Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

Police raided several more “disorderly houses” in Spokane.

Consternation reigned at the Carmel Hotel, 171 S. Howard St., when police descended on it at noon on a Sunday.

Several of the occupants of the hotel tried to escape by descending a fire escape, but police caught most of them and took 15 men and women to jail. The owner, Mrs. Kaiser, was booked for running a disorderly house, and six women and two male bartenders were arrested on charges of “vagrancy.” Several others were booked on “statutory” charges.

At the Eagle Hotel on Riverside Avenue near Division Street, five women and men were arrested. At a Main Avenue hotel, several people were arrested, including one woman identified as Queen Lemar, a native of Chile.

From the marriage beat: Meanwhile, the pastor of Westminster Congregational Church decried the 40 percent increase in divorces in Spokane County.

He was perplexed by the reasons for the increase, but noted social workers believed people receiving divorces “have lacked in home training.” He said there were exceptions to that rule.

In any case, he believed a good marriage makes a happy home.

“In a happy home, husband and wife share all troubles, and by sharing, halve them,” he said. “They share all pleasures, and by sharing, double them.”