100 years ago in Spokane: Buoyed by a successful anti-booze campaign, a women’s group was setting its sights on tobacco prevention

The Women’s Christian Temperance Union, having won its battle against alcohol, turned its sights on nicotine.

At the meeting of the Spokane chapter, leaders read a new national resolution, which stated that the organization encouraged “further scientific research into the effects of nicotine and urged all public and private school teachers and Sunday school workers to assist in an educational campaign to make these effects known.”

The resolution further urged the “strict enforcement of the laws forbidding the sale of tobacco products to minors” and “that we continue to protest against the untruthful and misleading advertisements and against the increasing habit of smoking among women.”

From the moonshine beat: Constable Cris Sorenson of the West Spokane township (now defunct) and his partner got wind of a massive moonshine operation in a deserted house at the head of Indian Canyon.

The two officers raided the place, “but the bootlegger would not let them in without a search warrant.”

So they went off and obtained a warrant, but in the meantime, the bootlegger made himself scarce and took all of the finished liquor with him. But the bootlegger couldn’t take the big still and about 1,000 gallons of mash.

Sorenson called the county sheriff and said, “We’ve got a big still out here and a lot of mash, but what are we going to do with it?”

The sheriff dispatched two deputies who wandered around in the darkness for a while, and finally stumbled on the house, with the two township officers standing guard over it.

The still and mash were turned over to the sheriff’s office for disposal.