100 years ago in Spokane: A baby girl abandoned in a basket made the mother of a little boy ‘so happy’

Mrs. Chris Miller of Spokane had often mentioned to friends that she would like some day to “be given a baby girl.”

She was already bringing up an adopted boy, age 4.

Then, late one night, Mrs. Miller heard a sound at the front door.

“There on the porch was an old fabric hamper, and in it was the baby,” she said.

“I was almost afraid to touch it, so my husband gathered it into his arms and then it moved its little head, and I was so happy!”

Accompanying the baby was an anonymous note, which read: “I am leaving town tonight, leaving my baby with you. I just came to this town from another state. Baby was born July 20. I know you will be good to her.”

The Millers were calling the baby, “Tiny Tot.” Mrs. Miller said she planned to keep the baby.

“I wouldn’t think of giving her up,” she said.

From the manhunt beat: Two murder suspects, on the lam for nearly a week, were believed to be in the Troy, Montana, vicinity.

Two men matching the suspects’ descriptions were seen in the Troy rail yards. Following a hue and cry, the two men escaped into the woods across the river and disappeared into the mountains.

Posse members from Sandpoint and Hope, Idaho – where the bandits robbed and killed a pool hall proprietor – converged on Troy to continue the manhunt.

Authorities believed the men got to Troy by hopping on a freight train. Men matching their descriptions were seen later up the Yaak River.