100 years ago today, the jazz age was in full swing in Spokane for New Years Eve celebrations

More than 1,800 night owls jammed the Davenport Hotel for a New Year’s Eve party, consisting of “85 percent jazz, the rest from talking, whistling, bursting balloons, cheering, singing and the hum of people when they are happy”.

“Everyone was there, from flappers to widows, from tired businessmen to tireless wives,” said The Spokesman Review.

The hotel’s own orchestra and a selection of singers and dancers provided entertainment.

“Ml. Powlette Roadina turned out to be as beautiful as advertised, and her ankles and legs were as shapely as her pictures, ”said a local correspondent. “She looked exciting in a scarlet tunic with garlands of grapes and grape leaves.”

From the crime hit: On New Year’s Eve, shots rang out, but also noisemakers through the streets of Spokane.

Police staged an ongoing shootout with two bandits with pistols who shot a robbery victim, Harry A. Richards.

Richards was going to the store to get bread that evening when two men spoke to him, stuck a gun in his stomach and said, “Put it up.” Little did the bandits know that Richards was a “special officer” in the Spokane Police Department with a gun in his pocket. When Richards began to draw his gun, one of the bandits panicked and fired, striking Richards in the abdomen. Richards managed to fire a few rounds as he fell but hit no one.

The police arrived at the scene, took Richards to the hospital and began a search. They saw the two suspects try to reach the railroad tracks. A car full of officers chased them, opened fire, and ordered them to stop.

One did and was taken into custody. The other man fled behind a house. The police followed his tracks in the snow and found him hidden under a porch, where he surrendered without a fight.

Richards was operated on in the Sacred Heart Hospital and is said to have a “fight chance”.