100 years ago in Spokane: Spokane safecracker on the lam arrested in Oakland, California

James “Madison Jimmy” McNulty, a Spokane yeggman (safecracker), was arrested in Oakland, California, on a safe-blowing charge and possible murder charge.

Madison Jimmy was well known in Spokane and was arrested here in 1915. He subsequently did time in the San Quentin and Leavenworth prisons.

Authorities alleged that he resumed his criminal ways and robbed banks at Sequim and Poulsbo, with a stop in between in Spokane. After the Poulsbo robbery, McNulty and two accomplices allegedly “shot their way through the posse” and escaped, killing a deputy sheriff.

Burns agency detectives tracked him down and, accompanied by a deputy, arrested him at the home of a relative in Oakland.

Oakland police said they had secured a “complete confession.”

From the movie beat: Another Spokane-based movie company, the Aurora Co., announced that it would “produce, release and distribute motion pictures and operate theaters throughout the country.”

Apparently it would begin by purchasing European movies and distributing them in the U.S. One of the company officers said he “just spent six months in Europe selecting a high class line of seven- and eight-reel pictures.”

He said they would show pictures “with a high sense of moral obligation,” suitable for children and the general public.

The Aurora Co. apparently had plans to make their own movies, too. He said the company expected to employ 150 to 200 people in Spokane.