Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

The Rev. Mark A. Matthews, “the black-maned lion of Seattle,” roared his prohibition message to a cheering crowd of 1,200 at North Central High School.

“Half a century ago, slavery was abolished because the United States could not exist half slave and half free,” he thundered. “Now they are going to abolish liquor because they cannot exist half drunk and half sober.”

He added, with admirable foresight, “It won’t take long, either.”

However, he also offered another, less accurate, prediction.

“The wets say prohibition will not prohibit. I say it will. … Criminal laws are the easiest of all to enforce.”

From the school beat: “We were near swamped for a while,” said the principal of Spokane’s first night school, held at Lewis and Clark High School.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1514: Mary Tudor, the 18-year-old sister of Henry VIII, became Queen consort of France upon her marriage to 52-year-old King Louis XII, who died less than three months later.

1776: A group of Spanish missionaries settled in present-day San Francisco.

1888: The public was first admitted to the Washington Monument.

1967: Latin American guerrilla leader Che Guevara was killed by the Bolivian army a day after he was captured.