Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

100 years ago in Spokane: Disparate groups defy street oration ordinance

From our archives,

100 years ago

A pair of unlikely allies – the Wobblies and the street evangelists – openly defied Spokane’s street-speaking ordinance.

Two members of the Industrial Workers of the World (the Wobblies) were arrested after they attempted to orate on street corners downtown. One of them, Harry Drew, shouted as he was taken away, “Thirty thousand of us are on the way to Spokane and they will give you plenty to do this winter!”

He was threatening a repeat of the Free Speech Fight, which had roiled Spokane six years earlier.

Spokane’s most famous street evangelist, Sister Bilkiss, may not have shared the Wobblies’ politics, but she had a similar stake in unfettered street oration. So she defied the law by having one of her young missionaries, Sister Della, 22, mount a soap box on Main Avenue while Sister Bilkiss stood guard and dared police to make an arrest.

When a police sergeant ordered Sister Della to stop, Sister Bilkiss told her, “Don’t go a step!” Then Bilkiss turned to the sergeant and said, “Get the Black Maria!” – a slang term for the police wagon.

“The Black Maria it is,” the sergeant said.

When the booking officer asked Sister Bilkiss if she wanted to post bond for Sister Della, Bilkiss replied, “I’d see you in hell first.”