100 years ago in Spokane: Prosecutors considered letting Mrs. Corbin off the hook in the mansion arson trial, and the story of Freckles the orphan warmed hearts

The county prosecutor implied that he was having second thoughts about a trial for Anna Corbin, widow of Spokane rail tycoon D.C. Corbin, on arson charges.

“I have not recovered yet from the shock I received when the jury brought in the verdict yesterday finding (Louis) Lilge not guilty,” prosecutor W.C. Meyer said. “I am making some investigation in the case against Mrs. Corbin to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to warrant entertaining hopes of obtaining a conviction. In case I decide there is no hope of convicting Mrs. Corbin, I will file an affidavit setting forth the reasons and will ask for a dismissal.”

Corbin had earlier confessed to plotting with Lilge, her caretaker, to burn down her landmark home.

Yet if a jury wouldn’t convict Lilge, charged with actually setting the fire, was it likely that they would convict Corbin?

Her trial was scheduled a week hence.

From the orphan beat: The Spokane Daily Chronicle tugged at its readers’ heartstrings with a story about Kenneth “Freckles” Shelby, 12.

He and some other orphans at the Washington Children’s Home Finding Society went down to the swimming pool on Mission Avenue.

“C’mon, kids,” Freckles shouted. “It’ll be lots of fun!”

When they arrived at the pool, however, they were denied admittance because they did not own bathing suits. All they had were their regular overalls.

The Chronicle campaigned to buy bathing suits for the kids.

But some readers went further. Several families offered to take Freckles in.

In fact, Freckles “could practically take his pick.”

He chose a home in “wheat country, near a river, where he can fish, swim, work and go to school – just as he dreamed and asked.”