100 years ago in Spokane: Reverend’s frustration with ‘too many lawyers in Olympia’ riled up legislators

An entire meeting of the Spokane Bar Association was given over to an indignant discussion about Rev. W.C. Hicks, Spokane’s Episcopal dean, who had stated publicly that “there are too many lawyers in Olympia.” He made the comment a day earlier while discussing a new divorce bill.

His statement doesn’t sound too controversial in today’s world, but it certainly riled up the lawyers in 1921.

They invited Dean Hicks to come and explain himself. Some said it was time for the association to “take action when members of the profession were publicly and unjustly criticized.”

Members pointed out that only 33 of the 139 Olympia legislators were lawyers.

From the fatality beat: Tom Baird, 38, collapsed on the sidewalk in front of the Star soft drink saloon, 220 N. Stevens.

He was carried into the saloon, where he groaned and writhed in pain for two hours before somebody called police and summoned help.

By then, it was too late. He was dead.

Because of Prohibition, the saloon was indeed designated as a “soft drink” parlor. However, the cause of death was ruled to be “too much alcohol.”

From the court beat: The jury was still out in the manslaughter trial of federal Prohibition agents W.C. Vest and John G. Montgomery, charged with shooting a man they suspected of being a bootlegger.

Some excitement occurred when a rumor floated around the courthouse that William Emley, the father of the slain man, had entered the courthouse with a gun. However, when marshals searched him, he was carrying nothing but a pocket knife.