100 years ago in Spokane: One of the San Quentin escaped convicts confessed to shooting a local deputy and also shared how he jumped the famous prison

George P. Burt, escaped convict, confessed to Iowa authorities that he was, in fact, the man who shot Spokane County deputy Dick Cashatt during a traffic stop.

“In Rosalia, Wash., I was arrested by a motorcycle cop for speeding,” he said. “He told me to drive to the station while he followed along side on his motorcycle. Fearing they would identify me, I shot him.”

He then sped away in another car driven by his fellow San Quentin escapee, Thomas Walton. Burt did not mention Gladys Homer, the diner waitress who was injured when she jumped from his speeding car.

Spokane authorities were planning to bring him back to face charges, but San Quentin wanted him back to finish serving his life sentence for murder.

Burt also told officers how he and Walton escaped from San Quentin. He said they were with a large work gang outside the prison when they saw an unoccupied “flivver” (ramshackle auto) parked near the gates. They simply jumped in and drove off, waving to the guards.

“They did not recognize us,” he said. “Four of the guards, stationed with machine guns, kidded us as we speeded outside.”

From the accident beat: Homer E. Curtis, a locomotive engineer was crushed to death by a rolling log on a railroad siding near Bonners Ferry.

The logs were on a rail car that cracked under the strain. Curtis and the brakeman were attempting to unload the car when a log broke loose.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

2004: Massachusetts becomes first state to legalize same-sex marriage.