100 years ago in Spokane: Local action called for as Spanish Influenza spreads

The local Council of National Defense issued a call for Spokane doctors to “assist in checking the spread of Spanish influenza.”

Volunteers must be prepared to leave the state and would receive compensation of $200 per month, plus expenses. They were asking for at least 10 local volunteers.

This was more evidence that the Spanish flu epidemic was spreading at an alarming rate. Spokane was still awaiting its first official case of the flu.

From the war beat: The wartime casualty toll continued to rise. Two Spokane soldiers, Ray Grinstead and Robert Craig, were officially listed as killed in action.

Another local man, Sgt. Harold Robert Snow, 28, was “in a hospital in France suffering from shell shock.”

From the curfew file: Maj. R. Brown of the U.S. Department of Public Health urged Spokane to adopt a curfew for all girls under 18.

He said Spokane should follow Seattle’s example and make a rule barring any girl under 18 from entering a hotel, restaurant or lodging house after 9 p.m., unescorted.

He said such a rule would help prevent the spread of social diseases. About 5 percent of the soldiers arriving at Camp Lewis for training had been found to be infected.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1962: “Silent Spring,” Rachel Carson’s study on the effects of pesticides on the environment, was published in book form by Houghton Mifflin.