The single bloodiest dayin the Pacific Northwest's labor history occurred at 12:00 noon on Sunday,November 5, 1916 (Bloody Sunday, 2000).  On this day, a battle ensuedin Everett, Washington between Everett town officials and members of theIndustrial Workers of the World (IWW).  The incident took place onthe Everett docks when a ferry named "Verona" steamed into Everett carryingapproximately 250 IWW union members.  About 200 Everett citizen deputies,under the authority of Sheriff Donald McRae, awaited the Verona's arrivaland were determined to prevent the IWW members from unloading their boat. This battle was sparked by the free speech movement and served as the climaxto numerous free speech fights that took place during this decade. The Everett Massacre lasted only one day but the lives of seven men weretaken and approximately 50 were wounded (Bloody Sunday, 2000).

There were many eventsthat led to Everett's Bloody Sunday and the high level of animosity betweenthe town of Everett and the IWW union.  First of all, the IWW attemptedto persuade the shingle worker's union to unite with their union on numerousoccasions (Bloody Sunday, 2000).  On May 1, 1916, the shingle weaverswent on strike to protest their employer's failure to increase wages thatwere stated in an agreement made the previous year (Filippelli, 1990). Everett mill owners promised a wage increase when prices rose again aftertheir spring recession but the employer's failed to follow through withit.  The strike was free of violence until August 19, 1916 when strikebreakers,hired by one of the mill owners, Neil Jamison, attacked the picketers bybeating them with clubs.  The scabs that were leaving the mill afterwork were also attacked (Bloody Sunday, 2000).  The IWW union soonbecame involved in the violence.

When the IWW opened a hallin Everett, police officials strongly opposed (Filippelli, 1990). On August 22, 1916, Sheriff McRae ordered the IWW to abandon their officeand return to Seattle but in protest, the IWW members traveled to HewittAvenue, a street located in Everett, to voice their opinion (Bloody Sunday,2000).  When an IWW member stepped up to speak on the wooden soapbox,they were immediately hauled down and arrested regardless of what theirspeech entailed.  Between August 29 and October 30, Everett policearrested and beat numerous IWW members (Bloody Sunday, 2000).  Everettofficials made it very obvious that the IWW union was not welcome in Everett.

On the night of October30, 1916, forty-one IWW members voluntarily traveled from their Seattleheadquarters to speak to the crowds in Everett (Filippelli, 1990). Sheriff McRae along with his deputies gathered at the docks and arguedwith the IWW members, also known as the "Wobblies."  The Wobbliesdemanded their right to speak freely at the intersection of Hewlett andWetmore Street, which was Everett's main speaking area.  Everett officialsdisagreed with their desire and restricted them to speaking at Hewitt andGrand where only a small amount of spectators could gather to hear them. The Wobblies proceeded to argue with officials so Everett deputies transportedthem to Beverly Park.  At the park, the Wobblies were beaten and forcedto "run the gauntlet (Bloody Sunday, 2000)."  The gauntlet is definedin Webster's Dictionary as "a former military punishment in which the offenderhad to run between two rows of men who struck them with clubs, etc. ashe passed (Webster's New World College Dictionary 1996)."  The Wobbliesexperienced this type of punishment when hundreds of Everett deputies formedrows on of each side of them and continued to whip, trip, and spike themas they "ran the gauntlet."  A shockingly large trail of dried bloodwas left the next morning after this event
(Bloody Sunday, 2000).

During this time of violence,Everett was struggling with the free speech movement and the IWW constantlydemanded their free speech rights (Bloody Sunday, 2000).  On numerousoccasions in 1916, the IWW tried to speak publicly to the shingle workersabout joining their union.  The shingle weaver's union was establishedin 1901 due to extremely poor working conditions (http://www.epls.org/nw/emassacre/htm). Prior to the unionization, mill workers faced long hours and worked indangerous conditions.  Accidents were common in the mills and theworkers could easily be noticed in public by their missing fingers as aresult of unguarded saws.  Some workers lost their lives from contracting"cedar asthma" that was caused from the inhalation of large amounts ofcedar dust that filled the workplace (http://www.epls.org/nw/emassacre/htm).These horrible conditions resulted in the workers' unionization in 1901.

The Industrial Workersof the World (IWW) was formed on July 7, 1905 and the "organizers believedthat through industrial unionism 'the workers could secure control of productionand establish industrial democracy (IWW, 2000)."  In 1911, the InternationalShingle Weaver's Union comprised of approximately 2,000 members; the majorityof them were also affiliated with the IWW (http://digital.lib.msu.edu/). The consolidation of the IWW and the International Shingle Weaver's unionsinto one big union was a widely discussed issue but was never voted on. In 1913, the American Federation of Labor became involved with the InternationalShingle Weaver's Union.  After the IWW led a successful strike oftextile workers in 1912, "the word solidarity became a key word in theIWW vocabulary (IWW, 2000)."  The IWW was determined to combine organizedand unorganized workers into one solid union, which included the InternationalShingle Weavers.

When the two boats, Veronaand Calista, left Seattle on November 5, 1916 the 300 members on both ofthe boats were seeking to make the IWW and the International Shingle Weaver'sUnion "One Big Union (http://www.epls.org/nw/emassacre.htm)."  TheVerona, which carried the largest number of Wobblies, was the first boatto arrive at the Everett docks.  The IWW publicly announced a meetingin Everett to discuss the Beverly Park beatings and when Everett heardthis news, they began preparing for trouble (Bloody Sunday, 2000). Everett deputies were armed with guns and ready to fight.  When theVerona pulled into Everett, Sheriff McRae asked the members on the boat,"Who is your leader?" and every IWW member answered, "We are all leaders(http://digital.lib.msu.edu/)."  McRae then jerked the gun from hisholster and threatened, "You can't land here." and the reply from the Wobblieswas, "The hell we can't (http://digital.lib.msu.edu)."  The firstshot rang out but to this day it is unknown who fired it.  After thefirst shot, the air filled with bullets and the battle had begun. When the Verona finally escaped the dock, many men were either injuredor killed and one of the injured was Sheriff McRae.  The Calista boatfailed to reach Everett because the Verona passengers warned the boat aboutthe events in Everett and it returned to Seattle (Filippelli, 1990).

Once the two boats returnedto Seattle, nearly all of the Wobblies from both boats were arrested (Trial,2000).  Seventy-four of them were charged with murder and secretlytransported from Seattle to the Everett county jail during the night (Filippelli,1990).  Beginning March 5, 1917, a two-month trial occurred that focusedon "the inflammatory propaganda of the IWW" along with the first defendant,Thomas Tracy, who was charged with firing the first shot on Bloody Sunday. The trial of Thomas Tracy was held in Seattle, where the IWW headquarterswere located.  The IWW's defense lawyer demanded that a reenactmentof November 5, 1916 be played.  The lawyer was demonstrating how impossibleit would have been to identify the Verona's passengers from the shore. He also attempted to convince the court that the Everett vigilantes weremore likely in "each other's line of fire."  Tracy was acquitted ofall charges because no evidence was found in the Everett citizen's testimonyto prove that Tracy fired the first shot that resulted in killing JeffersonBeard.  The remaining 73 prisoners' charges were also dropped. Charles Winman, the captain of the Verona, was "charged with minor boatinginfractions" on November 6, 1917.  One week later, The Steamboat InspectionService suspended his license for thirty days but the court decided thathis charges were unrelated to the gunfight since he hid behind mattressesduring the entire battle (Trial, 2000).

To this day, Everett, Washingtonhas tried to put this event in history behind them.  A student whogrew up in Everett was surprised to hear about the Massacre when the topicwas briefly discussed in their high school Washington State history class(View, 2000).  The student also stated that, "Everett tried to leavethe ugly incident in the past and look to the future."  The EverettHerald published an article that was dedicated to the recent 80th anniversaryof the Massacre and it claimed, "no one knew who actually fired the firstshot."  This issue or question is still a very touchy one and strongfeelings from Everett citizens still remain towards Bloody Sunday (View,2000).
 
 
 
 

References

The Everett Massacre [Article]. Retrieved October 5, 2000, from the World Wide
 Web: http://www.epls.org/nw/emassacre.htm

Filippelli, Ronald L. (1990). Labor Conflict in the United States: An Encyclopedia.  New York: Garland.

Industrial Workers of theWorld [Article].  Retrieved October 5, 2000, from the WorldWide Web:http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~n9517146/IWW.html

Murder Trial [Article]. Retrieved October 6, 2000, from the World Wide Web:
 http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~n9517146/trial.html

Smith, Walker C. (1916). The Everett Massacre: A History of the Class Struggle in theLumber Industry.[Online].  http://digital.lib.msu.edu

The View from Today [Article]. Retrieved September 29, 2000, from the World WideWeb:  http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~n9517146/view.html

Webster's New World CollegeDictionary. 3rd Edition. (1996). (pp. 555).  New York,
 NY: Simon &Schuster, Inc.
 

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General questions regarding these web page assignment can be directed to Gerard Kickul