100 years ago in Spokane: ‘Teddy the Wobbly’ bear club big attraction at outdoors show

More than 6,000 people attended the first day of the Spokane Sportsmen’s-Tourist Show, and the unquestioned star was a little black bear cub named Teddy the Wobbly.

Visitors gawked at the little cub while he drank warm milk and ate stick candy.

How did he get the name Teddy the Wobbly?

Teddy had been roaming the forests of Pacific County when he somehow got separated from his litter mates. A group of five Industrial Workers of the World (Wobbly) loggers found him wandering down a public highway.

According to the story, Teddy did not run away, but “stuck around to see what a Wobbly looked like.” One of the men grabbed the cub. Just about then, the mother bear burst from the woods and “a battle royal with five I.W.W., a black bear and a cub” resulted.

The man holding the cub “lost most of his clothes and was badly bruised,” but the other men succeeded in driving off the mama bear. They sped off with Teddy.

The area game warden was justifiably upset when he heard the Wobblies had taken the cub. He arrested the Wobblies and took possession of the cub. The Wobblies were suing to get the cub back, but in the meantime, the game warden retained custody. The game commission decided to send Teddy to Spokane for the Sportsmen’s-Tourist Show while the fate of Teddy was being resolved in court.

A front page photo in the Chronicle showed Teddy perched on the shoulder of the game warden.

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1992: Johnny Carson’s final appearance as host of “The Tonight Show.”