100 years ago in Spokane: Anti-American sentiments land two in hot water

Two men were indicted by a Spokane federal grand jury for “slander” against the U.S.

The first, H. Witter, of Chelan, was alleged to have said, “If I thought for a minute I could whip the United States, I would start in on the (expletive deleted). The (expletive deleted) are looking for trouble and I hope they will get it.”

He was indicted under the Espionage Act.

The second, Fred Scott, allegedly said, “Any man who would go over there to fight is a murderer.” He was indicted under the same act.

From the police beat: A husky soldier from Chicago, stationed at Fort George Wright, punched a logger in a pool room after the logger made disparaging remarks about the Army.

The logger admitted that he was a Wobbly, and told Burns he had little respect for the uniform.

“A man can talk about me personally, and I will stand a lot of it,” said the soldier. “But when he says anything against this uniform or the government of the United States, he has me to fight.”

Both men ended up in the emergency room, the logger with head lacerations and the soldier with a broken finger.

Also on this date

(From Associated Press)

1519: Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his crew set out from Spain on five ships to find a western passage to the Spice Islands. (Magellan was killed en route, but one of his ships eventually circled the world.)