Everett Massacre
| Everett massacre | |||
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Funeral of Felix Baran
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| Date | November 5, 1916 | ||
| Location |
Everett, Washington 47°58′46″N 122°13′13″W / 47.97944°N 122.22028°WCoordinates: 47°58′46″N 122°13′13″W / 47.97944°N 122.22028°W |
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| Goals | wages | ||
| Methods | Strikes, protests, demonstrations | ||
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The Everett Massacre (also known as Bloody Sunday) was an armed confrontation between local authorities and members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union, commonly called "Wobblies". It took place in Everett, Washington on Sunday, November 5, 1916. The event marked a time of rising tensions in Pacific Northwest labor history.
In 1916, Everett, Washington was facing a serious depression. There was ongoing confrontation between business, commercial interests, labor, and labor organizers. There had been a number of labor-organized rallies and speeches in the street. These were opposed by local law enforcement, which was firmly on the side of business. IWW organizers had gone into Everett to support a five-month-long strike by shingle workers. Once there, vigilantes organized by business had beaten them up with axe handles and run them out of town. The Seattle IWW decided to go to Everett in numbers to hold a rally to show their support for the striking shingle workers.
On November 5, 1916, about 300 IWW members met at the IWW Hall in Seattle and then marched down to the docks where they boarded the steamers Verona and Calista which then headed north to Everett. Verona arrived at Everett before Callista and as they approached the dock in the early afternoon, the Wobblies sang their fight song Hold the Fort. Local business interests, knowing the Wobblies were coming, placed armed goon squads on the dock and on at least one tugboat in the harbor, Edison, owned by the American Tug Boat Company. As with previous labor demonstrations, the local businessmen had also secured the aid of law enforcement, including the Snohomish County sheriff Donald McRae, who was known for targeting Wobblies for arbitrary arrests and beatings.
More than 200 vigilantes or "citizen deputies", under the ostensible authority of Snohomish County Sheriff McRae, met in order to repel the "anarchists." As the Verona drew into the dock, and someone on board threw a line over a bollard, McRae stepped forward and called out "Boys, who's your leader?" The IWW men laughed and jeered, replying "We're all leaders," and they started to swing out the gang plank. McRae drew his pistol, told them he was the sheriff, he was enforcing the law, and they couldn't land here. There was a silence, then a Wobbly came up to the front and yelled out "the hell we can't."
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Wikipedia