This Week in history

Cheney travelers mistaken for Ritzville thugs, Oct. 27 1911

On this very day in 1911, the Cheney Press reported that a murder had taken place in Ritzville the previous Monday. The article said that the three “thugs” who committed the crime afterward boarded a train headed for Cheney.

This was reported by telegraph to Deputy Sheriff Webb and Marshall Addington, in Cheney, who rushed to the train depot to arrest the alleged murders.

However, upon boarding the train, the two officers found three innocent “Cheneyites” who had been mistaken for the fleeing Ritzville criminals.

The article ends abru...