This day in history: Jury selection was underway in the bombing that killed a Pasco judge

From 1974: Ricky A. Young, 23, of Prosser, Washington, was on trial in Spokane on charges of sending a mail bomb to a Pasco judge, who died when the bomb exploded in his chambers.

The venue had been switched from the Tri-Cities to Spokane because of the notoriety of the crime. Even in Spokane it was proving difficult to find prospective jurors who had not heard about the case.

The judge said, “we’ll have to work hard” to seat a jury. He asked “newsmen to keep news accounts at a bare minimum until this panel is selected and sequestered.”

From 1924: The Spokane County sheriff reported that he had discovered “a giant still” on Mica Peak, a notorious area for moonshiners.

The sheriff and eight heavily armed deputies departed early in the morning to launch the raid. They found the still “carefully concealed in a dugout on the shore of a little creek” on the west side of the mountain.

They also found 38 gallons of moonshine, 400 gallons of mash and four gallons of wine. Apparently, the moonshiners had vanished just before the raid, but two men were arrested later.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1586: Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England from Colombia.

1828: Andrew Jackson is elected the seventh president of the United States.

1847: Frederick Douglass publishes the first issue of his newspaper North Star.