100 years ago in Spokane: James ‘Bluebeard’ Huirt promises to explain the disappearances of women believed to be his wives
![James “Bluebeard” Huirt promised reporters from his hospital bed in Los Angeles that he’d explain the disappearance of women believed to be his wives on April 27, 1920. (S-R archives)](https://thumb.spokesman.com/5HApt-y6u0KubzGgBKxRsr7mLDM=/400x0/media.spokesman.com/photos/2020/04/26/history_0427.jpg)
James “Bluebeard” Huirt — aka Harry M. Lewis, aka James P. Watson — gave an interview to Los Angeles reporters from his hospital bed in which he claimed he would soon be able to “disprove the charges against me.”
“The temporary hysteria of the press and the officials over my affairs is amusing,” he said. “When I am able to get up and attend to matters, I will be able to straighten out some of these disappearances that everyone is blaming on me.”
These “disappearances” certainly required some explanation. Huirt was accused of having multiple wives, including several from Spokane. A number of those wives had vanished without a trace.
Despite the mounting evidence against him, Huirt declared he was simply being made “the goat” for any woman “who has lost a husband within the last few years.”
More women were, in fact, coming forward with claims against Huirt. A Spokane woman said her daughter married Huirt in Colfax, swindled her, and caused her to have a nervous breakdown. A Chicago woman told police she married Huirt the previous October, and he deserted her on their honeymoon after stealing her jewelry.
“He certainly could make love,” she said in a statement. “He was an expert.”
From the presidential beat: The Washington State Republican Convention, in Bellingham, unanimously endorsed Sen. Miles Poindexter of Spokane as the Republican presidential nominee.
This meant that all 14 Washington delegates and 14 alternates would go to the national convention pledged to Poindexter.
Enthusiasm for Washington’s ‘“favorite son” was high.
“Pictures of Miles Poindexter adorned the front and rear of the convention hall, with Lincoln and McKinley at the sides.”