This Week in History

This Week in History

Lucas Walsh

Cheney Free Press

June 16, 1939

A well-executed robbery

CHENEY — The Standard service station, operated by the C.A. Ratcliffe Company, was burglarized on Sunday night and lost $150 (the equivalent of about $3,200 today) which was not covered by insurance.

The thieves apparently gained access to the service station via a glass window in the rear of the “grease room” near midnight.

A station attendant, Chuck Jones, had hidden a bag of money, checks, and receipts among a pile of dirty towels in the rear of the grease room. The following morning, Art Kennedy opened the station, found the bag where it had been left the previous night, but empty.

This indicated to police that the thieves had probably watched the attendant’s activities from a hidden vantage point, which is how they knew where to look.

The Spokane police were called in to investigate by Chief Ashworth, and they discovered fingerprints on the broken glass, giving them the idea that there were at least two people involved in the burglary. The case, remained unsolved at the time of printing.

Last Week in History

Cheney Free Press

June 9, 1939

Lucas Walsh

Local Pioneer Matron Dies

CHENEY — Mrs. Manerva Graham, a homesteader and pioneer living in Cheney, died on June 3, 1939, due to complications arising from a bout with influenza.

Graham, born Manerva Rushing in 1864, was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wright Rushing. The family had moved to Tennessee and Missouri before moving out west in 1881. At the time of her marriage to Virgil Graham, Manerva was working at the local court house and, in 1885, moved with her husband to their homestead in the Graham Flat district.

Manerva was survived at the time by her husband, Virgil; daughter, Mrs. Elmer Marsh; a sister, Mrs. Rose Sanders; and her brother, D. Rushing.

Hiding from the editor…

CHENEY — “They’ve been trying to keep things from the editor,” opens the article. Apparently, local man Darrel Jerue took a tumble off the roof of his new house as it was being built the previous week.

Also, two “intrepid” fishermen, Bill Bernard and Bob Beaupre, got themselves lost in the wilderness and only returned safely after Bob climbed the tallest tree he could find in order to espy a way back to civilization.

The halting article concludes with one-sentence updates from all over the town; including a cryptic phrase alluding to the speed at which residents can be drawn into the streets by a fire alarm.

Local women get their degrees

MEDICAL LAKE — Two local girls receive college degrees. Miss Elise Morgan and Miss Helen Thiemens both received their B.A. degrees from the Eastern Washington College of Education (now Eastern Washington University).

Thiemens signed on to teach art and the third and fourth grades at Dryden the following summer. Miss Morgan signed on to teach music and the second grade at Cathlamet.