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100 years ago in Spokane: The search continued for the mastermind criminal behind the Paulsen Building heist

 (Spokane Daily Chronicle archives)

The search continued for Isidore (Izzy) Edelstein, 33, suspected of committing the biggest burglary in Spokane’s history, to that date.

Several other witnesses came forward to identify Edelstein as the man seen at the Paulsen Building the Sunday of the heist. Police believed he left Spokane immediately after the theft, but they had ho idea where. They suspected he went to “some city further east.”

Police circulated photos of Edelstein in 500 cities in the U.S. and Canada. Rewards totaling $9,500 were offered for his capture and arrest. He was a well-known safecracker who had served time for previous heists in Spokane, Seattle and other cities.

From the strike beat: A federal judge issued an order banning picketing and intimidation by strikers on the Milwaukee Road.

The Milwaukee Road had recently started hiring nonunion workers to replace the strikers. The judge issued the court order after hearing evidence of threats against the nonunion workers in Spirit Lake, St. Maries and Avery, Idaho.

A judge had issued a similar no-picketing order earlier against strikes on the Great Northern line.

Railroad managers claimed to have the upper hand in the ongoing labor conflict, one of the biggest in Spokane’s history. They said they were having no trouble hiring replacements and the trains were running “pretty well on time.”

Union officials argued that they had the upper hand, and that the railroads were having trouble keeping their rail cars and locomotives repaired. A number of routes out of Spokane had been canceled altogether.

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