100 years ago today in Spokane: Rally attendees call for end to mandatory school vaccinations
From our archives,
100 years ago
About 23 people attended an anti-vaccination rally at the Old National Bank building.
The members of the Washington State League for Medical Freedom said they wanted to abolish the state’s mandatory school vaccination law.
Speakers said that people had to “exercise eternal vigilance” or else their liberties would be lost.
From the weather beat: For the first time in years, the Spokane River was frozen solid. More than 6 inches of ice covered the river for 2 miles above the city power dam. Ice skating was “in full swing.”
Parks superintendent John W. Duncan and the city’s engineer said he had never seen so much ice in the river. It was the result of an extended cold snap.
It was so cold that nearly 250 families were without water because of frozen service pipes. One city official said the frost extended more than 4 feet deep in some spots.
However, change was in the air. A warm chinook wind was beginning to blow in.
From the bootlegging beat: Two bootleggers raced 90 miles an hour toward the Colville Reservation in an unsuccessful attempt to elude the Okanogan County sheriff.
A judge asked them what kind of car they were driving. They said, “a Ford,” to which the judge replied, “That must have been the fastest Ford in the world.”