100 years ago in Spokane: ‘Newly christened Cougars’ outplay Idaho; cabaret owner sues sheriff

It was an exhilarating weekend for the area’s college football teams.

Washington State College rolled roughshod over the University of Idaho, 37-0. A Spokesman-Review correspondent in Pullman said that Idaho was “outplayed and outgeneraled at every stage of the 21st annual football game between the two teams.”

“The smash, bang, assault of the state aggregation brought joy to the heart of every supporter,” said the correspondent.

He wrote that the “newly christened Cougars” were one of the “strongest teams that has ever trod a Northwest gridiron.”

Meanwhile, Gonzaga University’s football eleven staged a surprising rout of the Montana School of Mines team, 41-7.

Good weather and a good field, at Spokane’s fairgrounds, permitted “fast plays” and high scoring, the Spokesman reported.

The paper noted one less-than-exhilarating outcome for Gonzaga.

“The crowd, while enthusiastic, was very small and proved a disappointment to the local school financially.”

From the court beat: Charley Dale, proprietor of Dale’s Cabaret, was suing Spokane County Sheriff George L. Reid for slander and asking $10,000 in damages.

Reid had earlier said, “Dale is a notorious bootlegger. I have had the goods on him for two weeks and I told the city folks about him.”

City police raided Dale’s Cabaret earlier in the week and arrested Dale and several others. He was currently out on bond. However, in his lawsuit Dale said he had “never been either charged with or convicted of bootlegging.”

The Spokane Daily Chronicle noted that Dale had appeared before a police judge “a number of times” on liquor violations and had two cases pending before the Washington State Supreme Court.

Reid refused to back down from his statements.