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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

100 years ago in Spokane: Street vendor testifies to benefits of ‘divine healing’; distancing helps tame potential pandemic

“I have great faith in the work, and I know Mr. Hickson’s work helped me,” “Buy Gum” Wilson said. (Spokane Daily Chronicle archives)

A.L. “Buy Gum” Wilson, one of Spokane’s most colorful street vendors, reported that “divine healing” had improved his health tremendously.

He had attended, in his wheelchair, the spiritual healing services of James Moore Hickson at Spokane’s All Saints Cathedral, the Spokane Daily Chronicle reported. A few days later, Wilson went back to All Saints to testify about the results.

“I have great faith in the work, and I know Mr. Hickson’s work helped me,” he said. “I feel stronger every day and my hopes have been revived. I would have been here sooner had I the faith. Now I have the faith and believe it will be but a question of time before great improvement will be shown in my condition.”

From the pandemic beat: Spokane had been through a scare earlier in the winter, when it seemed as if the Spanish flu might be returning for a second year. The first bout, a year earlier, had been shocking and economically disastrous. Schools and businesses were closed for months and all gatherings banned.

But in 1920, the city took what we would now call “social distancing” measures early, the Chronicle reported. The second bout turned out to be much less virulent and deadly.

By March 1920, few traces of the flu remained, and few traces remained of the panic and disruption that had so alarmed the city a year earlier.