100 years ago in Spokane: Canadian arrested for recruiting men to fight in World War I

From our archives,

100 years ago

A Canadian was arrested for violating U.S. neutrality laws by attempting to recruit Spokane men for Canada’s army.

The man did most of his recruiting at Jimmie Durkin’s former saloon and promised recruits $33 monthly pay, full uniforms and “a guarantee of 150 acres in Canada if they stuck it out until the end of the war.”

He admitted trying to recruit some men, but he denied that he was acting for Canada’s government. He said he had been rejected from the Canadian army for being too fat, and he “wanted to do something for his country.”

He said he approached only Canadian citizens and never successfully recruited anybody.

From the court beat: Hundreds of spectators heard plenty of tantalizing testimony in the arson trial of Marie Wilkinson, a former vaudeville singer and actress. She was charged with setting fire to her own Spokane home.

She testified about the “unusual love triangle” that existed between her, her ex-husband William Wilkinson and her sister Fay, 15. As soon as the divorce was final, Wilkinson married Fay.

Marie Wilkinson’s attorneys suggested that the house was burned by her “enemies,” and they tried to show that her ex-husband was one of those enemies.

However, the prosecutors said they had evidence that William Wilkinson was on his new homestead in Idaho when the fire was set.

They also introduced into evidence a letter from Wilkinson to show that he was still friendly with Marie after the divorce. The letter also contained a message to Faye, who was sick at the time. He wrote to Faye, “If you do not get better right away I will have to come down and spank you and my hands are awful rough.”