Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Spokane’s most prominent spiritualist was at it again.

The Rev. Cora Kincannon Smith held a kind of mass seance in which she gathered her followers around and proceeded to tell them about what their relatives were up to in the great beyond.

She relayed a message to one man from his deceased father – who apparently wasn’t much of a churchgoer and was not “inclined to take life very seriously.”

“He wants me to tell you that his ideas were right about hell, and that he is not there, but is having a …

From our archives, 100 years ago

Spokane’s most prominent spiritualist was at it again.

The Rev. Cora Kincannon Smith held a kind of mass seance in which she gathered her followers around and proceeded to tell them about what their relatives were up to in the great beyond.

She relayed a message to one man from his deceased father – who apparently wasn’t much of a churchgoer and was not “inclined to take life very seriously.”

“He wants me to tell you that his ideas were right about hell, and that he is not there, but is having a good time,” said Smith. “He is not playing cards, though now I see he is playing baseball in the spirit world.”

Yes, apparently the spirit world had a baseball league.

Even more startling was the announcement by the good reverend that the spirit world had a band. 

Not just any band. A band led by George Washington himself.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1960: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York ruled that the D.H. Lawrence novel “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” was not obscene and could be sent through the mail. … 1965: The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led 25,000 marchers to the state Capitol in Montgomery, Ala., to protest the denial of voting rights to blacks.