100 years ago in Spokane: ‘Good Fellow’ rally to mother in need

The Spokane Daily Chronicle ran a heartstring-tugging story nearly every day on its front page as part of its newsroom holiday charity called the Good Fellows.

Today’s was headlined, “Hungry Little Tots Didn’t Know Why Mama Always Looked Unhappy.”

The story’s setting: “An old dilapidated structure that might have been a house long ago, but which bears no right to that name now.”

In it was a “frail little woman and her two children.”

Even though they lived near the heart of the city, nobody knew that “for weeks they have been eking out a miserable, hopeless existence.”

The mother “sobbed out” her sad story to a neighbor, who contacted the paper.

“Another little one is on the way and may be here before Christmas. To aid and comfort the mother in the trying situation, there is no father. He has left the household to shift for itself during the crisis. There was need for food and clothing when he left some weeks ago; that need is greatly intensified now.”

The Good Fellows vowed to help this “hapless little circle,” and others like it, but they needed help from the public to donate money for clothes, food and fuel.

“Every cent contributed will be used for relief work,” said the paper.