There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
Hellraisers Journal, Monday November 13, 1916
Seattle Central Labor Council to Support I. W. W. Defense
From the Seattle Union Record of November 11, 1916:
SEVEN DEAD AND MANY WOUNDED
IN SECOND LUDLOW ENACTED AT EVERETT______________________________________________________
Central Labor Council to Co-operate in Mass Meeting
—–
At the meeting of the Central Labor Council of Seattle and Vicinity Wednesday evening the Everett situation was thoroughly discussed and a committee, consisting of Business Agent Charles W. Doyle, Secretary James A. Duncan and Editor E. B. Ault, appointed to co-operate with the committee defending the imprisoned members of the I. W. W. The committee was given power to act in the name of the council, and $100 was set aside for their use. In addition an appeal has been sent to each local to contribute to the defense fund, sending all money to the secretary of the Central Labor Council. The following resolutions were adopted:
Whereas, It appears to this council that, following a lockout and open-shop campaign by Roland H. Hartley and others of Everett, Wash., the police and businessmen of that city have attempted to ruthlessly and lawlessly suppress all street speaking and demonstrations by labor organizations, and that many unarmed men have been brutally beaten and terrorized, and the death of seven or more men and the wounding of many more, and
Whereas, A fair inquest should be held to fix the responsibility for this crime, and it appears that this has not been done, but that only witnesses favorable to the posse have been heard;
Therefore, we demand another inquest, free from control by the forces opposed to labor, and a change of venue, if that be necessary.
At a joint meeting of the committees representing the Central Labor Council and the I. W. W. on Thursday steps were taken to enforce the demand for a coroner’s investigation and plans laid for a mass meeting of Seattle citizens to be held Sunday, November 19, at 2:30 p. m. Place to be announced later.
______________________________________________________
(Special Correspondence)
Everett, Wash., Nov. 7, 1916.
Seven men are dead and 50 injured as a result of a battle [on Sunday November 5th] between Everett citizens commissioned as deputy sheriffs and I. W. W.s aboard the boat Verona. The members of the I. W. W. were coming to Everett to resume street speaking in Everett, and were met at the dock by Sheriff McRae and armed citizens who had been sworn in as deputy sheriffs some weeks ago at the behest of the Commercial Club. To understand the tragedy which has shaken Everett as has nothing else since the town was founded it is necessary to review the events leading up to the Sunday battle.
Eighteen months ago wages were reduced in the shingle mills of Everett and after a short struggle the shingle weavers accepted the reduction and resumed work. At that time the promise was made that when shingle prices improved the wages would be restored. Early in the year the shingle market stiffened, but no raise in wages was made. On April 1 the shingle weavers of the state met in convention and adopted a wage scale to apply to Western Washington. May 1 was the date set for this scale to become effective. Many mills paid the wages asked prior to May 1, and on that date many others, including some of the largest shingle plants in the state, paid the wages without question.
Prior to May 1 officials of the Shingle Weavers’ Union sought a conference with Everett mill men looking toward an amicable adjustment of wages that would preclude a strike, but were unsuccessful. Accordingly, on the date set the shingle weavers of Everett, numbering approximately 300, struck. Shortly afterward the Everett Commercial Club entered as a factor in the situation. The president of the Club is Fred K. Baker, a proprietor of one of the mills affected. A committee was appointed to “investigate” the shingle weavers’ strike and report back to the club. This committee interviewed no officials of the union, either local or state, apparently made no effort whatever to learn the viewpoint of the men on strike. It reported back to the Commercial Club that in its opinion conditions did not justify paying the wages asked. The meeting which heard and adopted this report refused to admit officers of the Shingle Weavers’ Union, that their side of the dispute might be heard.
Creates Wrong Impression
Efforts were made also to create the impression that this was a “closed shop” fight, an attempt on the part of the Shingle Weavers’ Union to run the business of the employers. Officers of the union publicly stated then and state now that the only demand ever made was for a restoration of the union scale of wages; that this was and is the only issue, and that there has never been a time that the strike would not have been declared off had this single demand been met.
The shingle mills after a short time began operations with strikebreakers, and a picket line was established by the strikers. Frequent attempts were made by union officials to effect a settlement, the good offices of the federal department of labor were invoked and Commissioner of Conciliation William Blackman, from Washington, D. C., on several occasions used his best endeavors to bring both factions together in an amicable agreement, but every effort was met with failure, it being the evident intention of the mill owners to crush the Shingle Weavers’ Union.
The usual type of strikebreakers were imported into the mills, men who knew nothing of the shingle weaving craft, but were hired for their fighting and browbeating prowess. Minor altercations occurred until one day 60 strikebreakers, egged on by mill owners, attacked 20 strikers, severely beating several of the men. A few nights later a squad of strikebreakers were marched through the main streets of the city in column formation and taken to a theatrical performance, the act being intended and accepted as a defiance to the union men to “start something.” At the close of the performance a free-for-all fight occurred and several of the strikers were arrested for inciting to riot and are ow out on bail awaiting trial.
Begin Speaking Campaign
The I. W. W.s had for some time maintained a semblance of an organization in Everett, but had gained no foothold and had attracted but little attention. They had a small storeroom as a headquarters and reading room, and had made some converts, but were not a factor in Everett’s industrial situation. They suddenly began a street speaking campaign, choosing for their stand Wetmore and Hewitt avenues, the center of the city. Popular opinion in Everett bears out the belief that had they been let alone they would have made no headway in this city with their propaganda. No union in the city had invited them here, the shingleweavers at no time asked for nor needed their aid in the prosecution of their strike. The Commercial Club, however, evidently scented a deep laid conspiracy to wreck the fair name of the city, and a call was made for volunteers to enroll themselves as deputy sheriffs and assist in maintaining law and order. The I. W. W. orators were dragged from the soap boxes as fast as they mounted them and taken to jail by the police and special deputies. Several hundred men were sworn in as deputy sheriffs, all of them first being approved by the Commercial Club, which had appointed itself the arbiter of the city’s affairs.
The experience of other cities should have taught the citizens of Everett a lesson in dealing with this type of men, but it had not. The same tactics adopted in Lawrence, in Spokane, in Aberdeen, were followed here, and the men were beaten and severely handled. This treatment did not deter the I. W. W.s, and they kept coming. As fast as they could be rounded up by the Commercial Club deputies they were driven from town, after several of them were clubbed and severely beaten.
Compelled to Run Gauntlet
This kind of sendoff continued until Monday night, October 30, when 40 of them were taken from a boat as they were entering the city, loaded into automobiles and escorted to Beverly Park, just beyond the city limits. The story goes that at this point the men were compelled to run the gauntlet of deputies lined up on either side of the road, each deputy taking a lusty whack at the men with clubs or saps as they went by. But little has been said publicly about this little party, although it is significant that the Commercial Club deputies do not deny the occurrence. The next day several citizens, including leading ministers of the gospel, motored out to the scene of the alleged beating and found the roadway and cattle guard stained with fresh blood. Hats were picked up early the next morning at the scene which were still damp with blood.
This occurrence was directly responsible for the terrible affair of Sunday. The I. W. W.s vowed that at all hazards they would make a public protest in the streets of Everett, and sent out a call for volunteers to come to Everett. Hand bills were printed announcing that at 2 o’clock on Sunday afternoon they would hold a mass meeting on the forbidden corner of Wetmore and Hewitt. As has been told in the daily newspapers, 250 of them boarded the steamer Verona in Seattle for Everett. At 1 o’clock a prearranged blast of the fire whistle called the deputies together. The streets were black with people who had hurriedly eaten their Sunday dinners that they might have ringside seats at the performance. Uniformed police guarded every street corner to keep the crowds in order. The deputies hurried to the city dock to intercept the boat. Hundreds of people lined the Great Northern tracks overlooking the bay, the deputies having closed the dock entrance to all but their own men. The boat neared the wharf and the deck was seen to be lined with men waving their hats and singing I. W. W. songs.
Many Versions of Fight
From here on there are many versions as to what happened. It is definitely established that Sheriff McRae notified them as they were throwing out the line that they would not be allowed to land. Scarcely had he finished speaking before shots rang out and McRae fell, wounded in the leg. The deputies and employees on the boat all testify that the shooting began from the boat, while it is as vehemently asserted by others that the first shot came from the dock. Your correspondent does not vouch for the truth of any assertion on that point. Shooting became general and probably a thousand shots were exchanged before the boat drew away from the wharf, bearing her dead and wounded. One deputy died instantly, another died in the hospital the next morning, while recovery in one or two other cases is doubtful. Several men lie in the hospital suffering from severe wounds, and others were wounded but able to go to their homes. There were five known dead on the boat and many injured. Men fell from the deck to the water, and it is asserted that some of them never came up. This statement cannot be vouched for. It is also alleged that some man on a tugboat near by, not a deputy and armed with no authority, shot and killed two of the men with a Winchester rifle.
Battle Quickly Ends
The actual battle ended nearly as quickly as it began, lasting but little over ten minutes. The boat pulled away for Seattle with the dead and dying aboard. Governor Lister was notified and sent Adjutant-General Thompson to this city to take charge of the situation should it be found necessary for the state authorities to intervene. The local company of naval militia was ordered out and is still doing guard duty. On the surface everything is quiet, but the situation is tense and nothing but cool-headed action on the part of all citizens, including the members of the Commercial Club, can save the city further humiliation. The inflammatory utterances of a daily newspaper in this city has done much to aggravate the situation, and its editor ought to be muzzled for the time being at least.
Temper of People Dangerous
Your correspondent was on the street at the time of the battle and at the dock ten minutes afterward. He mingled with the street crowds for hours afterwards. The temper of the people is dangerous. Nothing but curses and execrations for the Commercial club was heard. Men and women who are ordinarily law abiding, who in normal times mind their own business pretty well, pay their taxes, send their children to church and school, pay their bills, in every way comport themselves as normal citizens, were heard using the most vitriolic language concerning the Commercial Club, loudly sympathizing with the I. W. W.s. And therein lies the great harm that was done, more menacing to the city than the presence of any number of I. W. W.s, viz., the transformation of decent, honest citizens into beings mad for vengeance and praying for something dire to happen. I heard gray-haired women, mothers and wives, gentle, kindly, I know, in their home circles, openly hoping that the I. W. W.s would come back and “clean up.”
The community spirit that formerly prevailed in Everett-that made the City of Smokestacks famous for her civic pride and industrial activity-is gone, AND IT MAY TAKE A GENERATION TO BRING IT BACK. Just as in Europe the grim hand of war has laid waste in a day’s battle what the hand of man was centuries in building, so has this industrial battle destroyed what Everett citizens, the day laborer no less than the business man, been a decade in building.
That’s the pity of it!
Try to Restore Order
As I write this a few people are trying to bring back order and sanity to the community, not with Winchesters and clubs, but by force of reason. Within an hour of the occurrence President E. P. Marsh, of the State Federation of Labor, was gathering together men representative of the best elements in the community to confer over what should be done to end the strife. Federal Conciliator William Blackman, State Labor Commissioner C. H. Younger, International President J. G. Brown of the Shingle Weavers’ Union, were summoned from Seattle, and nearly a score of local ministers, attorneys and business men met Monday afternoon and discussed every phase of the situation. This committee adjourned to take up its work again after election, and it is hoped that some solution may be found. It must be a permanent peace, not a temporary truce. Causes that produce such occurrences must be removed. Commercial clubs as well as I. W. W. organizations must be taught that they cannot set themselves above the law.
It is a great pity that kindlier relations between man and man must be brought about through suffering and bloodshed, but that seems to be the way it sometimes works out. If out of it all a better understanding comes to all classes of citizens, a better era, a spirit of tolerance, a spirit of live and let live, the I. W. W.s will have rendered Everett a signal service. If the whole occurrence does not bring Everett to its senses then all will have died in vain.
P.
———-
[Emphasis and photograph added.]
SOURCES
Seattle Union Record
(Seattle, Washington)
-Nov 11, 1916, page 1 (001)
http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/pnwlabor
The Industrial Workers of the World, 1905-1917
-by Philip S Foner
International Publishers, 1965
Chp 23: The Everett Massacre
https://books.google.com/books?id=UiScKGtes8EC
IMAGE
Seattle Union Record, Re Ludlow Massacre, May 2, 1914
http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/laborpress/Union_Record_1912-1914.htm
See also:
Seattle Union Record by Natalia Salinas-Aguila
http://depts.washington.edu/labhist/laborpress/Union_Record_1900-1928.htm
Tag: Everett Massacre
https://weneverforget.org/tag/everett-massacre/