100 years ago in Spokane: The reign of terror of ‘Jack the Spanker’ was over for now, and an early gun control proposal emerged

A man alleged to be “Jack the Spanker” was in custody after an officer noticed him acting strangely on a downtown corner.

Jack the Spanker?

That’s the name the newspapers had coined for a man who had committed several “unwarranted spankings” of small boys during the week. Several boys said he had walked up to them on the street and spanked them, at which point they ran away in terror.

When the suspect, who had just returned from several months cooking at a lumber camp, learned what he was arrested for, he became belligerent and said, “Believe me, if I had known what that cop wanted me for, he’d never have got me to this station alive.”

One of the victims, age 9, identified the man. Another victim said he wasn’t sure it was the same man. Police planned to bring more victims down to the station the next day.

From the firearms beat: The Northwest Association of Sheriffs and Police passed a resolution asking for legislatures to consider a new anti-pistol law. The association proposed making unauthorized possession of a pistol a crime, and also called for a permit system in which “the applicant must give his occupation and residence for the preceding six months and be recommended by two householders.” Also, stores would not be permitted to display or advertise weapons.

So on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1869: Elizabeth Cady Stanton becomes first woman to testify before US Congress.

1981: US diplomats and citizens held hostage at the US embassy in Tehran, Iran, are released and begin their journey home after 444 days.