A little bit of humour extracted from the Moose Jaw Public Library Archives: MJ Story Spanish Flu Police Stories
From the Moose Jaw Evening News
The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 hit Moose Jaw pretty hard. In the first 18 days, 48 people died.
The police court reporter of the day found some humour in that pandemic — and the same humour works today in this pandemic.
Saturday, November 30, 1918
“Sam Shluker, who was recently fined for loafing and warned to shake the dust of the city from his heels, was again charged with the same offense.”
“Rose Moore, or at least that’s the name she gave this time … was found in procession of a quantity of Morphine.”
Thirst Cost Him $25
“John Johnston, for being too drunk to know at the time whether he was consuming liquor in a public place or not, was fined $25 and costs.”
Failure to properly Social Distance, Friday, December 6, 1918
“Tina had ten callers at once last night — the City Police raided a house at 1206 Grafton Avenue, about 11:30 last evening — Mrs. Grace Hendry, also known in the city as Tina Henderson — was charged with being the keeper of a bawdy house and the 10 men were charged with being frequenters of a bawdy house. They all received bail.”
