100 years ago in Spokane: Police say boys were responsible for rash of burglaries

Police believed they had cracked a gang of “boy thieves” responsible for as many as 18 residential and business burglaries in the last three days.

In one of those burglaries, a number of blank checks were stolen from the Boyd-Conlee Fuel and Grain office on Division Street. The local head of the Burns Detective Agency had warned downtown merchants to be on the lookout for anyone trying to pass the Boyd-Conlee checks.

Shortly afterward, a clerk at the Hill Brothers Shoe Store reported a boy was trying to pass one of the checks. Police arrived and arrested Joe Chrialo, 16, who had recently been paroled from the state school at Chehalis.

The boy claimed he found the check on the street. Police were not buying that story and believed Chrialo and some young accomplices were the boys who had been seen burglarizing a number of houses.

From the booze beat: A Spokane jury was once again accused of drinking up the evidence in a liquor possession case. Court officials reported some of the liquor was missing after the jury deliberated.

Jurors were outraged by the accusation. The judge investigated and found the only liquor introduced into evidence was a half-pint, and it was intact. The judge and court officials apologized profusely.

From the police beat: The body of Ed Olson, known as Uncle Ed, was found floating in the Spokane River.

His cause of death remained a mystery. There were no marks of violence, and his money and watch were found in his pockets. His friends said he had been in good spirits and had given no hint that he was contemplating suicide. Police were leaning toward the theory that he accidentally fell into the river.