100 years ago today in Spokane: Occultists indicted for fraud

A federal grand jury indicted two Spokane “occult” spiritualists on fraud charges.

H. Calwer and Margaret Guder were charged with advertising their ability to “tell other people’s past, present and future by circle readings and other spiritualist catchalls.”

Calwer advertised himself as a “Hindu Yogi” who gave “life readings.” The Spokane Daily Chronicle described him as a “long-haired expounder of the occult.”

Guder took out classified ads in The Spokesman-Review in which she claimed to be an “ordained spiritual minister, teacher of spiritual science, divine power, supreme wisdom, disciple of Christ and Buddha.”

Guder was considered to be an associate of Calwer and federal officials believed that a “relationship exists between the two.”

Reporters approached Calwer at the U.S. Marshal’s office and asked him what his occupation was, and he replied “editor,” although he had “not yet selected a name for his publication.”

From the football beat: Famed football coach and movie actor William “Lone Star” Dietz was indicted by a federal grand jury in Spokane for allegedly falsifying his draft questionnaire in an attempt to avoid the draft.

Dietz, in Los Angeles, immediately issued a statement in which addressed all of the charges relating to his draft questionnaire. He said he repeatedly tried to enlist in the Marines while he was coaching the Mare Island football team (at a Navy shipyard), “but the Marine Corps officers asked him to retain his civilian status.”

He said he planned to return to Spokane immediately to face the charges.