100 years ago today in Spokane: City boots radicals, prompting threats of another Free Speech Fight

After Spokane city officials ousted radical speakers from Turner Hall, one radical leader threatened to revive the Free Speech Fight.

“If you won’t give us a permit to speak on the streets, you will have another street fight in the city,” declared one leader. “You know that history repeats itself. You know what happened 10 years ago.”

What happened was that the city was traumatized when thousands of Wobblies descended on Spokane. Many hundreds were jailed when they tried to speak on street corners. Spokane’s jails could not handle the crowds and eventually the Free Speech Fight was settled, with both sides declaring victory.

Spokane’s commissioner of public safety was defiant, saying, “They will not hold street meetings while I am here. That is what we keep these policemen here for.”

From the evangelical beat: Spokane’s famous street evangelist, Sister Bilkiss — real name Flora M. Bilkiss — died in Los Angeles on April 5, 1919.

Sister Bilkiss left an estate of $2,000, which she left to her beloved Bible Gideon band, “for the salvation of souls.”

From the death file: Two men were dead after a Sunday supper that apparently contained tainted meat.

William H. Button, a Spokane broker, and Smith Hilliard, a Uniontown banker, both died of ptomaine poisoning.

Button’s father and small son were also ill, but believed to be recovering.

The culprit was a dish of “Belgian hare.”