100 years ago in Spokane: Prohibition in force, ketchup drink gains popularity in saloons

From our archives,

100 years ago

The owners of the so-called “temperance bars,” which had replaced the saloons under prohibition, hit upon a bizarre, yet surprisingly popular, drink recipe.

They put a “shot” of ketchup in the bottom of a glass and filled it with “carbonated fizz,” or nonalcoholic near-beer.

“It has supplanted all other trimmings in bringing carbonated fizz to something near the taste of old-time lager beer,” said the owner of the Stockholm Temperance Bar. “Tabasco sauce, pepper sauce and other trimmings … have all given way to catsup.”

Patrons had taken to ordering this new drink by saying, “I’ll have a glass of soup.”

From the court beat: In other prohibition news, Allen S. DeRiemer, proprietor of the Arlington Hotel, was arrested on a charge of selling intoxicating liquor.

He said he could prove his innocence and said, “I have some enemies down here at the police station, and I don’t know why, either.”

From the murder beat: The sheriff in St. Maries uncovered new evidence that farmer Oscar Olson, missing for two months, had been murdered. They found “unmistakable” evidence that someone tried to wash his mattress in an attempt to remove blood stains. Police were searching for a farm hand who left around the same time Olson disappeared.