.

Dr. and Mrs. W.E. Stone were climbing a difficult section of the mountain when he apparently slipped. Mrs. Stone watched helplessly as her husband “hurtled past her into the abyss below.” She resolved to go to his rescue. She fastened a rope to the mountainside and climbed down. Unfortunately, when she came to the end of the rope, she was dangling “thousands of feet” above ground.

She clung to the rope as long as she could but finally released her hold.

“Fate intervened to save her from instant death, for 10 feet below the end of the rope, a tiny ledge, not 4 feet wide, broke her fall,” said a correspondent sent to the scene.

There she stayed for eight days, without food or water, until she was rescued. She faced an “arduous journey to Banff,” almost entirely by stretcher.

Dr. Stone was the president of Purdue University.