You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
Hellraisers Journal, Monday November 6, 1916
Everett, Washington – Free Speech Fighters Massacred
BLOODY SUNDAY IN EVERETT, WASHINGTON
WE NEVER FORGET
Members of the Industrial Workers of the World, who, after the brutal events at Beverly Park on October 30th, being determined to establish the right to free speech and union organization in the lumber town of Everett, Washington, were shot down in cold blood by Sheriff McRae and his posse of drunken deputies yesterday, the day now known as Bloody Sunday.
The men had arrived on the steamer Verona from Seattle in order to attend a free speech rally scheduled for that afternoon when they were denied the right to disembark at the Everett dock. Sheriff McRae, by most reports, fired the first shot as if to signal his deputized gunthugs to open fire on the union men.
The account below is from The New York Times which characterizes the union men as “invaders.” We expect to get the working class version of the story in the coming days from the labor and socialist press of Everett and Seattle.
From The New York Times of November 6, 1916:
EVERETT, Wash., Nov. 5-Six men were killed and forty were injured today in a fight at the Everett city wharf between 250 members of the Industrial Workers of the world, who came here from Seattle on the steamer Verona, and a posse of 150 citizens headed by Sheriff Don McCrae [McRae]. Sheriff McCrae is among the seriously wounded.
Of the dead, five were aboard the Verona. The other man slain was a citizen here.
After the encounter, in which about 1,000 shots were exchanged, the Verona turned, and started back to Seattle, thirty miles to the south. Many men were seen to fall on the deck of the steamship, and others, panic-stricken, jumped overboard. Some were taken from the water and others disappeared, and it is believed they were drowned.
The Verona reached Everett shortly before 2 o’clock. The coming of the party of invaders had been announced in messages sent to Everett from Seattle headquarters. A call to Industrial Workers of the World members from all over the State had been issued earlier in the week, and the citizens of Everett at a meeting held on Saturday night planned to meet the invaders and deny them the privilege of landing.
Open Fire on Posse.
When the Verona reached the city wharf Sheriff McRae, who was backed by a posse of Deputy Sheriffs and citizens, stepped forward and informed the men on the boat that they would not be permitted to land. One of the men evidently spokesman for the party, began arguing with the Sheriff and then made a speech. Apparently as a signal the man dropped his hand and armed men on the steamer opened fire on the posse assembled on the wharf.
The first man to fall was Sheriff McRae, seriously injured. One man was killed instantly, and in a moment the crowd on shore was panic-stricken. Deputy Sheriffs on the wharf quickly rallied their forces, however, and returned the fire of the invaders on the Verona. Men on the wharf and on the boat were seen to fall. The Verona immediately backed out of the dock and started back toward Seattle.
Following is a list of the casualties among the citizens’ posse:
The trouble between the Industrial Workers of the World and the authorities at Everett has been on for several months, and was the outgrowth of a strike of shingle weavers here. After several minor outbreaks of violence during the strike, Sheriff McRae organized the Citizens’ Committee and expelled all members of the Industrial Workers of the World from Everett.
On several occasions small parties of men have attempted to enter Everett, but have been turned back by the Sheriff. Five members of the Industrial Workers of the world came here from Seattle by steamer on Monday, but were met at the wharf by the citizens’ posse, loaded into automobiles, and escorted to point south of the town, where they were liberated and ordered to leave.
[The Times, here, neglects to tell the whole truth regarding the brutal events of October 30th at Beverly Park where 41 fellow workers were forced to run the gauntlet by Sheriff McRae and his band of vigilantes.]
The Industrial Worker, the official organ of the I. W. W. in Seattle, announced last week that the forcible expulsion of men from Everett must be avenged and called for 2,000 volunteers to go to Everett to establish “the right of free speech.”
“The fight must be won,” said the paper, “as the whole future of the Industrial Workers of the World in this section depends upon the outcome. We want all foot-loose rebels in the West to centre their attention upon Everett and the trust mill and logging properties. Get on the job and use your judgment.”
———-
Returns with Five Dead.
SEATTLE, Wash., Nov 5.-The steamship Verona, which carried the Industrial Workers of the World expedition to Everett, returned here early tonight with five dead and twenty injured on board.
Following is the list of the dead on the Verona:
Governor Ernst Lister immediately ordered Adjt. Gen. Maurice Thompson of the Washington National Guard to go to Everett and report to him on conditions there.
Before leaving for Everett General Thompson ordered all National Guard organizations in Seattle to report for duty. Four companies of coast artillery, four companies of infantry, and two divisions of the naval militia were ordered under arms. Pending further developments the guardsmen were ordered to assist the police in rounding up members of the Industrial Workers of the World here.
The Verona left Seattle about noon with 250 armed men aboard. One hundred and fifty other members of the Industrial Workers of the World who could not find room on the Verona boarded the steamer Calista, which left after the first boat had departed. Both vessels were chartered for an “excursion.”
The fight was over, and the Verona was on her way back long before the Calista approached Everett. The two steamers met at Mukilteo, four miles south of Everett, and came back to Seattle together.
Policemen were placed in charge of the Industrial Workers’ headquarters in Washington Street, and a large force of men was sent to the water front to meet the Verona.
When the Verona pulled into her slip the wharf was surrounded by policemen, some armed with shotguns and others with drawn pistols, and thirty National Guardsmen, under command of Captain Paul Edwards. All the guardsmen stood with fixed bayonets and their belts filled with ball cartridges.
As the steamer drew alongside the pier Captain of Police D. F. Willard shouted to Captain Wiman of the Verona not to land. Several members of the Industrial Workers of the World aboard the boat started to clamber over the steamer’s rail, but policemen halted them at the point of revolvers. One gangplank was lowered, and, under supervision of the police, the wounded were taken off the boat, assisted by their uninjured comrades, and were removed to the city hospital.
The four dead were taken to the Morgue. The Verona’s dead were found laid out on the floor of the cabin, and the wounded were stretched out on seats along the walls or lying on the floor.
As the men marched down the gangplank under cover of police shotguns and pistols they were searched for firearms, but no weapons were found. Several pistols were found hidden in the cabin of the boat when it was searched after the men had been taken off. All of the uninjured men were loaded into automobiles under heavy police guard and taken to the city jail, where they were locked up.
Sheriff Robert Hodge sent four automobile loads of deputies to Richmond beach to arrest any members of the Verona’s party who attempted to land there.
Warning that there would be trouble in Everett today was issued at the Seattle headquarters of the Industrial Workers of the World last night after a meeting of members. A call for members to join the expedition to Everett was issued, and speakers said that they would tolerate no interference from the Everett authorities. A circular issued for distribution in Everett read:
Citizens of Everett: Attention: There will be a meeting of the Industrial Workers of the World Nov. 5, at Hewett and Wetmore Avenues. Come and help maintain your own and our national privileges.
COMMITTEE.
“If the police, Sheriff, and citizens will not maintain order in Everett they had better call out the militia,” said one speaker at last night’s meeting. “In any event we will go there and put Everett in order.”
———-
[Photographs added-of wounded on Verona and of Sheriff McRae-are from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of November 6th.]
SOURCES
The Everett Massacre
-by Walker C. Smith
IWW, 1918
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31810/31810-h/31810-h.htm
Re: IWW FWs beaten at Beverly Park on Oct 30, 1916:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31810/31810-h/31810-h.htm#Page_70
The New York Times
(New York, New York)
-Nov 6, 1916 pages 1 & 8
https://www.newspapers.com/image/20566317/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/20566589/
IMAGES
Everett Massacre, IWW Martyrs at Morgue, WCS
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31810/31810-h/31810-h.htm#Page_235
Everett Massacre, NYT re “invading ship” Nov 6, 1916
Everett Massacre, Dead & Wd McRae’s Posse, NYT Nov 6, 1916
Everett Massacre, IWW dead, NYT Nov 6, 1916
https://www.newspapers.com/image/20566317/
Everett Massacre, Wd IWWs on Verona, Stt P-I, Nov 6, 1916
http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/pnwlabor/id/100/rec/57
Everett Massacre, Sheriff Don McRae, Stt P-I, Nov 6, 1916
http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/pnwlabor/id/102/rec/70
See also:
NYT Search-
“I.W.W. MEN SLAIN ON INVADING SHIP”
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E01E2D91430E733A05755C0A9679D946796D6CF&legacy=true
“Returns [to Seattle from Everett] with Five Dead”
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E00E2D91430E733A05755C0A9679D946796D6CF&legacy=true
Hellraisers Journal: Reporting on IWW Activities in Everett, Minneapolis and the Mesabi Iron Range
https://weneverforget.org/hellraisers-journal-reporting-on-iww-activities-in-everett-minneapolis-and-the-mesabi-iron-range/
The Everett Massacre (Spoken Word) – Joe Jencks
WE NEVER FORGET