100 years ago in Spokane: The city’s jitney-streetcar rivalry boiled over with a crash involving the two transportation methods

The clash between the city’s streetcars and the competing jitneys became literal when a streetcar collided with a jitney in Hillyard, knocking it over and injuring five people.

It may have been just an unfortunate accident, but suspicions were aroused because of the long-running feud between Spokane’s two streetcar companies and the jitneys (private buses), which were competing for passengers.

County prosecutors were investigating whether to charge the streetcar motorman with reckless driving.

The driver of the jitney claimed that he was forced to pull 1 or 2 feet over the streetcar tracks to avoid a car backing out from the curb. He also claimed that the streetcar never sounded a warning whistle or tried to stop.

But the streetcar motorman said he tried to stop as soon as he saw the jitney driver pull onto his tracks.

From the bank robbery beat: The editorial page of the Spokane Daily Chronicle blamed banks themselves for the recent spate of bank robberies – especially for the Spangle incident in which a 19-year-old cashier was wounded.

“Leaving a girl alone to guard the bank, neglecting to install a burglar alarm, or failing to have loaded guns handy, is just making it easy for the bandit to play his game,” the editors wrote. “Do the bankers realize that their feeble resistance to holdups the last few weeks practically amounts to inviting robberies and encouraging crime?”