100 years ago in Spokane: 26 men fail to appear before draft board

A wartime draft was not easy to implement, as the first Spokane numbers indicated.

Out of 80 men called to appear before the draft board on the first call, only 54 showed up. A total of 26 men failed to appear altogether, which made them liable to charges of desertion if they did not appear within the next few weeks.

Of the 80 men called, only 15 men were accepted for service. The rest had either asked for an exemption, already had enlisted (three), or were registered as “aliens.”

These numbers seemed alarming for a nation struggling to build a multi-million-man army in 1917. However, a Spokane draft official said that there were several reasons for these relatively low numbers.

“In our district, there are many laborers and foreigners,” he said. “Perhaps the other districts will show different results. The men who failed to respond today may be out of the city at work and will probably show up during the examination period. Even then, they have 10 days to respond. After that time, they will be certified as physically fit and are liable for military duty.”

From the fraud beat: The sheriff’s department urged residents to be on the lookout for a con man who appeared on people’s doorsteps claiming to be a state water inspector.

He told homeowners he required a 25-cent fee to check the purity of their water. When people gave him a quarter, he requested a glass of water. He then dunked his watch into the water. When it continued to tick, he certified that the water was pure.

When a skeptical housewife questioned this method of testing, he assured her it was a “a new method.”