As we last left Francis Cook, he had caused a big uproar
with other prominent men in early Spokane and they had opened a competing
newspaper. The two newspapers, of
course, spent a lot of their resources to just fight with each other.
On the last day of March, 1882, this “newspaper war” erupted
into violence. Anthony Cannon and his
son-in-law, B.H. Bennett, went to Cook’s office to confront Cook concerning an
article he had written, which Cannon felt was uncomplimentary. Both Cannon and Bennett were armed with
pistols. Their purpose was to influence
Cook to print a retraction. A
confrontation followed that left both Cannon and Bennett severely beaten. Cook remained unscathed, although the stove
in his office received a bullet hole in its chimney.
Following the incident, Cannon and Bennett were ordered to
appear before a grand jury on charges of attempt to commit murder. From all accounts, there seemed to be
sufficient probable cause to support the charge, including motive, witnesses
and evidence. The grand jury, whose
foreman was James Glover, ruled that Cannon and Bennett did not intend to
assault Cook and dismissed the charges.
Although many of his accomplishments were absent from early
Spokane historical accounts, substantial evidence remains to support Cook’s
good character. As history plays itself
out, the truth can usually be gleaned and analyzed correctly.
The newspaper feud continued between Cook and James Glover’s
editorials as they both flung arrows at each other. A dispute erupted when Glover claimed to have
given land to Cook to start his newspaper.
It was supposedly 60 feet wide and extended clear through from Riverside
to Sprague on the East side of Howard Street.
Cook had to set the record straight by producing a copy of a deed from
Glover proving that Cook had indeed paid $50 for the land and nothing had been
given for free.
In the next chapter, we’ll see
how Cook came to own the land now known as Manito Park.
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