100 years ago in Spokane: Jail authorities end Wobbly ‘disturbance’ with fire hose

A Wobbly “disturbance” at the Spokane City Jail – or what the Spokane Daily Chronicle called a “jail riot” – ended after authorities “turned a fire hose on the disturbers.”

The Wobblies were protesting inadequate jail food, but the Chronicle quoted one alleged rioter as saying, “Sure we get enough to eat. It is just one of the principles of the I.W.W. (Wobblies) to kick.”

Another said they were trying to get the “women’s clubs of the city” to become interested in their plight.

Two inches of water was standing in the bottom of a holding cell because of the fire hoses. Authorities claimed they would dry out all of the wet mattresses before nightfall.

There were no further disturbances as yet, but a “ringleader” hinted more trouble might be planned.

From the rescue beat: Two of the rescuers at the Gold Hunter Mine near Mullan themselves had to be rescued after a second cave-in deep in the mine, the Chronicle reported.

The two rescuers were trapped for hours, but they were released uninjured after “desperate digging” by other rescuers.

Meanwhile, optimism was high that the two original trapped miners would soon be rescued. More signals were heard from them, and a breakthrough was expected “any time now.”