100 years ago in Spokane: Bride gives simple response to reporters about her interracial marriage

From our archives, 100 years ago

“White Girl Weds Local Japanese,” said a Spokesman-Review headline. The first paragraph explained that Dr. Ben Kohno, “a local Japanese dentist” had just married Florence Adair, “a pretty musician of St. Maries, Idaho.”

The “appearance of the couple attracted unusual attention” at the county auditor’s office.

Dr. Kohno refused to discuss his marriage with reporters, except to complain that the local Japanese newspapers and American newspapers “seemed to think he was doing something terrible and should be killed.”

The bride, dressed in a black gown trimmed with velvet, was then asked her opinion on “whether the races should intermarry.”

“I knew that I would be criticized, but Kohno has always treated me nice,” she said. “I believe he is better than many white men. Why should I not marry him?”

From the war beat: A front page headline said, “Wilson Warns of War Possibility.”

President Woodrow Wilson said the time may come when he could not keep the United States out of the European war, and, at the same time, maintain the nation’s honor.

German provocations were mounting up. Wilson said he was not afraid of anybody, but he was “afraid of the danger of shame.”