100 years ago today in Spokane: Volunteers fulfill the Christmas wishes of city’s poor kids

Volunteers at the Santa Claus headquarters in Spokane finished fulfilling wishes from “scores of letters from the poor tots of the city.” They distributed gifts to 300 children.

One child wrote, “Bring me a top that will spin and a horn that will blow.” He got it.

Another tot from Freeman asked simply for a red balloon.

“That seemed to be the only object that interested him — and he got it,” said the head of the committee that distributed the presents.

Some children were models of self-sacrifice. One little girl asked for a present for each member of the family very explicitly and finished up with “Anything will do for me!”

Meanwhile, a group called the Good Fellows finished up their Christmas drive for the “destitute and needy in Spokane.” They distributed $1,200 in cash donations, along with hundreds of articles of clothing and shoes.

From the drug beat: Spokane’s captain of detectives, Martin Burns, delivered a message that put a damper on the Christmas cheer.

He said the use of cocaine and morphine in Spokane had increased a hundredfold in the past year, and that there were at least 3,000 “dope users” in the city.

He also said almost half of the people arrested in the city were users of cocaine and morphine. He said the problem was “getting beyond control.”

Because of Prohibition, “lumberjacks and others are turning to dope for a kick,” he said.