100 years ago in Spokane: The proprietors of a Moran Prairie speakeasy were acquitted of Prohibition violations

The proprietors of the Motor Inn, a jazzy speakeasy in Moran Prairie, were acquitted of liquor violations.

Deputies staged an early morning raid and found 16 quarts of liquor concealed in an orchard behind the Motor Inn, yet prosecutors failed to show that the liquor belonged to the proprietors or that it had been offered for sale.

Both defendants denied any knowledge of the liquor.

From the court beat: The manslaughter case against P. Clive Heddle, the driver of a car in which three of his passengers died, centered on the contention that Heddle had been drinking and was racing another car at 55 mph down Northwest Boulevard.

The driver of the second car, Neil Cheatham, testified that Heddle had not been drinking and that neither of them had been racing.

Cheatham estimated their speed at 25-30 mph.

The defense rested its case.

From the geography beat: The National Geographic Board in Washington, D.C., unanimously voted not to change the name of Mount Rainier to either Mount Tacoma or Mount Tahoma.

Apparently, people in Tacoma advocated strongly for a change, but the people of Seattle were adamantly against it.

On this day

(From Associated Press)

1949: The Soviet Union lifted the Berlin Blockade, which the Western powers had succeeded in circumventing with their Berlin Airlift.

2002: Jimmy Carter arrived in Cuba, becoming the first U.S. president in or out of office to visit since 1959.