100 years ago in Eastern Washington: One group of bootleggers fired at officers, while another was surprised by one under their bed

Dry squad officers dodged a hail of bullets when they raided a moonshiner’s cabin near Freeman.

They were advancing on the cabin when they heard gunshots from the nearby woods. Some of the officers headed toward the woods in an effort to catch the shooters. The other officers continued on to the cabin.

They found nobody at home – but discovered a still holding 75 gallons of mash. Distilled liquor was still spurting from a spout.

The squad lost the fleeing moonshiners in thick timber.

Also from the bootlegging beat: Two bootleggers invited a customer into their hotel room to purchase a pint.

Suddenly, there came a rustling sound, and a Spokane police dry squad officer rolled out from under the bed and placed everyone under arrest.

The officer had been tipped off about the two young bootleggers, and he sneaked into their hotel room while they were out and “managed to secrete himself there,” despite the fact that there was precious little room under the bed.

The bootleggers were described as “astonished” by this sudden apparition.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1918: World War I German fighter ace Baron Manfred von Richthofen, aka the Red Baron, is shot down and killed over Vaux sur Somme, France, by Canadian pilot Arthur Roy Brown.

1956: Elvis Presley’s first hit record, “Heartbreak Hotel,” reaches No. 1 on Billboard’s pop chart.

2019: Ukrainian comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyy wins the country’s presidential election in a landslide.