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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/31810-8.txt b/31810-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..72f57aa --- /dev/null +++ b/31810-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9955 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Everett massacre, by Walker C. Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Everett massacre + A history of the class struggle in the lumber industry + +Author: Walker C. Smith + +Release Date: March 28, 2010 [EBook #31810] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EVERETT MASSACRE *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + +The Everett Massacre + +By Walker C. Smith + +A History of the Class Struggle in the Lumber Industry + +[Illustration: Decoration] + +I. W. W. Publishing Bureau +Chicago, Ill. + + +This book is dedicated to those loyal soldiers of the great class war +who were murdered on the steamer Verona at Everett, Washington, in the +struggle for free speech and free assembly and the right to organize: + + FELIX BARAN, + HUGO GERLOT, + GUSTAV JOHNSON, + JOHN LOONEY, + ABRAHAM RABINOWITZ, + +and those unknown martyrs whose bodies were swept out to unmarked ocean +graves on Sunday, November Fifth, 1916. + + +PRINTED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL RECRUITING UNION I. W. W. + + + + +PREFACE + + +In ten minutes of seething, roaring hell at the Everett dock on the +afternoon of Sunday, November 5, 1916, there was more of the age-old +superstition regarding the identity of interests between capital and +labor torn from the minds of the working people of the Pacific Northwest +than could have been cleared away by a thousand lecturers in a year. It +is with regret that we view the untimely passing of the seven or more +Fellow Workers who were foully murdered on that fateful day, but if the +working class of the world can view beyond their mangled forms the +hideous brutality that was the cause of their deaths, they will not have +died in vain. + +This book is published with the hope that the tragedy at Everett may +serve to set before the working class so clear a view of capitalism in +all its ruthless greed that another such affair will be impossible. + +C. E. PAYNE. + + +With grateful acknowledgments to C. E. Payne for valuable assistance in +preparing the subject matter, to Harry Feinberg in consultation, to +Marie B. Smith in revising manuscript, and to J. J. Kneisle for +photographs. + + + + +EVERETT, NOVEMBER FIFTH + +By Charles Ashleigh + +["* * * and then the Fellow Worker died, singing 'Hold the Fort' * * +*"--From the report of a witness.] + + + Song on his lips, he came; + Song on his lips, he went;-- + This be the token we bear of him,-- + Soldier of Discontent! + + Out of the dark they came; out of the night + Of poverty and injury and woe,-- + With flaming hope, their vision thrilled to light,-- + Song on their lips, and every heart aglow; + + They came, that none should trample Labor's right + To speak, and voice her centuries of pain. + Bare hands against the master's armored might!-- + A dream to match the tools of sordid gain! + + And then the decks went red; and the grey sea + Was written crimsonly with ebbing life. + The barricade spewed shots and mockery + And curses, and the drunken lust of strife. + + Yet, the mad chorus from that devil's host,-- + Yea, all the tumult of that butcher throng,-- + Compound of bullets, booze and coward boast,-- + Could not out-shriek one dying worker's song! + + Song on his lips, he came; + Song on his lips, he went;-- + This be the token we bear of him,-- + Soldier of Discontent! + + +[Illustration: Released Free Speech prisoners who visited the graves of +their murdered Fellow Workers at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, May 12, 1917.] + + + + +The Everett Massacre + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE LUMBER KINGDOM + + +Perhaps the real history of the rise of the lumber industry in the +Pacific Northwest will never be written. It will not be set down in +these pages. A fragment--vividly illustrative of the whole, yet only a +fragment--is all that is reproduced herein. But if that true history be +written, it will tell no tales of "self-made men" who toiled in the +woods and mills amid poverty and privation and finally rose to fame and +affluence by their own unaided effort. No Abraham Lincoln will be there +to brighten its tarnished pages. The story is a more sordid one and it +has to do with the theft of public lands; with the bribery and +corruption of public officials; with the destruction and "sabotage," if +the term may be so misused, of the property of competitors; with base +treachery and double-dealing among associated employers; and with +extortion and coercion of the actual workers in the lumber industry by +any and every means from the "robbersary" company stores to the +commission of deliberate murder. + +No sooner had the larger battles among the lumber barons ended in the +birth of the lumber trust than there arose a still greater contest for +control of the industry. Lumberjack engaged lumber baron in a struggle +for industrial supremacy; on the part of the former a semi-blind groping +toward the light of freedom and for the latter a conscious striving to +retain a seat of privilege. Nor can the full history of that struggle be +written here, for the end is not yet, but no one who has read the past +rightly can doubt the ultimate outcome. That history, when finally +written, will recite tales of heroism and deeds of daring and unassuming +acts of bravery on the part of obscure toilers beside which the vaunted +prowess of famous men will seem tawdry by comparison. Today the +perspective is lacking. Time alone will vindicate the rebellious workers +in their fight for freedom. From all this travail and pain is to be born +an Industrial Democracy. + +The lumber industry dominated the whole life of the Northwest. The +lumber trust had absolute sway in entire sections of the country and +held the balance of power in many other places. It controlled Governors, +Legislatures and Courts; directed Mayors and City Councils; completely +owned Sheriffs and Deputies; and thru threats of foreclosure, blackmail, +the blacklist and the use of armed force it dominated the press and +pulpit and terrorized many other elements in each community. The sworn +testimony in the greatest case in labor history bears out these +statements. Out of their own mouths were the lumber barons and their +tools condemned. For, let it be known, the great trial in Seattle, +Wash., in the year 1917, was not a trial of Thomas H. Tracy and his +co-defendants. It was a trial of the lumber trust, a trial of so-called +"law and order," a trial of the existing method of production and +exchange and the social relations that spring from it,--and the verdict +was that Capitalism is guilty of Murder in the First Degree. + +To get even a glimpse into the deeper meaning of the case that developed +from the conflict at Everett, Wash., it is necessary to know something +of the lives of the migratory workers, something of the vital necessity +of free speech to the working class and to all society for that matter, +and also something about the basis of the lumber industry and the +foundation of the city of Everett. The first two items very completely +reveal themselves thru the medium of the testimony given by the +witnesses for the defense, while the other matters are covered briefly +here. + +The plundering of public lands was a part of the policy of the lumber +trust. Large holdings were gathered together thru colonization schemes, +whereby tracts of 160 acres were homesteaded by individuals with money +furnished by the lumber operators. Often this meant the mere loaning of +the individual's name, and in many instances the building of a home was +nothing more than the nailing together of three planks. Other rich +timber lands were taken up as mineral claims altho no trace of valuable +ore existed within their confines. All this timber fell into the hands +of the lumber trust. In addition to this there were large companies who +logged for years on forty acre strips. This theft of timber on either +side of a small holding is the basis of many a fortune and the +possessors of this stolen wealth can be distinguished today by their +extra loud cries for "law and order" when their employes in the woods +and mills go on strike to add a few more pennies a day to their beggarly +pittance. + +Altho cheaper than outright purchase from actual settlers, these methods +of timber theft proved themselves quite costly and the public outcry +they occasioned was not to the liking of the lumber barons. To +facilitate the work of the lumber trust and at the same time placate the +public, nothing better than the Forest Reserve could possibly have been +devised. The establishment of the National Forest Reserves was one of +the long steps taken in the United States in monopolizing both the land +and the timber of the country. + +The first forest reserves were established February 22, 1898, when +22,000,000 acres were set aside as National Forests. Within the next +eight years practically all the public forest lands in the United +States that were of any considerable extent had been set off into these +reserves, and by 1913 there had been over 291,000 square miles included +within their confines.[1] This immense tract of country was withdrawn +from the possibility of homestead entry at approximately the time that +the Mississippi Valley and the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains had +been settled and brought under private ownership. Whether the purpose +was to put the small sawmills out of business can not be definitely +stated, but the lumber trust has profited largely from the establishment +of the forest reserves. + +So long as there was in the United States a large and open frontier to +be had for the taking there could be no very prolonged struggle against +an owning class. It has been easier for those having nothing to go but a +little further and acquire property for themselves. But on coming to +what had been the frontier and finding a forest reserve with range +riders and guards on its boundaries to prevent trespassing; on looking +back and seeing all land and opportunities taken; on turning again to +the forest reserve and finding a foreman of the lumber trust within its +borders offering wages in lieu of a home, it was inevitable that a +conflict should occur. + +With the capitalistic system of industry in operation, the conflict +between the landless homeseekers and the owners of the vast +accumulations of capital would inevitably have taken place, but this +clash has come at least a generation earlier because of the +establishment of the National Forests than it otherwise would. The land +now in reserves would furnish homes and comfortable livings for ten +million people, and have absorbed the surplus population for another +generation. It is also true that the establishment of the National +Forests has been one of the vital factors that made the continued +existence of the lumber trust possible. + +Prior to 1895 the shipments of lumber to the prairie states from west of +the Rocky Mountains were very small, and of no effect on the domination +of the lumber industry by the trust. Also, prior to that date but a +small part of the valuable timber west of the Rocky Mountains had been +brought under private ownership. But about this time the pioneer +settlers began swarming over the Pacific Slope and taking the free +government land as homesteads. As the timber land was taken up, floods +of lumber from the Pacific Coast met the lumber of the trust on the +great prairies. The lumber trust had looted the government land and the +Indian reservations in the middle states of their timber, and had almost +full control of the prairie markets until the lumber of the Pacific +Slope began to arrive. In 1896 lumber from the Puget Sound was sold in +Dakota for $16.00 per thousand feet, and it kept coming in a constantly +increasing volume and of a better quality than the trust was shipping +from the East. It was but natural that the trust should seek a means to +stifle the constantly increasing competition from the homesteads of the +West, and the means was found in the establishment of the National +Forest Reserves. + +While the greater portion of North America was yet a wilderness, the +giving of vast tracts of valuable land on the remote frontier to private +individuals and companies could be accomplished. But at this time such a +procedure would have been impossible, tho it was imperative for the life +of the trust that the timber of the Pacific Slope should be withdrawn +from the possibility of homestead entry. In order to carry out this +scheme it was necessary to raise a cry of "Benefit to the Public" and +make it appear that this new public policy was in the interest of future +generations. The cry was raised that the public domain was being used +for private gain, that the timber was being wastefully handled, that +unnecessary amounts were being cut, that the future generations would +find themselves without timber, that the watersheds were being denuded +and that drought and floods would be the certain result, that the nation +should receive a return for the timber that was taken, together with +many other specious pleas. + +That the public domain was being used for private gain was in some +instances true, but the vast majority of the timber land was being taken +as homesteads, and thus taking the timber outside the control of the +trust. That the timber was being wastefully handled was to some extent +true, but this was inevitable in the development of a new industry in a +new country, and so far as the Pacific Slope is concerned there is but +little change from the methods of twenty years ago. That unnecessary +amounts were being cut was sometimes true, but this served only to keep +prices down, and from the standpoint of the trust was unpardonable on +that account alone. The market is being supplied now as formerly, and +with as much as it will take. The only means that has been used to +restrict the amount cut has been to raise the price to about double what +it was in 1896. The denuding of the watersheds of the continent goes on +today the same as it did twenty-five years ago, the only consideration +being whether there is a market for the timber. Some reforesting has +been done, and some protection has been established for the prevention +of fires, but these things have been much in the nature of an +advertisement since the government has taken charge of the forests, and +was done automatically by the homesteaders before the Reserves were +established. There has never been any restriction in the amount of +timber that any company could buy, and the more it wanted, the better +chance it had of getting it. The nation is receiving some return from +the sale of timber from the government land, but it is in the nature of +a division of the spoils from a raid on the homes of the landless. + +When the Reserve were established, the Secretary of the Interior was +empowered to "make rules and regulations for the occupancy and the use +of the forests and preserve them from destruction." No attempt was made +in the General Land Office to develop a technical forestry service. The +purpose of the administration was mainly protection against trespass and +fire. The methods of the administration were to see to it first that +there were no trespassers. Fire protection came later. When the Reserves +were established, people who were at the time living within their +boundaries were compelled to submit the titles of their homesteads to +the most rigid scrutiny, and many people who had complied with the +spirit of the law were dispossessed on mere technicalities, while before +the establishment of the Reserve system the spirit of the compliance +with the homestead law was mainly considered, and very seldom the +technicality. And while the Forestry Service was examining all titles to +homesteads within the boundaries of the Reserve with the utmost care, +the large lumbering companies were given the best of consideration, and +were allowed all the timber they requested and a practically unlimited +time to remove it. + +The system of dealing with the lumber trust has been most liberal on the +part of the government. A company wanting several million feet of timber +makes a request to the district office to have the timber of a certain +amount and on a certain tract offered for sale. The Forestry Service +makes an estimate of the minimum value of the timber as it stands in the +tree and the amount of timber requested within that tract is then +offered for sale at a given time, the bids to be sent in by mail and +accompanied by certified checks. The bids must be at least as large as +the minimum price set by the Forestry Service, and highest bidder is +awarded the timber, on condition that he satisfies the Forestry Service +that he is responsible and will conduct the logging according to rules +and regulations. The system seems fair, and open to all, until the +conditions are known. + +But among the large lumber companies there has never been any real +competition for the possession of any certain tract of timber that was +listed for sale by request. When one company has decided on asking for +the allotment of any certain tract of timber, other companies operating +within that forest seldom make bids on that tract. Any small company +that is doing business in opposition to the trust companies, and may +desire to bid on an advertised tract, even tho its bid may be greater +than the bid of the trust company, will find its offer thrown out as +being "not according to the Government specifications," or the company +is "not financially responsible," or some other suave explanation for +refusing to award the tract to the competing company. On the other hand, +when a small company requests that some certain tract shall be listed +for sale, it very frequently happens that one of the large companies +that is commonly understood to be affiliated with the lumber trust will +have a bid in for that tract that is slightly above that of the +non-trust company, and the timber is solemnly awarded to "the highest +bidder." + +When a company is awarded a tract of timber, the payment that is +required is ten per cent of the purchase price at the time of making the +award, and the balance is to be paid when the logs are on the landing, +or practically when they can be turned into ready cash, thus requiring +but a comparatively small outlay of money to obtain the timber. When the +award is made, it is the policy of the Forestry Service to be on +friendly terms with the customers, and the men who scale the logs and +supervise the cutting are the ones who come into direct contact with the +companies, and it is inevitable that to be on good terms with the +foreman the supervision and scaling must be "satisfactory." Forestry +Service men who have not been congenial with the foremen of the logging +companies have been transferred to other places, and it is almost +axiomatic that three transfers is the same as a discharge. The little +work that is required of the companies in preventing fires is much more +than offset by the fact that no homesteaders have small holdings within +the area of their operations, either to interfere with logging or to +compete with their small mills for the control of the lumber market. + +That the forest lands of the nation were being denuded, and that this +would cause droughts and floods was a fact before the establishment of +the Reserves, and the fact is still true. Where a logging company +operates, the rule is that it shall take all the timber on the tract +where it works, and then the forest guards are to burn the brush and +refuse. A cleaner sweep of the timber could not have been made under the +old methods. The only difference in methods is that where the forest +guards now do the fire protecting for the lumber trust, the homesteaders +formerly did it for their own protection. In January, 1914, the Forestry +Service issued a statement that the policy of the Service for the +Kaniksu Forest in Northern Idaho and Northeastern Washington would be to +have all that particular reserve logged off and then have the land +thrown open to settlement as homesteads. As the timber in that part of +the country will but little more than pay for the work of clearing the +land ready for the plow, but is very profitable where no clearing is +required, it can be readily seen that the Forestry Service was being +used as a means of dividing the fruit--the apples to the lumber trust, +the cores to the landless homeseekers. + +One particular manner in which the Government protects the large lumber +companies is in the insurance against fire loss. When a tract has been +awarded to a bidder it is understood that he shall have all the timber +allotted to him, and that he shall stand no loss by fire. Should a tract +of timber be burned before it can be logged, the government allots to +the bidder another tract of timber "of equal value and of equal +accessibility," or an adjustment is made according to the ease of +logging and value of the timber. In this way the company has no expense +for insurance to bear, which even now with the fire protection that is +given by the Forestry Service is rated by insurance companies at about +ten per cent. of the value of the timber for each year. + +No taxes or interest are required on the timber that is purchased from +the government. Another feature that makes this timber cheaper than that +of private holdings, is that to buy outright would entail the expense of +the first cost of the land and timber, the protection from fire, the +taxes and the interest on the investment. In addition to this there is +always the possibility that some homesteader would refuse to sell some +valuable tract that was in a vital situation, as holding the key to a +large tract of timber that had no other outlet than across that tract. +There has been as yet no dispute with the government about an outlet for +any timber purchased on the Reserves; the contract for the timber always +including the proviso that the logging company shall have the right to +make and use such roads as are "necessary," and the company is the judge +of what is necessary in that line. + +The counties in which Reserves are situated receive no taxes from the +government timber, or from the timber that is cut from the Reserves +until it is cut into lumber, but in lieu of this they receive a sop in +the form of "aid" in the construction of roads. In the aggregate this +aid looks large, but when compared with the amount of road work that the +people who could make their homes within what is now the Forest Reserves +could do, it is pitifully small and very much in the nature of the +"charity" that is handed out to the poor of the cities. It is the +inevitable result of a system of government that finds itself compelled +to keep watch and ward over its imbecile children. + +So in devious ways of fraud, graft, coercion, and outright theft, the +bulk of the timber of the Northwest has been acquired by the lumber +trust at an average cost of less than twelve cents a thousand feet. In +the states of Washington and Oregon alone, the Northern Pacific and the +Southern Pacific railways, as allies of the Weyerhouser interests of St. +Paul, own nearly nine million acres of timber; the Weyerhouser group by +itself dominating altogether more than thirty million acres, or an area +almost equal to that of the state of Wisconsin. The timber owned by a +relatively small group of individuals is sufficient to yield enough +lumber to build a six-room house for every one of the twenty million +families in the United States. + +Why then should conservation, or the threat of it, disturb the serenity +of the lumber trust? If the government permits the cutting of public +timber it increases the value of the trust holdings in multiplied ratio, +and if the government withdraws from public entry any portion of the +public lands, creating Forest Reserves, it adds marvelously to the value +of the trust logs in the water booms. Even forest fires in one portion +of these vast holdings serve but to send skyward the values in the +remaining parts, and by some strange freak of nature the timber of trust +competitors, like the "independent" and co-operative mills, seems to be +more inflammable than that of the "law-abiding" lumber trust. And so it +happens that the government's forest policy has added fabulous wealth +and prestige and power to the rulers of the lumber kingdom. + +But whether the timber lands were stolen illegally or acquired by +methods entirely within the law of the land, the exploitation of labor +was, and is, none the less severe. The withholding from Labor of any +portion of its product in the form of profits--unpaid wages--and the +private ownership by individuals or small groups of persons, of timber +lands and other forms of property necessary to society as a whole, are +principles utterly indefensible by any argument save that of force. Such +legally ordained robbery can be upheld only by armies, navies, militia, +sheriffs and deputies, police and detectives, private gunmen, and +illegal mobs formed of, or created by, the propertied classes. Alike in +the stolen timber, the legally acquired timber, and in the Government +Forest Reserves, the propertyless lumberjacks are unmercifully +exploited, and any difference in the degree of exploitation does not +arise because of the "humanity" of any certain set of employers but +simply because the cutting of timber in large quantities brings about a +greater productivity from each worker, generally accompanied with a +decrease in wages due to the displacement of men. + +With the development of large scale logging operations there naturally +came a development of machinery in the industry. The use of water power, +the horse, and sometimes the ox, gave way to the use of the donkey +engine. This grew from a crude affair, resembling an over-sized coffee +mill, to a machine with a hauling power equal to that of a small sized +locomotive. Later on came "high lead" logging and the Flying Machine, +besides which the wonderful exploits of "Paul Bunyan's old blue ox" are +as nothing. + +The overhead system was created as a result of the additional cost of +hauling when the increased demand for a larger output of logs forced the +erection of more and more camps, each new camp being further removed +from the cities and towns. Today its use is almost universal as there +remains no timber close to the large cities, even the stumps having been +removed to make room for farming operations. + +Roughly the method of operation is to leave a straight tall tree +standing near the logging track in felling timber. The machine proper is +set right at the base of this tree, and about ninety feet up its trunk a +large chain is wrapped to allow the hanging of a block. From this spar +tree a cable, two inches in diameter, is stretched to another tree some +distance in the woods. On this cable is placed what is known as a +bicycle or trolley. Various other lines run back and forth thru this +trolley to the engine. At the end of one of these lines an enormous pair +of hooks is suspended. These grasp the timber and convey it to the cars. + +[Illustration: The Flying Machine as now used in Western logging.] + +Ten to twenty thousand feet of logs a day was the output of the old +bull or horse teams. The donkey engine brought it to a point where from +seventy-five to one hundred thousand could be turned out, and the steam +skidder doubled the output of the donkey. Ordinarily the crew for one +donkey engine consists of from thirteen to fifteen men, sometimes even +as high as twenty-five, but this number is reduced to nine or even lower +with the introduction of the steam skidder. Loggers claim that the high +lead system kills and maims more men than the methods formerly in vogue, +but be that as it may, the fact stands out quite plainly that as +compared with a line horse donkey, operated with a crew of twenty-five +men, the flying machine will produce enough lumber to mean the +displacement of one hundred men. + +At the same time the sawmills of the old type have disappeared with +their rotary or circular saws, dead rollers, and obsolete methods of +handling lumber, and in their place is the modern mill with its band +saw, shot-gun feed, steam nigger, live rollers, and resaw. Nor do the +mills longer turn out rough lumber to be re-handled by trained +specialists and highly skilled carpenters with large and costly kits of +intricate hand tools. Relatively unskilled workers send forth the +finished products, window sashes, doors, siding, etc., carpenters armed +only with square, hammer and saw, and classed with unskilled labor, put +these in place, and a complete house can be ordered by parcel post. + +As is usual with the introduction of new machinery and methods where the +workers are not in control, the actual producers find that all these +innovations force them to work at a higher rate of speed under more +hazardous conditions for a lower rate of pay. It is true of all industry +in the main, particularly true of the lumber industry, and the mills of +Everett and camps of Snohomish county have no exceptions to test this +rule. + +The story of Everett has no hint of romance. Some time in the late +seventies the representatives of John D. Rockefeller gained possession +of a tract of land in Western Washington, on Puget Sound, about thirty +miles north of Seattle. The land was heavily timbered and water +facilities made it a perfect site for mill and shipping purposes. The +Everett Land Company was organized, the tract was plotted, and the city +of Everett laid out. The leading streets, Rockefeller, Colby, Hoyt, +etc., were named for these early promoters. Hewitt Avenue was given the +name of a man who is today recognized as the leading capitalist of the +state of Washington. Even the building of those streets reflected no +credit upon the city. The work was done by what amounted to convict +labor. Unemployed workers, even tho they were plentifully supplied with +money, were arrested and without being allowed the alternative of a fine +were set to work clearing, grading, planking and, later on, paving the +streets. Perhaps it is too much to expect freedom of speech to be +allowed on slave-built streets. + +In their articles of incorporation the promoters reserved to themselves +all right to the ownership and control of public utilities, such as +water, light and power and street railway systems. A mortgage of +$1,500,000 was placed upon the property. After a time the company +failed, the mortgage was foreclosed and the property purchased by Rucker +Brothers. The Everett Improvement Company was then organized with J. T. +McChesney as president. It held all rights to dispose of public utility +franchises. The firm of Stone & Webster, the construction, light, heat, +power and traction trust, secured franchises granting them the right to +furnish light and power for the city of Everett and also to operate the +street railway system for 99 years. The Everett Improvement Company owns +a dock lying to the south of the municipally owned City Dock where the +Everett tragedy was staged. Thru its alliances the shipping of Everett +is in the hands of the same group of capitalists that control all other +public utilities. The waterworks was sold to the city but has remained +in the hands of the same officials who were in charge when its title +was a private one. Everett operates under the commission form of +government. + +The American National Bank was organized with McChesney as president. +The only other bank of importance in Everett was the First National. +These two institutions consolidated with Wm. C. Butler as president and +McChesney as one of the directors. The Everett Savings and Trust Company +was later organized, with the same stockholders and under the same +management as the First National Bank. The control of every public +service corporation in Everett is directly in the hands of these two +banks, and, indirectly, thru loans to industrial corporations, they +control both the lumber and the shingle mills of Snohomish County in +which Everett is situated. + +Everett, the "City of Smokestacks," as its promoters have named it, is +an industrial community of approximately 35,000 people. Its main +activities are the production of lumber and shingles, and shipping. The +practically undiversified nature of its economic life binds all those +engaged in the employment of labor into a common body. The owners of the +lumber and shingle mills, the owners and officials of the banks where +the lumber men do business, the lawyers representing the mills and the +banks, the employers engaged in shipping lumber and supplies for the +lumber industry, their lawyers and their bank connections, the owners of +hardware stores that supply equipment for the mills and allied +industries, all are united by common ties and common interests and they +all support one policy. Not only are they banded together against the +wage workers but they also oppose the entrance of any kind of business +that will in any way menace their rule. They arose almost as one in +opposition to the entrance of the ship building industry into Everett, +despite the fact that it would add measurably to the general prosperity +of the city, and with a full knowledge that their harbor offered +wonderful natural facilities for that line of endeavor. In the face of +an action that threatened their autocratic power their alleged +"patriotism" vanished. + +In 1912 the Everett Commercial Club was organized. In the month of +December, 1915, following a visit from a San Francisco representative of +the Merchants and Manufacturers' Association, it was re-organized on the +Bureau plan as a stock concern. Stock memberships were issued to +employers and business houses and were subsequently distributed among +the employers and their employes. Memberships were doled out to persons +who would be subservient to the wishes of the small group of capitalists +representing the great corporate interests. W. W. Blain, secretary of +the Commercial Club, testified, under oath, that the Everett Improvement +Company took 25 memberships, the First National Bank took 10, the +Weyerhouser Lumber Company 10, the Clough-Hartley Mill Company 5, the +Jamison Mill Company 5, and other mills and allied industries also +purchased memberships in bulk. Organized labor, however, had no +representation at the Commercial Club. + +There is nothing in the history of Everett to suggest the usual +spontaneous outgrowth of the honest endeavors of hardy pioneer settlers. +From the first day the Rockefeller interests set foot in the virgin +forests of Snohomish County up to the present time, the spirit of +democracy has been crushed by the greed and cupidity of this small and +powerful group. + +The struggle at Everett was but one of the inevitable phases of the +larger struggle that takes place when a class or group that has no +property comes in contact with those who have monopolized the earth and +its resources. It was no new, marvelous, isolated case of violence. It +was the normal accompaniment of industry based upon the exploitation of +wage workers, and was of one piece with the outbreak on the Mesaba +Range, in Bayonne, Ludlow, Paint Creek, Paterson, Lawrence, San Diego, +Fresno, Spokane, Homestead and in countless other places. All these +apparently disconnected and sporadic uprisings of labor and the +accompanying capitalist violence are joined together in a whole that +spells wage slavery. As one of the manifestations of the class conflict, +the Everett tragedy cannot be considered apart from that age-long and +world-wide struggle between the takers of profits and the makers of +values. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] Data on Forest Reserve taken from 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica +articles by Gifford Pinchot. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +CLASS WAR SKIRMISHES + + +"Shingle-weaving is not a trade; it is a battle. For ten hours a day the +sawyer faces two teethed steel discs whirling around two hundred times a +minute. To the one on the left he feeds heavy blocks of cedar, reaching +over with his left hand to remove the rough shingles it rips off. He +does not, he cannot stop to see what his left hand is doing. His eyes +are too busy examining the shingles for knot holes to be cut out by the +second saw whirling in front of him. + +"The saw on his left sets the pace. If the singing blade rips fifty +rough shingles off the block every minute, the sawyer must reach over to +its teeth fifty times in sixty seconds; if the automatic carriage feeds +the odorous wood sixty times into the hungry teeth, sixty times he must +reach over, turn the shingle, trim its edge on the gleaming saw in front +of him, cut out the narrow strip containing the knot hole with two quick +movements of his right hand and toss the completed board down the chute +to the packers, meanwhile keeping eyes and ears open for the sound that +asks him to feed a new block into the untiring teeth. Hour after hour +the shingle weaver's hands and arms, plain, unarmored flesh and blood, +are staked against the screeching steel that cares not what it severs. +Hour after hour the steel sings its crescendo note as it bites into the +wood, the sawdust cloud thickens, the wet sponge under the sawyer's +nose, fills with fine particles. If 'cedar asthma,' the shingle weaver's +occupational disease, does not get him, the steel will. Sooner or later +he reaches over a little too far, the whirling blade tosses drops of +deep red into the air, and a finger, a hand or part of an arm comes +sliding down the slick chute."[2] + +This description of shingle weaving was given by Walter V. Woehlke, +managing editor of the Sunset Magazine, in an article which had as its +purpose the justification of the murders committed by the Everett mob, +and it contains no over-statement. Shingle weavers are set apart from +the rest of the workers by their mutilated hands and the dead grey +pallor of their cheeks. + +"The nature of a man's occupation, his daily working environment, marks +in a large degree the nature of the man himself, and cannot help but +mold the early years, at least, or his economic organization. Men who +flirt with death in their daily calling become inured to physical +danger, they become contemptuous of the man whose calling fails to bring +forth physical prowess. So do they in their organizations become +irritated and contemptuous at the long-drawn-out process of bargaining, +the duel of wits and brain power engaged in by the more conservative +organizations to win working concessions. Their motto becomes 'Strike +quick and strike hard,'* * *" So says E. P. Marsh, President of the +Washington State Federation of Labor, in speaking of the shingle +weavers.[3] + +Logging, no less than shingle weaving, is a dangerous occupation. The +countless articles of wood in every-day use have claimed their toll of +human blood. A falling tree or limb, a mis-step on the river, a faulty +cable, a weakened trestle; each may mean a still and mangled form. Time +and again the loggers have organized to improve their working conditions +only to find themselves beaten or betrayed. Playing upon the natural +desire of the woodsmen for organization, shrewd swindlers have formed +unions which were nothing more than dues collection agencies. +Politicians have fathered organizations for their own purposes. Unions +built by the men themselves have fallen into the hands of officials who +used them for selfish personal gain. Over and over the employers have +crushed the embryonic unions only to see them rise again with added +strength. Forced by the very necessities of their daily lives, the +workers always returned to the fight with a new and better form of +unionism. + +Like the loggers, the shingle weavers were routed time and again, but +their spirit never died. The Everett shingle weavers formed their union +as a result of a successful strike in 1901. In 1905 they were strong +enough to resist a proposed reduction of wages. In 1906 they struck in +sympathy with the Ballard weavers, and lost. Within a year the defeated +union was back as strong as before. By 1911 the International Shingle +Weavers Union had attained a membership of nearly 2,000, the majority of +whom were in accord with the Industrial Workers of the World. The +question of affiliation with the I. W. W. was widely discussed and was +only prevented from going to a referendum vote by the efforts of a few +officials. Further discussion of the question was excluded from the +columns of their official organ, "The Shingle Weaver," by the Ninth +Annual Convention.[4] + +Following this slap in the face, the progressive members quit the union +in large numbers, leaving affairs in the hands of conservative and +reactionary elements. Endeavors were made to negotiate contracts with +the employers; and in 1913 the officials secured $30,000 from the +American Federation of Labor and made a pretense at the organization of +all workers in the woods and mills into one body. This was a move aimed +at the Forest and Lumber Workers of the I. W. W., which was feared +alike by the employers and the craft union officials because of its new +strength gained thru the affiliation of the Brotherhood of Timber +Workers in the southern states. Instead of gaining ground by the move, +the shingle weavers union lost in membership and subsequently claimed +that industrial unionism was a failure in the lumber industry. + +The industrial depression of 1914-15 found all unions in bad shape. +Employers used the army of unemployed as an axe to cut wages. In the +spring of 1915 notice of a wage reduction was posted in the Everett +shingle mills. The weavers promptly struck. Scabs, gunmen, injunctions, +and violence followed. The strike failed, the wage reduction was made, +but the men returned to work relying upon a "gentlemen's agreement" that +the employers would voluntarily raise the wages of the shingle weavers +when shingles again sold for what they were bringing before the +depression. Faith in agreements had gotten in its deadly work; the +shingle weavers believed that the employers meant to keep their word. + +In the spring of 1916 shingles soared to a price higher than had +prevailed for years, but the promised raise failed to materialize. With +but a skeleton of an organization to back them, a handful of determined +delegates met in Seattle in April and decided to demand the restoration +of the 1915 scale thruout the entire jurisdiction of the Shingle +Weavers' Union, setting May 1st as the date when the raise should take +effect. + +At the time set, or shortly thereafter, most of the mills in the +Northwest paid the scale. Everett, where the employers had given their +"word of honor," refused the strikers' demand. The fight was on! The +Seaside Shingle Company, which held no membership in the Commercial +Club, soon granted the raise. Many of the other companies, notably the +Jamison Mill, began the importation of scabs within the month. The cry +of "outside agitators" was forgotten long enough to go outside in search +of notorious gunmen and scab-herders. The slums, the hells of +Capitalism, were raked with a fine-toothed comb for degenerates with a +record for lawless deviltry. The strikers threw out their picket line +and the ever-present class war began to show itself in other than +peaceful ways. + +During May, June and July the picket line had to be maintained in the +face of strong opposition by the local authorities who were the pliant +tools of the lumber trust. The ranks of the pickets were constantly +being thinned by false arrest and imprisonment on every charge and no +charge, until on August 19th there were but eighteen men on the picket +line. + +On that particular morning the Everett police searched the little +handful of pickets in front of the Jamison Mill to make sure that they +were unarmed, and when that fact was determined, they started the men +across the narrow trestle bridge that extended over an arm of the bay. +When the pickets were well out on the bridge, the imported thugs, some +seventy in number, personally directed and urged on by their employer, +Neil Jamison, poured in from either side, leaving no means of escape +save that of making a thirty foot leap into the deep waters of the bay, +and with brass knuckles and blackjacks made an attack upon the +defenseless weavers. The pickets were unmercifully beaten. Robert H. +Mills, business agent of the Shingle Weavers' Union, was knocked down by +one of the open-shop thugs and kicked in the ribs and face as he lay +senseless in the roadway. From a vantage point, thoughtfully removed +from the danger zone, the police calmly surveyed the scene. + +When darkness fell that night, the pickets, aided by irate citizens, +returned to the attack with clubs and fists. The tables were turned. The +"moral heroes" had their heads cracked. Seeing that the scabs were +thoroly whipped, the "guardians of the peace" rushed to the rescue with +drawn revolvers. In the melee one union picket was shot thru the leg. + +About ten nights later, Mr. Jamison herded his scabs into military +formation and after a short parade thru the main streets led them to the +Everett Theater; the party being in appreciation of their "efficiency." +This arrogant display incensed the strikers and citizens, and when the +scabs emerged from the show a near-riot occurred. Mills was present and +altho too weak from his recent injuries to have taken any active part in +the fray, he was arrested and thrown in jail in default of bail. The man +who had murderously assaulted him at the mill swore out the complaint. +Mills was subsequently tried and acquitted on a charge of inciting to +riot. Nothing was done to his assailant. And in none of these acts of +violence was the I. W. W. in any way a participant. + +During this period there existed a strike of longshoremen on the entire +Pacific Coast, including the port of Everett. The wrath of the employers +fell heavily upon the Riggers and Stevedores because that body was not +in sympathy with the idea of craft contracts or agreements, and because +of the adoption by a large majority of a proposal to "amalgamate all the +unions of the Maritime Transportation Industry, between the Warehouse at +the Shipping Point and Warehouse at the Receiving Point into one big +powerful organization, meeting, thinking, and acting together at all +times."[5] The industrially united employers of the Pacific Coast did +not relish the idea of the workers grouping themselves together along +lines similar to those on which the owners were associated. The +longshoremen's strike started on June 1st and was marked by more or less +serious disorders at various points, most of the violence being +precipitated by detectives placed in the unions by the employers. The +tug boat men were also on strike in Everett, particularly against the +American Tug Boat Company owned by Captain Harry Ramwell. All of the +unions on strike in Everett were affiliated with the A. F. of L. +Striking longshoremen from Seattle aided the shingle weavers on their +picket line from time to time, and individual members of the I. W. W., +holding duplicate cards in the A. F. of L. stood shoulder to shoulder +with the strikers, but officially the I. W. W. had no part in any of the +strikes. + +[Illustration: One of the thousands who donate their fingers to the +Lumber Trust. The Trust compensated all with poverty and some with +bullets on November 5, 1916.] + +Meanwhile in Seattle the I. W. W. had planned to organize the forest and +lumber workers on a scale never before attempted. Calls for organizers +had been coming in from the surrounding district and there were demands +for a mass convention to discuss conditions in the industry. Yet, +strange as it may seem to those who do not know of the ebb and flow of +labor unions, there were at that time less than half a hundred paid-up +members in the Seattle loggers branch, so great had been the depression +from 1914 to 1916. The conference was set for July 4th and five hundred +logger delegates responded, representing nearly as many camps in the +district. Enthusiasm ran high! The assembled workers suggested the +adoption of a plan of district organization along lines more in keeping +with the modern trend of the lumber industry. The loggers' union, then +known as Local 432, ratified the actions of the conference. As a +preliminary move it was decided that an organizer be secured to make a +survey of the lumber situation in the surrounding territory. General +Headquarters in Chicago was communicated with, James Rowan was found to +be available, and on July 31st he was sent to Everett to find out the +sentiment for industrial unionism at that point. + +That night Rowan spoke on Wetmore Avenue fifty feet back from Hewitt +Avenue, in compliance with the street regulations. No mention was made +of local conditions as Rowan had just come from another part of the +country and was unaware that a shingle weavers strike was in progress. +His speech consisted mainly of references to the Industrial Relations +Commission Report, a pamphlet summarizing that report being the only +literature offered for sale at the meeting. Toward the end of his speech +Rowan declared: + +"The A. F. of L. believes in signing agreements with the employers. The +craft unions regard these contracts as sacred. When one craft goes on +strike the others are forced to remain at work. This makes the craft +unions scab on each other." + +"You are a liar!" cried Jake Michel, an A. F. of L. representative, +staunchly defending his organization. + +From an automobile near the edge of the crowd, Donald McRae, Sheriff of +Snohomish County, called to Michel: + +"Jake, I will run that guy in if you say so." + +"I don't see any need to run him in;" remonstrated Michel. "He hasn't +said anything yet to run him in for." + +Nevertheless McRae, usurping the powers of the local police department, +made Rowan leave the platform and go with him to the county jail. McRae +was drunk. + +Rowan was held for an hour. Immediately upon his release he returned to +the corner to resume his speech. Police Officer Fox thereupon arrested +him and took him to the city jail. He was thrown into a dark cell for +refusing to do jail work, was taken into court next morning and absurdly +charged with peddling without a license, was denied a jury trial, +refused a postponement, not allowed a chance to secure counsel, and was +sentenced to thirty days imprisonment with an alternative of leaving +town. No ordinance against street speaking at Wetmore and Hewitt then +existed. Rowan chose to leave town. No time was set as to how long he +was to remain away. He then left for Bellingham and from there went to +Sedro-Woolley. Using an assumed name to avoid the blacklist he worked at +the latter place for a short time to familiarize himself with job +conditions, subsequently returning to Everett. + +Levi Remick, a one-armed veteran of the industrial war, was next sent to +Everett on August 4th to act as temporary delegate. He interviewed a +number of people and sold some literature. Receiving orders to stop +selling the pamphlets and papers, he inquired the price of a peddler's +license and finding it prohibitive he returned to Seattle to secure +funds to open an office. A small hall was found at 1219½ Hewitt Avenue, +a month's rent was paid, and on August 9th Remick placed a sign in the +window and started to sell literature and transact business for the I. +W. W. + +The little hall remained open until late in August. Migratory workers, +strikers, and citizens generally, dropped in from time to time to ask +about the organization or to purchase papers. Solidarity and the +Industrial Worker were particularly in demand, the latter paper having +commenced publication in Seattle on April 1st, 1916. A number of Everett +citizens, desiring to hear a lecture by James P. Thompson, who had +spoken in Everett without molestation in 1915 and in March and April of +1916, made donations to Remick sufficient to cover all expenses, and it +was arranged that Thompson speak on August 22nd. Attempts to secure a +hall met with failure; the halls of Everett were closed to the I. W. W. +The conspiracy against free speech and free assembly was on in earnest! +No other course was left but to hold the proposed meeting on the street, +so Hewitt and Wetmore, the spot where the Salvation Army and various +religious and political bodies spoke almost nightly, was selected and +the meeting advertised. + +Early in the morning on the day before the scheduled meeting, Sheriff +McRae, commanding a body of police officers over whom he had no official +control, stormed into the I. W. W. hall and tore from the wall all bills +advertising Thompson's meeting, saying with an oath: + +"That man won't be allowed to speak in Everett!" + +Turning to Remick and throwing back his coat to display the badge, he +yelled: + +"I order you out of this town! Get out by afternoon or you go to jail!" + +McRae was drunk. Stalking out as rapidly as his condition would permit +he staggered down the street to a near-by pool hall where the order was +repeated to the men assembled therein. These, with other workingmen, 25 +in all were rounded up, seized, roughly questioned, searched, and all +those who had no families or property in Everett were forcibly deported. +That night ten more were taken from the shingle weaver's picket line and +sent out of town without due process of law. Treatment of this kind +became general. + +"Not a man in overalls is safe!" declared the secretary of the Everett +Building Trades Council. "Men just off the job with their pay checks in +their pocket have been unceremoniously thrown out of town just because +they were workingmen."[6] + +Remick closed the little hall and left for Seattle the next morning to +place the question of the Thompson meeting before the Seattle +membership. Shortly before noon Rowan, who had just returned to Everett, +went to the hall and finding it closed and locked he proceeded to open +it up. Within a few minutes Sheriff McRae, in company with police +officer Fox, entered the place and ordered Rowan to leave town by two +o'clock. He then tore up the balance of the advertising matter for the +Thompson meeting. McRae was drunk. Rowan went to Seattle, where the +report of this occurrence made the members more determined than ever to +hold the meeting that night. + +With about twenty other members of the I. W. W., Thompson went to +Everett. The Salvation Army was holding services on the corner. Placing +his platform even further back from the street intersection Thompson +waited until the Army had concluded and then commenced his lecture. +Using the Industrial Relations Commission Report as the basis of his +talk, he spoke for about twenty minutes without interruption. Then a +body of fifteen policemen marched down the street and swung into the +crowd. The officer in charge stepped up to Thompson and requested him to +go to see the chief of police at the police station. After addressing a +few remarks to the crowd Thompson withdrew from the platform. His place +was taken at once by Rowan, who was immediately dragged from the stand +and turned over to the same officer who had charge of Thompson and his +wife. Mrs. Edith Frennette then spoke briefly and called for a song. The +audience responded with "The Red Flag," but meanwhile Mrs. Frennette and +Mrs. Lorna Mahler had been placed under arrest. In succession several +others attempted to speak but were pulled or pushed off the stand. The +police then formed a circle by holding hands around those who were close +to the platform. One by one the citizens were allowed to slip outside +the "ring-around-a-rosy" until only "desperadoes" were left. These made +no effort to resist arrest, and were started toward the city jail. The +officer entrusted with Thompson was so interested in his captive that +Rowan was able to quietly remove himself from the scene, returning to +the street corner where he spoke for more than half an hour before being +rearrested. + +Aroused by this invasion of liberty, Mrs. Letelsia Fye, an Everett +citizen, arose to recite the Declaration of Independence, but even that +proved too revolutionary for the tools of the lumber trust. A +threatening move on the part of the police brought back the thought of +her two unprotected children and caused her to cease her efforts to +declare independence in Everett. + +"Is there a red-blooded man in the audience who will take the stand?" +called out the gallant little woman as she stepped from the platform. +Jake Michel promptly accepted the challenge and was as promptly +suppressed by the police at the first mention of free speech. + +In the jail the arrested persons were searched one by one and thrown +into the "receiving tank." When Thompson's turn came, Commissioner of +Public Safety, as Chief of Police Kelly was known under Everett's form +or government, said to him: + +"Mr. Thompson, I don't want to lock you up." + +"That's interesting," replied Thompson. "Why have you got me down here?" + +"We don't want you to speak on the street at this time." + +"Have you any ordinance against it, that is, have I broken any law?" +enquired Thompson. + +"Oh no, no. That isn't the idea," rejoined Kelly. "We have strikes on, +labor troubles here, and we don't want you to speak here at all. You are +welcome at any other time, but not now." + +"Well," said Thompson, "as a representative of labor, when labor is in +trouble is the time I would like to speak, but I am not going to +advocate anything that I think you could object to." + +"Now, Thompson," said Kelly, "if you will agree to get right out of town +I will let you go. I don't want to lock you up." + +"Do you believe in free speech?" asked Thompson. + +"Yes." + +"And I am not arrested?" + +"No, you are not arrested." + +"Come up to the meeting then," Thompson said with a smile, "for I am +going back and speak." + +"Oh no, you are not!"--and Kelly kind of laughed. "No, you are not!" + +"If you let me go I will go right up to the corner and speak, and if you +send me out of town I will come back," said Thompson emphatically. "I +don't know what you are going to do, but that's how I stand." + +"Lock him up with the rest!" was the abrupt reply of the "Commissioner +of Public Safety." + +At this juncture James Rowan was brought in from the patrol wagon, and +searched. As the officers were about to put him in the cell with the +others, Sheriff McRae called out: + +"Don't put him in there, he is instigator of the whole damn business. +Turn him over to me." He then took Rowan in his automobile to the county +jail and threw him in a cell, along with B. E. Peck, who had previously +been given a "floater" out of town for having spoken on the street on or +about August 15th. McRae was drunk. + +More than half a thousand indignant citizens followed the twenty-one +arrested persons to the jail, loudly condemning the outrage against +their constitutional rights. Editor H. W. Watts, of the Northwest +Worker, a union and socialist paper published in Everett, forcibly +expressed his opinion of the suppression of free speech and was +thereupon thrown into jail. Fearing a serious outbreak, Michel secured +permission to address the people surrounding the jail. The crowd, upon +receiving assurances from Michel that the men would be well treated and +could be seen in the morning, quietly dispersed and returned to their +homes. + +The free speech prisoners were charged with vagrancy on the police +blotter, but no formal charge was ever made, nor were they brought to +trial. Next morning, Thompson and his wife, who had return tickets on +the Interurban, were deported by rail, together with Herbert Mahler, +secretary of the Seattle I. W. W. Mrs. Mahler, Mrs. Frennette and the +balance of the prisoners were taken to the City Dock and deported by +boat. At the instigation of McRae, and without a court order, the sum of +$13. was seized from the personal funds of James Orr and turned over to +the purser of the boat to pay the fares of the deportees to Seattle. +Protests against this legalized robbery were of no avail; the amount of +the fares was never repaid. Mayor Merrill of Everett, replying to a +letter from Mahler, promised that this money would be refunded to Orr. +His word proved to be as good as that of the Everett shingle mill +owners. Prominent members of the Commercial Club lent civic dignity to +the deportation by their profane threats to use physical force in the +event that any of the deported prisoners dared to return. + +Upon their arrival in Seattle the deported men conferred with other +members of the union, telling of the beating some of them had received +while in jail, and as a result there was organized a free speech +committee composed of Sam Dixon, Dan Emmett and A. E. Soper. Telegrams +were then sent to General Headquarters, to Solidarity and to various +branches of the organization, notifying them of what had happened. At a +street meeting that night, Mrs. Frennette, Mrs. Mahler and James P. +Thompson, gave the workers the facts and collected over $50.00 for the +committee to use in its work. In Everett the Labor Council passed a +resolution stating that the unions there were back of the battle for +free speech and condemning McRae and the authorities for their illegal +actions. The Free Speech Fight was on! + +Remick, in the meantime, had returned to Everett and found that all the +literature had been confiscated from the hall. The day following his +return, August 24th, Sheriff McRae blustered into the hall with a police +officer in his train. Leering at Remick he exclaimed: + +"You God damn son of a b----, are you back here again? Get on your coat +and get into that auto!" + +Seizing an I. W. W. stencil that was lying on the table he tore it to +shreds. + +"If anybody asks who tore that up,"--bombastically--"tell them Sheriff +McRae tore it!" + +Shoving Remick into the automobile with the remark that jail was too +easy for him and they would therefore take him to the Interurban and +deport him, the sheriff drove off to make good his threat. McRae was +drunk. + +On the corner that night, Harry Feinberg spoke to a large audience and +was not molested. That this was due to no change of policy on the part +of the lumber trust tools was shown when secretary Herbert Mahler went +to Everett the following day in reference to the situation. He was met +at the depot by Sheriff McRae who asked him what he had come to Everett +for. "To see the Mayor," answered Mahler. "Anything you have to say to +the Mayor, you can say to me," was McRae's rejoinder. After a brief +conversation Mahler was deported to Seattle by the same car on which he +had made the trip over. McRae was drunk. + +F. W. Stead reopened the hall on the 26th and managed to hold it down +for a couple of days. Three speakers appeared and spoke that night. J. +A. MacDonald, editor of the Industrial Worker, opened the meeting. +George Reese spoke next, but upon commencing to advocate the use of +violence he was pulled from the platform by Harry Feinberg, who +concluded the meeting. No arrests were made. + +It was during this period that Secretary Herbert Mahler addressed a +letter to Governor Ernest Lister, informing him of the state of +lawlessness existing in Everett. A second letter was sent to Mayor +Merrill and in it was enclosed a copy of the letter to Lister. No reply +was received to the communication. + +For a time following this there was no interference with street +meetings. Feinberg spoke without molestation on Monday night and Dan +Emmett opened up the hall once more. On Tuesday evening, the same night +as the theater riot, Thompson addressed an audience of thousands of +Everett citizens, giving them the facts of the arrests made the previous +week, and advising the workers against the use of violence in any +disputes with employers. + +After having been held by McRae for eight days without any commitment +papers, Rowan was turned over to the city police and released on +September 1st. He returned to the street corner and spoke for several +succeeding nights including "Labor Day" which fell on the 4th. +Incidentally he paid a visit to the home of Jake Michel and, after +industrial unionism was more fully explained, Michel agreed that the +craft union contract system forced scabbery upon the workers. Rowan left +shortly thereafter for Anacortes to find out the sentiment for +organization in that section. + +This period of comparative peace was due to the fact that the lumber +barons realized that their actions reflected no credit upon themselves +or their city and they wished to create a favorable impression upon +Federal Mediator Blackman who was in Everett at the request of U. S. +Commissioner of Labor Wilson. It was during this time, too, that the +protagonists of the open shop were secretly marshalling their forces for +a still more lawless and brutal campaign. + +Affairs gradually slipped from the hands of the Everett authorities into +the grasp of those Snohomish County officials who were more completely +dominated by the lumber interests. + +"Tom," remarked Jake Michel one day to Chief of Police Kelley, "it seems +funny that you can't handle the situation." + +"I can handle it all right," replied Kelley, bitterly, "but McRae has +been drunk around here for the last two or three weeks and he has butted +into my business." + +It was on August 30th that the lumber trust definitely stripped the city +officials of all power and turned affairs over to the sheriff. On this +point a quotation from the Industrial Relations Commission Report is +particularly illuminating in showing a common industrial condition: + +"Free speech in informal and personal intercourse was denied the +inhabitants of the coal camps. It was also denied public speakers. Union +organizers would not be permitted to address meetings. Periodicals +permitted in the camps were censored in the same fashion. The operators +were able to use their power of summary discharge to deny free press, +free speech, and free assembly, to prevent political activities for the +suppression of popular government and the winning of political control. ++I find that the head of the political machinery is the sheriff.+" + +In Everett the sheriff's office was controlled by the Commercial Club +and the Commercial Club in turn was dominated, thru an inner circle, by +the lumber trust. Acting for the trust a small committee meeting was +held on the morning of the 30th with the editor of a trust-controlled +newspaper, the secretary of the Commercial Club, two city officials, a +banker and a lumber trust magnate in attendance. A larger meeting of +those in control met in the afternoon and, pursuant to a call already +published in the Everett Herald, several hundred scabs, gunmen, and +other open shop advocates were brought together that night at the +Commercial Club. + +Commissioner of Finance, W. H. Clay, suggested that as Federal Mediator +Blackman, an authority on labor questions, was in the city it might be +well to confer with him regarding a settlement. Banker Moody said he did +not think a conference would be advisable as Mr. Blackman might be +inclined to lean toward the side of the laboring men, and at a remark by +"Governor" Clough, formerly Governor of Minnesota and spokesman for the +mill owners, to the effect that there was nothing to be settled the +suggestion was not considered further. + +H. D. Cooley, special counsel for a number of the mills, Governor +Clough, a prominent mill owner, and others then addressed the meeting in +furtherance of the plans already laid. Clough asked McRae if he could +handle the situation. McRae said he did not have enough deputies. + +"Swear in the members of the Commercial Club, then!" demanded Clough. +This was done. Nearly two hundred of the men whose membership had been +paid for by the mill owners "volunteered" their services. McRae swore in +a few and then, for the first time in his life, found swearing a +difficulty, so W. W. Blain, secretary of the Commercial Club, who was +neither a city nor a county official, administered the remainder of such +oaths as were taken by the deputies. The whole meeting was illegal. + +From time to time the deputy force was added to until it ran way up in +the hundreds. It was divided into sections A, B, C, etc. Each division +was assigned to a special duty, one to watch incoming trains for free +speech advocates, another to watch the boats for I. W. W. members, and +others for various duties such as deporting and beating up workers. +This marked the beginning of a reign of terror during which no +propertyless worker or union sympathizer was safe from attack. + +About this same time the Commercial Club made a pretense of +investigating the shingle weavers' strike. Not one of the strikers was +called to give their side of the controversy, and J. G. Brown, +international president of the Shingle Weavers' Union, was refused +permission to testify. The committee claimed that the employers could +not pay the wages asked. An adverse report was returned and was adopted +by the club. + +Attorneys E. C. Dailey, Robert Fassett, and George Loutitt, along with a +number of other fair minded members who did not favor the open shop +program, withdrew from membership on account of these various actions. +Their names were placed on the bulletin board and a boycott advised. +Feeling against the organization responsible for the chaotic conditions +in Everett finally became so strong that practically all of the +merchants whose places were not mortgaged or who were not otherwise +dependent upon the whims of the lumber barons, posted notices in their +windows, + + + "WE ARE NOT MEMBERS OF THE COMMERCIAL CLUB." + + +Their names, too, were placed on the bulletin board, and the boycott and +other devices used in an endeavor to force them into bankruptcy. + +Prior to these occurrences and for some time thereafter, the club was +addressed by emissaries of the open shop interests. A. L. Veitch, +special counsel for the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association, on +one occasion addressed the deputies on labor troubles in San Francisco +and the methods used to handle them. Veitch was later one of the +attorneys in the case against Thomas H. Tracy, and he was employed by +the state, it being stipulated that he receive no state compensation. H. +D. Cooley, lumber mill lawyer and former prosecuting attorney, also +spoke at different times on the open shop questions. Cooley was likewise +an attorney for the prosecution in the Tracy case and he, like Veitch, +was retained by "interested parties." Cooley was one of the anti-union +speakers at a meeting of the deputies which was also addressed by F. C. +Beach, of San Francisco, president of the M. & M., Robert Moody, +president of the First National Bank of Everett, Governor Clough, mill +magnate, F. K. Baker, president of the Commercial Club, and Col. Roland +H. Hartley, open shop candidate for the nomination as governor of +Washington at the pending election. Leigh Irvine, of Seattle, secretary +of the Employers' Association, and Murray, president of the National +Association of Manufacturers, were also active in directing the +destinies of the Commercial Club. + +A special open shop committee was formed, the nature of its operations +being apparent when the following two quotations from its minutes, taken +from among others of similar purport, are considered: + +"Decided to go after advertisements in labor journals and the +Northwestern Worker."[7] + +"Matter of how far to go on open shop propaganda at the deputies meeting +this morning was discussed. Also the advisability of submitting pledges. +Mr. Moody to take up matter of the legality of pledges with Mr. Coleman. +Note: At deputies meeting all speakers touched quite strongly on the +open shop, and as far as it was possible to see all in attendance seemed +favorable."[8] + +Just how far they finally did go is a matter of history. At the time, +however, there were appropriations made for the purchase of blackjacks, +leaded clubs, guns and ammunition, and for the employment of +detectives, labor spies, and "agents provocateur."[9] + +[Illustration: Joe (Red) Doran Capt. Jack Mitten The Launch Wanderer.] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] Sunset Magazine, February 1917. "The I. W. W. and the Golden Rule." + +[3] Supplemental report on "Everett's Industrial Warfare," by President +Ernest P. Marsh to State Federation of Labor convention held at Everett, +Wash., from January 22 to 26, 1917. + +[4] Vol. 9, No. 2, The Shingle Weaver, Special Convention Number, +February, 1911. + +[5] Proposition No. 5, submitted to referendum of membership of Pacific +Coast District I. L. A., Riggers and Stevedores Local 38, at their +annual election on Jan. 6, 1916. + +[6] Dreamland Rink Meeting, Seattle, Nov. 19th, over 5,000 in +attendance. + +[7] Minutes of Open Shop Committee, Sept. 27th. + +[8] Minutes of Open Shop Committee, October 29. + +[9] The incidents of the foregoing chapter are corroborated by the sworn +testimony of prosecution witnesses Donald McRae, sheriff of Snohomish +County; and D. D. Merrill, Mayor of Everett; and by witnesses called by +the Defense, W. W. Blain, secretary of the Commercial Club: J. G. Brown, +International president of the Shingle Weavers' Union; W. H. Clay, +Commissioner of Finance in Everett; Robert Faussett, Everett attorney; +Harry Feinberg, one of the defendants; Mrs. Letelsia Fye, Everett +citizen; Jake Michel, Secretary Everett Building Trades Council; Herbert +Mahler, Secretary Seattle I. W. W. and subsequently secretary of the +Everett Prisoners' Defense Committee; Robert Mills, business agent +Everett Shingle Weavers' Union; James Orr, and Levi Remick, I. W. W. +members; James Rowan, I. W. W. organizer; and James P. Thompson, +National Organizer for the I. W. W. and a speaker of international +reputation. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A REIGN OF TERROR + + +No sooner had Mediator Blackman left Everett than the "law and order" +forces resumed their hostilities with a bitterness and brutality that +seems almost incredible. On September 7th Mrs. Frennette, H. Shebeck, +Bob Adams, J. Johnson, J. Fred, and Dan Emmett were dragged from the +platform at Hewitt and Wetmore Avenues and were literally thrown into +their cells. Next morning Mrs. Frenette was released but the men were +"kangarood" for 30 days each. Petty abuses were heaped upon them and +Johnson was cast into the "black hole" by the sheriff. Some of the men +were severely beaten just before their release a few days afterward. + +When Fred Reed and James Dwyer were arrested the next night for street +speaking, the crowd of Everett citizens, in company with the few I. W. +W. members present, followed the deputies to the county jail, demanding +the release of Reed, Dwyer and Peck, and those who had been arrested the +night before. In its surging to and from the crowd pushed over a +post-rotted picket fence that had been erected in the early days of +Everett. This violence, together with cries of "You've got the wrong +bunch in jail! Let those men out and put the 'bulls' in!" was the basis +from which the trust-owned press built up a story of a riot and +attempted jail delivery. On the same flimsy basis a warrant was issued +charging Mrs. Frennette with inciting a riot. + +The free speech committee sent John Berg to Everett that same day to +retain an attorney for the men held without warrants. He secured the +services of E. C. Dailey, and, while waiting to learn the result of the +lawyer's efforts, he went to the I. W. W. hall only to find it closed. A +man was there waiting to get his blankets to go to work and Berg +volunteered to get them for him. He then went to the county jail and +asked for McRae. When McRae came in and learned that Berg wanted to see +the secretary in order to get the keys to the hall, he yelled out: + +"You are another I. W. W. Throw him in jail, the old son-of-a-b----!" + +Without having any charges placed against him, Berg was held until the +next morning, when McRae and a deputy took him out in a roadster to a +lonely spot on the county road. Forcing him to dismount, McRae ordered +Berg to walk to Seattle under threats of death if he returned, and then +knocked Berg down and kicked him in the groin as he lay prostrate. McRae +was drunk. Berg subsequently developed a severe rupture as a result of +this treatment. He managed to make his way to Seattle and in spite of +his condition returned to Everett that same night. + +Undaunted by their previous deportations, and determined to circumvent +the deputies who were seizing men from the railroad trains and regular +boats, a body of free speech fighters, on September 9th, took the train +to Mukilteo, a village about four miles from Everett, and there, by +pre-arrangement, were taken aboard the launch "Wanderer." + +The little boat would not hold the entire party and six men were towed +behind in a large dory. There were 17 first class life preservers on +board, the captain borrowing some to supplement his equipment. + +When the "Wanderer" reached a point about a mile and a half from the +Weyerhouser dock a boat was seen approaching. It was the scab tug +"Edison," belonging to the American Tugboat Company. On board was +Captain Harry Ramwell, Sheriff McRae and a body of about sixty deputies. +When the "Edison" was about 200 feet away the sheriff commenced +shooting--but let Captain Jack Mitten tell his own story. + +"The first shot went over the bow. I don't know whether there was one +or two shots fired, then there was a shot struck right over my head onto +the big cast iron muffler. The next shot came on thru the boat,--I had +my bunk strapped up against the wall,--and thru the blanket,--and the +cotton in the blanket turned the bullet,--and it struck flat on the +bottom of the bunk. + +"I shut the engine down and went out to the stern door and just as I +stepped out there was a shot went right by my head and at the same time +McRae hollered out and says 'You son-of-a-b--, you come over here!' Says +I, "If you want me, you come over here." With that they brought their +boat and my boat up together. Six shots in all were fired. + +"McRae commenced to take the people off the boat and when he had them +all off he kicked the pilot house open and says, 'Oho, there is a woman +here!' Mrs. Frennette was sitting in the pilot house. Anyhow, they took +her and he says, 'You'll get a one piece suit on McNeil's island for +this,' and then he says to Cap Ramwell--Cap Ramwell was sitting on the +side--'This is Oscar Lindstrom, drag him along too.' + +"Then they were going to make fast the line--they had made fast my stern +line--and as I bent over with the line McRae struck me with his revolver +on the back of the head, and when I straightened up he struck me in +here, a revolver about that long. (Indicating.) I said something to him +and then he ran the revolver right in here in my groin and he ruptured +me at the same time. I told him 'It's a fine way of using a citizen.' He +says, 'You're a hell of a citizen, bringing in a bunch like that,' he +says, 'to cause a riot in this town.' I says, 'Well, they are all union +men anyway.' He says, 'You shut your damn head or I will knock it clean +off!' and I guess he would, because he had whiskey enough in him at the +time to do it. + +"There was a small man, I believe they call him Miller, he saw him +standing there and he says, 'You here, too?' and he hauled off and +struck him in the temple and the blood flowed way down over his face +and shirt. He struck him again and staggered him. If he hadn't struck +him so he would have gone inboard, he would have gone over the edge, +close to the edge. + +"Then there was a man by the name of Berg, it seemed he knowed John +Berg. He said, 'You ----, I will fix you so you will never come back!' +and then he went at Berg, but Berg was foxy and kept ducking his head. +He rapped him on the shoulders two or three different times, I wouldn't +say how often, but he didn't draw blood on Berg. (An I. W. W. member +named Kurgvel was also beaten on the head and shoulders.) + +"They drove us all in alongside of the boiler between the decks, down on +the main deck of the "Edison" and kept us there till they docked and got +automobiles and the patrol wagon and filed us off into them and took us +to jail." + +The arrest of Captain Mitten and acting engineer Oscar Lindstrom made +twenty-one prisoners in all, and these were jailed without any charge +being placed against them. As Berg was taken into the jail, McRae cursed +him roundly, ordering two deputies to hold him while a beating was +administered over the shoulders and back with a leather strap loaded +with lead on the tip. + +The men were treated with great brutality within the jail. One young +fellow was asked by the deputies, "Are you an I. W. W.?" and each time +the lad answered "Yes!" he was thrown violently against the steel walls +of the cell, until his body was a mass of bruises. Mitten was denied a +chance to communicate with his Everett friends in order to get bail. The +nights were cold and the prisoners had to sleep on the bare floor +without blankets. + +At the end of nine days all the men were offered their liberty except +Mitten. They promptly refused the offer. "All or none!" was their +indignant demand, and Peck and Mitten were set at liberty with the rest +as a result of this show of solidarity. + +Upon his release Captain Mitten found that the life preservers had been +stolen from his boat, and the flattened bullet removed from his bunk. +Scotty Fife, the Port Captain of the American Tugboat Company, told +Captain Mitten that he had straightened up the things on the "Wanderer!" + +Thus to the crimes of unlawful arrest, false imprisonment, theft, +deportation, assault and physical injury, the lumber trust added that of +piracy on the high seas. And all this was but a taste of what was yet to +come! + +Organizer James Rowan returned to Everett from Anacortes on the +afternoon of September 11th and was met at the depot by three deputies +who promptly took him to the county jail. There were at that time +between thirty and forty other members of the I. W. W. being unlawfully +held. Rowan learned that these men had been taken from their cells one +at a time and beaten by the deputies, Thorne and Dunn having especially +severe cuts on the face and head. + +Rowan's story of the outrage that followed gives a glimpse of the +methods employed by the lumber trust. + +"As soon as I dropped off the train at Everett I was met by three +deputies. One of them told me the sheriff wanted to see me and I asked +if he was a deputy. He said, 'Yes,' and showed me a badge. Then I went +up with two of the deputies to the county jail. In a minute or two +Sheriff McRae came in and he was pretty drunk. He caught hold of me and +gave me a yank forward, and he says, 'So you are back, eh?' and I says +'Yes.' And he says 'We are going to fix you so you won't come back any +more.' There was some more abusive talk and then I was searched and put +in a cell. + +"Just after dark that night I was taken out of the cell, my stuff was +given back, and McRae says, 'We are going to start you on the road to +Seattle.' With a deputy he took me out to the automobile and McRae drove +the automobile, and we had some conversation. McRae seemed to feel very +sore because I told the people on the street that the jail was lousy, +and he says 'We wanted you to get out of here and you would not do it, +and now,' he says, 'Now instead of dealing with officers you have to +deal with a bunch of boob citizens, and there is no telling what these +boobs will do.' There was more talk that is not worth repeating and most +of it not fit to repeat anyhow. + +"We went out in the country until we came to where the road crosses the +interurban tracks about two miles from Silver Lake and McRae told me to +get out. He then pointed down the track and says, 'There is the road to +Seattle and you beat it!' so I started down the track. + +"I hadn't gone far, maybe 50 or 75 yards, when I met a bunch of gunmen. +They came at me with guns. They had clubs and they started to beat me up +on the head with the butts of their guns and with the clubs. They all +had handkerchiefs over their face except one. They threw a cloth over my +head and beat me some more on the head with their gun butts and then +they dragged me thru the fence at the right-of-way and went a little +ways back into the woods. Then they held me down over a log about +eighteen inches or two feet in diameter. There were about a dozen of +them I would say. Two or three held each arm and two or three each leg +and there were four or five of them holding guns around my ribs--they +had the guns close around my ribs all the time, several of them--and +they tore my clothes off, tore my shirt and coat off. Then one of them +beat me on the back, on the bare back with some kind of a sap, I don't +know just what kind it was, but I could hear him grunt every time he was +going to strike a blow. I was struck fifty times or more. + +"After he got thru beating me they went back to the fence toward the +road and I picked up my scattered belongings and went down to Silver +Lake, taking the first car to Seattle." + +[Illustration: Organizer James Rowan; + +Showing his back lacerated by Lumber Trust thugs.] + +Rowan exhibited his badly lacerated and bruised back to several +prominent Seattle citizens, and then had a photograph made, which was +widely circulated. Contrary to the expectation of the lumber barons this +treatment did not deter free speech fighters from carrying on the +struggle. Instead, it brought fresh bodies of free speech enthusiasts to +the scene within a short period. + +The personnel of the free speech committee changed continually because +of the arrest of its members. On Sunday, September 10th, at a mass +meeting in Seattle Harry Feinberg and William Roberts were elected to +serve. Roberts had just come down from Port Angeles and desired to +investigate conditions at first hand, so in company with Feinberg he +went to Everett on the 11th. They met Jake Michel, who telephoned to +Chief of Police Kelley for permission to hold a street meeting. + +"I have no objection to this meeting," replied Kelley, "but wait a +minute, you had better call up McRae and find out." + +Attempts to reach McRae at the Commercial Club and the sheriff's office +met with failure. Meanwhile Feinberg had gone ahead with the meeting, +the following being his sworn statement of what transpired: + +"I went to Everett at 7:30 Monday night. I got a box and opened a +meeting for the I. W. W. There must have been three thousand people on +the corner, against buildings and looking out of the windows. + +"I spoke about 35 minutes, with the crowd boisterous in their applause. +Three companies of deputies and vigilantes, about one hundred and fifty +thugs in all, marched down the street and divided up in three companies. +One of the deputies came up and told me he wanted me and grabbed me off +the box. + +"They took me up to the jail, took my description, and my money and +valuables, which were not returned. By that time Fellow Worker Roberts +was brought in. A drunken deputy came in and grabbed me by the coat and +dragged me out of the jail, with the evident permission of the officers. +The vigilantes proceeded to beat me up on the jail steps. There were +anyway fifty deputies waiting outside and all of them crowded to get a +chance to hit me. They gave me a chance to get away finally and shot +after me, or in the air, I could not tell which, but I was not hit by +the bullets." + +The sworn statement of William Roberts corroborated the foregoing: + +"I took the box after Fellow Worker Feinberg had been arrested. The +crowd were extreme in their hostility to the lawlessness of the +officers. I told them to keep cool, that the I. W. W. would handle the +situation, in their own time and way. They arrested me, and, right +there, they clubbed me on the head. They brought me to the jail, where +Feinberg was at the desk. They took me out of the jail and threw me into +the bunch of vigilantes with clubs. They started beating me around the +body. One of them said: 'Do anything, but don't kill him!' + +"Finally one of them hit me on the head and I came out of it and as I +was getting away they shot in the air. A bunch of them then jumped into +an automobile, came after me and again clubbed me. One of them knocked +me out for ten minutes, according to one of the women who were watching. + +"While we were in the jail, two men we did not know were brought into +the jail with their heads cut open. The vigilantes were clubbing women +right and left, and a young girl, about eight years of age, had her head +cut open by one of Sheriff McRae's Commercial Club tools." + +Roberts ran down the street to the interurban depot, where he hid behind +a freight car until just before the car left for Seattle. Feinberg, with +his face and clothing covered with blood, got on the same car about a +mile and a half from Everett and the two returned to Seattle. + +John Ovist, a resident of Mukilteo who had joined the I. W. W. in +Everett on Labor Day, got on the box and said, "Fellow comrades----" but +got no further. He was knocked from the box. Ovist states: "Mr. Henig +was standing alongside of me when Sheriff McRae came up and cracked him +over the forehead with a club. I don't know what else happened to him +for just then Sheriff McRae came in front of me and pushed the fellow +off the box. When the two fellows were arrested I started to speak and +McRae took me and turned me over to one of them--I don't know what you +call them--deputies, or whatever they are. He had a white handkerchief +around his neck and he took me toward the county jail. There was a +policeman standing in front of the jail. If I am not mistaken his name +is Ryan, a short heavy-set fellow. I walked by him. Of course, I never +thought he was going to hit me, but I felt something over behind. He hit +me with a club behind the ear and cut my head until it was bleeding +awful." + +"When we came to the county jail, Henig, he was in there already. His +face was red and he was full of blood. And they took us into the toilet +to have us wash the blood off, and when I came back I heard screams and +pounding. + +"Then the sheriff recognized me, he had been down in Mukilteo before, +and he says, 'What are you doing up here?' I said, 'Well, I didn't come +up here, they brought me up here.' He says, 'You are a member of the I. +W. W., too.' So I told him, 'I don't see why I should come and ask you +what organization I should belong to!' So he opened the gate and says, +'Here is a fellow from Mukilteo,' he says. 'Beat it!' And I seen, I +guess--a hundred and fifty or maybe two hundred, I didn't have time to +count them, right out back of the jail lined up in lines on either side. +And I had to run between them and come out the other end. They banged me +on the head with clubs, and all over. I looked bad and I felt worse. I +had blue marks on my shoulders and on my hips and under my knees. + +"I got thru them and there was a couple ran after me, but I beat it +ahead of them. I guess they intended to club me. I ran down to that +depot where the electric car goes thru to Seattle and then I turned to +look around because the car was at Hewitt and Colby, and as I went down +the walk two men stopped me and asked me if I hadn't had enough. They +told me to beat it, and as I turned around the same policeman, Ryan, I +think his name is, hit me on the forehead and then pulled his gun and +said, 'Beat it!' He was drunk and they were all swearing at me. + +"After I got a block or so, there were two or three shots. I walked two +more blocks and then was so dizzy I had to rest. Finally I walked +further and an automobile came past me and I tried to holler but they +didn't hear me. And then I walked a little further and the stage came +along and they picked me up." + +Eye witnesses declared that officer Daniels was one of those who fired +shots at the fleeing men after they had been forced to run the gauntlet. + +Frank Henig, an Everett citizen, tells what happened in these words: + +"I will start from the time I left the house. My wife and I, and the +little baby were going to the show. When we got on Wetmore there was a +big crowd standing there. I had worked the night before in the mill and +I had cedar asthma, so I said to my wife, 'I would like to stay out in +the fresh air,' And she said, 'All right, I will meet you at nine +o'clock at Wetmore and Hewitt.' + +"There was quite a crowd and I got up pretty close in front so I could +hear the speaker. I stood there a little while and finally the sheriff +came along with a bunch of deputies, and the speaker said, 'Here they +come, but now people, I will tell you, don't start anything, let them +start it.' + +"They took him off the box and arrested a couple of others with him, and +then immediately after that the Commercial Club deputies came along in a +row. They had white handkerchiefs around their necks. So I looked out +there and the crowd commenced to yell and cheer like, and McRae got +excited and started toward me, saying, 'We have been looking for you +before.' When he said that I stopped--before that I had tried to get +farther back--I stopped and he got hold of me. Meanwhile Commissioner +Kelley came up and took care of me and McRae walked away a little way. +Kelley had hold of my right arm and he pinched me a little bit, and I +said 'Let go Kelley and I will go with you.' + +"We stood there a few minutes longer and McRae came back. Kelley said +'Come along with me,' and just as I said 'All right,' McRae grabbed me +by the coat and hit me on the head with a black club fastened to his +strap with a leather thong. I was looking right at him and he knocked me +unconscious. Then Kelley picked me up and shook me and I came to again, +and I fell over the curb of the sidewalk. + +"Kelley then turned me over to Daniels, a policeman in Everett, and he +turned me over to a couple of Commercial Club deputies. Then Fred Luke +came along and said, 'I will take care of him.' So we walked a little +ways and he said, 'You better go to the doctor and have that dressed.' I +said to him, 'Oh, I guess it ain't so bad,' and so he said, 'Come along +with me and we will wash up at the jail.' I said, 'All right,' and while +I was going up the steps to the jail, why a policeman by the name of +Bryan or something like that,--a little short fellow, well anyhow he got +canned off the force for being drunk, that is how I heard of him,--when +I was kind of slow walking along because I was bleeding pretty bad, he +said, 'Hurry up and get in there, you low-down, dirty son-of-a-b----' +And I answered, 'I guess I ain't arrested, I don't have to hurry in +there.' So he cursed some more. + +"I went into the jail and washed up and came back into the office of the +county jail. The fellows that they had arrested were sitting in the +chairs and McRae came in and grabbed one of the I. W. W.'s--I guess they +were I. W. W.'s, anyway one of them that was arrested--and he says, +'What in hell are you doing up here, don't you know I told you to keep +away from here?' and while he was going in the door into the back office +I saw him haul off with his sap, but I don't see him hit him, but the +little fellow cried like a baby. + +"McRae came back and he looked at me and said, 'What in hell are you +doing up here?' I didn't know what to say for a little while and then I +said, 'I didn't do nothing, Mac, I don't see what you wanted to sap me +for.' And he said, 'I didn't sap you,' he said, 'Kelley hit you.' Then I +said to him, 'My wife says for me to meet her down at the corner of +Wetmore and Hewitt at nine o'clock and I would like to go down there and +meet her.' So he said, 'All right, you go; you hurry and go.' I was +going out the front door and he said, 'No, don't go out there. If you go +out there, they will kill you!' He led me to the back door of the jail, +I don't know where it was, I never was in jail in my life before, and he +said, 'Hurry and beat it, and pull your hat down over your head so they +wont know you.' But when I got to town everybody knew, because there was +blood still running all over my face after I washed up." + +Henig endeavored to prosecute McRae for his illegal and unwarranted +assault but all attempts to secure a warrant met with failure. Lumber +trust law operates only in one direction. + +In this raid upon the meeting McRae smashed citizens right and left, +women as well as men. He was even seen to kick a small boy who happened +to get in his path. Deputy Sam Walker beat up Harry Woods, an Everett +music teacher; another deputy was seen smashing an elderly gentleman on +the head; still another knocked Mrs. Louise McGuire, who was just +recovering from a sprained knee, into the gutter; and Ed Morton, G. W. +Carr and many other old-time residents of Everett were struck by the +drunken Commercial Club thugs. + +Mrs. Leota Carr called up Chief of Police Kelley next morning, the +following being an account of the conversation that ensued: + +"I said, 'What are you trying to kill my husband for?' and he kind of +laughed and said he didn't believe it, and I said, 'Did you know they +struck him over the head last night and he could hardly go to work +today?' He said, 'My God, they didn't strike him, did they?' and I +said, 'They surely did!' And he said 'Why there isn't a better man in +town than he is,' and I said, 'I know it.' It surprised me to think that +he thought I didn't know it myself. And then I said, 'These here +deputies are making more I. W. W.'s in town than the I. W. W.'s would in +fifty years.' And he said, 'I know it.' Then I said, 'Why do you allow +them to do it? You are the head of the police department.' He replied, +'McRae has taken it out of my hands; the sheriff is ahead of me and it +is his men who are doing it, and I am not to blame.'" + +At the city park four nights after this outrage, only one arrest for +street speaking having occurred in the meantime, the aroused citizens of +Everett met to hear Attorney E. C. Dailey, T. Webber, and various local +speakers deal with the situation, and to view at first hand the wounds +of Ovist, Henig and other towns people who had been injured. Thousands +attended the meeting, and disapproval of the actions of the Commercial +Club and its tools was vehemently expressed. + +This remonstrance from the people had some effect. The Commercial Club, +knowing that all arrests so far had been unlawful, took steps to +"legalize" any further seizing of street speakers at Hewitt and Wetmore +Avenues. The lumber interests issued an ordinance preventing street +speaking on that corner. The Mayor signed it without ever putting it to +a reading, thus invalidating the proposed measure. This made no +difference; henceforth it was a law of the city of Everett and as such +was due to be enforced by the lumber trust. + +During the whole controversy there had not been an arrest made on the +charge of violation of any street speaking ordinance. With the new +ordinance assumed to be a law, Mrs. Frennette went to Everett and +interviewed Chief Kelley. After telling him that the I. W. W. members +were being disturbed and mistreated by men who were not in uniform, she +said: + +"It seems that there is an ordinance here against street speaking and +we feel that it is unjust. We feel that we have a right to speak here. +We are not blocking traffic and we propose to make a test of the +ordinance. Will you have one of your men arrest me or any other speaker +who chooses to take the box, personally, and bring me to jail and put a +charge against me, and protect me from the vigilantes who are beating +the men on the street?" + +Kelley replied that so far as he was concerned he would do the best he +could but McRae had practically taken the authority out of his hands and +that he really could not guarantee protection. So a legal test was +practically denied. + +Quiet again reigned in Everett following the brutalities cited. A few +citizens were manhandled for too openly expressing their opinion of mob +methods and several wearers of overalls were searched and deported, but +the effects of bootleg whiskey seemed to have left the vigilantes. + +On Wednesday, Sept. 20th, a committee of 2000 citizens met at the Labor +Temple and arranged for a mass meeting to be held in the public park on +the following Friday. The meeting brought forth between ten and fifteen +thousand citizens, one-third of the total population at least, who +listened to speakers representing the I. W. W., Socialists, trades +unions and citizens generally. Testimony was given by some of the +citizens who had been clubbed by the vigilantes. Recognizing the hostile +public opinion, Sheriff McRae promised that the office of the I. W. W. +would not again be molested. As he had lied before he was not believed, +but, as a test, Earl Osborne went from Seattle to open up the hall once +more. + +For a period thereafter the energies of the deputies were given to a +course of action confined to the outskirts of the city. Migratory +workers traveling to and from various jobs were taken from the trains, +beaten, robbed and deported. As an example of McRae's methods and as +depicting a phase of the life of the migratory worker the story of +"Sergeant" John J. Keenan, sixty-five years old, and still actively at +work, is of particular interest: + +"I left Great Falls, Mont., about the 5th of September after I had been +working on a machine in the harvest about nine miles from town. The boys +gathered together--they were coming from North Dakota--and we all came +thru together. We had an organization among ourselves. We carried our +cards. There was a delegate with us, a field delegate, and I was +spokesman, elected by the rank and file of the twenty-two. There was +another division from North Dakota on the same train with us, going to +Wenatchee to pick apples. We were going to Seattle. I winter in Seattle +every year and work on the snow sheds. + +"We carried our cooking utensils with us, and when we got off at a +station we sent our committee of three and bought our provisions in the +store, and two of the cooks cooked the food, and we ate it and took the +next train and came on. This happened wherever we stopped. + +"We arrived in Snohomish, Wash., on Sept. 23rd at about 8:45 in the +morning. When the committee came down I sent out and they brought me +back the bills--I was the treasurer as well--one man carried the funds, +and they brought back $4.90 worth of food down, including two frying +pans, and when I was about cooking, a freight train from Everett pulled +in and a little boy, who was maybe about ten years old, he says, 'Dad, +are you an I. W. W.?' I says, 'I am, son.' 'Well,' he says, 'there are a +whole bunch of deputies coming out after you.' I laughed at the boy, I +thought he was joshing me. + +"About half an hour after the boy told me this the deputies appeared. In +the first bunch were forty-two, and then Sheriff McRae came with more, +making altogether, what I counted, sixty-four. The first bunch came +around the bush alongside the railroad track where I was and the sheriff +came in about twenty minutes later with his bunch from the opposite way. + +"In the first bunch was a fat, stout fellow with two guns. He had a +chief's badge--a chief of police's badge--on him. He was facing toward +the fire and he says, 'If you move a step, I will fill you full of +lead!' I laughed at him, says I, 'What does this outrage mean?' There +was another old gentleman with a chin beard, fat, middling fat, probably +my own age, and he picked up my coat which was lying alongside me and +looked at my button. He says, 'Oh, undesirable citizen!' I says, 'What +do you mean?' He says, 'Are you an I. W. W.?' I says, 'I am, and I am +more than proud of it!' 'Well,' he says, 'we don't want you in this +county.' I says, 'Sure?' He says, 'Yes.' I says, 'Well, I am not going +to stay in this county, I am going to cook breakfast and go to Seattle.' +He says, 'Do you understand what this means?' I says, 'No.' He says, +'The sheriff will be here in a few minutes and he will tell you what it +means.' I heard afterward that this man was the mayor of Snohomish. + +"I was sitting right opposite the fire with my coffee and bread and meat +in my hand when Sheriff McRae came up and says, 'Who is this bunch?' So +a tall, black deputy, a tall, dark complected fellow, says, 'They are a +bunch of harvest hands coming from North Dakota.' McRae says, 'Did you +search these men?' And he says, 'Yes.' 'Did you find any shooting arms +on them?' He says, 'No.' They had searched us and we had no guns or +clubs. + +"McRae then asked, 'Who is their leader?' and this old gentleman that +spoke to me first, he says, 'They have no leader, but that old man over +there is the spokesman.' So he came over to me and says, 'Where are you +going?' I says, 'I am going to Seattle.' Then he used an expression that +I don't think is fit for ladies to hear. I says, 'My mother was a lady +and she never raised any of us by the name you have mentioned, and,' I +says, 'I don't think I have done anything that I will have to walk out +of the county.' He says, 'Do you see that track?' I says, 'Yes.' He +says, 'Well, you will walk down that track!' I says, 'But for these +twenty-one men that are here in my hands I wouldn't walk a foot for +you.' He says, 'You get out. I am going to shoot all these things to +pieces.' I says, 'You will shoot nothing to pieces, I bought them with +my hard-earned money.' He says, 'All right, take them with you.' Then he +shot up the cans and things, and he says, 'That is the track to Seattle +and you go up it, and if I ever catch you in this county again you will +get what you are looking for.' + +"So we walked up the hill toward Seattle and there is a town, I think +they call it Maltby, and we got there between four and five o'clock in +the evening. Fellow Worker Thornton, Adams and Love were the committee +men and they asked me how I felt. I told them my feet were pretty sore. + +"I went over to the station agent and found out that there was a freight +due at 9:30 but that sometimes it didn't get in until three in the +morning. I then asked permission to light a fire and cook some coffee, +and after we were thru eating we lay down. + +"About 9:30 the train came along and I called the men. As the train was +backing up I saw some light come, and one auto throwing her searchlight, +and I counted four automobiles. That is all I could count but there were +a whole lot of them coming. I says, 'Men, we have run up against a stone +wall.' + +"Fellow Worker Love and I--he came off the machine with me in Great +Falls--we were first in line and Sheriff McRae and two other men with +white handkerchiefs around their necks came forward first and he says, +'You son-of-a-b----, I thought you were going to Seattle?' I says, +'Ain't I going to Seattle? I can't go till the train goes,' I says, +'you've had me walking now till I have no foot under me. What do you +mean by this outrage? My father fought for this country and I have a +right here. I am on railroad property and have done nothing to anybody.' +McRae then hit Fellow Worker Love on the head and I yelled 'Break and +run, men, or they will kill you!' He turned around then and he said to +me, 'You dirty old Irish bastard, now I will make you so you can't run. +I'll show you!' With that he let drive and hit me, leaving this three +cornered mark here (indicating place on head). And when the others went +up the track he says, 'Get now, God damn your old soul, or I will kill +you!' I says, 'Sheriff, look here, you are a perfect gentleman, you are, +to hit a fellow old enough to be your father.' He made as if to hit me +again and then Fellow Worker Love came back and says, 'Have a heart!' I +says 'You run,' and he says 'No, they are not going to kill you while I +am here.' And Fellow Worker Paterson came back down the track and I +says, 'What is the matter, Paterson, are you crazy? Get the men and tell +them to go over the line. Don't stay in this county or they are liable +to murder you!' Then Love and I went off the track into the thick bushes +and lay down till next morning. + +"At daylight we got up, went down to the junction and gathered up +fifteen of the men. When the train pulled in the trainman asked me where +I was going and I said I was going to Seattle. He says, 'Do you carry a +card?' 'Yes,' says I. 'Produce!' says he. That is the word the trainmen +use. So I put my hand in my pocket and pulled it out. 'You better get +back in the caboose, you are hurt,' he said. He saw the blood where +Fellow Worker Love had bandaged my head with his handkerchief. 'No,' +says I, 'Where the men are riding is good enough for me.' So we went to +where the interurban comes in and I was seven men short. I paid +two-fifty into Seattle, and we came in, and I made a report to the +Seattle locals." + +Incidents similar to this were of almost daily occurrence, scores of +deportations taking place during the month of September. Then on the +26th, despite his promises to refrain from molesting the hall, McRae +entered the premises, forcibly seized Earl Osborne, the secretary, took +him a long distance out in the country, and at the point of a gun made +him start the thirty-mile trip on foot to Seattle. On the 29th of +September the Everett authorities arrested J. Johnson and George Bradley +in Seattle. Johnson was held on an arson charge but no legal warrant for +his arrest was issued until October 17th, or until he had been in jail +for nineteen days. Then the charge against him was that he had set fire +to a box factory--but this was soon changed when it was learned by the +authorities that the box factory had not caught fire until after Johnson +was in jail, and for the first charge they substituted the claim that +Johnson had burned the garage of one Walter Smith, a scab shingle weaver +deputy. George Bradley, who had been deported from Everett after having +served one day as secretary, was accused of second degree arson as an +alleged accomplice. Each man was told that the other had confessed and +the best thing to do was to make a clean breast of matters, but this +scheme of McRae's fell thru for two reasons: the men were not guilty, +and they had never seen or heard of each other before. Johnson was in +jail fifty-eight days without a preliminary hearing. Both men were +released on property bonds, and the trials were "indefinitely +postponed," that still being their status at this writing. + +No further attempts were made to open the hall after Osborne's +deportation until October 16th when the organization in Seattle again +selected a man to act as secretary in Everett. Thomas H. Tracy took +charge on that date, remaining in Everett until a few days prior to +November 5th, at which time he resigned, his place being taken by +Chester Micklin. + +During the month of October there were between three and four hundred +deportations, the vigilantes operating mainly from the Commercial Club. +Many of these "slugging parties" were attended by Mayor D. D. Merrill, +Governor Clough, Captain Harry Ramwell, T. W. Anguish, W. R. Booth, +Edward Hawse, and other "pillars of society" in Everett. Most of the men +were deported without any formalities whatever, and the methods used in +handling the others may well be judged by frequent entries on the police +blotter to the effect that men arrested by Great Northern detective Fox +were ordered turned over to Sheriff McRae by Mayor Merrill. The railroad +company, acting in conjunction with the lumber trust, put on a private +army, and had its men roughly dressed to resemble honest workingmen. +Cases of "hi-jacking" became quite numerous about this time, but no +redress from this highway robbery could be had. + +On the question of the hiring of armed forces by the railroads the +Industrial Relations Commission Report has this to say: + + + "Under the authority granted by the several states the railroads + maintain a force of police, and some, at least, have established + large arsenals of arms and ammunition. This armed force, when + augmented by recruits from detective agencies and employment + agencies, as seems to be the general practice during industrial + disputes, constitutes a private army clothed with a degree of + authority which should be exercised only by public officials; these + armed bodies, usurping the supreme functions of the state and + oftentimes encroaching on the rights of citizens, are a distinct + menace to public welfare." + + +A number of the men deported during September and October were not +members of the I. W. W., some even being opposed at the time to the +tenet of the organization, "The working class and the employing class +have nothing in common," but almost without exception the non-members +who suffered deportation made it a point to join the union when the +nearest branch or field delegate was reached. In Everett, delegates +working quietly among the millmen, longshoremen, and other workers, were +also getting numerous recruits as the class struggle stood forth in its +naked form. All the efforts of the lumber trust to suppress the I. W. W. +were as tho they had tried to quench a forest fire with gasoline. + +[Illustration: Beverly Park] + +[Illustration: A close up view of Beverly Park showing cattle guards.] + +It was on October 30th that forty-one men left Seattle by boat in a +determined effort to reach the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore Avenues in +order to test the validity of the alleged ordinance prohibiting free +speech at that point. They were the first contingent of an army of +harvesters who were just returning from a hard season's labor in the +fields and orchards. The party was double the size of any free speech +group that had tried to enter Everett at any previous time. + +They were met at the dock by a drunken band of deputies, most of whom +wore white handkerchiefs around their necks as a means of +identification. The deputies were armed with guns and clubs, and they +outnumbered the I. W. W. body five to one. Several of the lawless crew +were so intoxicated they could scarcely stand, and one in particular had +to be forcibly restrained by his less drunken associates from attempts +to commit murder in the open. The I. W. W. men were clubbed with gun +butts and loaded clubs whenever their movements were not swift enough to +suit the fancies of the drunken mob. John Downs' face was an +indistinguishable mass of blood where Sheriff McRae had "sapped up" on +him and split open his upper lip. Boat passengers who remonstrated were +promised the same treatment unless they kept still. In its mad frenzy +the posse struck in all directions. So blindly drunk and hysterical was +deputy Joseph Irving that he swung his heavy revolver handle with full +force onto the head of deputy Joe Schofield. He continued the insane +attack, while McRae, awry-eyed and lusting for blood, assisted in the +brutal task until warning cried from the other vigilantes showed them +their mistake. Schofield was carried to an automobile and hastened to +the nearest drug store, where it was found necessary to call a physician +to take three stitches to bind together the edges of the most severe +wound. + +The prisoners were loaded into large auto trucks and passenger cars, +more than twenty of which were lined up in waiting, and were taken out +to a lonely wooded spot near Beverly Park on the road to Seattle. McRae, +with deputies Fred Luke, William Pabst and Fred Plymale, took one I. W. +W. out in their five-passenger Reo, McRae afterward endeavored +unsuccessfully to prove an alibi because his own car was in a garage. +Deputy Sheriff Jefferson Beard also took out a prisoner. + +Upon their arrival at Beverly the prisoners were made to dismount at +the point of guns and stand in the cold drizzling rain until their +captors had formed two lines reaching from the roadway to the interurban +tracks. There in the darkness the men were forced to run stumbling over +the uneven ground down a gauntlet that ended only with the cruel sharp +blades of a cattle guard, while on their unprotected heads and shoulders +the drunken outlaws rained blow after blow with gun-butts, black-jacks, +loaded saps and pick-handles. In the confusion one boy escaped from Ed +Hawse, but before he could get away into the brush this bully, weighing +about 260 pounds, bore down upon him, and with a couple of other +deputies proceeded to beat him well-nigh into insensibility. Deputies +who lost their clubs in the scramble aimed kicks at the privates of the +men as they passed down the line. Deputy Fred Luke swung at one man with +such force that the leather wrist thong parted and the club disappeared +into the woods. With drunken deliberation Joseph Irving cracked the head +of man after man, informing each one that they were getting an extra +dose because of his mistake in beating up a brother deputy. In the thick +of it all, smashing, kicking, and screaming obscene curses at the +helpless men and boys who dared demand free speech within the territory +sacred to the lumber trust, was the deputy-sheriff of Snohomish County, +Jefferson E. Beard! + +A few of the men broke the lines and ran into the woods, a bullet past +their heads warning others from a like attempt. Across the cattle guard, +often sprawling on hands and knees from the force of the last blows +received, went the men who had cleared the gauntlet. Legs sank between +the blades of the guard and strained ligaments and sprained ankles were +the result. One man suffered a dislocated shoulder at the hands of a +Doctor Allison, another had the bridge of his nose broken by a blow from +McRae, and dangerously severe wounds and bruises were sustained by +nearly all of the forty-one. + +So horrible were the moans and outcries of the stricken men, so bestial +were the actions of the infuriated deputies, that one of their own +number, W. R. Booth, sickened at the sight and sound, went reeling up +the roadway retching as he left the brutal scene. + +Attracted by the curses of the deputies, the sound of the blows, and the +moans and cries of the wounded men, Mrs. Ruby Ketchum came to the door +of her house nearly a quarter of a mile away, and remained there +listening to the hideous din, while her husband, Roy Ketchum, and his +brother, Lew, went down to the scene of the outrage to investigate. The +Ketchum brothers reported that the deputies were formed in two lines +ending in six men, three on each side of the cattle guard. A man would +be taken out of the car and two deputies would join his arms up behind +him meanwhile hammering his unprotected face from both sides as hard as +they could strike with their fists. Then the man was started down the +line, one deputy following to club him on the back to make him hurry, +and the other deputies striking with clubs and other weapons and kicking +the prisoner as he progressed. Just before reaching the cattle guard he +was made to run, and, in crossing the blades, the three men on the east +side of the track would swing their clubs upon his back while the men on +the west clubbed him across the face and stomach. This was repeated with +the men as fast as they were dragged from the autos. They also heard the +sound of blows and then cries of "Oh my God! Doc, don't hit me again, +doc, you're killing me!" Lew Ketchum took deputy Fred Luke by the coat +tails and pulled him back from the cattle guard, asking, "What are you +doing, what is going on here?" and Luke replied, "We are beating up +forty-one I. W. W.'s." + +Harry Hubbard tells the story in these words from the time the autos +arrived at Beverly: + +"I got out of the car with another fellow, Rice, and I says, 'We had +better stay together, it looks to me like we were going to get tamped +up,' and somebody grabbed hold of him, and I stood a minute, and then I +ran by one fellow up into the woods. Just as I got out of the radius of +the automobile lights I fell over a stump on the edge of the embankment. +I was in kind of a peculiar predicament and I had to get hold of the +stump to pull myself up, and just as I did that some fellow behind me +swung with a blackjack and grazed my temple, knocking me to my knees. I +got up and he grabbed hold of me and we both fell down the bank +together. Then two or three others grabbed me, and this Hawse had me by +the collar, and Sheriff McRae walked up and said 'You are the +son-of-a---- that was over here last week,' and I answered, 'I was +working here last week.' Then he said, 'Are you an I. W. W.?' I said, +'Yes,' and he hit me an upward swing on the nose. He repeated, 'You are +an I. W. W., are you?' and again I said, 'Yes.' He then swore at me and +said, 'Say that you ain't!' and I replied, 'No, I won't say that I +ain't,' and he hit me three more times on the nose. + +"Then the man who was holding my left wrist with one hand and my +shoulder with the other, said, 'Wait a minute until I get a poke at +him,' and McRae said, 'All right, doc,' and then someone else said 'All +right Allison, hit him for me!' This fellow they called Doc Allison hit +me and blackened my eye. McRae swore at me, he seemed to be intoxicated +and he looked and acted like a maniac, he said 'If you fellows ever come +back some of you will die, that's all there is to it.' I said, 'I don't +think there is any necessity for killing anybody,' and he answered 'I +will kill you if you come back,' and he raised his blackjack and said +'Run!' I said 'I wont run,' and he hit me again and I dropped to the +ground. He raised his foot over my face, and used some pretty raw +language, and as he stood there with his heel over my face I grabbed +hold of a fellow's leg and pulled myself along so instead of hitting my +face his heel scraped my side. Then I got some kicks, three of them in +the small of the back around my kidneys. + +"When I got up I walked thru the line, there were twenty or thirty +different ones hollered for me to run, but I was stubborn and wouldn't +do it. And when I got to the cattle guard and stood at the other side +kind of wiping the blood off my face I heard some one coming and I said, +'Four Hundred," and he said 'Yes,' and he was crying. It was a young boy +and I walked down the track with him afterward. + +"At the City Hospital in Seattle next day the doctor told me my nose was +badly fractured and that I had internal injuries. A few days later my +back pained me severely and I passed blood for a time after that." + +C. H. Rice, whose shoulder was dislocated, gives about the same version. + +"Two big fellows would hold a man until they were thru beating him and +then turn him loose. I was turned loose and ran probably six or eight +feet, something like that, and I was hit and knocked down. As I +scrambled to my feet and ran a few feet again I was hit on the shoulder +with a slingshot. This time I went down and I was dazed, I think I must +have been unconscious for a moment because when I came to they were +kicking me, and some of them said, 'He is faking,' and others said, 'No, +he is knocked out.' I remember seeing some of the boys during that time +running by me, and when they got me up I started to run a bit farther +and was knocked down again. + +"Then they called for somebody there, addressing him as Dr. Allison, and +he grabbed my arm and pulled me up, and he raised my arm up and said, +'Aw, there is nothing the matter with you,' and jerked it down again. My +arm was out of place, it seemed way over to one side, and I couldn't +straighten it up. + +"As I was going over the cattle guard several of them hit me and some +one hollered 'Bring him back here, don't let him go over there.' They +brought me back and this doctor said 'You touch your shoulder with your +hand,' and I couldn't. He says 'There is nothing the matter with you.' + +"Then the fellow who was on the dock, and who had been drinking pretty +heavily, because they would have to shove him back every once in a +while, he shouted out 'Let's burn him!' About that time Sheriff McRae +came over and got hold of my throat and said, 'Now, damn you, I will +tell you I can kill you right here and there never would be nothing +known about it, and you know it.' And some one said, 'Let's hang him!' +and this other fellow kept hollering 'Burn him! Burn him!' McRae kept +hitting me, first on one side and then the other, smacking me that way, +and then he turned me loose again and hit me with one of those +slingshots, and finally he said 'Oh, let him go,' and he started me +along, following behind and hitting me until I got over the cattleguard. + +"I went down to the interurban track until I caught up with some of the +boys. They tried to pull my shoulder back into place and then they took +handkerchiefs and neckties, and one thing and another, and made a kind +of a sling to hold it up. We then went down to the first station and the +boys took up a collection and the eight of us who were hurt the worst +got on the train and went to Seattle. The others had to walk the +twenty-five miles into Seattle. Most of us had to go to the hospital +next day." + +Sam Rovinson was beaten with a piece of gaspipe, but taking advantage of +the fact that the shooting when Archie Collins made his escape had +attracted the attention of the deputies he got thru the gauntlet with +only minor injuries. Rovinson testifies that McRae said to him: + +"This time we will let you off with this, but next time you come up here +we will pop you full of holes." + +"I just came up here to exercise my constitutional right of free +speech," expostulated Rovinson. + +"To hell with free speech and the Constitution!" shouted McRae, "You are +now in Snohomish county, and we are running the county!" + +After the deputies had returned to town the two Ketchum brothers took +their lanterns and went out to the scene thinking they might find some +of the men out there hurt, with a broken leg, or arm or something, and +that they could be taken to their house to be cared for. No men were +seen, but three covered with blood were found and after examination were +returned to where they had been picked up. + +Early next morning some of the deputies, frightened at their cowardly +actions of the previous night, were seen at Beverly Park making an +examination of the ground. Two of them approached the Ketchum residence +and asked if any I. W. W.'s had been found lying around there. After +being assured that they had stopped short of murder, the deputies +departed. + +A little later an investigation committee composed of Rev. Oscar McGill +of Seattle, and Rev. Elbert E. Flint, Rev. Jos. P. Marlatt, Jake Michel, +Robert Mills, Ernest Marsh, E. C. Dailey, Commissioner W. H. Clay, +Messrs. Fawcett, Hedge, Ballou, Houghton and others from Everett, made a +close examination of the grounds. In spite of the heavy rain and +notwithstanding the fact that deputies had preceded them, the committee +found blood-soaked hats and hat bands and big brown spots of blood +soaked into the cement roadway. In the cattle guard was the sole of a +shoe, evidently torn off as one of the fleeing men escaped his +assailants. + +"Hearing of the occurrence I accompanied several gentlemen, including a +prominent minister of the gospel of Everett, next morning to the scene. +The tale of that struggle was plainly written. The roadway was stained +with blood. The blades of the cattle guard were so stained, and between +the blades was a fresh imprint of a shoe where plainly one man in his +hurry to escape the shower of blows, missed his footing in the dark and +went down between the blades. Early that morning workmen going into the +city to work, picked up three hats from the ground, still damp with +blood. There can be no excuse for nor extenuation of such an inhuman +method of punishment," reported President E. P. Marsh to the State +Federation of Labor. + +J. M. Norland stated that "there were big brown blotches on the pavement +which we took to be blood. They were perhaps two feet in diameter, and +there were a number of smaller blotches for a distance of twenty-five +feet. In the vicinity of the cattle guard the soil was disarranged and +there were shoe marks near the cattle guard. You could also notice +where, in their hurry to get across, they would go in between, and there +would be little parts or shreds of clothing there, and on one there was +a little hair." + +All that day the talk in Everett centered around the crime of the +preceding night. Little groups of citizens gathered here and there to +discuss the matter. The deputies went about strenuously denying that +they had a hand in the infamous affair, and friends of long standing +refused to speak to those who were known positively to have been +concerned in the outrage. A number of the ministers of the city +conferred regarding a course of action, but finding the problem too deep +for them to solve they left it to up to the individual. Various Everett +citizens, representing a large degree of public sentiment, felt that the +thing to do was to hold an immense mass meeting in order to present the +facts of the hideous crime to the whole public. This plan met with +immediate approval from many quarters, and the I. W. W. in Seattle was +notified of this desire by mail, by telephone, and by means of citizens' +delegations. Rev. Oscar McGill conferred with secretary Herbert Mahler +and was quite insistent upon the necessity for such a meeting, as the +Everett papers had carried no real information about the affair in +Beverly. He brought out the fact that there had been thousands in +attendance at the mass meeting in the Everett city park a month or so +previous to this occurrence, and the speakers were then escorted by a +large body of citizens from the interurban depot to the meeting place, +and the feelings of the people were such that similar or even more +adequate protection would be given were another meeting held. He +suggested that the meeting be held in broad daylight and on a Sunday. +That the plan met with the approval of the I. W. W. membership was shown +by its adoption at a meeting the night following the trouble at Beverly +Park. And the date selected was Sunday, November 5th. + +Immediately steps were taken to inform the various I. W. W. branches in +the Northwest of the proposed action. Telegrams were sent to Solidarity, +and a ringing call for two thousand men to help in the fight for free +speech was published in the Industrial Worker. In addition to +telegraphing the story and its attendant call for action to the unions +of the Pacific Coast there were various members selected from among the +forty-one who had been beaten, and these were dispatched to different +points to spread the tale of Everett's atrocities, and to gain new +recruits for the "invading army" of free speech fighters. + +Seeking the widest possible publicity the free speech committee had +printed and circulated thousands of handbills in Everett to call +attention to the proposed meeting. + + + CITIZENS OF EVERETT + ATTENTION! + + A meeting will be held at the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore Aves., + on Sunday, Nov. 5th, 2 p. m. Come and help maintain your and our + constitutional right. +Committee.+ + + +The authorities in Everett were notified, the editors of all the Seattle +daily papers were requested to have representatives present at the +meeting, and reporters were called in and told of the intentions of the +organization. During the week frequent meetings were held in the hall in +Seattle to arrange for the incoming free speech fighters, and without an +exception all these meetings were held with no examination of +membership books and were open to the public. With their cards laid upon +the table the members of the Industrial Workers of the World were +preparing to call the hand of the semi-legalized outlaws of Snohomish +county who had cast aside the law, abrogated the Constitution of the +United States, and denied the right of free speech and free assembly. + +Following the Beverly affair the Commercial Club redoubled its +activities. Blackjacks and "Robinson-clubs," so called because they were +manufactured especially for the deputies by the Robinson Mill, were set +aside for revolvers and high power rifles, and the ranks of the deputies +were enlarged by the off-scouring and scum of the open shop persuasion. + +McRae entered the I. W. W. hall on Friday, Nov. 3rd, the day Thomas H. +Tracy turned the office over to Chester Micklin, and abruptly said "By +God, I will introduce myself. I am Sheriff McRae! I won't have a lot of +sons-of-bitches hanging around this place like in Seattle." + +Micklin looked at the drunken sheriff a moment and replied, "The +constitution guarantees us free speech, free assembly, and free----" + +"To hell with the Constitution," broke in McRae. "We have a constitution +here that we will enforce." + +"You believe in unions, you believe in organized labor, don't you?" +asked Micklin. + +"Yes, I belonged to the shingle weavers at one time," returned McRae, +"but when the shingle weavers went out on strike I donated $25.00 to +their strike fund and they gave me a rotten deal and sent the check back +to me, and to hell with the shingle weavers and the rest of the unions!" + +Then, as he was leaving the hall, McRae pulled from his pocket a letter; +took from it a black cat cut from pasteboard and stuck it in the +secretary's face, saying "That's the kind of ----s that is in your +organization!" + +Next morning the sheriff raided the hall and seized the men who were +found there, with the exception of the secretary. Turning to Micklin he +said boastfully "I'll bet you a hundred dollars you ----s won't hold +that meeting tomorrow!" McRae was drunk. + +The arrested men were searched and deported and, as was the case in +every previous arrest and deportation, there was no resistance offered, +no physical violence threatened, and no weapons of any character found +upon any of the I. W. W. men. + +That night the deputies were secretly assembled at the Commercial Club +where they were given their final instructions by the lumber trust and +ordered to report fully armed and ready for action at the blowing of the +mill whistles. With these preparations the open shop forces were ready +to go to still greater lengths to uphold "law and order!" + +The answer of the I. W. W. to this damnable act of violence at Beverly +Park and to the four months of terrorism that had preceded it was a call +for two thousand men to enter Everett, there to gain by sheer force of +numbers that right of free speech and peaceable assembly supposed to +have been guaranteed them by the Constitution of the United States.[10] + +[Illustration: The Ketchum Home near Beverly Park] + +FOOTNOTE: + +[10] (The incidents in the foregoing chapter are corroborated by the +sworn testimony of I. W. W. men who were shot at, beaten, robbed, and +abused; by citizens of Everett and Seattle who were also beaten and +mistreated or who witnessed the scenes; by physicians, attorneys, public +officials, members of craft unions, and by deputies who hoped to make +amends by testifying to the truth for the defense.) + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +BLOODY SUNDAY + + +How shall we enter the kingdom of Everett? was the question that +confronted the committee in charge of affairs in Seattle on the morning +of November 5th. Inquiries at the Interurban office developed the fact +that sufficient cars could not be had to accommodate the crowd. The cost +of making the trip by auto truck was found to be prohibitive. At the +eleventh hour the committee, taking the money pooled by the members, +secured the regular passenger steamship Verona, and an orderly and +determined body of men filed down the steps leading from the I. W. W. +headquarters and marched by fours to the Colman Dock. + +Their mission was an open and peaceable one. Cheerful, optimistic, +enthusiastic, the band of social crusaders felt that the conquest of +free speech was assured. Not for a moment did they think that the +Everett Klu-Klux-Klan would dare resort to violent and criminal tactics +in the broad daylight of that beautiful sunny day and in plain view of a +host of conscientious Everett citizens. + +Assisted by Harry Feinberg and John T. (Red) Doran, Captain Chauncey +Wiman checked the number of men who went on board, stopping further +entry when the legal limit of two hundred and fifty persons was reached, +Feinberg joining the men on board in order to serve as the main speaker +at the proposed meeting. Among those who secured passage were several +who were not members of the free speech party, but in the work of +checking, the tickets of these persons were not collected, their fares +being paid in the lump sum that was handed to the captain. Regular +passengers of the Verona were informed that their tickets would be good +for the steamer Calista, lying at Pier 3. Thirty-eight additional +members of the free speech band joined the regular patrons who took +passage on the Calista. + +Laughter and jest were on the lips of the men who crowded the Verona, +and songs of the One Big Union rang out over the sparkling waters of +Puget Sound. Loyal soldiers were these in the great class war, +enlightened workers who were willing to give their all in the battle for +bread, happiness and liberty. Men of all callings these--logger, +carpenter, laborer, railroad clerk, painter, miner, printer, seaman and +farmhand, all united with one common aim--the desire to gain for Labor +the right of free expression. + +Among their number, however, were two individuals of a breed reckoned +among the lowest order of the human species; two "stool pigeons," low +informers upon whom even a regular detective looks down with contempt. +One of these, carrying an I. W. W. card and in the employ of Snohomish +county and the Everett Commercial Club under the direction of the +Pinkerton Detective Agency, had sneaked out of the I. W. W. headquarters +long enough to telephone Lieutenant Hedges of the Seattle Police force +that there was a boatload of I. W. W. men leaving for Everett. There was +no secret in connection with the trip, but that there exist such class +traitors, relatively few as they are, to whom the enemies of the workers +can look for information is one of the sad features of the class +struggle. The "stool's" message was relayed to the Everett authorities +and, after being revised by the advocates of the open shop, it finally +reached the deputies in the form of a report that a boatload of I. W. +W.'s, armed to the teeth, were about to invade, pillage, and burn the +city. + +At one o'clock the mill whistles blew, the mill deputies armed with +their mill clubs, mill revolvers, rifles and shotguns, assembled at the +mill headquarters--the Commercial Club--and from there were transported +in mill automobiles down the alleys and back streets to the City Dock. + +Citizens were driven from the dock and a rope, guarded by armed +deputies, was stretched across the land end to prevent access by any +save men with guns. Part of the equipment of the Naval Militia was +stored in readiness at the Commercial Club--a stubborn fact for those +who deny that government is a class institution. At the Pacific Hardware +Company, deputy Dave Oswald had an auto load of rifles and ammunition +prepared for immediate transportation and use. In Captain Ramwell's +office, at the point where the rope was stretched, there were stacked a +number of high-power rifles, brought there from the same source. It is +even rumored that there was a machine gun on the dock. On the scab +tugboat Edison, moored at the north side of the dock, men armed with +rifles lay in waiting. The Everett Improvement Dock to the south was +also prepared for action. Hundreds of deputies were admitted to the City +Dock and were lined up under the direction of Sheriff McRae, +Deputy-Sheriff Jefferson Beard, and Lieutenant Charles O. Curtis, of the +Officers' Reserve Corps of the National Guard of Washington. Boards were +removed from the sides of the warehouses so as to command a view of the +landing place, and sacks of potatoes and lumber were used as partial +barricades. A few of the deputies were in the west warehouse at the +extreme end of the dock, but the majority of them were in the larger +warehouse to the east of the open docking space. Plentifully supplied +with ammunition and "booze," the cowardly deputies lay hidden in this +ambush. The scene was set and the tragedy of November Fifth about to be +staged. + +As the Verona cleaved the placid, sunlit waters of the Bay and swung up +to the City Dock at Everett, shortly before two o'clock, the men were +merrily singing the English Transport Workers' strike song, + + + "HOLD THE FORT!" + + We meet today in Freedom's cause, + And raise our voices high; + We'll join our hands in union strong, + To battle or to die. + + CHORUS + + Hold the fort for we are coming, + Union men be strong. + Side by side we battle onward, + Victory will come! + + Look, my comrades, see the union, + Banners waving high. + Reinforcements now appearing, + Victory is nigh. + + See our numbers still increasing; + Hear the bugle blow: + By our union we shall triumph + Over every foe. + + Fierce and long the battle rages, + But we will not fear. + Help will come whene'er it's needed, + Cheer, my comrades, cheer! + + +From a hillside overlooking the scene thousands upon thousands of +Everett citizens sent forth cheer after cheer as a hearty welcome to the +"invading army." High up on the flag-pole of the Verona clambered Hugo +Gerlot, a youthful free speech enthusiast, to wave a greeting to the +throng that lined the shore. Passenger Oscar Carlson and his friend +Ernest Nordstrom, from their position on the very bow of the boat, +caught the spirit of the party and endeavored to join in the song that +resounded louder and clearer as many of the men left the cabins to go +out upon the deck. + +Completely filling the bow of the boat and blocking the passageway on +either side, the singers crowded to the rail in the usual joyously +impatient manner of holiday excursionists, and then for the first time +observed a body of deputies march from the large warehouse and settle +into lines across the back and sides of the open landing space on the +dock, where Curtis, McRae, and Beard were stationed. + +Waiting until Captain Ramwell's wharfinger, William Kenneth, had made +fast the bowline to prevent the boat from backing out, Sheriff Donald +McRae gave his belt holster a hitch to bring his gun directly across his +middle and then lurched forward to the face of the dock. Holding up his +left hand to check the singing, he yelled to the men on board: + +"Who is your leader?" + +Immediate and unmistakable was the answer from practically every member +of the Industrial Workers of the World: + +"We are all leaders!" + +Angrily jerking his gun from its holster and flourishing it in a +threatening manner, McRae cried: + +"You can't land here!" + +"The hell we can't!" came the reply as the men stepped toward the partly +thrown-off gang plank. + +A shot rang out from the immediate vicinity of deputy W. A. Bridges, +then another, closely followed by a volley that sent them staggering +backward. Many fell to the deck. Evidently the waving of McRae's +revolver was the prearranged signal for the carnage to commence. The +long months of lumber trust lawlessness had culminated in cowardly, +deliberate, premeditated and foul murder! + +Young Gerlot crumpled up and slid part way down the flag pole, then +suddenly threw out both arms and crashed lifeless to the deck, his +bullet-torn and bleeding body acting as a shield for several who had +thrown themselves prostrate. Passenger Oscar Carlson threw himself flat +upon the forward deck and while in that position seven bullets found +their way into his quivering flesh, life clinging to the shattered form +by a strange vagary of fate. With a severe bullet wound in his abdomen, +Ed Roth swayed back and forth for a moment and then toppled forward on +his face. + +When a bullet whistled past the head of Captain Chauncey Wiman, and +another tore a spoke as thick as a man's wrist from the pilot wheel +beneath his hand, he deserted his post to barricade himself behind the +safe with a mattress, remaining in that position until the close of the +hostilities. + +At the first shot and during the first volley the unarmed men wildly +sought cover from the deadly leaden hail. Those who had not dropped to +the deck, wounded or seeking shelter, surged to the starboard side of +the boat, causing it to list to an alarming degree, the fastened bowline +alone preventing it from capsizing. Several men lost their footing on +the blood-slimed decks and were pitched headlong overboard. There, +struggling frantically in the water,--by no possible chance +combatants--a storm of rifle bullets churning little whirlpools around +their heads, one by one they were made the victims of lumber trust greed +by the Hessianized deputies stationed at the shore end of the City Dock +and upon the dock to the south. The bay was reddened with their blood. +Of all who went overboard, James Hadley alone regained the deck, the +rest disappearing beneath the silent waters to be dragged by the +undertow out to an unknown and nameless ocean grave. + +Young Joe Ghilezano seized the rail preparatory to jumping overboard, +but seeing two men shot dead while they were in the water he lay down on +the deck instead. While there a bullet pierced his hip, another went +thru his back close to the spine, and a third completely tore off his +left knee cap. Harry Parker slipped over the starboard side in order to +gain the lower deck, and a rifle bullet from the vicinity of the tug +Goldfinch, along the Everett Improvement Company Dock, ranged thru his +back from left to right, just as his friend, Walter Mulholland, also +wounded, pulled him in thru a hole torn in the canvas wind shield. An +abdominal wound laid Felix Baran low. The thud of bullets as they struck +the prostrate men added to the ghastly sound caused by the firing of +rifles and revolvers, the curses of the deputies and the moans of the +wounded men. + +Following the first volley the deputies who had been out in the open +scuttled into the warehouses on either side. Thru their scattering ranks +the scabs on the tug Edison poured their rifle fire toward the men on +the Verona. Lieutenant C. O. Curtis pitched forward and fell dead upon +the dock--the victim of a rifle bullet. One of the fleeing deputies +paused behind the corner of the waiting room just long enough to +flinchingly reach out his hand and, keeping his head under cover, +emptied his revolver without taking aim. Deputy Sheriff Jefferson Beard +fell mortally wounded as he turned to run, and was dragged into the +warehouse by some of the less panic stricken murderers. Sheriff McRae, +with a couple of slight wounds in his left leg and heel, was forced to +his knees by the impact of bullets against the steel jacket which he +wore, remaining in a supplicating attitude for a few seconds while he +sobbed out in a quavering tone, "O-o-oh! I'm hit! I-I'm hit!! I-I-I'm +hit!!!" + +Placed on board the Verona to serve the interests of the lumber trust, +what were the two Pinkerton operatives doing while the boat was landing +and just before the first heavy firing commenced? Their actions were +shrouded in mystery. But, as if anticipating something, one was seen +directly after the first shot scurrying into hiding where he lay +shivering until long after the firing had ceased. The other, while under +cover, was struck on the head by a glancing bullet. He became so enraged +at this lack of thoughtfulness on the part of his degenerate brothers +that he emptied his revolver at their backs as they broke for cover. +From a safe position on the dock, deputy H. D. Cooley, with a pair of +field glasses, was tremblingly trying to spy for the approach of the +Calista. + +Inside the waiting room and the warehouses the drink-crazed deputies +ran amuck, shooting wildly in all directions, often with some of their +own number directly in the line of fire--bullet holes in the floor and a +pierced clock case high up on the waiting room wall giving mute evidence +of their insane recklessness. One deputy fled from the dock in terror, +explaining to all who would listen that a bullet hole in his ear was +from the shot of one of his associates on the dock. + +"They've gone crazy in there!" he cried excitedly. "They're shootin' +every which way! They shot me in the ear!" + +Thru the loopholes already provided, and even thru the sides of the +warehouses they blazed away in the general direction of the boat, using +revolvers and high powered rifles with steel and copper-jacketed +missiles. Dum-dums sang their deadly way to the Verona and tore gaping +wounds in the breasts of mere boys--an added reward by the industrial +lords for their first season of hard labor in the scorching harvest +fields. John Looney was felled by a rifle bullet and even as he fell +shuddering to the deck another leaden missile shattered the woodwork and +impaled one of his eyeballs upon a spear of wood, gouging it from the +socket. + +At the foot of the dock, protected by the Klatawa slip, (Indian name for +runaway) C. R. Schweitzer, owner of a scab plumbing establishment, fired +time after time with a magazine shotgun, the buckshot scattering at the +long range and raking the forward deck with deadly effect. The pilot +house was riddled and the woodwork filled with hundreds of the little +leaden messengers that carried a story of "mutual interests of Capital +and Labor." Deputy Russell and about ten others assisted in the +dastardly work at that point, pouring shot after shot into the +convulsive struggling heaps of wounded men piled four and five deep on +the deck. One boy in a brown mackinaw suddenly rose upright from a +tangled mass of humanity, the blood gushing from his wounds, and with an +agonized cry of "My God! I can't stand this any longer!" leaped high in +the air over the side of the boat, sinking from sight forever, his +watery resting place marked only by a few scarlet ripples. + +Two bodies, one with the entire throat shot away, were found next +morning washed up on the beach, and that fact was reported to the +Everett police by Ed. and Rob. Thompson. That night some men fishing in +a little sailboat far out in the bay saw five weighted objects about six +feet long, and apparently wrapped in canvas, thrown overboard from a +launch, but in none of the daily papers was there any mention of bodies +having been found. Six uncalled-for membership cards, deposited by men +who took passage on the Verona, may represent as many murders by the +cowards on the dock. Those cards are made out to Fred Berger, William +Colman, Tom Ellis, Edward Raymond, Peter Viberts, and Chas. E. Taylor. +Some of the deputies gloatingly declared that the death toll of the +workers was twelve men at the lowest count. + +So wanton was the slaughter of the helpless men and boys that strong men +who witnessed the scene turned away vomiting. From the hillside the +women--those whom the deputies were pretending to protect from the +"incoming horde,"--casting aside all womanly fears, raced to the dock in +a vain endeavor to stop the commission of further crime, crying out in +their frenzy, "The curs! The curs! The dirty curs! They're nothing but +murderers!" They, as well as the men who tried to launch boats to rescue +the men in the water, were halted by the same citizen deputies whose +names head the list of Red Cross donors. + +For a short period of time, seemingly endless hours to the unarmed and +helpless men on the boat, the rain of lead continued. Tho the boat had +righted itself, the men were still unable to extricate themselves from +the positions into which they had been thrown. Near the top of one heap +lay Abraham Rabinowitz, a young Jewish college graduate, and as he +struggled to regain his footing a bullet tore off the whole back part +of his head, his blood and brains splashing down over Raymond Lee and +Michael Reilly who lay just beneath him. Rabinowitz died in the arms of +Leonard Broman, his "pal" in the harvest fields, without ever having +regained consciousness. + +"Hold me up, fellow workers!" suddenly called out Gus Johnson as he was +fatally stricken by a bullet. "I want to finish the song." Then, above +the din of the gunfire and curses of the deputies, the final verse of +"Hold the Fort" rang out in defiance of industrial tyranny, and with the +termination of the words "Cheer, my comrades, cheer!" the bright red +death-foam flecked the ever-to-be silent lips of the brave Swedish +revolutionist. + +Splintering the stairways, seats and woodwork, and wounding many of the +men crouched in hiding, thousands of rounds of ammunition found their +way into the boat during the ten long minutes of the onslaught. Finally, +with a 41 Colts revolver to enforce his demand, J. F. Billings ordered +engineer Ernest Shellgren to back the boat away from the dock. With no +pilot at the wheel the propeller churned madly backward for a moment, +the bowline drew taut and snapped, and the Verona pulled away from the +murderous crew of vigilantes. Not content with the havoc they had +wrought at close quarters some of the deputies continued to fire as long +as the boat was within range, a bullet from a high powered rifle +shattering the left leg of Harry Golden, a youth of twenty-two years, +when the boat was far out in the bay. Amputation of the limb was +necessary, a cork leg daily reminding young Golden of the majesty of the +law. + +The Verona with its grim cargo of dead and wounded steamed toward +Seattle, meeting the steamer Calista about four miles out, stopping just +long enough for Captain Wiman to shout thru his megaphone, "For God's +sake don't land! They'll kill you! We have dead and wounded on board +now." + +With unaccustomed fingers the uninjured men bathed the wounded, tearing +up shirts and underclothing in order to bind up their injuries, and +making the men as comfortable as possible during the two and one half +hour return trip. + +A few of the men on board had been armed. These voluntarily threw +overboard their revolvers, together with the few empty shells that lay +scattered upon the deck, George Reese alone having to be forced to +discard the "souvenirs" he had picked up. + +It was a quiet crowd that pulled into Seattle, not only because they +realized that the class struggle is not all jokes and songs, but also in +deference to the sufferings of their wounded comrades. This same spirit +animated the men when they were met by drawn cordons of police at the +Seattle dock, their first thought and first words being, "Get the +wounded fellows out and we will be all right." In the city jail, located +on the floor above the hospital, the same generous consideration of +their wounded fellow workers' condition led them to forego the +demonstration usually attending the arrest and jailing of any body of I. +W. W. members. + +The four dead members, their still forms covered with blankets, were +first removed from the boat and taken to the morgue. Police and hospital +ambulances were soon filled with the thirty-one wounded men, who were +taken to the city hospital. The uninjured men were then lined up and +slowly marched to the city jail. From the Calista the thirty-eight I. W. +W. members were taken and placed in the county jail. + +At the hospital, Felix Baran, shot in the abdomen, slowly and painfully +passed away from internal hemorrhage. Dr. Mary Equi, of Portland, Ore., +who examined the body, stated that with surgical attention there would +have been more than an even chance of recovery. + +No one will ever know how many brave workers were swept out to sea and +lost, but Sunday, November Fifth, of the year Nineteen-sixteen, wrote +in imperishable letters of red on the list of Labor's martyrs who gave +up their lives in Freedom's Cause the names of + + + FELIX BARAN; + HUGO GERLOT; + GUSTAV JOHNSON; + JOHN LOONEY; + ABRAHAM RABINOWITZ. + + +French, German, Swedish, Irish, and Russian Jew,--these are the true +internationalists of the world-wide brotherhood of toil who died for +free speech and the right to organize in this "land of liberty." To them +Courtenay Lemon's tribute to the I. W. W. applies with full force. + +"Again and again its foot-free members, burning with an indignation and +a militant social idealism which is ever an inscrutable puzzle to local +authorities, have hastened to towns where free speech fights were on, +defied the police, braved clubbings, and voluntarily filled the jails to +overflowing, to the rage and consternation of the police and taxpayers. +It has acted as the flying squadron of liberty, the unconquered +knight-errantry of all captive freedoms; and the migratory workers who +constitute a large part of its membership, ever on the march and +pitching their camp wherever the industrial battle is thickest, form a +guerilla army which is always eager for a fight with the powers of +tyranny. Whether they disagree with its methods and aims, all lovers of +liberty everywhere owe a debt to this organization for its defense of +free speech. Absolutely irreconcilable, absolutely fearless, and +unsuppressibly persistent, it has kept alight the fires of freedom, like +some outcast vestal of human liberty. That the defense of traditional +rights to which this government is supposed to be dedicated should +devolve upon an organization so often denounced as 'unpatriotic' and +'un-American,' is but the usual, the unfailing irony of history."[11] + +Baran, Gerlot, Johnson, Looney, Rabinowitz,--these names will be a +source of inspiration to the workers when their cowardly murderers have +long been forgotten. + +Those who survived their wounds, saving as pocket pieces the buckshot, +copper and steel jacketed and dum-dum bullets extracted from their +persons, were; mentioning their more serious wounds: + +Harry Golden, age 22, shot in left leg, making amputation necessary. + +Joseph Ghilazano, age 20, shot in shoulder and both legs, entire +knee-cap shot off and replaced with a silver substitute. + +Albert Scribner, age 32, severely wounded in hip, probably lamed for +life. + +Mario Marino, age 18, shot thru the lungs. + +Edward Roth, age 30, severely wounded in abdomen. + +Walter Mulholland, age 18, shot in buttock. + +Carl Bjork, age 25, wounded in back. + +Harry Parker, age 22, shot above abdomen, in back, and in legs. + +John Ryan, age 21, wounded in right shoulder and left leg. + +Leland E. Butcher, age 28, shot in the left leg. + +J. A. Kelly, age 31, shot in right leg. + +Hans Peterson, age 32, wounded in head. + +Fred Savery, age 25, wounded in hip. + +Steve Sabo, age 21, shot in left shoulder. + +Robert Adams, age 32, shot in left arm. + +Owen Genty, age 26, wounded in right kidney. + +C. C. England, age 27, shot in left knee. + +Nick Canaeff, age 35, shot in left arm. + +Albert Doninger, age 20, wounded in left arm. + +Brockman B. Armstrong, age 35, wounds on head. + +E. J. Shapeero, age 24, wounded in right leg. + +Carl Burke, age 25, shot in back and shoulder. + +Ira Luft, age 27, shot in right side of back. + +George Turnquist, age 26, wounded in left leg. + +George Brown, age 21, shot in back. + +D. J. McCarthy, age 37, shot in side of head and in right leg. + +John Adams, age 28, wounded in right elbow. + +Edward Truitt, age 28, shot in right elbow. + +Others on the boat who were wounded were Oscar Carlson, passenger, nine +severe bullet wounds in all parts of his body; L. S. Davis, ship +steward, wounded in the arm, and Charles Smith, Pinkerton "stool pigeon" +with a slight scalp injury. + +The wounded men were none too well treated at the city hospital, only a +part of the neglect being due to the overcrowded condition of the wards. +Wounds were hastily dressed and in some cases the injured men were +placed in jail at once where they had to care for themselves as best +they might. + +In Everett the deputies left the dock when the Verona had steamed out of +the range of their rifle fire, taking with them the corpse of gunman C. +O. Curtis, office manager of the Canyon Lumber Company, and +deputy-sheriff Jefferson Beard, whose wounds caused his death the +following morning. The injured deputies were H. B. Blackburn, James A. +Broadbent, R. E. Brown, E. P. Buehrer, Owen Clay, Louis Connor, Jr., +Fred Durr, A. J. Ettenborough, Athol Gorrell, Thomas Hedley, Joe Irving, +James Meagher; Donald McRae, J. C. Rymer, Edwin Stuchell, and Charles +Tucker. Hooted, hissed, and jeered at by the thousands of citizens on +the viaduct and hill above the dock, these self-immolated prostitutes to +the god of greater profits were taken to the hospitals for treatment. + +Among the crowd of citizens was Mrs. Edith Frennette, who had been in +Everett a couple of days in connection with a lumber trust charge +against her, and with her were Mrs. Lorna Mahler and Mrs. Joyce Peters, +who had come from Seattle to attend the proposed street meeting. Making +the claim that Mrs. Frenette had threatened the life of Sheriff McRae +with a gun and had tried to throw red pepper into his eyes as he was +being transported from the dock, the Everett authorities caused the +arrest of the three women in Seattle as they were returning in an auto +to meet the Verona at the Seattle dock. They were held several days +before being released, no charges having been placed against Mrs. Mahler +or Mrs. Peters, and the case against Mrs. Frenette was eventually +dismissed, just as had been all previous charges made by McRae. These +three arrests brought the total number of free speech prisoners up to +two hundred and ninety-four. + +What were the feelings of the Everett public directly following the +massacre can best be judged from the report of an Everett correspondent +to the Seattle Union Record, the official A. F. of L. organ. + +"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.'" + +Corroborating this is the report of President E. P. Marsh to the State +Federation of Labor. + +"A dangerous situation existed in Everett after the battle of November +5. Public feeling ran high and anything might have happened. Half a +thousand citizens were under arms enraged at the Industrial Workers of +the World and deadly determined to stamp out their organization in +Everett. It is no exaggeration to say that literally thousands of the +working people of Everett were just as enraged toward the members of the +Commercial Club who participated in the gun battle. * * * As an instance +of how high the feeling ran let me tell you that on the following +morning the mayor of the city appeared on the (shingle weavers') picket +line with a high power rifle and told the union pickets that he had +every reason to believe that an attempt might be made by snipers to pick +them off. He asked them to scatter as much as possible, make no +demonstration whatever, and declared he would defend them with his life +if necessary." + +Mayor Merrill, equally guilty with the deputies who were on the dock, +taking advantage of a means of spreading information that was denied to +the workers, directly after the massacre spoke from a soap box on the +corner of Wetmore and California Avenues, telling all who would listen +that he was not responsible for the trouble as the Commercial Club had +taken the power away from him and put it in the hands of McRae. The +insincerity of this vacillating lackey of the lumber trust was +demonstrated by his brutal treatment of young Louis Skaroff, who with +Chester Micklin and Osmond Jacobs, had been arrested and thrown into +jail when the three, bravely taking their lives in their hands, +attempted to speak on the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore two hours after +the tragedy. It was on Monday night about ten o'clock that the night +jailer took Skaroff into a room where Mayor Merrill and a man posing as +an immigration officer were seated. The fake immigration officer tried +to frighten the prisoner with threats of deportation, after which the +jailer beat Skaroff across the head. Merrill arose and took a hand in +the proceedings, buffeting the boy back and forth until he fell to the +floor. Then, with the aid of the jailer, Skaroff's fingers were placed, +one by one, beneath the legs of an iron bed in the room while the +ponderous mayor jumped up and down on the bed, mashing and tearing +flesh and knuckles. Upon regaining consciousness the mutilated boy found +himself in the jail corridor, crushed beneath Merrill's massive form, +the mayor having grasped Skaroff by the hair in order to repeatedly +hammer the lad's head against the hard cement floor. Finding that +Skaroff's spirit could not be broken the cowards finally desisted. +Skaroff was released at the end of eleven days. + +Chaos reigned in Everett following the tragedy. That night over five +hundred deputies patrolled the streets, fearing just retribution for +their criminal misdeeds. Those who had been on the dock as parties to +the massacre were overheard saying to each other, "We must stick +together on this story about the first shot coming from the boat." +Certain officials called for the state militia which was mobilized in +Seattle but not used. One militiaman, a young lad named Ted Kennedy, +refused to serve, claiming that it was the same as strike duty. The fact +that the militia was mobilized at once, and that Governor Ernest Lister +went to Everett to confer with officials and mill owners there, when he +had refused to furnish protection or even to make an investigation at +the request of the I. W. W. a short time before showed the governor's +bias in favor of the employers. In this lumber district the militia was +apparently the property of the mill owners. + +A hastily gathered coroner's jury in Everett on November 6th brought in +a verdict that C. O. Curtis and Jefferson F. Beard met death from +"gunshot wounds inflicted by a riotous mob on the Steamer Verona at the +city dock." If any of the jury dissented from its false statement they +were too spineless to express their opinion. The deliberations were +under the direction of Coroner A. R. Maulsby and the members of the jury +were Adam Hill, C. E. Anthony, O. H. King, Chris Culmback, C. Sandstein, +and Charles F. Manning. + +The inquest was a farce. Those who were outside the "deadline" and who +were willing to swear that the first shots came from the dock were not +permitted to testify, only sympathizers with the Commercial Club being +called as witnesses. No real attempt to take testimony was made. The +Seattle Central Labor Council on November 8th appropriated $100 for a +more complete investigation after branding the Everett inquest as +fraudulent in the following resolution: + + + "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 business men of that city have attempted to + ruthlessly and lawlessly suppress all street speaking and + demonstrations by labor organizations, and that unarmed men have + been brutally beaten and terrorized, and + + Whereas, This policy culminated in a bloody battle on Sunday, + November 5, resulting in the death of seven or more men and the + wounding of many more, and + + Whereas, A fair inquest should be held to fix responsibility for + this crime, and it appears that this has not been done, but that + only witnesses favorable to the bosses 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." + + +Capitalism stood forth in all its hideous nakedness on that day of red +madness, and public opinion was such that the striking shingle weavers +had but to persistently press their point in order to win. A conference +of prominent men, held in Everett on Monday, decided that the situation +could be relieved only by a settlement of the strike. The mill men, when +called in, abruptly refused to grant a single demand so long as the men +were still out, an attitude they could not have maintained for long. +Listening to the false advice of "friends of labor" and "labor leaders" +the shingle weavers, albeit grudgingly, returned to their slavery, +unconditional surrender being the price they were forced to pay for the +doubtful privilege of "relieving the social tension." But with the pay +envelopes that could not be stretched to cover the increased cost of +living, the weavers, discouraged to an extent and lacking their former +solidarity, were forced to down tools again within a few weeks by the +greatest of all strike agitators--Hunger. + +[Illustration: MAYOR GILL SAYS I. W. W. DID NOT START RIOT + +Seattle Executive Places Blame for Sunday Tragedy on Citizens of +Everett--Gives Prisoners Tobacco. + +Providing the I. W. W.'s. whose attempted armed invasion of Everett last +Sunday resulted in seven deaths and injuries to forty-nine persons, with +every comfort possible. Mayor H. C. Gill yesterday afternoon personally +directed the carrying of 300 warm blankets and an assortment of tobacco +to the 250 prisoners now held in the city jail. + +In this manner Gilt replied to criticism in Seattle and Everett for not +having stopped the I. W. W's from going to the Snohomish County city. He +supplemented this today by assailing Sheriff Donald McRae, of Snohomish +County and the posse of special deputies who met the invading I. W. W.'s +at the boat. + +"In the final analysis," the mayor declared, "it will be found these +cowards in Everett who, without right or justification, shot into the +crowd on the boat were the murderers and not the I. W. W.'s. + +Calls Them Cowards. + +"The men who met the I. W. W.'s at the boat were a bunch of cowards. +They outnumbered the I. W. W.'s five to one, and in spite of this they +stood there on the dock and fired into the boat, I. W. W.'s, innocent +passengers and all.] + +[Illustration: "McRae and his deputies had no legal right to tell the I. +W. W.'s or anyone else that they could not land there. When the sheriff +put his hand on the butt of his gun and told them they could not land, +he fired the first shot, in the eyes of the law, and the I. W. W.'s can +claim that they shot in self-defense." + +Mayor Gill asserted the Everett authorities have no intention of +removing the I. W. W.'s now in jail here to Snohomish County. + +"They are afraid to come down here and get them," he declared, "because +Everett is in a state of anarchy and the authorities don't know where +they're at." + +Asked what he would have done at Everett Sunday when the I. W. W.'s +appeared at that city, the mayor said he would have permitted them to +land. + +"After they had been allowed to come ashore," he said, "I would have had +them watched. Then if they violated the law I would have had them thrown +in jail. There would have been no trouble that way." + +No Fight in Seattle. + +"Because Everett has been reduced to a state of anarchy by their +high-handed methods of dealing with this situation it is no reason they +are going to attempt to bring their fight down in Seattle, at least +while I am mayor. + +"If I were one of the party of forty I. W. W.'s who was almost beaten to +death by 300 citizens of Everett without being able to defend myself, I +probably would have armed myself if I intended to visit Everett again. + +"If the Everett authorities had an ounce of sense, this tragedy would +have never happened. They have handled the situation like a bunch of +imbeciles, and they have been trying to unload these men onto Seattle. +You don't see any disturbances here, because we don't use nickel +methods." + +The mayor charged that Everett officials were inconsistent in their +handling of this situation. He said that they permit candidates for +office to violate the city ordinances by speaking on the streets and yet +run the I. W. W.'s out of town if they endeavor to mount a soap box.] + +The prisoners in Seattle were held incommunicado for several days. They +were fed upon the poorest grade of prison fare, and were made to sleep +on the winter-chilled cement floors without blankets. But Mayor Hiram +Gill, realizing that public sentiment was with the imprisoned men, +ordered that they be placed upon a proper diet, be given blankets and +be allowed to see relatives and friends. On November 8th in the Seattle +Times there appeared a statement by Gill that played a very important +part in riveting the attention of the people upon the real criminals in +the case. As the Times is a notoriously conservative and labor-hating +sheet, being largely responsible for the raid on the I. W. W. and +Socialist Halls on July 19, 1913, and for the attack by drunken sailors +and soldiers on the I. W. W. hall on June 16, 1917, it can hardly be +accused of exaggeration in favor of the workers in this interview. + +Following the publication of this interview the Seattle Chamber of +Commerce, Seattle's "Commercial Club," endeavored to father a movement +looking to the recall of Gill from office. Back of this attempt were +Judge Thomas Burke, Louis Lang, Jay Thomas, and four stall-fed +ministers, the Reverends W. A. Major, E. V. Shailer, Wood Stewart and +Carter Helm Jones. Of these, Thomas represented the liquor interests, +Lang was the former police chief who had been discharged in disgrace and +was herding scabs on the waterfront, Burke was chief spokesman for the +low-wage open-shop interests, and as to the preachers--the less said the +better. The lumber and shipping trusts had adequate representation at +the "Law and Order" meeting as the attempted recall gathering was +styled. But the whole thing fell flat when Gill himself offered to sign +the recall for the opportunity it would give him to tell the real facts +about the Everett case and the interests lined up behind the prosecution +and the recall. + +On the night of the tragedy a report was circulated in Seattle to the +effect that every known I. W. W. would be arrested on sight. The answer +to this was a street meeting at which nearly ninety dollars were +collected as the first money toward the Everett Prisoners' Defense, and +the packing of the hall for weeks thereafter by members and sympathizers +who had not attended meetings for a long time. A temporary committee was +chosen to handle the work of the defense of the imprisoned men, and this +committee acted until November 16th, at which time at a mass meeting of +I. W. W. members Herbert Mahler was elected secretary of the Everett +Prisoners' Defense Committee, Charles Ashleigh, publicity agent, and W. +J. Houser, Morris Levine and Thomas Murphy as the committee. Richard +Smith was afterward chosen to take the place vacated by Levine. This +committee functioned thruout the case and up until the final audit of +their account on June 12, 1917. + +Within the jail a process of selection had gone on. One by one the free +speech prisoners were taken from their cells and slowly led past a +silent and darkened cell into whose gloomy depths the keenest eye was +unable to penetrate. Again and again they were marched past the +peephole, first with hats on and then with them off, while two sinister +looking fingers were slid out of a narrow opening from time to time to +indicate those who should be held. + +"I'd give two of my fingers," muttered one of the prisoners bitterly, +"to know the skunk that belongs to those two fingers." + +Little did he and his fellow workers realize that they were to learn +later, thru the development of the trial, that the principal person +engaged in the despicable work was George Reese, a member of the I. W. +W. and of the I. L. A. It was on learning this that many of the actions +of Reese were made clear; his connection with dock riots during the +longshoremen's strike, his establishment of a "flying squadron" to beat +up scabs on the waterfront, his open boast on the floor of I. L. A. +meetings that his pockets were lined with money gained by robbing the +strike-breakers after they had been beaten up and his advice to other +strikers to do likewise, his activities just prior to the various dock +fires, his seemingly miraculous escape in every instance when strikers +were arrested, his election as delegate from the longshoremen to the +Seattle Central Labor Council, his requests of prominent I. W. W. +members that they purchase various chemicals for him, his giving of +phosphorus to members of the I. L. A. and the I. W. W. with instructions +as to how and where to use it, his attempts to advocate violence at an +Everett street meeting, his gathering of "souvenirs" on the Verona--all +actions designed either to aid the employers in their fights against the +workers or to furnish an excuse for his further employment as an +"informer." + +Well may the question be asked--What was Reese doing just as the Verona +docked in Everett on November 5th? Was Reese merely a "stool pigeon" or +was he an "agent provocateur?" + +Aiding Reese in the selective process was Charles Smith, the other +Pinkerton operative who had been on the boat. One of the men first +picked out was I. P. McDowell, alias Charles Adams, and this individual +was weak enough to fall for the promise of immunity offered by agents of +the lumber trust if he would point out the "leaders" and then take the +stand to swear that the men on the boat were armed and the first shot +came from one of them. McDowell pointed out some of the men, but lacking +the nerve to carry out the last part of the program he was held with the +rest for trial. The seventy-four men thus picked were formally charged +with murder in the first degree. The first charge carried the names of +C. O. Curtis as well as that of Jefferson Beard, but later the name of +Curtis was dropped from the information. The men so charged were: + +Charles Auspos, alias Austin, age 38, teamster, born in Wisconsin. + +James D. Bates, age 29, steam fitter, born in Illinois. + +E. M. Beck, age 45, laborer, born in New York. + +Charles Berg, age 22, laborer, born in Germany. + +J. H. Beyer, age 56, painter, born in Michigan. + +J. F. Billings, age 35, cook, born in Nebraska. + +Charles Black, age 23, laborer, born in Pennsylvania. + +J. J. Black, age 27, longshoreman, born in Massachusetts. + +John W. Bowdoin, age 35, laborer, born in Sweden. + +Frank Boyd, age 43, laborer, born in Illinois. + +Pete Breed, age 26, laborer, born in Holland. + +W. H. Brown, age 40, laborer, born in Maryland. + +H. T. Cheetman, age 25, carpenter, born in Florida. + +Fred Crysler, age 26, laborer, born in Canada. + +Charles H. Cody, age 46, painter, born in Montana. + +William Coffin, age 34, motorman, born in California. + +Clarence Cyphert, age 35, logger, born in Washington. + +Roy Davis, age 47, laborer, born in California. + +William Davis, age 35, cook, born in Maryland. + +Axel Downey, age 17, laborer, born in Iowa. + +John Downs, age 28, sailor, born in Colorado. + +Adolph Ersson, age 26, laborer and sailor, born in Sweden. + +Harry Feinberg, age 25, cleaner and dyer, born in Illinois. + +Charles Hawkins, age 28, laborer, born in Indiana. + +Charles Haywood, age 46, miner, born in Minnesota. + +E. F. Hollingsworth, age 29, fireman, born in North Carolina. + +J. E. Houlihan, age 36, miner, born in Ireland. + +Alfred Howard, age 28, coal packer, born in New York. + +Harvey Hubler, age 21, teamster, born in Illinois. + +Oscar Johnson, age 24, laborer, born in Sweden. + +Victor Johnson, age 37, laborer, born in Finland. + +J. A. Kelly, age 31, logger, born in Ohio. + +Theodore Lauer, age 29, laborer, born in New York. + +William Lawson, age 32, laborer, born in Washington. + +Jack Leonard, age 27, laborer, born in Kentucky. + +Pat Lyons, age 48, laborer, born in England. + +Jim Mack, age 31, laborer, born in Ireland. + +Joseph Manning, age 28, automobile repairer, born in Pennsylvania. + +Laurence Manning, age 26, laborer, born in New York. + +Ed Miller, age 48, painter, born in New York. + +Harold Miller, age 21, gas fitter, born in Kansas. + +John Mitchell, age 38, miner, born in Illinois. + +George Murphy, age 28, laborer, born in Kentucky. + +Louis McCall, age 24, laborer, born in Texas. + +I. P. McDowell, alias Charles Adams, age 28, printer, born in Illinois. + +C. D. McLennan, age 48, longshoreman, born in Georgia. + +Carl Newman, age 30, laborer, born in Sweden. + +John Nugent, age 38, laborer, born in New York. + +Malachi O'Neill, age 34, blacksmith, born in Ireland. + +Earl Osborne, age 33, logger, born in North Carolina. + +Jack Paterson, age 24, laborer, born in Illinois. + +Harston Peters, age 32, laborer, born in Virginia. + +James Powers, age 47, sheet metal worker, born in Massachusetts. + +John Rawlings, age 26, laborer, born in Wisconsin. + +Michael J. Reilly, age 23, laborer, born in New York. + +John Ross, age 36, laborer, born in Massachusetts. + +Ed. Roth, age 31, longshoreman, born in New York. + +Thomas Savage, age 50, machinist, born in New York. + +E. J. Shapeero, age 23, timekeeper, born in Pennsylvania. + +William Shay, age 28, laborer, born in Massachusetts. + +H. Shebeck, age 24, laborer, born in Wisconsin. + +Albert Shreve, age 40, laborer, born in Illinois. + +H. Sokol, age 26, laborer, born in Russia. + +D. Stevens, age, 21, longshoreman, born in Canada + +Robert Struick, age 24, farmer, born in Michigan. + +Frank Stewart, age 35, logger, born in Canada. + +Tom Tracy, age 30, crane driver, born in Pennsylvania. + +Thomas H. Tracy, age 36, teamster, born in Nebraska. + +Edwart Truitt, age 28, longshoreman, born in Pennsylvania. + +F. O. Watson, age 35, blacksmith, born in Louisiana. + +James Whiteford (Kelly), age 36, cook, born in New York. + +Abraham B. Wimborne, age 22, buss-boy, born in England. + +William Winn, age 44, miner, born in Maryland. + +All of these men, with the exception of J. H. Beyer, were heavily +handcuffed and secretly transferred to Everett, forty-one being taken in +the first contingent and the balance later. + +Meanwhile the I. W. W. branches in Seattle had communicated with the +General Headquarters of the organization and steps had been taken to +secure legal aid. Attempts to enlist the services of Frank P. Walsh, +former chairman of the Industrial Relations Commission, were +unsuccessful. For various reasons other well known attorneys refused to +ally themselves with the defense. + +Attorney Fred H. Moore of Los Angeles, responding to the call from +Seattle, reached Seattle just one week after the tragedy, on Sunday, +November, 12th. Moore acted as chief counsel for the defense. He had +first come into prominence thru his connection with the great free +speech fight waged in Spokane, Wash., during the fall of 1909 and the +spring of 1910. During that fight he handled the legal end of the cases +of many hundreds of free speech fighters whose arrests ran into the +thousands. He was also connected with various other cases in connection +with the Industrial Workers of the World, notably that of Jack Whyte and +others arrested in the contest for free speech in San Diego, Cal. and +the famous Ettor-Giovannitti case that developed from the great strike +of textile workers in Lawrence, Mass., in 1912. His sympathy with the +workers and his understanding of the class struggle made him invaluable +to the defense. + +Of equal importance was attorney George F. Vanderveer, who was called +into the case a little later than Moore. Vanderveer was formerly the +prosecuting attorney for King county, in which position he won a +reputation for clever and merciless cross-examination. One of Seattle's +most prominent and brilliant lawyers, his wide acquaintance with all +classes of people and his comprehensive knowledge of conditions in King +and Snohomish counties, coupled with his keen satire and compelling +logic, gave a force to the case that cannot be underestimated. + +Attorney E. C. Dailey of Everett, Caroline A. Lowe of Kansas City, Mo., +and Harry Sigmond and J. L. Finch, both of Seattle, completed the list +of counsel for the defense. + +After being held in the Seattle city jail for nine days without any +charge having been placed against them, one hundred twenty-eight men who +were on the Verona were released, small bodies of them being sent out at +different periods in order to avoid demonstrations from the public. +Those who were released were: + +James Agen, Frank Andrews, Brockman Armstrong, W. D. Beachy, J. H. +Beyer, John Bolan, J. Bonfield, Elmer Brisbon, Leonard Broman, George +Brown, James Burns, Martin Cable, Val Calze, A. L. Cameron, James +Carlough, J. H. Carr, Ray Clark, Joseph Cline, Archie Collins, Robert +Conning, Nick Conaieff, Joseph Costello, R. F. Dalton, Frank Dante, C. +W. Davis, Lawrence Davis, Albert Doninger, John Donohue, William Dott, +Joseph Dougherty, Ned Dustard, J. H. Elliott, C. C. England, John +Fitzpatrick, A. Fletcher, Russell Free, Alfred Freeman, Ben Freeman, +James Freeman, John Gibson, Frank Gillarkey, P. A. Gragler, Charles +Gray, James Gray, Paul Grossman, Ed Gruberg, Raymond Gurber, Robert +Hansen, Joe Harris, L. W. Harris, Arnold Hensel, Roy Howell, G. H. +Isenberg, Carl Jacobson, George Johnson, Ray Johnson, John Karne, Henry +Krieg, Fred Laveny, Henry Lea, Raymond Lee, William Ledingham, Charles +Leider, Ira Luft, Ed Lynn, George Maguire, William Micklenburg, August +Miller, Dennis Miller, Frank C. Miller, John Miller, Frank Millet, Roy +Mitchell, William Montgomery, William Moore, James Murray, Leo McCabe, +J. McCoy, Bernard Narvis, Al. Nickerson, Ben Noll, Tom Norton, Tom +O'Connor, Jack Osborne, E. Peckman, Hans Peterson, A. Pilon, Ira Porter, +Max Ramsey, Edward Rays, Herman Rechlenberg, Frank Reiner, Ernest Rich, +John J. Riley, C. H. Ross, M. Rountell, Steve Sabo, J. L. Samuel, Joe +Sarracco, Ed Schwartz, Carl Schultz, H. Stredwick, Arthur Shumek, +Charles Smith, Harry Smith, E. J. Smith, Cecil Snedegar, Frank Sofer, +Stanley Stafl, Raymond St. Clair, John Stroka, Mike Stysco, C. Thomas, +Richard Tibbs, John Utne, Joseph Vito, John Walker, Benny Warshawsky, F. +Westwood, Ben Whitehead, Arley Whiteside, William Wilke, H. Wilson, +Frank Wise, and Charles Wolskie. + +Most of these were mere boys. Mere boys--but undaunted by their recent +terrible experience on the Verona where the open shop fiends had fired +upon them without warning. Mere boys--and yet they loyally marched +straight to the I. W. W. hall as soon as they were released, there to +inquire about the condition of their wounded fellow workers and to gain +news of those who had been taken to Everett to answer charges of first +degree murder. Mere boys--youthful enthusiasm shining on their beardless +faces. Scattered among them were a few men of middle years, and here and +there a grey head stood out in bold relief--but the majority of them +were mere boys, youthful soldiers in the Social Revolution, fine and +clean and loyal material called together by the compelling ideal of a +New Society. + +The predominance of young blood in the organization was noted in the +report of the 1912 convention, where it was shown that ninety per cent +of the membership were under thirty years of age, due of course to the +fact that the modern tendency is to displace the older men in industry. +As one wit has put it "If a man works as hard as the employers want him +to he is worn out at forty-five; if he isn't worn out at forty-five he +is not the kind of worker the employers want." Others have noted the +percentage of the very young. John Graham Brooks, for instance, in +"American Syndicalism--The I. W. W." has this to say: + +"Of the same nature as a characteristic is the +youth+ of the membership. +The groups I saw in the West bore this stamp so unmistakably as to +suggest bodies of students at the end of a rather jolly picnic. The +word 'bum' usually applied to them in that region does not fit them. +There are plenty of older men, as there are men with every appearance of +being 'down and out'--with trousers chewed off at the heels, after the +manner of tramps, but in face and bearing they are far from 'bums.' In +one of the speeches the young were addressed as 'best material;' because +they could stand the wear and tear of racking journeys. They were free +from family responsibilities, and could at any moment respond to the +call of duty." + +Bearing out this idea, tho along a somewhat different line, is an +excerpt from an article by Anna Louise Strong which appeared in the +Survey magazine just prior to the trial. This and other articles, +together with the personal efforts of Miss Strong, whose official +standing as a member of the Seattle School Board and as Executive +Secretary of the Seattle Council of Social Agencies gave weight to her +opinion, did much toward creating a favorable public sentiment during +the trial. Says Miss Strong: + +"The boys in jail are a cheerful lot. The 'tanks' which contain them are +the tanks of the usual county jail, much overcrowded now by the unusual +number. Bunks crowded above each other, in full sight thru the bars; a +few feet away, all the processes of life open to the casual beholder. +But they sit in groups playing cards or dominoes; they listen to tunes +played on the mouth-organ; most of all they sing. They sing whenever +visitors come, and smile thru the bars in cheerful welcome. Theirs is +the spirit of the crusader of all ages, and all causes, won or lost, +sane or insane. Theirs is the irresponsibility and audacious valor of +youth. When they disliked their food, says a conservative newspaper, +they went on strike and 'sang all night.' Sang all night! What sane +adults in our drab, business-as-usual world would think of doing that? +Who, in fact, could think of doing it but college boys or Industrial +Workers of the World, cheerfully defying authority?" + +Thru an absurd and laughable error J. H. Beyer, one of the seventy-four +men charged with first degree murder, was among those who were released. +Beyer immediately sought out and told attorney Moore his story. Then +this "hardened criminal" walked the street of Seattle after public +announcement had been made that he was willing to be taken to Everett to +be incarcerated with the rest of his fellow workers, and that he awaited +rearrest. The prosecution made no move to apprehend him, so on December +14th Beyer went to Everett and asked the authorities to lock him up. The +Snohomish officials shamefacedly granted this unique request but they +absolutely refused to refund the money Beyer had paid to deliver himself +up to "Justice." + +Before leaving Seattle Beyer made this statement: "I have waited here +nearly a month since my release from the Seattle jail, yet no officer +from Everett has come for me. In justice to the other boys accused I +feel that I should share their lot as well as the accusation. I do not +fear returning to Everett and giving myself up for I am confident that +we shall be all exculpated. I am fifty-three years of age and have had +many and varied experiences in my career, but I never expected to be +accused of crime because I endeavored to assert my constitutional right +of Free Speech." + +The same day that Beyer surrendered himself, bonds of $50 each were +secured for thirty-eight men who had been selected from the Verona and +Calista and held on charges of unlawful assembly. Bail was given by +James Duncan, Secretary of the Central Labor Council, and E. B. Ault, +editor of the Union Record, both of Seattle. The released men were Dewey +Ashmore, E. Belmat, C. Burke, L. E. Butcher, James Callahan, Harry +Chase, Charles Day, A. J. Deach, Charles Ellis, J. Ford, Owen Genty, Hy +Gluckstad, Frank Goff, James C. Hadley, Steve Heletour, A. O. Hooper, C. +C. Hulbert, H. P. Hunsberger, C. L. Johnson, R. W. Jones, Joe Kelley, F. +Lansing, W. O. Lily, E. McBride, William McGregor, R. Nicholson, David +O'Hern, Harry Parker, J. Ryan, Sam Scott, Mark Skomo, Thomas Smye, and +F. Thorpe. + +Altho an inquest had been held over the dead gunmen at such an early +date after the tragedy and with such haste as to seem suspicious, +repeated demands for an inquest over Labor's dead were of no avail. No +such inquest was ever held. Only by strong protest were the bodies kept +from the potter's field. + +Thirty-eight charged with unlawful assembly, seventy-four in jail +accused of first degree murder, thirty-two severely wounded and at least +two of these crippled for life, six unaccounted for and probably shot +and drowned, and five known dead in the city morgue,--this was the +answer of the tyrannical timber barons to Labor's demand for free speech +and the right to organize within the confines of the Lumber Kingdom. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[11] Courtenay Lemon, "Free Speech in the United States." Pearson's +Magazine, December 1916. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +BEHIND PRISON BARS + + +"One of the greatest sources of social unrest and bitterness has been +the attitude of the police toward public speaking. On numerous occasions +in every part of the country the police of cities and towns have, either +arbitrarily or under the cloak of a traffic ordinance, interfered with +or prohibited public speaking, both in the open and in halls, by persons +connected with organizations of which the police or those from whom they +receive their orders did not approve. In many instances such +interference has been carried out with a degree of brutality which would +be incredible if it were not vouched for by reliable witnesses. Bloody +riots frequently have accompanied such interference, and large numbers +of persons have been arrested for acts of which they were innocent or +which were committed under the extreme provocation of brutal treatment +by police or private citizens. + +"In some cases this suppression of free speech seems to have been the +result of sheer brutality and wanton mischief, but in the majority of +cases it undoubtedly is the result of a belief by the police or their +superiors that they were 'supporting and defending the Government' by +such invasion of personal rights. There could be no greater error. Such +action strikes at the very foundation of government. It is axiomatic +that a government which can be maintained only by the suppression of +criticism should not be maintained. Furthermore, it is the lesson of +history that attempts to suppress ideas result only in their more rapid +propagation." + +The foregoing is the view of the Industrial Relations Commission as it +appears on page 98 and 99 of Volume One of their official report to the +United States Government. + +[Illustration: Jail at EVERETT] + +The growth of a public sentiment favorable to the Industrial Workers of +the World was clearly shown on November 18th, at which time the bodies +of Felix Baran, Hugo Gerlot and John Looney were turned over to the +organization for burial. Gustav Johnson had already been claimed by +relatives and a private funeral held, and the body of Abraham Rabinowitz +sent to New York at the request of his sister. + +Thousands of workers, each wearing a red rose or carnation, formed in +line at the undertaking parlors and then silently marched four abreast +behind the three hearses and the automobiles containing the eighteen +women pall bearers and the floral tributes to the martyred dead. + +To the strains of the "Red Flag" and the "Marseillaise" the grim and +imposing cortege wended its way thru the crowded city streets, meeting +with expressions of sorrow and sympathy from those who lined the +sidewalk. Delegations of workers from Everett, Tacoma, and other +Washington cities and towns were in line, and a committee from Portland, +Ore., brought appropriate floral offerings. The solidarity of labor was +shown in this great funeral procession, by all odds the largest ever +held in the Northwest. + +Arriving at the graveside in Mount Pleasant cemetery the rebel women +reverently bore the coffins from the hearses to the supporting frame, +surrounded by boughs of fragrant pine, above the yawning pit. A special +chorus of one hundred voices led the singing of "Workers of the World, +Awaken," and as the song died away Charles Ashleigh began the funeral +oration. + +Standing on the great hill that overlooks the whole city of Seattle, the +speaker pointed out the various industries with their toiling thousands +and referred to the smoke that shadowed large portions of the view as +the black fog of oppression and ignorance which it was the duty of the +workers to dispel in order to create the Workers' Commonwealth. The +entire address was marked by a simple note of resolution to continue +the work of education until the workers have come into their own, not a +trace of bitterness evincing itself in the remarks. Ashleigh called upon +those present never to falter until the enemy had been vanquished. +"Today," he said, "we pay tribute to the dead. Tomorrow we turn, with +spirit unquellable, to give battle to the foe!" + +As the notes of "Hold the Fort!" broke a moment of dead silence, a +shower of crimson flowers, torn from the coats of the assembled +mourners, covered the coffins and there was a tear in every eye as the +bodies slowly descended into their final resting place. As tho loath to +leave, the crowd lingered to sing the "Red Flag" and "Solidarity +Forever." Those present during the simple but stirring service were +struck with the thought that the class struggle could never again be +looked upon as a mere bookish theory, the example of those who gave +their lives in the cause of freedom was too compelling a call to action. + +But the imperious exactions of the class war left no time for mourning, +and ere the last man had left the graveside the first to go was busily +spreading the news of an immense mass meeting to be held in Dreamland +Rink on the next afternoon. At this meeting five thousand persons from +all walks of life gathered to voice their protest against the Everett +outrage and to demand a federal investigation. The labor unions, the +clergy, public officials and the general citizenry, were represented by +the speakers. This was the first of many mass meetings held by the +aroused and indignant people of Seattle until the termination of the +case. + +[Illustration: Funeral of GERLOT, LOONEY and BARAN] + +The "kept" press carried on a very bitter campaign against the I. W. W. +for some few days after the dock tragedy, but dropped that line of +action when the public let them understand that they were striking a +wrong note. Thereafter their policy was to ignore, as far as possible, +the entire affair. Practically the only time this rule was broken was in +the printing of the song "Christians At War" by John F. Kendrick, taken +from the I. W. W. song book. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer gave a +photographic reproduction of the cover page of the book and of the page +containing the song. The obvious intent was to have people think that +this cutting satire was an urge for the members of the I. W. W. to do in +times of peace those inglorious things that are eminently respectable in +times of war. Later the Times, and several other papers, reproduced the +same cover and song, the only change being that certain words were inked +out to make it appear that the song was obscene. And tho the P.--I. had +published the song in full the Times placed beneath their garbled +version these words, "The portions blotted out are words and phrases +such as never appear in The Times or in any other decent newspaper." The +simultaneous appearance of this song in a number of papers was merely a +coincidence, no doubt; there is no reason to believe that the lumber +trust inspired the attack! + +Allied as usual with the capitalist press and "stool pigeons" and +employers' associations in a campaign to discredit the workers involved +in the case, was the moribund Socialist Labor Party thru its organ, the +Weekly People. + +The entire I. W. W. press came to the support of the imprisoned men as a +matter of course. The Seattle Union Record and many other craft union +papers, realizing that an open shop fight lay back of the suppression of +free speech, also did great publicity work. But no particular credit is +due to those "labor leaders" who, like J. G. Brown, president of the +Shingle Weavers' Union, grudgingly gave a modicum of assistance under +pressure from radicals in their respective organizations. + +The Northwest Worker of Everett deserves especial praise for its +fearless and uncompromising stand in the face of the bitterest of +opposition. This paper had practically to suspend publication because of +pressure the lumber trust brought to bear on the firm doing their +printing. This, with the action recorded in the minutes of the +Commercial Club, "decided to go after advertisements in labor journals +and the Northwest Worker," shows that a free press is as obnoxious to +the lumber lords as are free speech and free assembly. + +It scarcely needs noting that the International Socialist Review +rendered yeoman service, as that has been its record in all labor cases +since the inception of the magazine. Several other Socialist +publications, to whom the class struggle does not appear merely as a +momentary quadrennial event, also did their bit. Diverse foreign +language publications, representing varying shades of radical thought, +gave to the trial all the publicity their columns could carry. + +Just why seventy-four men were picked as prisoners is a matter of +conjecture. Probably it was because the stuffy little Snohomish county +jail could conveniently, to the authorities, hold just about that +number. The men were placed four in a cell with ten cells to each tank, +there being two tanks of steel resting one above the other. Even with +all the windows thrown open the ventilation was so poor that the men +were made ill by the foul air. + +For almost two full months after being transported to Everett the men +were held incommunicado; were not allowed to see papers or magazines or +to have reading matter of any description; were subjected to the +brutalities of Sheriff McRae and other jail officials who had been +prominent in previous outrage and participants in the massacre at the +dock; and were fed on the vilest prison fare. Mush was the principal +article of diet; mush semi-cooked and cold; mush full of mold and +maggots; mush that was mainly husks and lumps that could not be washed +down with the pale blue prison milk; mush--until the prisoners fitfully +dreamed of mush and gagged at the mere mention of the word. Finding +themselves slowly starving the men decided that it were better to +complete the job at once rather than to linger in misery. A hunger +strike was declared! Meal after meal--or mush after mush--passed and +the men refused to eat. Those who were thought to be leaders in the +miniature revolt were thrown in the blackhole where there was neither +light nor fresh air. Still the men refused to eat, so the authorities +were forced to surrender and the men had something to eat besides mush. + +Great discomfort was experienced by the prisoners from having to sleep +on the cold steel floors of the unheated cells during the chill November +nights. Deciding to remedy the condition they made a demand for +mattresses and blankets from the authorities, not a man of them being +willing to have the Defense Committee purchase such supplies. The needed +articles were refused and the men resorted to a means of enforcing their +demands known as "building a battleship." + +With buckets and tins, and such strips of metal as could be wrenched +loose, the men beat upon the walls, ceilings, and floors of the steel +tanks. Those who found no other method either stamped on the steel +floors in unison with their fellows, or else removed their shoes to use +the heels to beat out a tattoo. To add to the unearthly noise they +yelled concertedly with the full power of their lungs. Three score and +ten men have a noise-making power that words cannot describe. The +townspeople turned out in numbers, thinking that the deputies were +murdering the men within the jail. The battleship construction workers +redoubled their efforts. Acknowledging defeat, the jail officials +furnished the blankets and mattresses that had been demanded. + +A few days later the men started their morning meal only to find that +the mush was strongly "doped" with saltpeter and contained bits of human +manure and other refuse--the spite work, no doubt, of the enraged +deputies. Another battleship was started. This time the jailers closed +all the windows in an effort to suffocate the men, but they broke the +glass with mop-handles and continued the din. As before, the deputies +were defeated and the men received better food for a time. + +On November 24th an official of the State Board of Prisoners took the +finger prints and photographs of the seventy-four men who were innocent +until proven guilty under the "theory" of law in this country, and, +marking these Bertillion records with prison serial numbers, sent copies +to every prison in the United States. In taking the prints of the first +few men brute force was used. Lured from their cells the men were +seized, their hands screwed in a vise, and an imprint taken by forcibly +covering their hands with lampblack and holding them down on the paper. +When the others learned that some had thus been selected they voted that +all should submit to having their prints taken so the whole body of +prisoners would stand on the same footing. Attorney Moore was denied all +access to the prisoners during the consummation of this outrage. + +After obtaining permission of the jail officials a committee of Everett +citizens, with the voluntary assistance of the Cooks' and Waiters' +Union, prepared a feast for the free speech prisoners on Thanksgiving +Day. When the women arrived at the jail they were met by Sheriff McRae +who refused to allow the dinner to be served to the men. McRae was +drunk. In place of this dinner the sheriff set forth a meal of moldy +mush so strongly doped with chemicals as to be unfit for human +consumption. This petty spite work by the moon-struck tool of the lumber +trust was in thoro keeping with the cowardly characteristics he +displayed on the dock on November 5th. And the extent to which the daily +press in Everett was also under the control of the lumber interests was +shown by the publication of a faked interview with attorney Fred Moore +published in the Everett Herald under date of November 29th, Moore +having been credited with the statement that the prison food deserved +praise and the prisoners were "given as good food and as much of it as +they could wish." + +During the whole of McRae's term as sheriff there was no time that +decent food was given voluntarily to the prisoners as a whole. At times, +with low cunning, McRae gave the men in the upper tank better food than +those confined below, and also tried to show favoritism to certain +prisoners, in order to create distrust and suspicion among the men. All +these attempts to break the solidarity of the prisoners failed of their +purpose. + +On one occasion McRae called "Paddy" Cyphert, one of the prisoners whom +he had known as a boy, from his cell and offered to place him in another +part of the jail in order that he might escape injury in a "clubbing +party" the deputies had planned. Cyphert told McRae to put him back with +the rest for he wanted the same treatment as the others and would like +to be with them in order to resist the assault. In the face of this +determination, which was typical of all the prisoners, the contemplated +beating was never administered. + +McRae would oftentimes stand outside the tanks at a safe distance and +drunkenly curse the prisoners and refer to them as cowards, to which the +men would reply by repeating the words of the sheriff on the dock, +"O-oh, I'm hit! I-I'm h-hit!! I-I-I'm h-h-hit!!!" Then they would burst +forth with a song written by William Whalen in commemoration of the +exploits of the doughty sheriff, a song which since has become a +favorite of the migratory workers as they travel from job to job, and +which will serve to keep the deeds of McRae fresh in the minds of the +workers for many years to come. + + + TO SHERIFF McRAE + + Call out your Fire Department, go deputize your bums; + Gather in your gunmen and stool pigeons from the slums; + You may resolute till doomsday, you ill-begotten knave; + We'll still be winning Free Speech Fights when you are in your + grave! + + You reprobate, you imp of hate, you're a traitor to the mind + That brought you forth in human shape to prey upon mankind. + You are lower than the snakes that crawl or the scavengers that + fly; + You're the living, walking image of a damn black-hearted lie! + + We'll still be here in Everett when your career is ended, + And back among the dregs of life your dirty hide has blended; + When you shun the path of honest wrath and fear the days to come, + And bow your head to the flag of red, you poor white-livered bum! + + For the part you played in Everett's raid that fateful Sunday morn, + May your kith and kindred live to curse the day that you were born; + May the memory of your victims haunt your conscience night and day, + Until your feeble, insect mind beneath the strain gives way! + + Oh, Don McRae, you've had your day; make way for Freedom's host: + For Labor's sun is rising, soon 'twill shine from coast to coast! + The shot you fired at Everett re-echoes thru the night + As a message to the working class to organize and fight! + + Those graves upon the hillside as monuments will stand + To point the way to Freedom's goal to slaves thruout the land; + And when at last the working class have made the masters yield, + May your portion of the victory be a grave in the Potter's Field! + + +The end of the first week in January brought about the change in the +administrative force of Snohomish county that had been voted at the +November election. A new set of lumber trust lackeys were placed in +office. James McCullogh succeeded Donald McRae as sheriff, and Lloyd +Black occupied the office vacated by Prosecuting Attorney O. T. Webb. + +The advent of a new sheriff made some slight difference in the jail +conditions, but this was more than offset by the underhanded methods +used from that time on with the idea of breaking the solidarity of the +free speech fighters. Liquor was placed in the bathrooms where the men +could easily get hold of it, but even among those who had been hard +drinkers on the outside there were none who would touch it. Firearms +were cunningly left exposed in hopes that the men might take them and +attempt a jail break, thus giving the jailers a chance to shoot them +down or else causing the whole case to be discredited. The men saw thru +the ruse and passed by the firearms without touching them. + +Working in conjunction with the prosecuting attorney was H. D. Cooley. +This gentleman was one of the deputies on the dock, having displayed +there his manly qualities by hiding behind a pile of wood at first, and +later by telling others to go with rifles to head off the Calista which +he had spied approaching from the direction of Mukilteo. Cooley had a +practice among the big lumbermen, and in the case against the I. W. W. +he was hired by the state with no stipulation as to pay. The general +excuse given for his activities in the case, which dated from November +6th, was that he was retained by "friends of Jefferson Beard" and other +"interested parties." + +Attorney A. L. Veitch was also lined up with the prosecution. He was the +same gentleman who had lectured to the deputies during the preceding +fall as a representative of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' +Association, and had told the deputies how to handle "outside +agitators." Veitch was also employed by the state as a matter of +record, but there was a direct stipulation that he receive no pay from +state funds. He also was employed by "friends of Jefferson Beard" and +other "interested parties." + +With Veitch there was imported from Los Angeles one Malcolm McLaren, an +M. and M. detective and office partner with Veitch, to act as "fix-it" +man for the lumber trust. McLaren was at one time an operative for the +infamous Wm. J. Burns, and Burns has well said "Private detectives, +ninety per cent of them, as a class, are the worst of crooks, +blackmailers and scoundrels." Under McCullogh's regime this open-shop +gumshoe artist had free access to the jail with instructions to go as +far as he liked. + +Just what the prisoners thought about jail conditions during the time +they were incarcerated is given in the following report which was +smuggled out to the Industrial Worker and published on March 3rd: + +"'Everything is fine and dandy on the outside, don't worry, boys.'" + +"This is the first thing we heard from visitors ever since we +seventy-four have been incarcerated in the Snohomish County Jail at +Everett. + +"While 'everything is fine and dandy on the outside' there are, no +doubt, hundreds who would like to hear how things are on the inside. Let +us assure everyone on the outside that 'everything is fine and dandy' on +the inside. We are not worrying as it is but a short time till the +beginning of the trials, the outcome of which we are certain will be one +of the greatest victories Labor has ever known, if there exists a shadow +of justice in the courts of America. + +"One hundred days in jail so far--and for nothing! Stop and think what +one hundred days in jail means to seventy-four men! It means that in the +aggregate the Master Class have deprived us of more than twenty years of +liberty. Twenty years! Think of it, and a prospect of twenty more before +all are at liberty. + +"And why? + +"There can be but one reason, one answer: We are spending this time in +jail and will go thru the mockery of a trial because the masters of +Everett are trying to shield themselves from the atrocious murders of +Bloody November Fifth. + +"After being held in Seattle, convicted without a trial, except such as +was given us by the press carrying the advertising of the boss and +dependent on him for support, on November 10th forty-one of us were +brought to Everett. A few days later thirty more were brought here. + +"We found the jail conditions barbarous. There were no mattresses and +only one blanket to keep off the chill of a Puget Sound night in the +cold, unheated steel cells. There were no towels. We were supplied with +laundry soap for toilet purposes, when we could get even that. Workers +confined in lower cells were forced to sleep on the floors. There were +five of them in each cell and in order to keep any semblance of heat in +their bodies they had to sleep all huddled together in all their +clothing. + +"The first few days we were in the jail we spent in cleaning it, as it +was reeking with filth and probably had never been cleaned out since it +was built. It was alive with vermin. There were armies of bedbugs and +body lice. We boiled up everything in the jail and it is safe to say +that it is now cleaner than it had ever been before, or ever will be +after the Wobblies are gone. + +"When we first came here the lower floor was covered with barrels, boxes +and cases of whiskey and beer. This was moved in a few days, but +evidently not so far but McRae and his deputies had access to it, as +their breath was always charged with the odor of whiskey. It was an +everyday occurrence to have several of the deputies, emboldened by +liquid courage and our defenseless condition--walk around the cell +blocks and indulge in the pastime of calling us vulgar and profane +names. Threats were also very common, but we held our peace and were +content with the thought that 'a barking dog seldom bites.' + +"The worst of these deputies are gone since the advent of sheriff +McCullogh, but there are some on the job yet who like their 'tea.' About +two weeks ago every deputy that came into the jail was drunk; some of +them to the extent of staggering. + +"When we first entered the jail, true to the principles of the I. W. W., +we proceeded to organize ourselves for the betterment of our condition. +A 'grub' committee, a sanitary committee and a floor committee were +appointed. Certain rules and regulations were adopted. By the end of the +week, instead of a growling, fighting crowd of men, such as one would +expect to find where seventy-four men were thrown together, there was an +orderly bunch of real I. W. W.'s, who got up at a certain hour every +morning, and all of whose actions were part of a prearranged routine. +Even tho every man of the seventy-four was talking as loudly as he could +a few seconds before ten p. m., the instant the town clock struck ten +all was hushed. If a sentence was unfinished, it remained unfinished +until the following day. + +"When the jailer came to the door, instead of seventy-four men crowding +up and all trying to talk at once, three men stepped forward and +conversed with him. Our conduct was astonishing to the jail officials. +One of the jailers remarked that he had certainly been given a wrong +impression of the I. W. W. by McRae. He said, 'this bunch is sure +different from what I heard they were. You fellows are all right.' The +answer was simply: 'Organization.' Instead of a cursing, swearing, +fighting mob of seventy-four men, such as sheriff McRae would like to +have had us, we were entirely the opposite. + +"Time has not hung heavy on our hands. One scarcely notices the length +of the days. Educational meetings are frequent and discussions are +constantly in order. Our imprisonment has been a matter of experience. +We will all be better able to talk Industrial Unionism than when we +entered the jail. + +"The meals! Did we say 'meals?' A thousand pardons! Next time we meet a +meal we will apologize to it. Up to the time we asserted our displeasure +at the stinking, indigestible messes thrown up to us by a drunken brute +who could not qualify as head waiter in a 'nickel plate' restaurant, we +had garbage, pure and simple. Think of it! Mush, bread and coffee at +7:30 a. m., and not another bite until 4 p. m. Then they handed us a +mess which some of us called 'slumgullion,' composed of diseased beef. +Is it any wonder that four of the boys were taken to the hospital? But +we will not dwell on the grub. Suffice it to say we were all more or +less sick from the junk dished out to us. We were all hungry from +November 10th until January 22nd. One day in November we had beans. +Little did we surmise the pains, the agony contained in that dish of +innocent looking nutriment, beans. At two in the morning every man in +the jail was taken violently ill. We aroused the guards and they sent +for a doctor. He came about eight hours later and looked disappointed +upon learning that we were not dead. This doctor always had the same +remedy in all cases. His prescription was, 'Stop smoking and you will be +all right.' This is the same quack who helped beat up the forty-one +members of the I. W. W. at Beverly Park on October 30th, 1916. His nerve +must have failed him or his pills would have finished what his +pickhandle had started. + +"During the entire time of our confinement under McRae, drunken deputies +came into the jail and did everything in their power to make conditions +as miserable as possible for us. McRae was usually the leader in +villification of the I. W. W. + +"When on January 8th a change of administration took place, we called a +meeting which resulted in an interview with Sheriff McCullogh. Among +other things we demanded a cook. For days the sheriff stalled us off. He +professed that he wanted to do things for our comfort. We gave him ample +time--but there was no change in the conditions. On January 15th the +matter came to a climax. For five days prior to this we had been served +with what some called 'mulligan.' In reality it was nothing more or less +than water slightly colored with the juice of carrots. If there had ever +been any meat in it that meat was taken out before the mulligan was +served. We called for the sheriff and were informed that he had gone +away. We called for one of our attorneys who was in one of the outer +offices at the time, but Jailer Bridges refused to let us see him. +Having tried peaceful methods without success, we decided to forcibly +bring the matter to the attention of the authorities. We poured the +contents of the container out thru the bars and onto the floor. The boys +in the upper tank did the same thing. For doing this we were given a +terrible cursing by Jailer Bridges and the drunken cook, the latter +throwing a piece of iron thru the bars, striking one of the boys on the +head, and inflicting a long, ugly wound. The cook also threatened to +poison us. + +"That night when we were to be locked in, one of our jailers, decidedly +under the influence of liquor, was in such a condition that he was +unable to handle the levers properly and in some manner put the locking +system out of commission. After probably three quarters of an hour, +during which all of us and every I. W. W. in the world were consigned to +hell many times, the doors were finally locked. + +"'By God, you s--s-of-b----s will wish you ate that stew,' was the way +in which the jailer said 'good night' to us. The significance of his +words was brought back to us next morning when the time came for us to +be unlocked. We were left in our cells without food and with the water +turned off so we could not even have a drink. We might have remained +there for hours without toilet facilities had we not taken matters into +our hands. With one accord we decided to get out of the cells. There was +only one way to do this--'battleship!' + +[Illustration: An all-I. W. W. crew raising a spar tree 160 ft. long, +22½ inches at top and 54½ inches at butt, at Index, Wash.] + +[Illustration: Another view of the same operation.] + +"Battleship we did! Such a din had never before been heard in Everett. +Strong hands and shoulders were placed to the doors which gave up their +hold on the locks as if they had been made of pasteboard, and we emerged +into the recreation corridors. The lumber trust papers of Everett, which +thought the events of November 5th and the murder of five workers but a +picnic, next day reported that we had wrecked the jail and attempted to +escape. We did do a little wrecking, but as far as trying to escape is +concerned that is a huge joke. The jail has not been built that can hold +seventy-four I. W. W. members if they want to escape. We had but decided +to forcibly bring the jail conditions to the attention of the +authorities and the citizens. We were not willing to die of hunger and +thirst. We told Sheriff McCullogh we were not attempting to escape; he +knew we were not. Yet the papers came out with an alleged interview in +which the sheriff was made to say that we were. It was also said that +tomato skins had been thrown against the walls of the jail. There were +none to throw! + +"Summing up this matter: we are here, and here we are determined to +remain until we are freed. Not a man in this jail would accept his +liberty if the doors were opened. This is proven by the fact that one +man voluntarily came to the jail here and gave himself up, while still +another was allowed his liberty but sent for the Everett authorities to +come and get him while he was in Seattle. This last man was taken out of +jail illegally while still under the charge of first degree murder, but +he preferred to stand trial rather than to be made a party to schemes of +framing up to perjure away the liberties of his fellow workers. + +"Signed by the workers in the Snohomish County Jail." + +If the authorities hoped to save money by their niggardly feeding policy +the battleship of January 19th, mentioned in the foregoing account, +convinced them of their error. With blankets tied to the cell doors they +first tore them open and then twisted them out of shape. Taking a small +piece of gaspipe they disarranged the little doors that controlled the +locking system above each cell, and then demolished the entire system of +locks. Every bolt, screw and split pin was taken out and made useless. +While some were thus engaged others were busy getting the food supplies +which were stacked up in a corner just outside the tanks. When Sheriff +McCullogh finally arrived at the jail, some three hours later, he found +the prisoners calmly seated amid the wreckage eating some three hundred +pounds of corned beef they had obtained and cooked with live steam in +one of the bath tubs. Shaking his head sadly the sheriff remarked, "You +fellows don't go to the same church that I do." The deputy force worked +for hours in cleaning up the jail, and it took a gang of ironworkers +nine working days, at a cost of over $800.00, to repair the damage done +in twenty minutes. Twenty of the "hard-boiled Wobblies" were removed to +Seattle shortly after this, but it was no trouble for the men to gain +their demands from that time on. They had but to whisper the magic word +"battleship" to remind the jailers that the I. W. W. policy, as +expressed in a line in Virgil, was about to be invoked: + + + "If I cannot bend the powers above, + I will rouse Hell." + + +Lloyd Black, prosecuting attorney only by a political accident, soon +dropped his ideals and filled the position of prosecutor as well as his +limited abilities allowed, and it was apparent that he felt the hands of +the lumber trust tugging on the strings attached to his job and that he +had succumbed to the insidious influence of his associates. He called +various prisoners from their cells and by pleading, cajoling and +threatening in turn, tried to induce them to make statements injurious +to their case. + +Fraudulently using the name of John M. Foss, a former member of the +General Executive Board of the I. W. W. and then actively engaged in +working for the defense, Black called out Axel Downey, a boy of +seventeen and the youngest of the free speech prisoners, and used all +the resources of his department to get the lad to make a statement. +Downey refused to talk to any of the prosecution lawyers or detectives +and demanded that he be returned to his cell. From that time on he +refused to answer any calls from the office unless the jail committee +was present. Nevertheless the name of Axel Downey was endorsed, with +several others, as a witness for the prosecution in order to create +distrust and suspicion among the prisoners. + +About this time the efforts of Detective McLaren and his associates were +successful in "influencing" one of the prisoners, and Charles Auspos, +alias Charles Austin, agreed to become a state's witness. Contrary to +the expectation of the prosecution, the announcement of this +"confession" created no sensation and was not taken seriously on the +outside, while the prisoners, knowing there was nothing to confess, were +concerned only in the fact that there had been a break in their +solidarity. "We wanted to come out of this case one hundred per cent +clean," was the sorrowful way in which they took the news. + +Auspos had joined the I. W. W. in Rugby, North Dakota, on August 10th, +1916, and whether he was at that time an agent for the employers is not +known, but it is evident that he was not sufficiently interested in +industrial unionism to study its rudimentary principles. It may be that +the previous record of Auspos had given an opportunity for McLaren to +work upon that weak character, for Auspos started his boyhood life in +Hudson, Wisconsin, with a term in the reformatory, and his checkered +career included two years in a military guard house for carrying +side-arms and fighting in a gambling den, a dishonorable discharge from +the United States Army, under the assumed name of Ed. Gibson, and +various arrests up until he joined the I. W. W. + +This Auspos was about 33 years of age, five foot eleven inches tall, +weight about 175 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes, medium complexion but +face inclined to be reddish, slight scar on side of face, and was a +teamster and general laborer by occupation, his parents living in Elk +River, Minn. + +And while Auspos had by his actions descended to the lowest depths of +shame, there were those among the prisoners who had scaled the heights +of self-sacrifice. There were some few among them whose record would +look none too well in the light of day, but the spirit of class +solidarity within them led them to say, "Do with me as you will, I shall +never betray the working class." James Whiteford, arrested under the +name of James Kelly, deserves the highest praise that can be given for +he was taken back to Pennsylvania, which state he had left in violation +of a parole; to serve out a long penitentiary sentence which he could +have avoided by a few easily told lies implicating his fellow workers in +a conspiracy to do murder on November 5th. + +Shortly after the attempted "frame-up" with Axel Downey there was a +strong effort made to bring pressure upon Harvey Hubler. A "lawyer" who +called himself Minor Blythe, bearing letters obtained by +misrepresentation from Hubler's father and sister, attempted to get +Hubler from his cell on an order signed by Malcolm McLaren, the +detective. With the experience of Downey fresh in mind, Hubler refused +to go out of the tank, even tho the "lawyer" stated that he had been +sent by Hubler's father and could surely get him out of jail. + +The next day twelve armed deputies came into the jail to force Hubler to +accompany them to the office. The prisoners as a whole refused to enter +their cells, and armed themselves with such rude weapons as they could +find in order to repulse the deputies. The concerted resistance had its +effect and a committee of three, Feinberg, Peters and Watson, +accompanied Hubler to the office. Hubler there refused to read the +letter, asking that it be read aloud in the presence of the other men. +The detectives refused to do this and the men were put back in the tank. + +That afternoon, with two other prisoners, Hubler went out of the tank +to wash his clothes. The jailers had been awaiting this opportunity and +immediately locked the men out. The gunmen then overpowered Hubler and +dragged him struggling to the office. The letter was then read to +Hubler, who made no comment further than to say that the I. W. W. had +engaged attorneys to defend him and he wished to be taken back where the +rest of the men were. + +Meanwhile the men in the tanks had started another battleship. A hose +had been installed in the jail since the previous battleship and the +deputies turned this upon the men as soon as the protest started. The +prisoners retaliated by taking all mattresses, blankets, clothing and +supplies belonging to the county and throwing them where they would be +ruined by the water, and not knowing what was happening to Hubler they +shouted "Murder" at the top of their voices. While the trouble was going +on several members of the I. W. W., many Everett citizens, and one +attorney tried to gain admittance to the jail office to learn the cause +of the disturbance, but this was denied for more than an hour. Hubler +was finally brought back and the battleship ceased. The county had to +furnish new bedding and clothing for the prisoners. + +After this occurrence the prisoners were allowed the run of the +corridors and were often let out to play ball upon the jail lawn, with +only two guards to watch them. There were no disorders in the jail from +that time on. + +A committee of Everett women asked permission to serve a dinner to the +imprisoned men and when this was granted they fairly outdid themselves +in fixing up what the boys termed a "swell feed." This was served to the +men thru the bars but tasted none the less good on that account. + +[Illustration: Judge J. T. Ronald] + +The Seattle women, not to be outdone, gave a banquet to the prisoners +who had been transported to the Seattle county jail. The banquet was +spread on tables set the full length of the jail corridor, and the menu +ran from soup to nuts. An after dinner cigar, and a little boutonniere +of fragrant flowers furnished by a gray-haired old lady, completed the +program. + +These banquets and the jail visitors, together with numerous books, +magazines and papers--and a phonograph that was in almost constant +operation--made the latter part of the long jail days endurable. + +The defense was making strong efforts, during this time, to secure some +judge other than Bell or Alston, the two superior court judges of +Snohomish County, finally winning a victory in forcing the appointment +of an outside judge by the governor of the state. + +Judge J. T. Ronald, of King County, was selected by Governor Lister, and +after the men had pleaded "Not Guilty" on January 26th, a change of +venue on account of the prejudice existing in Everett's official circles +was asked and granted, Seattle being selected as the place where the +trial would take place. + +Eleven of the prisoners were named on the first information, the men +thus arraigned being F. O. Watson, John Black, Frank Stuart, Charles +Adams, Harston Peters, Thomas H. Tracy, Harry Feinberg, John Downs, +Harold Miller, Ed Roth and Thomas Tracy. The title of the case was +"State vs. F. O. Watson et al.," but the first man to come to trial was +Thomas H. Tracy. The date of the trial was set for March 5th. + +On November 5th, when he was taken from the Verona to jail, Thomas H. +Tracy gave his name at the booking window as George Martin, in order to +spare the feelings of relatives to whom the news of his arrest would +have proven a severe shock. When the officers were checking the names +later he was surprised to hear them call out "Tracy, Thomas Tracy." +Thinking that his identity was known because of his having been +secretary in Everett for a time, he stepped forward. An instant later a +little fellow half his size also marched to the front. There were two +Tom Tracys among the arrested men! Neither of them knew the other! Tracy +then gave his correct name and both he and "Little Tom Tracy" were later +held among the seventy-four charged with murder in the first degree. + +During all the time the free speech fighters were awaiting trial the +lumber trust exerted its potent influence at the national capital to the +end of preventing any congressional investigation of the tragedy of +November 5th and the circumstances surrounding it. The petitions of +thousands of citizens of the state of Washington were ignored. All too +well the employers knew what a putrid state of affairs would be +uncovered were the lumber trust methods exposed to the pitiless light of +publicity. That the trial itself would force them into the open +evidently did not enter into their calculations. + +In changing the information charging the murder of C. O. Curtis to the +charge of murdering Jefferson Beard the prosecution thought to cover one +point beyond the possibility of discovery, which change seems to have +been made as a result of the exhuming of the body of C. O. Curtis in +February. Curtis had been buried in a block of solid concrete and this +had to be broken apart in order to remove the body. Just who performed +the autopsy cannot be ascertained as the work was covered in the very +comprehensive bill of $50.50 for "Exhuming the body of C. O. Curtis, and +autopsy thereon," this bill being made out in the name of the +superintendent of the graveyard and was allowed and paid by Snohomish +County. This, together with the fact that at no time during the trial +did the prosecution speak of C. O. Curtis as having met his death at the +hands of the men on the Verona, seems to bear out the contention of the +defense that Curtis was the victim of the rifle fire of one of his +associates. + +So on March 5th, after holding the free speech prisoners for four months +to the day, the lumber trust, in the name of the State of Washington, +brought the first of them, Thomas H. Tracy, to trial, on a charge of +first degree murder, in the King County Court House at Seattle, +Washington. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE PROSECUTION + + +The King County Court House is an imposing, five story, white structure, +covering an entire block in the business section of the city of Seattle. +Its offices for the conduct of the county and city business are spacious +and well appointed. Its corridors are ample, and marble. The elevator +service is of the best. But the courtrooms are stuffy little dens, illy +ventilated, awkwardly placed, and with the poorest of acoustics. They +seem especially designed to add to the depressing effect that invariably +attends the administration of "law and order." The court of Judge +Ronald, like many other courts in the land, is admirably designed for +the bungling inefficiencies of "justice." Yet it was in this theater, +thru the medium of the Everett trial, that the class struggle was +reproduced, sometimes in tragedy and sometimes in comedy. + +To reach the greatest trial in the history of labor unionism, perhaps +the greatest also in the number of defendants involved and the number of +witnesses called, one had to ascend to the fourth floor of the court +house and line up in the corridor under the watchful eyes of the I. W. +W. "police," C. R. Griffin and J. J. Keenan, appointed by the +organization at the request of the court. There, unless one were a +lawyer or a newspaper representative, it was necessary to wait in line +for hours until the tiny courtroom was opened and the lucky hundred odd +persons were admitted to the church-like benches of J. T. Ronald's +sanctum, where the case of State versus Tracy was on trial. + +Directly in front of the benches, at the specially constructed press +table, were seats provided for the representatives of daily, weekly and +monthly publications whose policies ranged from the ultra conservative +to the extreme radical. Here the various reporters were seen writing +madly as some important point came up, then subsiding into temporary +indifference, passing notes, joking in whispers, drawing personal +cartoons of the judge, jury, counsel, court functionaries and +out-of-the-ordinary spectators,--the only officially recognized persons +in the courtroom showing no signs of reverence for the legal priesthood +and their mystic sacerdotalism. + +Just ahead of the press table were the attorneys for the prosecution: +Lloyd Black, a commonplace, uninspired, beardless youth as chief +prosecutor; H. D. Cooley, a sleek, pusillanimous recipient of favors +from the lumber barons, a fixture at the Commercial Club, and an +also-ran deputy at the dock on November 5th, as next counsel in line; +and A. L. Veitch, handsome in a gross sort of a way, full faced, sensual +lipped, with heavy pouches beneath the eyes, a self-satisfied favorite +of the M. & M., and withal the most able of the three who by virtue of +polite fiction represented the state of Washington. From time to time in +whispered conference with these worthy gentlemen was a tall, lean, grey, +furtive-eyed individual who was none other than the redoubtable +Californian detective, Malcolm McLaren. + +At right angles to this array of prosecutors the counsel for the defense +were seated, where they remained until the positions were reversed at +the close of the prosecution's case. Chief counsel Fred H. Moore, +serious, yet with a winning smile occasionally chasing itself across his +face and adding many humorous wrinkles to the tired-looking crow-feet at +the corners of his eyes; next to him George F. Vanderveer, a strong +personality whose lightning flashes of wit and sarcasm, marshalled to +the aid of a merciless drive of questions, were augmented by a smile +second only to Moore's in its captivating quality; then E. C. Dailey, +invaluable because of his knowledge of local conditions in Everett and +personages connected with the case; and by his side, at times during +the trial, was H. Sigmund, special counsel for Harry Feinberg. + +Seated a little back, but in the same group, was a man of medium height, +stocky built, slightly ruddy complexion, black hair, and twinkling blue +eyes. He was to all appearances the most composed man in the courtroom. +A slight smile crept over his face, at times almost broadened into a +laugh, and then died away. This was Thomas H. Tracy, on trial for murder +in the first degree. + +To the rear of the defendant and forming a deep contrast to the +determined, square-jawed prisoner was the guard, a lean, hungry-looking +deputy with high cheek bones, unusually sharp and long nose and a pair +of moustachios that drooped down upon his chest, a wholly useless and +most uncomfortable functionary who could scarce seat himself because of +the heavy artillery scattered over his anatomy. + +The court clerk, an absurdly dignified court bailiff, a special +stenographer, and Sheriff McCullogh of Snohomish county, occupied the +intervening space to the pulpit from which Judge J. T. Ronald delivered +his legal invocations. + +The judge, a striking figure, over six feet in height and well +proportioned, of rather friendly countenance and bearing in street +dress, resembled nothing so much as a huge black owl when arrayed in his +sacred "Mother Hubbard" gown, with tortoise-shell rimmed smoked glasses +resting on his slightly aquiline nose and surmounting the heavy, closely +trimmed, dark Vandyke beard. + +To the right of the judge as he faced the audience was the witness +chair, and across the whole of the corner of the room was a plat of the +Everett City Dock and the adjacent waterfront, together with a smaller +map showing part of the streets of the city. The plat was state's +exhibit "A." Below these maps on a tilted platform was a model of the +same dock, with the two warehouses, waiting room, Klatawa Slip, and the +steamer Verona, all built to scale. This was defendant's exhibit "1." + +Extending from these exhibits down the side of the railed enclosure, +were seats for two extra jurors. The filling of this jury box from a +long list of talesmen was the preliminary move to a trial in which the +defendant was barely mentioned, and which involved the question of +Labor's right to organize, to assemble peaceably, to speak freely, and +to advocate a change in existing social arrangements. Capital was lined +up in a fight against Labor. There was a direct reflection in the courts +of the masters of the age-long, world-wide class struggle. + +The examination of talesmen occupied considerable time. Each individual +was asked whether he had read any of the following papers: The +Industrial Worker, The Socialist World, or the Pacific Coast +Longshoreman. The prosecution also inquired as to the prospective +juror's familiarity with the I. W. W. Song Book and the various works on +Sabotage. Union affiliations were closely inquired into, and favorable +mention of the right to organize brought a challenge from the state. The +testing of the talesmen was no less severe on the part of the defense. + +Fifty-one talesmen were disqualified, after long and severe legal +battles, before a jury was finally secured from among the voters and +property owners who alone were qualified to serve. The jury, as +selected, was rather more intelligent than was to be expected when +consideration is taken of the fact that any person who acknowledged +having an impression, an opinion, or a conclusion regarding the merits +of the case was automatically excused from service. Those who were +chosen to sit on the case were: + +Mrs. Mattie Fordran, wife of a steamfitter; Robert Harris, a rancher; +Fred Corbs, bricklayer, once a member of the union, then working for +himself; Mrs. Louise Raynor, wife of a master mariner; A. Peplan, +farmer; Mrs. Clara Uhlman, wife of a harnessmaker in business for +himself; Mrs. Alice Freeborn, widow of a druggist; F. M. Christian, tent +and awning maker; Mrs. Sarah F. Brown, widow, working class family; +James R. Williams, machinist's helper, member of union; Mrs. Sarah J. +Timmer, wife of a union lineman, and T. J. Byrne, contractor. The two +alternate jurors, provided for under the "Extra Juror" law of +Washington, passed just prior to this trial, were: J. W. Efaw, furniture +manufacturer, president of Seattle Library Board and Henry B. Williams, +carpenter and member of a union. + +Judge Ronald realized the importance of the case as was shown in his +admonition to the jury, a portion of which follows: + +"It is plain, from both sides here, that we are making history. Let us +see that the record that we make in this case,--you and I, as a +court,--be a landmark based upon nothing in the world but the truth. We +may deceive some people and we may, a little, deceive ourselves; but we +cannot deceive eternal truth." + +On the morning of March 9th Judge Ronald, the tail of his black gown +firmly in hand, swept into the courtroom from his private chambers, the +assembled congregation arose and stood in deep obeisance before His +Majesty The Law, the pompous bailiff rapped for order and delivered an +incantation, the Judge seated himself on the throne of "Justice," the +assemblage subsided into their seats--and the trial was opened in +earnest. Prosecuting Attorney Lloyd Black then gave his opening +statement, the gist of which is contained in the following quotations: + +"You are at the outset of a murder trial, murder in the first degree. +The defendant, Thomas H. Tracy, alias George Martin, is charged with +murder in the first degree, in having assisted, counselled, aided, +abetted and encouraged some unknown person to kill Jefferson Beard on +the 5th of November, 1916. + +"* * * As far as the state is concerned, no one knows or can know or +could follow the course of the particular bullet that struck and +mortally wounded and killed Jefferson Beard. + +"* * * The evidence further will show that the first, or one of the +first, shots fired was from the steamer Verona and was from a revolver +held in the hand of Thomas H. Tracy. + +"* * * As to the killing of Jefferson Beard itself the probabilities +are, as the evidence of the state will indicate, that he was killed by +someone on the hurricane deck of the Verona because the evidence will +show that the revolver shots went thru his overcoat, missing his coat, +and thru his vest, and had a downward course, so that it must have come +from the upper deck. The evidence will show that Thomas H. Tracy was on +the main deck firing thru an open cabin window. + +"* * * Of the approximately 140 special and regular deputies of +Snohomish County about one-half were armed, some with revolvers, some +with rifles and some with clubs. + +"* * * When the fusilade had come from the I. W. W.'s on the Verona, a +portion of the deputies ran thru a door into this warehouse, +(indicating): a portion of them went into that warehouse, and used some +of the knotholes there, and some shot holes thru which they could see, * +* *" + +Black then gave a recital of the lumber trust version of the events +leading up to November 5th, bringing in the threats of an alleged +committee who were said to have declared "that they would call thousands +of their members to the city of Everett, flood the jails, demand +separate trials, and tie up and overwhelm the court machinery, and that +the mayor should consider that they had beaten Spokane and killed its +chief, killed Chief Sullivan of that city, that they had defeated +Wenatchee and North Yakima, and now it was Everett's turn." + +"* * * That in furtherance of their threats that they would burn the +city of Everett, that a number of mysterious fires took place, fires +connected with some person who was opposed to the I. W. W. * * * And in +addition, the I. W. W. members were arrested at different times +preceding this trouble on the 5th of November and phosphorus was found +upon their person either in cans or wrapped up. + +"* * * At different times, the evidence will show, Sheriff Donald McRae +and other peace officers of the city of Everett, including Mayor +Merrill, received anonymous letters, and also received direct statements +from the I. W. W. that they would get them; and, as one speaker put it, +he says 'Sheriff McRae will wake up some day and say '"Good morning, +Jesus!"' + +Black continued his recital of events, admitting the "Wanderer" +incident, but he tried to sidestep the criminal actions at Beverly Park. + +"Now, there happened at Beverly Park an incident that the State in this +action doesn't feel that it has anything to do with this particular +cause." + +Ironical laughter at this juncture caused the removal of several +spectators from the courtroom. So disconcerted was Black that he +proceeded to give away the real cause of action against the I. W. W. + +"The I. W. W. organization itself is an unlawful conspiracy, an unlawful +conspiracy in that it was designed for the purpose of effecting an +absolute revolution in society and in government, effecting it not by +the procedure of law thru the ballot, but for effecting it by direct +action. The I. W. W. meant to accomplish the change in society, not by +organization as the labor unions hope to get higher wages, not to get +into effect their theory of society by the ballot, as the Socialists +hope, but that they expressly state that the election of a Socialist +president will accomplish no good, and that sabotage should be employed +against government ownership as well as against private production, so +that directly they might put into effect their theories of government +and society." + +The defense reserved the right to make their opening statement at the +close of the prosecution's case, thus leaving the state in the dark as +to the line of defense, and forcing them to open their case at once. + +Lester L. Beard and Chester L. Beard, twin sons of the deceased deputy +sheriff, testified as to the condition of their father's clothing, +Attorney Vanderveer drawing from Lester Beard the admission that his +father was an employment agent in Seattle in 1914. + +Following them, Drs. William O'Keef Cox, H. P. Howard, and William P. +West testified to having performed an autopsy on Beard and described the +course of the bullet upon entering the body. Dr. West was an armed guard +at the land end of the City Dock on November 5th, Dr. Cox was also on +the dock as a deputy, and Dr. Howard carried a membership in the +Commercial Club. They were the physicians present when the autopsy was +performed. + +The next witness, Harry W. Shaw, a wood and coal dealer of Everett, +admitted having joined the citizen deputies because of a call issued by +the sheriff thru the Commercial Club. Shaw went to the dock on November +5th, carrying, as he claimed, a revolver with a broken firing pin which +he had hoped to have repaired on that Sunday on the way to the dock. He +was close to Beard when the latter fell and helped to carry him from the +open space on the dock into the warehouse. He afterward accompanied +Beard to the hospital in an automobile and returned to the dock with +Beard's unfired revolver in his possession. He swore that he had seen +McRae sober three times in succession! When asked by Attorney Moore he +gave an affirmative answer to this pertinent question: + +"You knew that the matter of the enforcement of the city ordinances of +Everett was peculiarly within the powers of the police department of the +city, didn't you?" + +Owen Clay was then called to the stand. Clay had been made bookkeeper of +the Weyerhouser Mill about a year and a half before this, and had been +given a membership in the Commercial Club at the time. He was injured in +the right arm in the trouble at the dock and then ran around the corner +of the ticket office, after which he emptied his revolver with his left +hand. Attorney Vanderveer questioned this witness as follows: + +"Who shot Jeff Beard in the right breast?" + +"I don't know." + +"Did you do it?" + +"I don't know." + +"Thank you! That's all," said Vanderveer with a smile. + +The next witness was C. A. Mitchell, employee of the Clark-Nickerson +Mill. He testified that he belonged to Company "B" under the command of +Carl Clapp. His testimony placed Sheriff McRae in the same position as +that given by the preceding witness, about eight to ten feet from the +face of the dock in the center of the open space between the two +warehouses, but unlike Clay, who testified that McRae had his left hand +in the air, he was positive that the sheriff had his right hand in the +air at the time the shooting started. + +W. R. Booth, engaged in real estate and insurance business, a member of +the Commercial Club, and a deputy at the dock, was next called. Attorney +Cooley asked this witness about the speech made at an unspecified street +meeting. Vanderveer immediately objected as follows: + +"We object to that as immaterial and calling for a conclusion of the +witness. He does not know who was speaking, nor whether he was +authorized to do it, or brought there by the Industrial Workers of the +World, or a hireling of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' society. It +has happened time and time again that people are employed by these +capitalists themselves to go out and make incendiary speeches and cause +trouble, and employed to go out and fire buildings and do anything to +put the opposition in wrong." + +When questioned about McRae's position on the dock, Booth stated that +the sheriff had both hands in the air. This witness admitted having been +a member of the "Flying Squadron" and being a participant in the outrage +at Beverly Park. He named others who went out with him in the same +automobile, Will Seivers and Harry Ramwell, and stated that A. P. +Bardson, clerk of the Commercial Club, was probably there as he had been +out on all the other occasions. He said that he would not participate in +the beating up of anyone, and that when the affair started he went up +the road for purposes of his own. He was asked by Vanderveer as to the +reason for continuing to associate with people who had abused the men at +Beverly Park, to which he replied: + +"Because I believe in at least trying to maintain law and order in our +city." + +During the examination of this witness, and at various times thruout the +long case, it was only with evident effort that Attorney Vanderveer kept +on the unfamiliar ground of the class struggle, his natural tendencies +being to try the case as a defense of a pure and simple murder charge. + +W. P. Bell, an Everett attorney representing a number of scab mills, a +member of the Commercial Club and a deputy on the dock, testified next, +contradicting the previous witnesses but throwing no additional light +upon the case. He was followed by Charles Tucker, a scab and gunman +employed by the Hartley Shingle Company and a deputy on the dock. Tucker +lied so outrageously that even the prosecution counsel felt ashamed of +him. He was impeached by his own testimony. + +Editor J. A. MacDonald of the Industrial Worker was called to the stand +to show the official relation of the paper to the I. W. W. and to lay a +foundation for the introduction of a file of the issues prior to +November 5th. A portion of the file was introduced as evidence and at +the same time the state put in as exhibits a copy of the I. W. W. +Constitution and By-Laws, Sabotage by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Sabotage +by Walker C. Smith, The Revolutionary I. W. W. by Grover H. Perry, The +I. W. W., Its History, Structure and Methods by Vincent St. John, and +the Joe Hill Memorial Edition of the Song Book. + +Herbert Mahler, former secretary of the Seattle I. W. W. and at the +time Secretary-Treasurer of the Everett Prisoners' Defense Committee, +was next upon the stand. He was asked to name various committees and to +identify certain telegrams. The unhesitatingly clear answers of both +MacDonald and Mahler were in vivid contrast to the mumbled and +contradictory responses of the deputies. + +William J. Smith, manager of the Western Union Telegraph Company was +then called to further corroborate certain telegrams sent and received +by the I. W. W. + +As the next step in the case prosecutor Black read portions of the +pamphlet "Sabotage" by Smith, sometimes using half a paragraph and +skipping half, sometimes using one paragraph and omitting the next, +provoking a remonstrance from Attorney Vanderveer which was upheld by +the Court in these words: + +"You have a right to do what you are doing, Mr. Black, but it don't +appeal to my sense of fairness if other omissions are as bad as the one +you left out. You are following the practice, but I don't know of an +instance where there has been such an awful juggling about, and it is +discretionary with the Court, and I want to be fair in this case. I want +to let them have a chance to take the sting out of it so as to let the +jury have both sides, because it is there. Now, Mr. Vanderveer, I am +going to leave it to you not to impose upon the Court's discretion. Any +new phases I don't think you have the right to raise, but anything that +will modify what he has read I think you have the right to." + +Thereupon Vanderveer read all the omitted portions bearing upon the +case, bringing special emphasis on these two parts: + +"Note this important point, however. Sabotage does not seek nor desire +to take human life." + +"Sabotage places human life--and especially the life of the only useful +class--higher than all else in the universe." + +With evidences of amusement, if not always approval, the jury then +listened to the reading of numerous I. W. W. songs by Attorney Cooley +for the prosecution, tho some of the jurymen shared in the bewilderment +of the audience as to the connection between the song "Overalls and +Snuff" and defendant Tracy charged with a conspiracy to commit murder in +the first degree. + +D. D. Merrill, Mayor of Everett, next took the stand. He endeavored to +give the impression that the I. W. W. was responsible for a fire loss in +Everett of $100,000.00 during the latter part of the year 1916. +Vanderveer shot the question: + +"From whom would you naturally look for information on the subject of +fires?" + +"From the Fire Chief, W. C. Carroll," replied the mayor; + +"We offer this report in evidence," said Vanderveer crisply. + +The report of the Fire Chief was admitted and read. It showed that there +were less fires in 1916 that in any previous year in the history of +Everett, and only four of incendiary origin in the entire list! + +The prosecution tried to squirm out of this ticklish position by stating +that they meant also the fires in the vicinity of Everett, but here also +they met with failure for the principal fire in the surrounding district +was in the co-operative mill, owned by a number of semi-radical +workingmen at Mukilteo. + +The mayor told of having been present at the arrest of several men taken +from a freight train at Lowell, just at the Everett city limits. Some of +these men were I. W. W.'s, and on the ground afterward there was said to +have been found some broken glass about which there was a smell of +phosphorus. The judge ruled out this evidence because there were other +than I. W. W. men present, no phosphorus was found on the men, and if +only one package were found it would not indicate a conspiracy but might +have been brought by an agent of the employers. This was the nearest +the prosecution came at any time in the trial in their attempt to +connect the I. W. W. with incendiary fires. + +A tense moment in this sensational trial came during the testimony of +Mayor Merrill, when young Louis Skaroff was suddenly produced in court +and the question flashed at the cringing witness: + +"Do you recognize this boy standing here? Do you recognize him, Louis +Skaroff?" + +"I think I have seen him," mumbled the mayor. + +"Let me ask you if on the 6th day of November at about ten o'clock at +night in a room in the City Hall at Everett where there was a bed room +having an iron bedstead in it, in the presence of the jailer, didn't you +have an interview with this man?" + +Merrill denied having mutilated Skaroff's fingers beneath the casters of +the bed, but even the capitalist press reported that his livid face and +thick voice belied his words of denial. + +And Prosecutor Lloyd Black remarked heatedly, "I don't see the +materiality of all this." + +Merrill left the stand, having presented the sorriest figure among the +number of poor witnesses produced by the prosecution. + +Carl Clapp, superintendent of the Municipal Waterworks at Everett, and +commander of one of the squads of deputies, followed with testimony to +the effect that sixty rifles from the Naval Militia were stored in the +Commercial Club on November 5th. At this juncture the hearing of further +evidence was postponed for a half day to allow Attorney Vanderveer to +testify on behalf of Mayor H. C. Gill in a case then pending in the +Federal Court. + +On several other occasions Vanderveer was called to testify in this case +and there were times when it was thought that he also would be indicted +and brought to trial, yet with this extra work and the threat of +imprisonment hanging over him, Vanderveer never flagged in his keen +attention to the work of the defense. It was commonly thought that the +case against Gill and the attempt to involve Vanderveer were moves of +the lumber trust and Chamber of Commerce directed toward the I. W. W., +for in the background were the same interested parties who had been +forced to abandon the recall against Seattle's mayor. Gill's final +acquittal in this case was hailed as an I. W. W. victory. + +Upon the resumption of the trial the prosecution temporarily withdrew +Clapp and placed Clyde Gibbons on the stand. This witness was the son of +James Gibbons, a deceased member of the I. W. W., well and favorable +known in the Northwest. James Gibbons was killed by a speeding +automobile about a year prior to the trial, and his widow and son, +Clyde, were supported by the I. W. W. and the Boiler Makers' Union for +several months thereafter. + +Clyde Gibbons, altho but seventeen years old, joined the Navy by +falsifying his age. Charity demands that the veil be drawn over the +early days of Clyde's training, yet his strong imagination and general +untruthfulness are matters of record. He was shown in court to have +stolen funds left in trust with him by Mrs. Peters, one of the persons +against whom his testimony was directed. It is quite probable that the +deceit about his age, or some other of his queer actions, were +discovered and used to force him to testify as the prosecution desired. +The following testimony bears out this idea: + +"Who was it that you met at the Naval Recruiting Station and took you to +McLaren?" + +"I don't know his name." + +"Well, how did you get to talking to this total stranger about the +Everett matter?" + +"He told me he wanted to see me in the judge's office." + +"And they took you down to the judge's office, did they?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And when you got to the judge's office you found you were in Mr. +McLaren's and Mr. Veitch's and Mr. Black's office in the Smith +Building?" + +"Yes, sir." + +Gibbons testified as to certain alleged conversations in an apartment +house frequented by members of the I. W. W., stating that a party of +members laid plans to go to Everett and to take with them red pepper, +olive oil and bandages. Harston Peters, one of the defendants, had a gun +that wouldn't shoot and so went unarmed, according to this witness. +Gibbons also stated that Mrs. Frenette took part in the conversation in +this apartment house on the morning of the tragedy, whereupon Attorney +Moore asked him: + +"On directing your attention to it, don't you remember that you didn't +see Mrs. Frenette at all in Seattle, anywhere, at any time subsequent to +Saturday night; that she went to Everett on Saturday night?" + +"Well, I am quite sure I saw her Sunday, but maybe I am mistaken." + +The judge upheld the defense attorneys in their numerous objections to +the leading questions propounded by prosecutor Black during the +examination of this witness. + +Clapp was recalled to the stand and testified further that Scott Rainey, +head of the U. S. Naval Militia at Everett, had ordered Ensign McLean to +take rifles to the dock, and that the witness and McLean had loaded the +guns, placed them in an auto and taken them to the dock, where they were +distributed to the deputies just as the Verona started to steam away. + +Ignorance as to the meaning of simple labor terms that are in the +every-day vocabulary of the "blanketstiff" was shown by Clapp in his +answers to these queries: + +"What is direct action?" + +"Using force instead of lawful means." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Well, either physical force, or conspiracy." + +"You understand conspiracy to be some kind of force, do you?" + +"It may be force." + +When asked where he had obtained information about sabotage, this +witness said that he had looked up the word in Webster's Unabridged +Dictionary, a work in which the term is strangely absent. + +Clapp was the first witness to admit the armed character of the deputy +body and also to state that deputies with guns were stationed on all of +Everett's docks. + +After excusing this witness, Cooley brought in copies of two city +ordinances covering street speaking in Everett. One of them which +allowed the holding of meetings at the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore +Avenues was admitted without question, but the other which purported to +have been passed on September 19, 1916, was objected to on the ground +that it had not been passed, was never put upon passage and never moved +for passage in the Everett City Council. + +Richard Brennan, chauffeur of the patrol wagon, A. H. Briggs, city dog +catcher, and Floyd Wildey, police officer, all of Everett, then +testified regarding the arrest of I. W. W. members during August and +September. Wildey stated that on the night of August 30 four or five +members of the I. W. W. came away from their street meeting carrying +sections of gaspipe in their hands. This was thought to be quite a blow +against the peaceful character of the meeting until it was discovered on +cross-examination that the weapons were the removable legs of the street +speaking platform. + +David Daniels, Arthur S. Johnson, Garland Queen, J. R. Steik, M. J. Fox +and, later on, Earl Shaver, all of whom were police officers in Everett, +gave testimony along somewhat the same lines as the other witnesses from +Everett who owed their jobs to the lumber trust. They stated that the I. +W. W. men deported on August 23rd, had made threats against McRae and +several police officers. + +Ed. M. Hawes, proprietor of a scab printing and stationery company, +member of the Commercial Club and citizen deputy, gave testimony +similar to that of other vigilantes as to the trouble on November 5th. +When asked if he had ever known any I. W. W. men offering resistance, +Hawes replied that one had tried to start a fight with him at Beverly +Park. Having thus established his connection with this infamous outrage, +further questioning of this witness developed much of the story of the +brutal gauntlet and deportation. Hawes told of one of his prisoners +making an endeavor to escape, and when asked whether he blamed the man +for trying to get away, answered that he thought the prisoner was a +pretty big baby. + +"You thought he was a pretty big baby?" queried Vanderveer. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Or do you think the men were pretty big babies and cowards who were +doing the beating?" + +The witness had no answer to this question. + +"How much do you weigh?" demanded Vanderveer sharply. + +"I weigh 260 pounds," replied Hawes. + +Frank Goff and Henry Krieg, two young lads who were severely beaten at +Beverly Park, were suddenly produced in court and the big bully was made +to stand alongside of them. He outweighed the two of them. It was +plainly evident who the pretty big baby was! + +Howard Hathaway, law student and assistant to the state secretary of the +Democratic Central Committee, was forced to admit his connection with +the raid upon the launch "Wanderer" and also upon the men peacefully +camping at Maltby. His testimony was mainly for the purpose of making it +appear that James P. Thompson had advocated that the shingle weavers set +fire to the mills and win their strikes by methods of terrorism. + +Two newspaper reporters, William E. Jones of the Seattle +Post-Intelligencer, and J. J. Underwood of the Seattle Times, were +placed upon the stand in order to lay the foundation for an introduction +of an article appearing in the P-I on Sunday morning, November 5th. +Jones testified that he was present at the Seattle police station when +Philip K. Ahern, manager of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, requested +the release of Smith and Reese, two of his operatives who had been on +the Verona. Underwood stated that upon hearing of the treatment given +the I. W. W. men at Beverly Park he had exclaimed, "I would like to see +anybody do that to me and get away with it." + +"You meant that, did you?" asked Vanderveer. + +"You bet I meant it!" asserted the witness positively. + +The two reporters proved to be better witnesses for the defense than for +the prosecution. + +Sanford Asbury, T. N. Henry, Ronald Johnson, John S. Donlan, and J. E. +Gleason, then testified regarding the movements of the men who left +Seattle on the Verona and Calista on the morning of November 5th. They +uniformly agreed that the crowd was in no way disorderly, nor were their +actions at all suspicious. The defense admitted that the Verona had been +chartered but stated that there were passengers other than I. W. W. +members on board. + +The first witness from the Verona was Ernest Shellgren, the boat's +engineer, who testified that he was in the engine pit when the boat +landed and heard crackling sounds telegraphed down the smoke stack that +he knew an instant later were bullets. He was struck by a spent bullet +and ran to various places on the boat seeking shelter from the hail of +lead that appeared to come from all directions, finally returning to the +boiler as the safest place on the boat. He stated that he saw one man +firing a blue steel revolver from the boat, only the hand and revolver +being in his line of vision. The only other gun he saw was one in the +hands of the man who asked him to back the boat away from the dock +during the firing. He also stated that the I. W. W. men on the way over +to Everett comported themselves as was usual with any body of +passengers. + +Shellgren was asked if he could identify John Downs or Thomas H. Tracy +as being connected with the firing in any way and he stated that he +could not do so. The defense objected to the use of Downs' picture, as +it did on every occasion where a picture of one of the prisoners was +used, on the grounds that the photographs were obtained by force and in +defiance of the constitutional rights of the imprisoned free speech +fighters. + +Seattle police detectives, Theodore Montgomery and James O'Brien, who +made a search of the Verona upon its return to Seattle, testified to +having found a little loose red pepper, two stones the size of a goose +egg tied up in a cloth, and a few empty cartridges. These two witnesses +also developed the fact that in no case were regular bandages used on +the wounded men, thus establishing the fact that no serious trouble was +anticipated. + +James Meagher, occupation "home owner," member of the Commercial Club +and citizen deputy, testified that a hundred shots were fired from the +Verona before a gun was pulled on the dock, one of the first shots +striking him in the leg. This witness was asked: + +"Did you see a single gun on the boat?" + +"No sir," was his mumbled response. + +The prosecution witnesses disagreed as to the number of lines of +deputies stretched across the back and sides of the open space on the +dock, the statements varying from one to four files. + +Chad Ballard, Harry Gray, and J. D. Landis, of the Seattle police +detective bureau, and J. G. McConnell, Everett Interurban conductor, +testified to the return and arrest of Mrs. Frenette, Mrs. Mahler and +Mrs. Peters, after the trouble on November 5th. The police officers also +told of a further searching of the Verona on its return. The defense +admitted that some of the members had red pepper in their possession and +stated that they would ask the judge to instruct the jury that red +pepper is a weapon of defense and not of offense and that murder cannot +be committed with red pepper. + +Elmer Buehrer, engineer at the Everett High School, and citizen deputy, +gave testimony that was halting, confused and relatively unimportant. He +was prompted by the prosecution to such an extent that Attorney +Vanderveer at the close of one question said, "Look at me and not at +counsel." + +"Look where you please," cried Cooley angrily. + +"Well, look where you please," rejoined Vanderveer. "He can't help you." + +It was apparent that the only reason for putting on this witness and +former witness Meagher was because of a desire to create sympathy thru +the fact that they had been wounded on the dock. + +Edward Armstrong, master mariner on the Verona, testified that he had +thrown out the spring line and lifted out the gate when the firing +started. He fell to the deck behind a little jog, against the bulkhead, +and while in that position two bullets went thru his cap. Altho this +witness stated that he judged from the sound that the first shot came +from some place to the rear of him, his testimony as to the attitude of +McRae was as follows: + +"I seen him with his right hand hanging on the butt of the gun." + +"And that was before there was any shooting?" + +"Yes sir." + +As to the condition of the boat after the trouble he gave an affirmative +answer to the question: + +"You know that the whole front of the pilot house and the whole front of +this bulkhead front of the forward deck leading to the hurricane deck is +full of B. B. shot, don't you?" + +James Broadbent, manager of the Clark-Nickerson Mill, and a citizen +deputy, followed Armstrong with some unimportant testimony. + +L. S. Davis, steward on the Verona, also stated that McRae committed the +first overt act in taking hold of his gun. He was asked: + +"He had his hand on his gun while he was still facing you?" + +"Yes sir. I could see it plainly," answered Davis. + +[Illustration: Pilot house of the "Verona" riddled with rifle bullets +at Everett] + +"That was before he started to turn, before he was hit?" + +"Yes sir." + +Davis was wounded in the arm as he was on the pilot house steps. + +He was asked about the general disposition, manner and appearance of the +men on the Verona on the way over to Everett, and answered: + +"I thought they were pretty nicely behaved for men--for such a crowd as +that." + +"Any rough talk; any rough, ugly looks?" + +"No sir." + +"Any guns?" + +"No." + +"Any threats?" + +"I didn't hear any threats." + +"Jolly, good-natured bunch of boys?" + +"Yes." + +"Lots of young boys among them, weren't there?" + +"Yes, quite a few." + +Davis stated that three passengers got off at Edmunds on the way up to +Everett, thus establishing the fact that there were other than I. W. W. +men on board. + +R. S. "Scott" Rainey, commercial manager of the Puget Sound Telephone +Company and a citizen deputy, was called and examined at some length +before it was discovered that he was not an endorsed witness. This was +the second time that the prosecution had turned this trick. Vanderveer +objected, stating that there would be two hundred endorsed witnesses who +would not be used. + +"Oh no!" returned Mr. Veitch. + +"Well," said Vanderveer, "a hundred then. A hundred we dare you to +produce!" + +"We will take that dare," responded Veitch. But the prosecution failed +to keep their word, and deputy Dave Oswald of the Pacific Hardware +Company, who during the various deportations tried to have the I. W. W. +men stripped, covered with hot tar, rolled in feathers and ridden out +of town on a rail, and a number of his equally degenerate brother +outlaws were never produced in court. + +Rainey testified that he had seen a quantity of murderous looking +black-jacks in the Commercial Club for distribution to the deputies. He +also saw men fall overboard from the Verona and saw none of them +rescued. He thought there were twenty-five men with guns on the boat, +and he did his firing at the main deck. + +"And you didn't care whether you hit one of the twenty-five or one of +the other two hundred and twenty-five?" scornfully inquired Vanderveer. + +"No sir," said the miserable witness. + +The next witness called was William Kenneth, city dock wharfinger in the +employ of Captain Ramwell. This witness testified that there were +numerous holes in the warehouses that were smooth on the inside and +splintered on the outside, thus indicating that they were from shots +blindly fired thru the walls from within. On being recalled on the +Monday morning session of March 26th the witness said he wished to state +that he was unable to testify from which direction the holes in the +warehouses had been made. It appeared that he had discovered the bullet +marks to have been whittled with a penknife since he had last viewed +them. + +Arthur Blair Gorrell, of Spokane, student at the State University, was +on the dock during the trouble and was wounded in the left shoulder +blade. He stated that he knew that McRae had his gun drawn before he was +shot. + +Captain K. L. Forbes, of the scab tugboat Edison, next took the witness +chair. He didn't like the idea of calling his crew scabs for the +engineer carried a union card. When questioned about the actions of the +scab cook on the Edison, this witness would not state positively that +the man was not firing directly across the open space on the dock at the +Verona, and in line with Curtis and other deputies. + +Thomas E. Headlee, ex-mayor of Everett, bookkeeper at the +Clark-Nickerson mill, and a citizen deputy, said he went whenever and +wherever he was called to go by the sheriff. + +"Then it's just like this," said Vanderveer, "when you pull the string, +up jumps Headlee?" + +This witness tried to blame all the fires in Everett onto the I. W. W. +and the absurdity of his testimony brought this question from the +defense: + +"Just on general principles you blame it on the I. W. W.?" + +"Sure!" replied the witness, "I got their reputation over in Wenatchee +from my brother-in-law who runs a big orchard there." + +Lewis Connor, member of the Commercial Club, and his friend, Edwin +Stuchell, university student, both of whom were deputies on the dock on +November 5th, then testified, but developed nothing of importance. +Stuchell's father was part owner of the Eclipse mill and was said to +have been on the board of directors of the Commercial Club. These +witnesses were followed by Raymond E. Brown, owner of an Everett shoe +store, a weak-kneed witness who had been sworn in as a deputy by W. W. +Blain, secretary of the Commercial Club. + +One of the greatest sensations in this sensational trial was when former +sheriff Donald McRae took the stand on Tuesday, March 27th. + +McRae was sober! + +The sheriff was fifty years of age, of medium height, inclined to +stoutness, smooth-shaven, with swinish eyes set closely on either side +of a pink-tinted, hawk-like nose that curved just above a hard, cruel +and excessively large mouth. The sneering speech and contemptible manner +of this witness lent weight to the admissions of his brutality that had +been dragged from reluctant state's witnesses thru the clever and +cutting cross-examination conducted by Moore and Vanderveer. + +McRae told of his former union affiliations, having once been +International Secretary of the Shingle Weavers' Union, and on another +occasion the editor of their paper--but he admitted that he had never in +his life read a book on political economy. + +He detailed the story of the arrests, deportations and other similar +actions against the striking shingle weavers and the I. W. W. members, +the recital including an account of the "riot" at the jail, the +deportation of Feinberg and Roberts, the shooting at the launch +"Wanderer" and the jailing of its passengers, and the seizing of +forty-one men and their deportation at Beverly Park. McRae's callous +admissions of brutality discounted any favorable impression his +testimony might otherwise have conveyed to the jury. + +He admitted having ordered the taking of the funds of James Orr to pay +the fares of workers deported on August 23rd, but denied the truth of an +account in the Everett Herald of that date in which it was said that I. +W. W. men had made some remarks to him "whereupon Sheriff McRae and +police officer * * promptly retaliated by cracking the I. W. W.'s on the +jaw with husky fists." + +Regarding the launch "Wanderer" the sheriff was asked: + +"Did you strike Captain Mitten over the head with the butt of your gun?" + +"Certainly did!" replied McRae with brutal conciseness. + +"Did any blood flow?" + +"A little, not much." + +"Not enough to arouse any sympathy in you?" + +"No," said the sheriff unfeelingly. + +"Did you strike a little Finnish fellow over the head with a gun?" + +"I certainly did!" + +"And split his head open and the blood ran out, but not enough to move +you to any sympathy?" + +"No, not a bit!" viciously answered McRae. + +"Did you hit any others?" inquired Vanderveer. + +"No, not then." + +"Why not?" + +"They probably seen what happened to the captain and the other fellow +for getting gay." + +As to the holding of Mitten in jail for a number of days on a charge of +resisting an officer, and his final release, McRae was asked: + +"Why didn't you try him on that charge?" + +"Because when we let the I. W. W.'s go they insisted on him going, too, +and I said, 'all right, take him along.'" + +"You did whatever the I. W. W.'s wanted in that?" + +"Well, I was glad to get rid of them," remarked the sheriff. + +McRae said that none of the men taken to Beverly Park were beaten on the +dock before being placed in automobiles for deportation, but on +cross-examination he admitted that one of the deputies got in a mix-up +and was beaten by a brother deputy. The sheriff stated that he took one +man out to Beverly Park in a roadster, and had then returned to Everett +to attend a dance given by the Elks' lodge. + +In relating the events on November 5th, McRae's story did not differ +materially from that of the witnesses who had already testified. He +stated that a bullet passed thru his foot, striking the heel of his +shoe, and coming out of the side. The shoe was then offered in evidence. +He testified that another shot struck the calf of his leg and passed +completely thru the limb. Both these wounds were from the rear. His +entire suit was offered in evidence. The coat had nine bullet holes in +it, yet McRae was not injured at all in the upper portion of his body! +The sheriff stated that he fired twenty shots in all, and was then +removed to the Sister's Hospital while the shooting was still in +progress. + +McRae then identified Ed Roth, James Kelly and Thomas H. Tracy as three +of the I. W. W. men who were most active in firing from the Verona. In +his identification of Tracy, McRae stated that the defendant was in the +second or third cabin window aft the door, and was hanging out of the +window with his breast against the sill and his elbow on the ledge. +Vanderveer then placed himself in the position described by the sheriff +and requested McRae to assume the same attitude he was in at the time he +saw Tracy. Upon doing this it was apparent that the edge of the window +sill would have cut off all view of Tracy's face from the sheriff, so +McRae endeavored to alter his testimony to make it appear that Tracy's +face was a foot or more inside the cabin window. This was the first +identification of Tracy or other men on the boat that was attempted by +the prosecution. + +The sheriff stated that there were only twenty or twenty-five armed men +on the Verona, and he admitted, before he left the stand, that he had +told Attorney Vanderveer it was a pity that the spring line on the +Verona did not break when the boat tilted so as to drown all the I. W. +W.'s in the Bay. + +Charles Auspos, alias Charles Austin, followed McRae as the state's +witness second in importance only to the ex-sheriff. The testimony of +these two was relied upon for a conviction. + +Just why Auspos joined the I. W. W. will never be known, but his claim +was that he could not work in the Dakota harvest fields or ride on the +freight trains without an I. W. W. card. He was asked: + +"When you did line up, you were then willingly a member, were you?" + +"Yes sir." + +"And you did not go to Yakima and come back to Seattle to fight for free +speech because you were compelled to do so?" asked Moore. + +"No," replied Auspos, "there was no compulsion." + +[Illustration: Arrival of the VERONA at SEATTLE] + +Auspos stated that he was willing to take a chance in the fight for free +speech and that the worst he expected was something similar to the +happenings at Beverly Park. That he was not so willing in his testimony +was shown by the uneasy actions of the prosecution lawyers, who moved +from place to place around the court room during the examination of +this witness, with the view of having him look one of them in the eyes +at all times during his recital. At one time Black nearly climbed into +the jury box, while Cooley fidgeted in his chair placed directly in the +middle of the aisle, and Veitch stood back of the court clerk on the +opposite side of the court room, trying to engage the attention of the +hesitating witness. + +The testimony was to the effect that Auspos had reached Seattle on +Saturday, November 4th, and had slept in the I. W. W. hall that night. +Next morning at about eleven o'clock he returned from breakfast and was +again admitted with examination for a membership card. A meeting was in +progress in the gymnasium but was too crowded for him to be able to get +in. There was no secrecy, however, just as there was no oath of fealty +demanded of a worker upon joining the organization. The witness claimed +that he and one of the defendants, J. E. Houlihan, were standing +together in the hall when "Red" Doran called Houlihan aside into the +gymnasium. Two minutes later Houlihan returned and said, "I made it." +"What did you get?" Auspos declared he then asked his partner, receiving +the reply, "A thirty-eight." Auspos claimed he saw Earl Osborne cleaning +a gun in the gymnasium that same morning, and there was a rifle or +shotgun in a canvas case in one corner. He said that men were breaking +up chairs to obtain legs as clubs and that he, with others, was +furnished with a little package of red pepper. + +Regarding his actions upon the Verona the witness stated that he and +James Hadley came up the steps from the freight deck to the passenger +deck just as the boat was nosing against the dock and that he walked +across the deck to a point within three feet of the rail. His +description of the motion of McRae's hands differed from that given by +the deputy witnesses and was such as would indicate the drawing of a gun +from a belt holster. He testified that McRae swung around to the right +just before being shot, thus contradicting McRae, who had declared that +the turn he had made was to the left. The witness in a rather indefinite +manner stated that the first shot came from the boat. All the damaging +claims in the testimony of Auspos were severely shaken by the +cross-examination conducted by Moore, and Auspos finally admitted that +the only point on which he wished to have his evidence differ from the +statement he had made to Vanderveer prior to the trial was in the matter +of the firing of the first shot. Auspos made no attempt to identify +anyone on the boat as having a firearm. + +During the examination some reference was made to "Red" Downs, at which +Judge Ronald remarked: + +"I am a little confused. Did he say 'Red' Downs or 'Red' Doran?" + +"There are two of them," responded Moore. + +"Lots of red in this organization," cut in prosecutor Cooley, amid +laughter from the spectators. + +Attorney Moore brought from Auspos the admission that the plea of "Not +Guilty" was a true one and he still believed that he and the other +prisoners were not guilty of any crime. Yet such are the peculiarities +of the legal game that an innocent man can turn state's evidence upon +his innocent associates. + +After uncovering the previous record of Auspos, he was asked about his +"confession" as follows: + +"Mr. McLaren and you had reached an understanding in your talk before +Mr. Cooley came?" + +"Yes sir." + +"The question of what you are to get in connection with your testimony +here has not as yet been definitely decided?" + +"I am going to get out of the country." + +"You are not going to get a trip to Honolulu?" asked Moore with a smile +as he concluded the cross-examination of Auspos. + +"No sir," stammered the tool of the prosecution unconvincingly. + +It was at this point that the prosecution introduced several additional +leaflets and pamphlets issued by the I. W. W. Publishing Bureau, the +principal reason being to allow them to appeal to the patriotism of the +jury by referring to Herve's pamphlet, "Patriotism and the Worker," and +Smith's leaflet, "War and the Workers." + +The next witness after Auspos was Leo Wagner, another poor purchase on +the part of the prosecution. He merely testified that a man on the +Calista had said that the men were armed and were not going to stand for +being beaten up. Objection was made to the manner in which Cooley led +the witness with his questions, and when Cooley stated that it was +necessary to refresh the memory of the witness, Vanderveer replied that +the witness had been endorsed but a few days before and his recollection +should not be so very stale. + +When this witness was asked what he was paid for his testimony he +squirmed and hesitated until the court demanded an answer, whereupon he +said: + +"I got enough to live on for a while." + +William H. Bridge, deputy sheriff and Snohomish county jailer, was the +next witness. He stated on his direct examination that the first shot +came from the second or third window back from the door on the upper +cabin. Black asked Bridge: + +"How do you know there was a shot from that place?" + +"Because I saw a man reach out thru the window and shoot with a +revolver." + +"In what position was he when shooting?" + +"Well, I could see his hand and a part of his arm and a part of his body +and face." + +"Who was the man, if you know?" + +"Well, to the best of my judgement, it was the defendant, Thomas H. +Tracy." + +Under Vanderveer's cross-examination this witness was made to place the +model of the Verona with its stern at the same angle as it had been at +the time of the shooting. The witness was then asked to assume the same +position he had been in at the time he said he had seen Tracy. The +impossibility of having seen the face of a man firing from any of the +cabin windows was thus demonstrated to the jury. + +Then to clinch the idea that the identification was simply so much +perjury, Vanderveer introduced into evidence the stenographic report of +the coroner's inquest held over Jefferson Beard in which the witness, +Bridge, had sworn that the first shot came from an open space just +beneath the pilot house and had further testified that he could not +recognize the person who was doing the firing. + +Walter H. Smith, a scab shingle weaver, and deputy on the dock, followed +with a claim to have recognized Tracy as one of the men who was shooting +from the Verona. He also stated that he could identify another man who +was shooting from the forward deck. He was handed a number of +photographs and failed to find the man he was looking for. Instead he +indicated one of the photographs and said that it was Tracy. Vanderveer +immediately seized the picture and offered it in evidence. + +"I made a mistake there," remarked Smith. + +"I know you did," responded Vanderveer, "and I want the jury to know +it." + +The witness had picked out a photograph of John Downs and identified it +as the defendant. + +The prosecution then called S. A. Mann, who had been police judge in +Spokane, Wash., from 1908 into 1911, and questioned him in regard to the +Spokane Free Speech fight and the death of Chief of Police John +Sullivan. Here attorney Fred Moore was on familiar ground, having acted +for the I. W. W. during the time of that trouble. Moore developed the +fact that there had been several thousand arrests with not a single +instance of resistance or violence on the part of the I. W. W., not a +weapon found on any of their persons, and no incendiary fires during +the entire fight. He further confounded the prosecution by having Judge +Mann admit that in the Spokane fight a prisoner arrested on a city +charge was always lodged in the city jail and one arrested on a county +charge was always placed in the county jail--a condition not at all +observed in Everett. + +Moore also brought out the facts of the death of Chief Sullivan so far +as they are known. The witness admitted that Sullivan was charged with +abuse of an adopted daughter of Mr. Elliott, a G. A. R. veteran; that +desk officer N. V. Pitts charged Sullivan with having forced him to turn +over certain Chinese bond money and the Chief resigned his position +while under these charges; that the Spokane Press bitterly attacked +Sullivan and was sued as a consequence, the Scripps-McRae paper being +represented by the law firm of Robertson, Miller and Rosenhaupt, of +which Judge Frank C. Robertson was the head; that the Chronicle and +Spokesman-Review joined in the attack upon the Chief; and that when +Sullivan was dying from a shot in the back the following conversation +occurred between himself and the dying man: "I said to him 'John, who do +you suppose did this?' He says, 'Judge F. C. Robertson and the Press are +responsible for this.' I said, 'John, you don't mean that, you can't +mean it?' He says, 'That is the way I feel.'" + +Judge Ronald prevented the attorneys from going very deeply into the +Spokane affair, saying: + +"I am not going to wash Spokane linen here; we have some of our own to +wash!" + +C. R. Schweitzer, owner of a scab plumbing shop, aged 47, yet +grey-haired, brazenly admitted having emptied a shotgun into the unarmed +boys on the Verona. It was the missiles from the brand-new +shotgun--probably furnished by Dave Oswald--that riddled the pilot house +and wounded many of the men who fell to the deck when the Verona +tilted. Schweitzer fired from a safe position behind the Klatawa slip. +Why the prosecution used him as a witness is a mystery. + +W. A. Taro, Everett Fire Chief, testified regarding the few incendiary +fires that had occurred in Everett during the year 1916, but failed to +connect them with the I. W. W. in any way. D. Daniels, Everett police +officer, testified to a phosphorous fire which did no damage and was in +no way connected with the I. W. W. + +Mrs. Jennie B. Ames, the only woman witness called by the prosecution, +testified that Mrs. Frennette was on the inclined walk at the Great +Northern Depot, at a point overlooking the dock, and was armed with a +revolver at the time the Verona trouble was on. Police officer J. E. +Moline also swore to the same thing, but was badly tangled when +confronted with his own evidence given at the preliminary hearing of +Mrs. Frennette on December 6th, 1916. + +Never was there a cad but who wished himself proclaimed as a gentleman; +never a bedraggled and maudlin harlot but who wanted the world to know +that she was a perfect lady. The last witness to be called by the +prosecution was John Hogan--"Honest" John Hogan if prosecutor Lloyd +Black was to be credited. + +"Honest" John Hogan was a young red-headed regular deputy sheriff, who +was a participant in the outrage on the City Dock on November 5th. +"Honest" John Hogan claimed to have seen the defendant, Thomas Tracy, +firing a revolver from one of the forward cabin windows. "Honest" John +Hogan had the same difficulty as the other "identifying" witnesses when +he also was asked to state whether it was possible to see a man firing +from a cabin window when the stern of the boat was out and the witness +in his specified position on the dock. "Honest" John Hogan was sure it +was Tracy that he saw because the man had a week's growth of whiskers on +his face. + +And this ended the case for the prosecution. + +As had been predicted there were hundreds of witnesses who were endorsed +and not called, and almost without an exception those who testified were +parties who had a very direct interest in seeing that a conviction was +secured. But thru the clever work of the lawyers for the defense what +was meant to have been a prosecution of the I. W. W. was turned into an +extremely poor defense of the deputies and their program of "law and +order." From the state's witnesses the defense had developed nearly the +whole outline and many of the details of its side of the case. + +When the state rested its case, Tracy leaned over to the defense lawyers +and, with a smile on his face, said: + +"I'd be willing to let the case go to the jury right now." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE DEFENSE + + +The case for the defense opened on Monday morning of April 2nd when +Vanderveer, directly facing the judge and witness chair from the +position vacated by the prosecution counsel, moved for a directed +verdict of not guilty on the ground that there had been an absolute +failure of evidence upon the question of conspiracy, any conspiracy of +which murder was either directly or indirectly an incident, and there +was no evidence whatever to charge the defendant directly as a principal +in causing the death of Jefferson Beard. The motion was denied and an +exception taken to the ruling of the court. + +Fred Moore made the opening statement for the defense. In his speech he +briefly outlined the situation that had existed in Everett up to and +including November 5th and explained to the jury the forces lined up +against each other in Everett's industrial warfare. Not for an instant +did the attention of the jury flag during the recital. + +Herbert Mahler, secretary of the I. W. W. in Seattle during the series +of outrages in Everett, was the first witness placed upon the stand. +Mahler told of the lumber workers' convention and the sending of +organizer James Rowan to make a survey of the industrial situation in +the lumber centers, Everett being the first point because of its +proximity to Seattle and not by reason of any strikes that may have +existed there. The methods of conducting the free speech fight, the +avoidance of secrecy, the ardent desire for publicity of the methods of +the lumber trust as well as the tactics of the I. W. W., were clearly +explained. + +Cooley cross-examined Mahler regarding the song book with reference to +the advocacy and use of sabotage, asking the witness: + +"How about throwing a pitchfork into a threshing machine? Would that be +all right?" + +"There are circumstances when it would be, I suppose," replied Mahler. +"If there was a farmer deputy who had been at Beverly Park, I think they +certainly would have a right to destroy his threshing machine." + +"You think that would justify it?" inquired Cooley. + +"Yes," said the witness, "I think that if the man had abused his power +as an officer and the person he abused had no other way of getting even +with him and that justice was denied him in the courts, I fully believe +that he would be. That would not hurt anybody; it would only hurt his +pocketbook." + +"Now what is this Joe Hill Memorial Edition?" + +"Joe Hillstrom, known as Joe Hill, had written a number of songs in the +I. W. W. Song Book and he was murdered in Utah and the song book was +gotten out in memory of him," responded Mahler. + +"He was executed after having been convicted of murder in the first +degree, and sentenced to death. And you say he was murdered?" said +Cooley. + +"Yes," said Mahler with emphasis. "Our contention has been that +Hillstrom did not have a fair trial and we are quite capable of proving +it. I may say that President Wilson interceded in his behalf and was +promptly turned down by Governor Spry of Utah. Hillstrom was offered a +commutation of sentence and he refused to take it. He wanted a retrial +or an acquittal. When the President of the United States had interceded +with the Governor of Utah, when various labor organizations asked that +he be given a retrial, and a man's life is to be taken from him, and +people all over the country ask for a retrial, that certainly should be +granted to him." + +James P. Thompson was placed upon the stand to explain the principles of +the I. W. W. The courtroom was turned into a propaganda meeting during +the examination of the witness. One of the first features was the +reading and explanation of state's exhibit "K," the famous I. W. W. +preamble which has been referred to on various occasions as the most +brutally scientific exposition of the class struggle ever penned: + + + I. W. W. PREAMBLE + + The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. + There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among + millions of the working people and the few, who make up the + employing class, have all the good things of life. + + Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers + of the world organize as a class, take possession of the earth and + the machinery of production, and abolish the wage system. + + We find that the centering of the management of industries into + fewer and fewer hands makes the trade unions unable to cope with + the ever growing power of the employing class. The trade unions + foster a state of affairs which allow one set of workers to be + pitted against another set of workers in the same industry, thereby + helping defeat one another in wage wars. Moreover, the trade unions + aid the employing class to mislead the workers into the belief that + the working class have interests in common with their employers. + + These conditions can be changed and the interests of the working + class upheld only by an organization formed in such a way that all + its members in any one industry, or in all industries, if + necessary, cease work whenever a strike or lockout is on in any + department thereof, thus making an injury to one an injury to all. + + Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair + day's work," we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary + watchword, "Abolition of the wage system." + + It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with + capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for + the every day struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on + production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By + organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new + society within the shell of the old. + + +"Men in society represent economic categories," said Thompson. "By that +I mean that in the world of shoes there are shoemakers, and in the world +of boats there are seamen, and in this society there are economic +categories called the employing class and the working class. Now, +between them as employing class and working class there is nothing in +common. Their interests are diametrically opposed as such. It is not the +same thing as saying that human beings have nothing in common. The +working class and the employing class have antagonistic interests, and +the more one gets the less remains for the other. + +"Labor produces all wealth," continued Thompson, "and the more the +workers have to give up to anyone else the less remains for themselves. +The more they get in wages the less remains for the others in the form +of profits. As long as labor produces for the other class all the good +things of life there will be no peace; we want the products of labor +ourselves and let the other class go to work also. + +"The trades unions are unable to cope with the power of the employers +because when one craft strikes the others remain at work and by so doing +help the company to fill orders, and that is helping to break the +strike. If a group of workers strike and win, other workers are +encouraged to do likewise: if they strike and lose, other workers are +discouraged and employers are encouraged to do some whipping on their +own account. + +"We believe in an industrial democracy; that the industry shall be owned +by the people and operated on a co-operative plan instead of the wage +plan; that there is no such thing as a fair day's pay; that we should +have the full product of our labor in the co-operative system as +distinguished from the wage system. + +"Furthermore," went on the witness, as the jury leaned forward to catch +his every word, "our ideas were suggested to us by conditions in modern +industry, and it is the historical mission of the workers to organize, +not only for the preliminary struggles, but to carry on production +afterward." + +"We object to this!" shouted Mr. Cooley, and the court sustained the +objection. + +Despite continual protests from the prosecution Thompson gave the ideas +of the I. W. W. on many questions. Speaking of free speech the witness +said: + +"Free speech is vital. It is a point that has been threshed out and +settled before we were born. If we do not have free speech, the children +of the race will die in the dark." + +The message of industrial unionism delivered thru the sworn testimony of +a labor organizer was indeed an amazing spectacle. Judge Ronald never +relaxed his attention during the entire examination, the jury was +spell-bound, and it was only by an obvious effort that the spectators +kept from applauding the various telling points. + +"There is overwork on one hand," said Thompson, "and out-of-work on the +other. The length of the working day should be determined by the amount +of work and the number of workers. You have no more right to do eight or +ten or twelve hours of labor when others are out of work, despondent, +committing suicide, than you have to drink all the water, if that were +possible, while others are dying of thirst. + +"Solidarity is the I. W. W. way to get their demands. We do not advocate +that the workers should organize in a military way and use guns and +dynamite. The most effective weapon of labor is economic power: the +modern wage workers are the living parts of industry and if they fold +their arms, they immediately precipitate a crisis, they paralyze the +world. No other class has that power. The other class can fold their +arms, and they do most of the time, but our class has the economic +power. The I. W. W. preaches and teaches all the time that a far more +effective weapon than brickbats or dynamite is solidarity. + +"We have developed from individual production, to social production, yet +we still have private ownership of the means of production. One class +owns the industries and doesn't operate them, another class operates the +industries and does not own them. We are going to have a revolution. No +one is more mistaken than those who believe that this system is the +final state of society. As the industrial revolution takes place, as the +labor process takes on the co-operative form, as the tool of production +becomes social, the idea of social ownership is suggested, and so the +idea that things that are used collectively should be owned +collectively, presents itself with irresistible force to the people of +the twentieth century. So there is a struggle for industrial democracy. +We are the modern abolitionists fighting against wage slavery as the +other abolitionists fought against chattel slavery. The solution for our +modern problems is this, that the industries should be owned by the +people, operated by the people for the people, and the little busy bees +who make the honey of the world should eat that honey, and there should +be no drones at all in the hives of industry. + +"When we have industrial democracy you will know that the mills, the +mines, the factories, the earth itself, will be the collective property +of the people, and if a little baby should be born that baby would be as +much an owner of the earth as any other of the children of men. Then the +war, the commercial struggles, the clashes between groups of conflicting +interests, will be a night-mare of the past. In the place of capitalism +with its one class working and its other class enjoying, in the place of +the wages system with its strife and strikes, lockouts and grinding +poverty, we will have a co-operative system where the interests of one +will be to promote the interests of all--that will be Industrial +Democracy." + +Thompson explained the meaning of the sarcastic song, "Christians at +War," to the evident amusement of the jury and spectators. The witness +was then asked about Herve's work on anti-patriotism in this question by +attorney Moore: + +"What is the attitude of your organization relative to internationalism +and national patriotism?" + +"We object to that as incompetent and immaterial," cried Veitch of the +prosecution. + +"What did you put this book in for then?" said Judge Ronald in a testy +manner as he motioned the witness to proceed with his answer. + +"In the broader sense," answered Thompson, "there is no such thing as a +foreigner. We are all native born members of this planet, and for the +members of it to be divided into groups or units and to be taught that +each nation is better than the other leads to clashes and the world war. +We ought to have in the place of national patriotism--the idea that one +people is better than another,--a broader conception, that of +international solidarity. The idea that we are better than others is +contrary to the Declaration of Independence which declares that all men +are born free and equal. The I. W. W. believes that in order to do away +with wars we should remove the cause of wars; we should establish +industrial democracy and the co-operative system instead of +commercialism and capitalism and the struggles that come from them. We +are trying to make America a better land, a land without child slaves, a +land without poverty, and so also with the world, a world without a +master and without a slave." + +When the lengthy direct examination of Thompson had been finished, the +prosecution questioned him but five minutes and united in a sigh of +relief as he left the stand. + +The next witness called was Ernest Nordstrom, companion of Oscar Carlson +who was severely wounded on the Verona. Nordstrom testified rather out +of his logical order in the trial by reason of the fact that he was +about to leave on a lengthy fishing trip to Alaska. His testimony was +that he purchased a regular ticket at the same time as his friend +Carlson, but these tickets were not taken up by the purser. The original +ticket of this passenger was then offered in evidence. The witness +stated that the first shot came from almost the same place on the dock +as did the words "You can't land here." He fell to the deck and saw +Carlson fall also. Carlson tried to rise once, but a bullet hit him and +he dropped; there were nine bullet holes in him. Nordstrom was asked: + +"Did you have a gun?" + +"No sir." + +"Did Carlson have a gun?" + +"No sir." + +"Did you see anybody with a gun on the boat?" + +"No. I didn't." + +Organizer James Rowan then gave his experiences in Everett, ending with +a vivid recital of the terrible beating he had received at the hands of +deputies near Silver Lake. Upon telling of the photograph that was taken +of his lacerated back he was asked by Veitch: + +"What was the reason you had that picture taken?" + +"Well," said Rowan, in his inimitable manner, "I thought it would be a +good thing to get that taken to show up the kind of civilization that +they had in Everett." + +Dr. E. J. Brown, a Seattle dentist, and Thomas Horner, Seattle attorney, +corroborated Rowan's testimony as to the condition of his back. They had +seen the wounds and bruises shortly after the beating had been +administered and were of the opinion that a false light was reflected on +the photograph in such a way that the severest marks did not appear as +bad as they really were. + +Otto Nelson, Everett shingle weaver, gave testimony regarding the +shingle weavers' strikes of 1915 and 1916 but was stopped from going +into detail by the rulings of the court. He told also of the peaceful +character of all the I. W. W. meetings in Everett, and stated that on +one occasion police officer Daniels had fired two shots down one of the +city streets at an I. W. W. man who had been made to run the gauntlet. + +H. P. Whartenby, owner of a five-ten-fifteen cent store in Everett, said +that the I. W. W. meetings were orderly, and further testified that he +had been ordered out of the Commercial Club on the evening of November +5th but not until he had seen that the club was a regular arsenal, with +guns stacked all over the place. + +To establish the fact that the sidewalks were kept clear, that there was +no advocacy of violence, that no resistance was offered to arrest, and +that the I. W. W. meetings were well conducted in every particular, the +defense put on in fairly rapid succession a number of Everett citizens: +Mrs. Ina M. Salter, Mrs. Elizabeth Maloney, Mrs. Letelsia Fye, Bruce J. +Hatch, Mrs. Dollie Gustaffson, Miss Avis Mathison, Mrs. Peter Aiken, +Mrs. Annie Pomeroy, Mrs. Rebecca Wade, F. G. Crosby, and Mrs. Hannah +Crosby. The fact that these citizens, and a number of other women who +were mentioned in the testimony, attended the I. W. W. meetings quite +regularly, impressed the jury favorably. Some of these women witnesses +had been roughly handled by the deputies. Mrs. Pomeroy stated that the +deputies, armed with clubs and distinguished by white handkerchiefs +around their necks, invaded one meeting and struck right and left. "And +they punched me at that!" said the indignant witness. + +"Punched you where?" inquired Vanderveer in order to locate the injury. + +"They punched me on the sidewalk!" answered the witness, and the solemn +bailiff had to rap for order in the court room. + +Cooley caught a Tartar in his cross-examination of Mrs. Crosby. He +inquired: + +"Did you hear the I. W. W.'s say that when they got a majority of the +workers into this big union they would take possession of the +industries and run them themselves?" + +"Why certainly!" + +"You did hear them say they would take possession?" + +"Why certainly!" flashed back the witness. "That's the way the North did +with the slaves, isn't it? They took possession without ever asking +them. My people came from the South and they had slaves taken away from +them and never got anything for it, and quite right, too!" + +"Then you do believe it would be all right, yourself?" said Cooley. + +"I believe that confiscation would be perfectly right in the case of +taking things that are publicly used for the public good of the +people----." + +"That's all," hastily cut in Cooley. + +"That they should be used then by the people and for the people!" +finished the witness. + +"That's all!" cried Cooley loudly and more anxiously. + +Frank Henig, the next witness, told of having been blackjacked by +Sheriff McRae and exhibited the large scar on his forehead that plainly +showed where the brutal blow had landed. He stated that he had tried to +secure the arrest of McRae for the entirely unwarranted attack but was +denied a warrant. + +Jake Michel, secretary of the Everett Building Trades Council, gave +evidence regarding a number of the I. W. W. street meetings. He was +questioned at length about what he had inferred from the speeches of +Rowan, Thompson and others. Replying to one question he said: + +"I think the American Federation of Labor uses the most direct action +that any organization could use." + +"In a strike?" + +"Yes." + +"And by that you mean a peaceful strike?" said Cooley suggestively. + +"Well, I haven't seen them carry on very many peaceful ones yet," +replied Michel. + +Cooley asked Michel whether Rowan had said that "the workers should form +one great industrial union and declare the final and universal strike; +that is, that they should remain within the industrial institutions and +lock the employers out for good as owners?" + +"I never heard him mention anything about locking anyone out; I think he +wanted to lock them in and make them do some of the work!" answered +Michel. + +"You haven't any particular interest in this case, have you?" asked +Cooley with a sneer. + +"Yes, I have!" replied Michel with emphasis. + +When asked what this particular interest was, Michel caused +consternation among the ranks of the prosecution by replying: + +"The reason I have that interest is this; I have two sons and two +daughters. I want to see the best form of organization so that the boys +can go out and make a decent living; I don't want my girls to become +prostitutes upon the streets and my boys vagabonds upon the highways!" + +Harry Feinberg, one of the free speech prisoners named on the first +information with Watson and Tracy, was then placed on the stand and +questioned as to the beating he had received at the hands of deputies, +as to the condition of Frank Henig after McRae's attack, and upon +matters connected with various street meetings at which he had been the +speaker. Mention of the name of George Reese brought forth an argument +from the prosecution that it had not been shown that Reese was a +detective. After an acrimonious discussion Vanderveer suddenly declared: + +"Just to settle this thing and settle it for now and all the time, I +will ask a subpoena forthwith for Philip K. Ahern and show who Reese is +working for." + +The subpoena was issued and a recess taken to allow it to be served. As +Vanderveer stepped into the hall, detective Malcolm McLaren said to him, +"You can't subpoenae the head of the Pinkerton Detective Agency!" + +"I have subpoenaed him," responded Vanderveer shortly as he hurried to +the witness room. + +While awaiting the arrival of this witness, Feinberg was questioned +further, and was then taken from the stand to allow the examination of +two Everett witnesses, Mrs. L. H. Johnson and P. S. Johnson, the latter +witness being withdrawn when Ahern put in an appearance. + +Vanderveer was very brief, but to the point, in the examination of the +local head of the Pinkerton Agency. + +"Mr. Ahern, on the fifth day of November you had in your employ a man +named George Reese?" + +"Yes sir." + +"For whom was he working, thru you, at that time?" + +"For Snohomish County." + +"That's all!" said Vanderveer triumphantly. + +Cooley did not seem inclined to cross-examine the witness at any length +and Vanderveer in another straightforward question brought out the fact +that Reese was a Pinkerton employe during the Longshoremen's +strike--this being the time that Reese also was seated as a delegate to +the Seattle Trades Council of the A. F. of L. + +A portion of the testimony of Mrs. L. H. Johnson was nearly as important +as that concerning Reese. She recited a conversation with Sheriff McRae +as follows: + +"McRae said he would stop the I. W. W. from coming to Everett if he had +to call out the soldiers. And I told him the soldiers wouldn't come out +on an occasion like this, they were nothing but Industrial Workers of +the World and they had a right to speak and get people to join their +union if they wanted to. And he said he had the backing of the millmen +to keep them out of the city, and he was going to do it if he had to +call the soldiers out and shoot them down when they landed there, when +they came off the dock." + +[Illustration: Cutting off top of tree to fit block for flying machine.] + +This clearly indicated the bloodthirsty designs of the millmen and the +sheriff at a time long before November 5th. + +G. W. Carr, Wilfred Des Pres, and J. M. Norland testified to the +breaking up of peaceably conducted I. W. W. meetings, Des Pres also +telling of rifles having been transported from the Pacific Hardware +Company to the dock on November 5th. All three were Everett citizens. +Black asked Norland if he knew what sabotage was, to which Norland +replied: + +"Everybody that follows the labor movement knows what sabotage is." + +There was a sensation in court at this question for it was the first and +only time that any of the prosecution counsel correctly pronounced the +word sabotage! + +W. W. Blain, secretary of the Commercial Club, altho an unwilling +witness, gave much information of value to the defense. He was forced to +produce the minutes of the "open shop committee" and give up the story +of how control of the club was purchased by the big interests, how the +boycott was invoked against certain publications, and finally to tell of +the employment of Pinkerton detectives prior to November 5th, and to +give a list of the deputies furnished by the Commercial Club. + +During the examination of this witness some telegrams, in connection +with the testimony, were handed up to the judge. While reading these +Judge Ronald was interrupted by a foolish remark from Black to +Vanderveer. Looking over his glasses the judge said: + +"Every time I start to read anything, you gentlemen get into a quarrel +among yourselves. I am inclined to think that the 'cats,' some of them, +are here in the courtroom." + +"I will plead guilty for Mr. Black, Your Honor!" said Vanderveer +quickly, laughing at the reference to sabotage. + +Testimony to further establish the peaceable character of the I. W. W. +meetings and the rowdyism of the police and deputies was given by +witnesses from Everett: Gustaf Pilz, Mrs. Leota Carr, J. E. McNair, Ed +Morton, Michael Maloney, Verne C. Henry and Morial Thornburg. The +statements of these disinterested parties regarding the clubbings given +to the speakers and to citizens of their acquaintance proved very +effective. + +Attorney H. D. Cooley for the prosecution was placed upon the witness +stand and Vanderveer shot the question at him: + +"By whom were you employed in this case, Mr. Cooley?" + +"Objected to as immaterial!" cried Veitch, instantly springing to his +feet. + +But the damage had been done! The refusal to allow an answer showed that +there were interested parties the prosecution wished to hide from the +public. + +Levi Remick related the story of the deportation from Everett, and was +followed on the witness stand by Edward Lavelly, James Dwyer, and Thomas +Smye, who testified to different atrocities committed in Everett by +McRae and the citizen deputies. Their evidence had mainly to do with the +acts of piracy committed against the launch "Wanderer" and the +subsequent abuse of the arrested men. A little later in the trial this +testimony was fully corroborated by the statements of Captain Jack +Mitten. During Mitten's examination by Black the old Captain continually +referred to the fact that the life preservers and other equipment of his +boat had been stolen while he was in jail. The discomfiture of the +youthful prosecutor was quite evident. + +J. H. Buel impeached the testimony of state's witness Judge Bell who had +made the claim that a filer at the Clark-Nickerson mill had been +assaulted by a member of the I. W. W. Vanderveer asked this witness: + +"What was the name of the man assaulted?" + +"Jimmy Cain." + +"Who did it?" + +"I did." + +"Are you an I. W. W.?" + +"No sir." + +"Were you ever?" + +"No sir." + +Louis Skaroff followed with a detailed story of the murderous attack +made upon him by Mayor Merrill in the Everett jail, his story being +unshaken when he was recalled and put thru a grilling cross-examination. + +William Roberts, who had been beaten and deported with Harry Feinberg, +related his experience. The childish questions of Black in regard to the +idea of abolishing the wages system nettled this witness and caused him +to exclaim, "the trouble is that you don't understand the labor +movement." + +James Orr then told of having his money stolen by the officials so they +might pay the fares of twenty-two deported men, and John Ovist followed +with the tale of the slugging he had received upon the same occasion +that Feinberg, Roberts and Henig were assaulted. + +Attorneys George W. Loutitt and Robert Faussett, of Everett, stated that +the reputation of McRae for sobriety was very bad. Both of these lawyers +had resigned from the Commercial Club upon its adoption of an open shop +policy. + +Thomas O'Niel testified regarding street meetings and other matters in +connection with the case. Cooley asked the witness how many people +usually attended the meetings. + +"It started in with rather small meetings," said the witness, "and then +every time, as fast as they were molested by the police, the crowd kept +growing until at last the meetings were between two and three thousand +people." + +The witness said he had read considerable about industrial unionism, and +tho he was shocked at first he had come to believe in it. + +"Until now you are satisfied that their doctrines taken as a whole are +proper and should be promulgated and adopted by the working class?" +inquired Cooley. + +"In this way," answered O'Niel, "it was not the I. W. W. literature that +convinced me so much as the actions of the side that was fighting them." + +"That is, you believe they were right because of the actions of the +people on the other side?" said Cooley. + +"Yes," responded the witness, "because I think there are only two people +interested in this movement, the people carrying on the propaganda and +the people fighting the propaganda, and I saw the people who were +fighting the propaganda use direct action, sabotage, and every power, +political and industrial, they used it all to whip this organization, +and then I asked myself why are they fighting this organization. And the +more deeply I became interested, the more clearly I saw why they were +doing it, and that made me a believer in the I. W. W." + +Mrs. Louise McGuire followed this witness with testimony about injuries +she had received thru the rough treatment accorded her by citizen +deputies engaged in breaking up a street meeting. + +W. H. Clay, Everett's Commissioner of Finance, was brought on the stand +to testify that he was present and active at the conference that +resulted in the formation of the citizen deputies. + +John Berg then related his experiences at the time he was taken to the +outskirts of Everett and deported after McRae had kicked him in the +groin until a serious injury resulted. Owing to the fact that the jury +was a mixed one Berg was not permitted to exhibit the rupture. This +witness also told his experience on the "Wanderer" and his treatment in +the jail upon his arrest. + +Oscar Lindstrom then took the stand and corroborated the stories of the +witnesses who had testified about the shooting up of the "Wanderer" and +the beating and jailing of its passengers. H. Sokol, better known as +"Happy," also told of his experience on the "Wanderer" and gave the +facts of the deportation that had taken place on August 23rd. + +Irving W. Ziegaus, secretary to Governor Lister, testified that the +letter concerning Everett sent from the Seattle I. W. W. had been +received; Steven M. Fowler identified certain telegrams sent from +Everett to Seattle officials by David Clough on November 5th; after +which Chester Micklin, who had been jailed in Everett following the +tragedy, corroborated parts of the story of Louis Skaroff. + +The evidence of state's witness, Clyde Gibbons, was shattered at this +stage of the trial by the placing of Mrs. Lawrence MacArthur on the +stand. This witness, the proprietor of the Merchants Hotel in Everett, +produced the hotel register for November 4th and showed that Mrs. +Frennette had registered at that time and was in the city when Gibbons +claimed she was holding a conversation in an apartment house on Yesler +Way in Seattle. + +The defense found it necessary to call witnesses who logically should +have been brought forward by the prosecution on their side of the case. +Among these was the famous "Governor" Clough, citizen deputy and open +shop mill owner. David Clough unwillingly testified to having been +present at the deportation of twenty-two I. W. W. members on August +23rd, having gone down to the dock at 8:30 that morning, and also to his +interest in Joseph Schofield, the deputy who had been injured by his +brother outlaws on the dock just before the Beverly Park deportations. + +Mahler and Micklin were recalled for some few additional questions, and +were followed on the stand by Herman Storm, who gave testimony about the +brutal treatment received by himself and his fellow passengers on the +launch "Wanderer." John Hainey and Joseph Reaume also gave details of +this outrage. + +"Sergeant" J. J. Keenan, who had become a familiar figure because of his +"police" duty in the outer court corridor from the inception of the +trial, then took the witness stand and recounted his experiences at +Snohomish and Maltby, his every word carrying conviction that the +sheriff and his deputies had acted with the utmost brutality in spite of +the advanced age of their victim. John Patterson and Tom Thornton +corroborated Keenan's testimony. + +A surprise was sprung upon the prosecution at this juncture by the +introduction on the witness stand of George Kannow, a man who had been a +deputy sheriff in Everett and who had been present when many of the +brutalities were going on. He told of the treatment of Berg after the +"Wanderer" arrests. + +"He was struck and beaten and thrown down and knocked heavily against +the steel sides of the tank, his head striking on a large projecting +lock. He was kicked by McRae and he hollered 'My God, you are killing +me,' and McRae said he didn't give a damn whether he died or not, and +kicked him again and then shoved him into the tank." + +The gauntlet at the county jail was described in detail and the spirit +of the free speech fighters was shown by this testimony: + +"Yes, I heard some of them groan. They all took their medicine well, +tho. They didn't holler out but some of them would groan; some of them +would go down pretty near to their knees and then get up, then they +would get sapped again as they got up. But they never made any real +outcries." + +The witness stated that "Governor" Clough was a regular attendant at the +deportation parties and so also were W. R. Booth, Ed Hawes, T. W. +Anguish, Bill Pabst, Ed Seivers, and Will Taft. He described McRae's +drunken condition and told of drunken midnight revels held in the county +jail. His testimony was unshaken on cross-examination. + +Mrs. Fern Grant, owner of the Western Hotel and Grant's Cafe, testified +that Mrs. Frennette was in her place of business in Everett on the +morning of the tragedy, thus adding to the evidence that Clyde Gibbons +had perjured himself in testifying for the prosecution. + +A party of Christian Scientists, who had attended a lecture in Everett +by Bliss Knapp, told of the frightful condition of the eight men who had +taken the interurban train to Seattle following their experience at +Beverly Park. Mrs. Lou Vee Siegfried, Christian Science practitioner, +Thorwald Siegfried, prominent Seattle lawyer, Mrs. Anna Tenelli and Miss +Dorothy Jordan were corroborated in their testimony by Ira Bellows, +conductor on the interurban car that took the wounded men to Seattle. + +Another break in the regular order of the trial was made at this point +by the placing on the stand of Nicholas Conaieff, member of the I. W. +W., who was to leave on the following day with a party of Russians +returning to their birthplace to take part in the revolution then in +progress. Conaieff stated that the first shot came from the dock. His +realistic story of the conditions on the Verona moved many in the +courtroom to tears. In his description Conaieff said: + +"I was wounded myself. But before I was wounded and as we were lying +there three or four deep I saw a wounded man at my feet in a pool of +blood. Then I saw a man with his face up, and he was badly wounded, +probably he was dead. There were three or four wounded men alongside of +me. The conditions were so terrible that it was hard to control one's +self, and a young boy who was in one pile could not control himself any +longer; he was about twenty years old and had on a brown, short, heavy +coat, and he looked terrified and jumped up and went overboard into the +water and I didn't see him any more." + +Mrs. Edith Frennette testified to her movements on the day of the +tragedy and denied the alleged threats to Sheriff McRae. Lengthy +cross-examination failed to shake her story. + +Members of the I. W. W. who had been injured at Beverly Park then +testified. They were Edward Schwartz, Harry Hubbard, Archie Collins, C. +H. Rice, John Downs, one of the defendants, Sam Rovinson and Henry +Krieg. Any doubt as to the truth of their story was dispelled by the +testimony of Mrs. Ruby Ketchum, her husband Roy Ketchum, and her +brother-in-law Lew Ketchum, all three of whom heard the screams of the +victims and witnessed part of the slugging near their home at Beverly +Park. Some members of the investigation committee who viewed the scene +on the morning after the outrage gave their evidence as to the finding +of bits of clothing, soles of shoes, bloodstained hats and loose +hat-bands, and blotches of blood on the paved roadway and cattle guard. +These witnesses were three ministers of the gospel of different +denominations, Elbert E. Flint, Joseph P. Marlatt, and Oscar H. McGill. +The last named witness also told of having interviewed Herbert Mahler, +secretary of the I. W. W. in Seattle, following a conference with +Everett citizens, with the object of having a large public demonstration +in Everett to expose the Beverly Park affair and to prevent its +repetition. It was after this interview that the call went out for the +I. W. W. to hold a public meeting in Everett on Sunday, November 5th. +Mahler was recalled to the stand to verify McGill's statement in the +matter of the interview. + +This testimony brought the case up to the events of November 5th and the +defense, having proven each illegal action of the sheriff, deputies and +mill owners, and disproven the accusations against the I. W. W., +proceeded to open to the gaze of the public and force to the attention +of the jury the actual facts concerning the massacre on the Verona. + +An important witness was Charles Miller, who viewed the tragedy from a +point about four hundred feet from the Verona while on the deck of his +fishing boat, the "Scout." He stated that the Verona tilted as soon as +the first shots came. Miller placed the model of the boat at the same +relative position it had occupied as the firing started on Bloody Sunday +and the prosecution could not tangle up this witness on this important +point. The "identification" witnesses of the prosecution were of +necessity liars if the stern of the Verona was at the angle set by +Miller. + +C. M. Steele, owner of apartment houses and stores in Everett, stated +that he had been in a group who saw an automobile load of guns +transported to the dock prior to the docking of the Verona, this auto +being closely followed by a string of other machines. The witness tried +to get upon the dock but was prevented by deputies who had a rope +stretched clear across the entrance near the office of the American Tug +Boat Company. He saw the boat tilt as the firing started and noticed +that the stern swung out at the time. This testimony was demonstrated +with the model. Harry Young, chauffeur, corroborated this testimony and +told of rifle fire from the dock. + +Mrs. Mabel Thomas, from a position on Johnson's float quite near the +Verona, told of the boat listing until the lower deck was under water, +almost immediately after the firing started. Mrs. Thomas testified that +"one man who was facing toward the Improvement Dock, raised his hands +and fell overboard from the hurricane deck as tho he were dead. His +overcoat held him to the top of the water for a moment and then he went +down. One jumped from the stern and then there were six or seven in the +water. One got up thru the canvas and crawled back in. One man that fell +in held up his hands for a moment and sank. There were bullets hitting +all around him." + +Mr. Carroll Thomas, husband of the preceding witness, gave the same +testimony about the men in the water and stated that he saw armed men on +the Improvement Dock. + +The testimony of Ayrold D. Skinner, a barber in Everett at the time of +the tragedy and who had been brought from California to testify, was +bitterly attacked by Veitch but to no avail. When the Verona landed +Skinner was so situated as to command a view of the whole proceedings. +He told of the boat listing, the men falling in the water and being +shot, and his testimony about a man on board the tug "Edison" firing a +rifle directly across the open space on the dock in the direction of the +Verona was unshakeable. This witness also testified that about ten +deputies with rifles were running back and forth in a frightened manner +and were firing from behind the Klatawa slip. The witness saw Dick +Hembridge, superintendent of the Canyon Lumber Company, Carl Tyre, +timekeeper, Percy Ames, the boom man, and a Dr. Hedges. The last two +came up to where the witness was, each bearing a rifle. Skinner stated +that he said to Ames, "Percy, what is the world coming to?" and Ames +broke down as tho he felt something were wrong. Then Dr. Hedges came +running up from where the boat was, he was white in the face, and he +cried "Don't go down there, boys; they are shooting wild, you don't know +where in hell the shots are coming from." + +Carl Ryan, night watchman of the Everett Shingle Company, N. C. Roberts, +an Everett potter, Robert Thompson and Edward Thompson testified about +the angle of the boat, as to rifles on the dock, the shooting from the +tug "Edison" and from the Improvement Dock, in support of witnesses who +had previously testified. + +Alfred Freeman, I. W. W. member who was on the Verona, testified about +the movements of those who made the trip to Everett and told of the +conditions on the boat. His testimony, and that of numerous other I. W. +W. witnesses, disproved the charges of conspiracy. + +I. W. McDonald, barber, John Josephson, lumber piler, and T. M. Johnson, +hod carrier, all of Everett, stated that the shots from the boat did not +come until after there had been considerable firing from the dock. These +witnesses were among the thousands of citizens who overlooked the scene +from the hillside by the Great Northern depot. + +[Illustration: VERONA AT EVERETT DOCK. + +under same tide condition as at time of Massacre.] + +On Wednesday, April 18th, the jury, accompanied by Judge Ronald, the +attorneys for both sides, the defendant, Thomas Tracy, and the court +stenographer, went in automobiles to Everett to inspect the various +places mentioned in the court proceedings. The party stopped on the way +to Everett to look over the scene of the Beverly Park outrages of +October 30th. No one spoke to the jury but Judge Ronald, who pointed out +the various features at the request of the attorneys in the background. + +After visiting the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore Avenues, the party went +to the city dock. Both warehouses were carefully examined, the +bulletholes, tho badly whittled, being still in evidence. Bulletholes in +the floor, clock-case, and in the walls still showed quite plainly that +the firing from within the warehouse and waiting room had been wild. +Bullets imbedded in the Klatawa slip on the side toward the Bay also +gave evidence of blind firing on the part of the deputies. In the floor +of the dock, between the ship and the open space near the waiting room, +were several grooves made by bullets fired from the shore end of the +dock. These marks indicated that the bullets had taken a course directly +in line with the deputies who were in the front ranks as the Verona +landed. + +The party boarded the Verona and subjected the boat to a searching +examination, discovering that the stairways, sides, and furnishings were +riddled with shot holes. The pilot house, in particular, was found to +have marks of revolver and high power rifle bullets, in addition to +being closely marked with small shot holes, some of the buck-shot still +being visible. + +The captain swung the boat out to the same angle as it had been on +November 5th, this being done at a time when it was computed that the +tide would be relatively the same as on the date of the tragedy. Someone +assumed the precise position at the cabin window that Tracy was alleged +to have been in while firing. The jury members then took up the +positions which the "identification witnesses" had marked on a diagram +during their testimony. The man in the window was absolutely invisible! + +A photograph was then taken from the point where "Honest" John Hogan +claimed to have been when he saw Tracy firing and another view made by +a second camera to show that the first photograph had been taken from +the correct position. These were later introduced as evidence. + +No testimony was taken in Everett but on the re-opening of court in +Seattle next morning Frank A. Brown, life insurance solicitor, testified +that McRae dropped his hand just before the first shot was fired from +somewhere to the right of the sheriff. He also identified a Mr. +Thompson, engineer of the Clark-Nickerson mill, and a Mr. Scott, as +being armed with guns having stocks. Mike Luney, shingle weaver, told of +a fear-crazed deputy running from the dock with a bullethole in his ear +and crying out that one of the deputies had shot him. Fred Bissinger, a +boy of 17, told of the deputies breaking for cover as soon as they had +fired a volley at the men on the boat. It was only after the heavy +firing that he saw a man on the boat pull a revolver from his pocket and +commence to shoot. He saw but two revolvers in action on the Verona. + +One of the most dramatic and clinching blows for the defense was struck +when there was introduced as a witness Fred Luke, who was a regular +deputy sheriff and McRae's right-hand man. Luke's evidence of the +various brutalities, given in a cold, matter-of-fact manner, was most +convincing. He stated that the deputies wore white handkerchiefs around +their necks so they would not be hammering each other. He contradicted +McRae's testimony about Beverly Park by stating positively that the +sheriff had gone out in a five passenger car, and not in a roadster as +was claimed, and that they had both remained there during the entire +affair. He told how he had swung at the I. W. W. men with such force +that his club had broken from its leather wrist thong and disappeared +into the woods. When questioned about the use of clubs in dispersing +street crowds at the I. W. W. meetings he said: + +"I used my sap as a club and struck them and drove them away with it." + +"Why didn't you use your hands and push them out?" asked Cooley. + +"I didn't think we had a right to use our hands," said the big +ex-deputy. + +"What do you mean by that?" said the surprised lawyer. + +"Well," replied the witness, "what did they give us the saps for?" + +Cooley also asked this witness why he had struck the men at Beverly +Park. + +"Well," replied the ex-deputy, "if you want to know, that was the idea +of the Commercial Club. That was what they recommended." + +Luke, who was a guard at the approach to the dock on November 5th, told +of having explained the workings of a rifle to a deputy while the +shooting was in progress. The state at first had contended that there +were no rifles on the dock and later had made the half-hearted plea that +none of the rifles which were proven to have been there were fired. + +Following this important witness the defense introduced Fird Winkley, A. +E. Amiott, Dr. Guy N. Ford, Charles Leo, Ed Armstrong, mate of the +Verona and a witness for the state, and B. R. Watson, to corroborate the +already convincing evidence that the stern of the Verona was swung quite +a distance from the dock. + +Robert Mills, business agent of the Everett Shingle Weavers, who had +been called to the stand on several occasions to testify to minor +matters, was then recalled. He testified that it was his hand which +protruded from the Verona cabin window in the photographs, and that his +head was resting against the window jamb on the left hand side as far +out as it would be possible to get without crawling out of the window. +As Mills was a familiar figure to the entire jury and was also possessed +of a peculiarly unforgettable type of countenance, the state's +identification of Tracy was shown to have been false. + +The Chief of Police of Seattle, Charles Beckingham, corroborated +previous testimony by stating that the identification and selection of +I. W. W. men had been made from a dark cell by two Pinkerton men, Smith +and Reese, aided by one of the defendants, I. P. McDowell, alias Charles +Adams. + +Malcolm McLaren was then placed upon the stand and the admission secured +that he was a detective and had formerly been connected with the Burns +Agency. Objection was made to a question about the employment of McLaren +in the case, to which Vanderveer replied that it was the purpose of the +defense to prove that the case was not being prosecuted by the State of +Washington at all. In the absence of the jury Vanderveer then offered to +prove that McLaren had been brought from Los Angeles and retained in the +employ of certain mill owners, among them being "Governor" Clough and +Mr. Moody of the First National Bank, and that McLaren had charge of the +work of procuring the evidence introduced by the state. He offered to +prove that Veitch and Cooley were employed by the same people. The court +sustained the objection of the state to the three offers. + +Testimony on various phases of the case was then given by Mrs. Fannie +Jordan, proprietor of an apartment house in Seattle, Nick Shugar, Henry +Luce, Paul Blakenship, Charles W. Dean, and later on by Oliver Burnett. + +Captain Chauncey Wiman was called to the stand, but it happened that he +had gone into hiding so soon after the boat landed that he could testify +to nothing of particular importance. From his appearance on the witness +stand it seemed that he was still nearly scared to death. + +Another surprise for the prosecution was then sprung by placing Joseph +Schofield on the witness stand. Schofield told of having been beaten up +at the city dock by Joseph Irving, during the time they were lining up +the forty-one I. W. W. men for deportation. The witness displayed the +scar on his head that had resulted from the wound made by the gun butt, +and described the drunken condition of McRae and other deputies on the +occasion of his injury. And then he told that "Governor" Clough had gone +to his wife just a couple of days before he took the witness stand and +had given her $75.00. This deputy witness was on the dock November 5th, +and he described the affair. He swore that McRae had his gun drawn +before any shooting started, that there were rifles in use on the dock, +that a man was firing a Winchester rifle from the tug Edison. He was +handed a bolt action army rifle to use but made no use of it. Schofield +voluntarily came from Oregon to testify for the defense. + +Chief Beckingham resumed the stand and was asked further about McDowell, +alias Adams. He said: + +"We sent a man in with this man Adams, who was in constant fear that +somebody might see him, and he would stand way back that he might tip +this man with him and this man's fingers came out to identify the I. W. +W. men who were supposed to have guns." + +"What inducements were made to this man Adams?" asked Vanderveer. + +"In the presence of Mr. Cooley and Mr. Webb and Captain Tennant and +myself he was told that he could help the state and there would be no +punishment given him. He was taken to Everett with the impression that +he would be let out and taken care of." + +Another ex-deputy, Fred Plymale, confirmed the statements of Fred Luke +in regard to McRae's use of a five passenger car at Beverly Park and +showed that it was impossible for the sheriff to have attended a dance +at the hour he had claimed. The efforts of the prosecution to shake the +testimony that had been given by Fred Luke was shown by this witness who +testified that he had been approached by Mr. Clifford Newton, as agent +for Mr. Cooley, and that at an arranged conversation McRae had tried to +have him state that the runabout had been used to go to the slugging +party. + +Walter Mulholland, an 18 year old boy, and Henry Krieg, both of whom +were members of the I. W. W. and passengers on the Verona, then +testified in detail about the shattering gun fire and the wounding of +men on board the boat. Mulholland told of wounds received, one bullet +still being in his person at that time. Krieg, not being familiar with +military terms, stated that there were many shells on the deck of the +Verona after the trouble, and the prosecution thought they had scored +quite a point until re-direct examination brought out the fact that +Henry meant the lead bullets that had been fired from the dock. + +E. Carl Pearson, Snohomish County Treasurer, rather unwillingly +corroborated the testimony of ex-deputies Luke and Plymale in regard to +the actions of McRae at Beverly Park. + +The witness chair seemed almost to swallow the next nine witnesses who +were boys averaging about twelve years in age. These lads had picked up +shells on and beneath the dock to keep as mementos of the "Battle." +Handfuls of shells of various sizes and description, from revolver, +rifle and shotgun, intermingled with rifle clips and unfired +copper-jacketed rifle cartridges, were piled upon the clerk's desk as +exhibits by these youthful witnesses. After the various shells had been +classified by L. B. Knowlton, an expert in charge of ammunition sales +for the Whiton Hardware Company of Seattle for six years, the boys were +recalled to the stand to testify to the splintered condition of the +warehouses, their evidence proving that a large number of shots had been +fired from the interior of the warehouses directly thru the walls. The +boys who testified were Jack Warren, Palmer Strand, Rollie Jackson, +William Layton, Eugene Meives, Guy Warner, Tom Wolf, Harvey Peterson, +and Roy Jensen. Veitch, by this time thoroly disgusted with the turn +taken by the case, excused these witnesses without even a pretense of +cross-examination. + +Completely clinching this link in the evidence against the citizen +deputies was the testimony of Miss Lillian Goldthorpe and her mother, +Hannah Goldthorpe. Miss Goldthorpe, waitress in the Commercial Club +dining room, picked up some rifle shells that had fallen from the rifles +stacked in the office, and also from the pocket of one of the hunting +coats lying on the floor. She took these home to her mother who +afterward turned them over to Attorney Moore. She also identified +certain murderous looking blackjacks as being the same as those stored +in the Club. It is hardly necessary to state that the open-shop +advocates who continually prate about the "right of a person to work +when and where they please" were not slow about taking away Lillian's +right to work at the Commercial Club after she had given this truthful +testimony! + +James Hadley, I. W. W. member on the Verona, told how he had dived +overboard to escape the murderous fire and had been the only man in the +water to regain a place on the boat. + +"I saw two go overboard and I didn't see them any more," said Hadley. +"Then I saw another man four feet from me and he seemed to be swimming +all right, and all of a sudden he went down and I never saw him any +more. I was looking right at him and he just closed his eyes and sank." + +Mario Marino, an 18 year old member of the I. W. W., then told of the +serious wounds he had received on the boat. He was followed by Brockman +B. Armstrong, another member of the union, who was close to the rail on +the port side of the boat. He saw a puff of smoke slightly to the rear +of McRae directly after the sound of the first shot. A rifle bullet cut +a piece out of his forehead and a second went thru his cap and creased +his scalp, felling him to his knees. Owen Genty was shot thru the kidney +on the one side of him, and Gust Turnquist was hit in the knee on the +other. As he lay in the heap of wounded men a buckshot buried itself in +the side of his head near the temple. As the Verona was pulling out he +tried to crawl to shelter and was just missed by a rifle bullet from the +dock situated to the south. + +Archie Collins, who had previously testified about Beverly Park, was +then called to the stand to tell of the trip to Everett and the trouble +that resulted. Prosecutor Black displayed his usual asininity by asking +in regard to preparations made by Verona passengers: + +"What were they taking or not taking?" + +"There might be two or three million things they were not taking," cut +in Judge Ronald chidingly. + +Black's examination of the various witnesses was aptly described by +Publicity Agent Charles Ashleigh in the Industrial Worker, as follows: + +"His examinations usually act as a soporific; heads are observed nodding +dully thruout the courtroom and one is led to wonder whether, if he were +allowed to continue, there would not be a sort of fairy-tale scene in +which the surprised visitor to the court would see audience, jury, +lawyers, judge, prisoner and functionaries buried in deep slumber +accompanied only by a species of hypnotic twittering which could be +traced eventually to a dignified youth who was lulled to sleep by his +own narcotic burblings but continued, mechanically, to utter the same +question over and over again." + +During this dreamy questioning Black asked about the men who were +cleaning up the boat on its return trip, with a view to having the +witness state that there were empty shells all over the deck. His +question was: + +"Did you pick anything up from the floor?" + +Instantly the courtroom was galvanized into life by Collin's startling +answer: + +"I picked up an eye, a man's eye." + +The witness had lifted from the blood-stained deck a long splinter of +wood on which was impaled a human eye! + +The story of Fred Savery was typical of the unrecognized empire builders +who make up the migratory class. Fred was born in Russia, his folks +moving to Austria and then migrating to Canada when the lad was but two +years old. At the age of nine he started at farm work and at twelve he +was big enough to handle logs and work in the woods. Savery took the +stand in his uniform of slavery, red mackinaw shirt, stagged-off pants, +caulked shoes, and a battered slouch hat in his hand. The honest +simplicity of his halting French-Canadian speech carried more weight +than the too smooth flowing tales told by the well drilled citizen +deputies on whom the prosecution depended for conviction. + +Cooley dwelt at great length on the constant travel of this witness, a +feature incidental to the life of every migratory worker. Even the judge +tired of these tactics and told the prosecution that there was no way to +stop them from asking the interminable questions but it was merely a +waste of time. But all of Cooley's dilatory tactics could not erase from +the minds of the listeners the simple, earnest, sincere story Fred +Savery told of the death of his fellow worker, Hugo Gerlot. + +Charles Ashleigh was then placed upon the witness stand to testify to +having been selected as one of the speakers to go to Everett on November +5th. He stated that he had gone over on the Interurban and had returned +that afternoon at four o'clock. After the prosecution had interrogated +him about certain articles published subsequent to the tragedy Ashleigh +was excused. + +To impeach the testimony of William Kenneth, wharfinger at the City +Dock, the defense then introduced Peter Aikken of Everett. Following +this witness Owen Genty, one of the I. W. W. men wounded on the Verona, +gave an account of the affair and stated that the first shot came from a +point just to the rear of the sheriff. + +Raymond Lee, a youth of 19 years, told of having gone to Everett on the +day of the Beverly Park affair in order to mail free speech pamphlets +directly to a number of Everett citizens. He went to the dock at the +time of the deportation, getting past the deputies on a plea of wanting +to see his uncle, his youth and neat appearance not being at all in +accord with the current idea of what an I. W. W. member looked like. Lee +was cross-questioned at great length by Veitch. This witness told the +story of the death of Abraham Rabinowitz on the Verona in these few, +simple words: + +[Illustration: View of Beverly Park, showing County Road.] + +"Rabinowitz was lying on top of me with his head on my leg. I felt my +leg getting wet and I reached back to see what it was, and when I pulled +my hand away it was covered with blood. He was shot in the back of the +brain." + +James McRoden, I. W. W. member who was on the Verona, gave corroborative +testimony about the first shot having been from the dock. + +James Francis Billings, one of the free speech prisoners, testified that +he was armed with a Colts 41 revolver on the Verona, and shortly after +the shooting started he went to the engineer of the boat and ordered him +to get the Verona away from the dock. He threw the gun overboard on the +return trip to Seattle. Black tried to make light of the serious +injuries this witness had received at Beverly Park by asking him if all +that he received was not a little brush on the shin. The witness +answered: + +"No sir. I had a black eye. I was beaten over both eyes as far as that +is concerned. My arms were held out by one big man on either side and I +was beaten on both sides. As Sheriff McRae went past me he said 'Give it +to him good,' and when I saw what was coming I dropped in order to save +my face, and the man on the left hand side kicked me from the middle of +my back clear down to my heels, and he kept kicking me until the fellow +on the right told him to kick me no more as I was all in. My back and my +hip have bothered me ever since." + +Black tried to interrupt the witness and also endeavored to have his +answer stricken from the testimony but the judge answered his objection +by saying: + +"I told you to withdraw the question and you didn't do it." + +Vanderveer asked Billings the question: + +"Why did you carry a gun on the fifth of November?" + +"I took it for my own personal benefit," replied Billings. "I didn't +intend to let anybody beat me up like I was beaten on October 30th in +the condition I was in. I was in bad condition at the time." + +Harvey E. Wood, an employe of the Jamison Mill Company, took the stand +and told of a visit made by Jefferson Beard to the bunkhouse of the mill +company on the night of November 4th and stated that at the time there +were six automatic shot guns and three pump guns in the place. These +were for the use of James B. Reed, Neal Jamison, Joe Hosh, Roy Hosh, +Walter S. Downs, and a man named McCortell. This witness had acted as a +strikebreaker up until the time he was subpoenaed. + +Two of the defendants, Benjamin F. Legg and Jack Leonard, fully verified +the story told by Billings. + +Leland Butcher, an I. W. W. member who was on the Verona, told of how he +had been shot in the leg. When asked why he had joined the I. W. W. he +answered: + +"I joined the I. W. W. to better my own condition and to make the +conditions my father was laboring under for the last 25 years, with +barely enough to keep himself and family, a thing of the past." + +Another of the defendants, Ed Roth, who had been seriously wounded on +the Verona, gave an unshaken story of the outrage. Roth testified that +he had been shot in the abdomen at the very beginning of the trouble and +because of his wounded condition and the fact that there were wounded +men piled on top of him he had been unable to move until some time after +the Verona had left the dock. This testimony showed the absurdity of +McRae's pretended identification of the witness. Roth was a member of +the International Longshoremen's Association and had joined the I. W. W. +on the day before the tragedy. + +John Stroka, a lad of 18, victim of the deputies at Beverly Park and a +passenger on the Verona, gave testimony regarding the men wounded on the +boat. + +The next witness was Ernest P. Marsh, president of the State Federation +of Labor, who was called for the purpose of impeaching the testimony of +Mayor Merrill and also to prove that Mrs. Frennette was a visitor at the +Everett Labor Temple on the morning of November 5th, this last being +added confirmation of the fact that Clyde Gibbons had committed perjury +on the stand. + +To the ordinary mind--and certainly the minds of the prosecution lawyers +were not above the ordinary--the social idealist is an inexplicable +mystery. Small wonder then that they could not understand the causes +that impelled the next witness, Abraham Bonnet Wimborne, one of the +defendants, to answer the call for fighters to defend free speech. + +Wimborne, the son of a Jewish Rabbi, told from the witness stand how he +had first joined the Socialist Party, afterward coming in contact with +the I. W. W., and upon hearing of the cruel beating given to James +Rowan, had decided to leave Portland for Everett to fight for free +speech. Arriving in Seattle on November 4th, he took passage on the +steamer Verona the next day. + +Prosecutor Black asked the witness what were the preparations made by +the men on the boat. + +"Don't misunderstand my words, Mr. Black," responded Wimborne, "when I +say prepared, I mean they were armed with the spirit of determination. +Determined to uphold the right of free speech with their feeble +strength; that is, I never really believed it would be possible for the +outrages and brutalities to come under the stars and stripes, and I +didn't think it was necessary for anything else." + +"Then when these men left they were determined?" inquired Black. + +"Yes, determined that they would uphold the spirit of the Constitution; +if not, go to jail. There were men in Everett who would refuse the right +of workingmen to come and tell the workers that they had a way whereby +the little children could get sufficient clothing, sufficient food, and +the right of education, and other things which they can only gain--how? +By organizing into industrial unions, sir, that is what I meant. We do +not believe in bloodshed. Thuggery is not our method. What can a handful +of workers do against the mighty forces of Maxim guns and the artillery +of the capitalist class?" + +"Did you consider yourself a fighting member?" questioned Black. + +"If you mean am I a moral fighter? yes; but physically--why, look at me! +Do I look like a fighter?" said the slightly built witness. + +"Did you or did you not expect to go to jail when you left Portland?" +asked the prosecutor. + +"My dear Mr. Black, I didn't know and I didn't care!" responded Wimborne +with a shrug of his shoulders. + +Wimborne joined the I. W. W. while in the Everett County Jail. + +Michael J. Reilley, another of the defendants, testified as to the +firing of the first shot from the dock and also gave the story of the +death of Abraham Rabinowitz. Vanderveer asked him the question: + +"Do you know why you are a defendant?" + +"Yes, sir," replied Reilley, "because I didn't talk to them in the city +jail in Seattle. I was never picked out." + +Attorney H. D. Cooley was recalled to the stand and was made to admit +that he was a member of the Commercial Club and a citizen deputy on the +dock November 5th. He was asked by Vanderveer: + +"Did you see any guns on the dock?" + +"Yes sir." + +"Did you see any guns fired on the dock?" + +"Yes sir." + +"Did you see any guns fired on the boat?" + +"No sir." + +"Did you see a gun on the boat?" + +"I did not." + +"You were in full view of the boat?" + +"I was." + +Yet the ethics of the legal profession are such that this attorney could +justify his actions in laboring for months in an endeavor to secure, by +any and all means, the conviction of the men on the boat! + +Defendant Charles Black testified that McRae dropped his hand to his +gun and pulled it just as one of the deputies fired from a point just +behind the sheriff. Black ran down the deck and into the cabin, passing +in front of the windows from which the deputies had sworn that heavy +firing was going on. + +Leonard Broman, working partner with Abraham Rabinowitz, then took the +stand and told his story. When asked what were the benefits he received +from having joined the I. W. W., the witness replied: + +"They raised the wages and shortened the hours. Before I joined the I. +W. W. the wages I received in Ellis, Kansas, was $3.00 for twelve hours +and last fall the I. W. W. got $3.50 for nine hours on the same work." + +Ex-deputy Charles Lawry told of various brutalities at the jail and also +impeached McRae's testimony in many other particulars. + +Dr. Grant Calhoun, who had attended the more seriously injured men who +were taken from the Verona on its return to Seattle, told of the number +and nature of the wounds that had been inflicted. On eight of the men +examined he had found twenty-one serious wounds, counting the entrance +and exit of the same bullet as only one wound. Veitch conducted no +cross-examination of the witness. + +Joe Manning, J. H. Beyers, and Harvey Hubler, all three of them +defendants, gave their testimony. Manning told of having been seated in +the cabin with Tracy when the firing commenced, after which he sought +cover behind the smokestack and was joined by Tracy a moment later. +Beyers identified Deputy Bridge as having stood just behind McRae with +his revolver drawn as tho firing when the first shot was heard. This +witness also corroborated the story of Billings in regard to demanding +that the engineer take the boat away from the dock. Hubler verified the +statements about conditions on the Verona and also told of being taken +from his jail cell by force on an order signed by detective McLaren in +an attempt to have him discharge the defense attorneys and accept an +alleged lawyer from Los Angeles. + +[Illustration: THOMAS H. TRACY] + +Harry Parker and C. C. England told of injuries sustained on the +Verona, and John Riely stated there was absolutely no shooting from the +cabin windows, that being impossible because the men on the boat had +crowded the entire rail at that side. + +Jerry L. Finch, former deputy prosecuting attorney of King County, gave +impeaching testimony against Wm. Kenneth and Charles Tucker. Cooley +asked this witness about his interviews with the different state's +witnesses: + +"If you talked with all of them, you would probably have something on +all of them?" + +The judge would not let Finch answer the question, but there is no doubt +that Cooley had the correct idea about the character of the witnesses on +his side of the case. + +In detailing certain arrests Sheriff McRae had claimed that men taken +from the shingleweavers' picket line were members of the I. W. W. B. +Said was one of the men so mentioned. Said took the witness stand and +testified that he was a member of the longshoremen's union and was not +and had not been a member of the I. W. W. + +J. G. Brown, president of the International Shingleweavers' Union, +testified that the various men arrested on the picket line in Everett +were either members of the shingle weavers' union or else were +longshoremen from Seattle, none of the men named by McRae being members +of the I. W. W. The testimony of Brown was also of such a nature as to +be impeaching of the statements of Mayor Merrill on the witness stand. + +Charles Gray, Robert Adams, and Joe Ghilezano, I. W. W. men on the +Verona, then testified, Adams telling of having been shot thru the +elbow, and Ghilezano giving the details of the way in which his kneecap +had been shot off and other injuries received. + +The murderous intentions of the deputies were further shown by the +testimony of Nels Bruseth, who ran down to the shore to launch a boat +and rescue the men in the water. He was stopped in this errand of mercy +by the deputies. + +Civil Engineer F. Whitwith, Jr., of the firm of Rutherford and Whitwith, +surveyed the dock and the steamer Verona and made a report in court of +his findings. His evidence clearly showed that there was rifle, shotgun +and revolver fire of a wild character from the interior of the +warehouses and from many points on the dock. He stated that there were +one hundred and seventy-three rifle or revolver bullet marks, exclusive +of the B-B and buckshot markings which were too numerous to count, on +the Verona, these having come from the dock, the shore, and the +Improvement Dock to the south. There were sixteen marks on the boat that +appeared as tho they might have been from revolver fire proceeding from +the boat itself. There were also small triangular shaped gouges in the +planking of the dock, the apex of the triangles indicating that bullets +had struck there and proceeded onward from the Klatawa slip to the open +space on the dock where deputies had been stationed. The physical facts +thus introduced were incontrovertible. + +Defendant J. D. Houlihan gave positive testimony to the effect that he +had not spoken privately with "Red" Doran in the I. W. W. hall on the +morning of November 5th, that he had received no gun from Doran or +anyone else, that he did not have the conversation which Auspos imputed +to him, that he had no talk with Auspos on the return trip. All efforts +to confuse this witness failed of their purpose. + +In verification of the testimony about deputies firing on the Verona +from the Improvement Company Dock the defense brought Percy Walker upon +the stand. Walker had been cruising around the bay in a little gasoline +launch and saw men armed with long guns, probably rifles or shotguns, +leaning over a breastwork of steel pipes and firing in the direction of +the Verona. + +Lawrence Manning, Harston Peters, and Ed. J. Shapeero, defendants, told +their simple straightforward stories of the "battle." Peters stated +that as he lay under cover and heard the shots coming from the dock he +"wished to Christ that he did have a gun." Shapeero told of the wounds +he had received and of the way the uninjured men cared for the wounded +persons on the boat. + +Mrs. Joyce Peters testified that she had gone to Everett on the morning +of November 5th in company with Mrs. Lorna Mahler. The reason she did +not go on the Verona was because the trip by water had made Mrs. Mahler +ill on previous occasions. She saw Mrs. Frennette in Everett only when +they were on the same interurban car leaving for Seattle after the +tragedy. + +Albert Doninger, W. B. Montgomery and Japheth Banfield, I. W. W. men who +were on the Verona, all placed the first shot as having come from the +dock immediately after the sheriff had cried out "You can't land here." + +N. Inscho, Chief of Police of Wenatchee, testified that during the time +the I. W. W. carried on their successful fight for free speech in his +city there were no incendiary fires, no property destroyed, no assaults +or acts of violence committed, and no resistance to arrest. + +H. W. Mullinger, lodging house proprietor, John M. Hogan, road +construction contractor, Edward Case, railroad grading contractor, +William Kincaid, alfalfa farmer, and John Egan, teamster, all of North +Yakima and vicinity, were called as character witnesses for Tracy, the +defendant having worked with or for them for a number of years. + +The defense followed these witnesses with Oscar Carlson, the passenger +on the Verona who had been fairly riddled with bullets. Carlson +testified that he was not and never had been a member of the I. W. W., +that he had gone to Everett with his working partner, Nordstrom, as a +sort of an excursion trip, that he had purchased a one way ticket which +was taken up by the captain after the boat had left Seattle, that he +intended returning by way of the Interurban, and that the men on the +boat were orderly and well behaved. He told of having gone to the very +front of the boat as it pulled into Everett from which point he heard +the first shot, which was fired from the dock. He fell immediately and +while prostrate was struck with bullet after bullet. He then told of +having entered suit against the Vashon Navigation Company for $50,000.00 +on account of injuries received. Robert C. Saunders, of the law firm of +Saunders and Nelson, then testified that he was handling the case for +Carlson and had made out the affidavit of complaint himself and was +responsible for the portion that alleged that a lawless mob were on the +boat, Carlson having made no such statement to him at any time. + +Charles Ashleigh was recalled to the stand to testify to having +telephoned to the Seattle newspapers on November 4th, requesting them to +send reporters to Everett the next day. He was followed on the stand by +John T. Doran, familiarly known as "Red" on account of the color of his +hair. Doran stated that he was the author of the handbill distributed in +Everett prior to the attempted meeting of November 5th. He positively +denied having given a gun to Houlihan or anyone else on November 5th. +Upon cross-examination he said that he was in charge of the work of +checking the number of men who went on the Verona to Everett, and had +paid the transportation of the men in a lump sum. + +As the next to the last witness on its side of the long-drawn out case +the defense placed on the stand the defendant, Thomas H. Tracy. The +witness told of having been one of a working class family, too large to +be properly cared for and having to leave home and make his own way in +the world before he was eleven years old. From that time on he had +followed farming, teaming and construction work in all parts of the +west, his bronzed appearance above the prison pallor giving evidence of +his outdoor life. + +Tracy told of having been secretary of the I. W. W. in Everett for a +short time, that being the only official position he had ever held in +the organization. He explained his position on the boat at the time it +docked, stating that the first shot apparently came from the dock and +struck close to where he was sitting. Immediately the boat listed and +threw him away from the window, after which he sought a place of safety +behind the smokestack. He denied having been in any way a party to a +conspiracy to commit an act of violence, or to kill anyone. + +"You are charged here, Mr. Tracy," said Vanderveer, "with having aided +and abetted an unknown man in killing Jefferson Beard. Are you guilty or +not guilty?" + +"I am not guilty," replied Tracy without a trace of emotion. + +The cross-questioning of the defendant in this momentous case was +conducted by citizen-deputy Cooley. His questions to the man whom he and +his fellow conspirators on the dock had not succeeded in murdering were +of the most trivial nature, clearly proving that arch-sleuth McLaren had +been unable to discover or to manufacture anything that would make +Tracy's record other than that of a plain, unassuming, migratory worker. + +"Where did you vote last?" asked Cooley. + +"I never voted," responded Tracy. + +"Never voted in your life?" queried Cooley. + +"No!" replied the defendant who for the time represented the entire +migratory class. "I was never in one place long enough!" + +Then, acting on the class theory that it is an honor to be a +"globe-trotter" but a disgrace to be a "blanket-stiff," the prosecutor +brought out Tracy's travels in minute detail. This examination of the +railroad construction worker brought home to the listeners the truth of +the little verse: + + + "He built the road; + With others of his class he built the road; + Now o'er its weary length he packs his load, + Chasing a Job, spurred on by Hunger's goad, + He walks and walks and walks and walks, + And wonders why in Hell he built the road!" + + +Then there hobbled into the court room on crutches a stripling with an +empty trouser leg, his face drawn with suffering, and who was able to +get into the witness chair only by obviously painful efforts with the +assistance of Vanderveer and Judge Ronald. This was Harry Golden, whose +entire left leg had been amputated after having been shattered by a +high-power rifle bullet fired by a "law and order" deputy. + +Golden stated that he had been born in Poland twenty-two years before, +and had come to the United States at the age of sixteen. He was asked: + +"Why did you come to this country?" + +"I came to the United States," said the witness, "because it is supposed +to be a free country." + +"We object to that as immaterial!" cried prosecutor Veitch. + +The witness described the firing of the first shot and told of his +attempts to find a place of safety. He said he was wounded in the hand +as he attempted to climb into a life boat. He remained on the starboard +side of the starboard life boat until the Verona had backed out into the +bay. Then just as he was starting to raise up a rifle bullet struck his +leg, taking a course thru the limb and emerging at the knee. + +"That is on your left--?" + +"On my left, yes, which I ain't got; I lost it!" said the witness. + +"Did I understand you to say you stood up to see something before you +were shot?" asked Veitch. + +"Why, sure!" replied Golden contemptuously. "I had my two legs then." + +Veitch wished to learn the exact location of the witness at the time he +was shot and to that end referred to the model with the remark: + +"Look here. Here is the boat as it was at the dock." + +"I don't like to look at it!" said Golden heatedly. "I lost my leg on +that boat!" + +[Illustration: EVERETT from the water. To the left G. N. Depot from +where bystanders viewed battle.] + +The witness was in evident pain during the examination, having just had +a hospital treatment applied to his raw stump, and was rather irritable +as a consequence. He answered several questions rather sharply and +proceeded to explain his answers. At one of these interruptions Judge +Ronald exclaimed to the witness angrily: + +"When he asks you a question answer yes or no! If you want to live in +this country try and live like an American!" + +"I take an exception to Your Honor's remarks!" said Moore emphatically. + +The judge grudgingly allowed an exception to his uncalled for statement. + +In concluding his examination Veitch asked the witness: + +"What is your name in Polish?" + +"I am not Polish; I am a Jew," replied Golden. "Well, what is your +family name in Poland?" asked the prosecutor. + +"Goldenhaul, or something like that. Now I call myself Golden. When we +come to this country--." + +"Never mind," interposed Veitch hurriedly. + +"When we come to this country for good luck we always change the name, +you know," finished Golden, and added bitterly, "I sure did have good +luck!" + +This ended the case in chief for the defense, the marshalling of such a +mass of testimony from a host of disinterested witnesses, men, women and +children, putting it on an entirely different footing from the +prejudiced testimony brought forward by the prosecution. + +In rebuttal of testimony produced by the defense the prosecution +introduced a series of witnesses. As in their case in chief every one of +the parties who testified were in some way concerned in the case as +deputies, jailers, police officers, dance hall habitues, detectives, and +the like. The witnesses were W. P. Bell, Dr. F. R. Hedges, E. E. Murphy, +Charles Hall, Rudolph Weidaur, W. J. Britt, Percy Ames, Harry Blackburn, +Reuben Westover, Harry Groger, W. M. Maloney, Albert Burke, W. R. +Conner, A. E. Andrews, David D. Young, Howard Hathaway, George Leonard +Mickel, Paul Hill, E. C. Mony, B. H. Bryan, all of whom were deputies, +D. C. Pearson, W. H. Bridge, and "Honest" John Hogan, all three jailers +and deputies, Robert C. Hickey, city jailer, David Daniels and Adolph +Miller, police officers, Charles Manning and J. T. Rogers, personal +friends of McRae, Oscar Moline, dance hall musician, Albert McKay, of +the Ocean Food Products Company located on the Everett Improvement Dock, +T. J. McKinnon, employe of McKay, R. B. Williams, contractor, John +Flynn, agent Everett Improvement Dock, W. W. Blain and F. S. Ruble, +secretary and bookkeeper respectively of the Commercial Club and also +deputies, A. E. Ballew, Great Northern depot agent, H. G. Keith, Great +Northern detective, Charles Auspos, who was shown to be in receipt of +favors as state's witness, and George Reese, Pinkerton informer and +"stool pigeon." + +One deputy, H. S. Groger, stated on cross-examination that he +continuously fired at a man on the boat who appeared to be trying to +untie the spring line. Outside of this evidence of a desire for +wholesale slaughter nothing developed of sufficient importance to +warrant the production of sur-rebuttal witnesses, except in the +testimony of Auspos and Reese. + +Auspos testified that defendant Billings in the presence of John +Rawlings had stated in the Everett County jail that he had a gun that +made a noise like a cannon. This was intended to controvert the +testimony of Billings. + +Reese related a conversation that Tracy was alleged to have carried on +in his presence on the Verona as it was bound for Everett. He stated +that a launch was seen approaching and someone remarked that it was +probably coming to head them off, to which Tracy replied "Let them come; +they will find we are ready for them, and we will give them something +they are not looking for." This was intended as impeachment of Tracy. + +Cross-examination of this informer brought out the fact that he was a +Pinkerton agent at the time he was holding the office of delegate to the +Central Labor Council of the American Federation of Labor. Reese stated +that he was employed on the waterfront during the longshoremen's strike +with instructions to "look for everybody who was pulling the rough +stuff, such as threatening to burn or attempting to burn warehouses, and +shooting up non-union workers, and beating them up and so forth." He had +been in the employ of the Pinkerton Agency for six weeks this last time +before he was ordered to go down and join the I. W. W. He stated in +answer to a question by Vanderveer: + +"I was instructed to go down there and find out who these fellows were +that was handling this phosphorus and pulling off this sabotage and the +only way I could find out was to get a card and get in and get +acquainted with them." + +Attorney Moore in the absence of the jury offered to prove that Reese +had practically manufactured this job for himself by promoting the very +things he was supposed to discover. Moore stated some of the things he +would prove if permitted by the court: + +"That on or about August 1st Reese went to one J. M. Wilson, an official +of the longshoremen's union, and endeavored to get $10.00 with which to +buy dynamite to blow up a certain city dock; that on September 20th the +witness gave Percy May, a member of the longshoremen's union, a bottle +of phosphorus with instructions to start a fire at Pier 5; that in the +month of July the witness opposed a settlement of the longshoremen's +strike and when members of the union argued that they could remain out +no longer as they had no money, Reese clapped his pockets and said, 'you +fellows wouldn't be starving if you had the nerve that I have got. Why +don't you go out and get it, take it off the scabs the way I do;' that +in September Feinberg had to make Reese leave the speaker's stand in +Everett because he was talking on matters harmful to industrial union +propaganda; that on November 4th the witness went to the place where +Feinberg was employed and left a suit of clothes to be pressed, saying +to Feinberg, after he had ascertained that Feinberg was thinking of +going to Everett on the following day, "mark the bill 'paid' so I will +have a receipt if you don't come back;" that on August 16th, the day +before the big dock fire in Seattle, Reese went to the down-town office +of the same dye works in which Walker C. Smith was manager and in charge +of the purchase of chemicals and tried to get Smith to purchase for him +some carbon disulphide to be used in connection with phosphorus; that in +the month of November in the Labor Temple, in the presence of Sam +Sadler, Reese had said to Albert Brilliant that if the longshoremen had +any guts they would go out with guns and clean up the scabs on the +waterfront; and that Reese tried to get other men to co-operate with him +in a scheme to capture a Government boat lying in the Sound during the +progress of the longshoremen's strike." + +The court refused to allow the defense to go into these matters so the +only showing of the true character of Reese was confined to examination +as to the perjury he had committed in his initial sworn statement to the +defense. + +The sur-rebuttal of the defense occupied but a few minutes. It was +admitted that Mr. Garver, the court reporter, would swear that Reese had +made an initial statement to the defense counsel and that the same had +been taken down stenographically and sworn to. Charles Tennant, captain +of the detective force of the Seattle police department, testified to +having telephoned to the sheriff's office in Everett on November 5th to +give the information that a boatload of I. W. W. men had left for +Everett. He did not describe the body of men in any way and had not said +that they were armed. This was for the purpose of showing that somewhere +between the time that Jefferson Beard received the message and the time +it was transmitted to the deputies some one had inserted the statement +that the men on the boat were heavily armed. John Rawlings, defendant, +testified that no such conversation as that related by Auspos had +occurred in the presence of defendant Billings. Thomas H. Tracy denied +making the threats ascribed to him by Reese, and this closed the +hearing of evidence in the case. + +Outside the courtroom on the day the last of the evidence was introduced +there was in progress one of the largest demonstrations of Labor ever +held in the Pacific Northwest. The date was May first, and International +Labor Day was celebrated by the united radicals of the entire city and +surrounding district. Meeting at the I. W. W. hall at 10:30 in the +morning, thousands of men and women fell into a marching line of fours, +a committee pinning a red rose or carnation on each marcher. Fifteen +solid blocks of these marchers, headed by Wagner's Band, then wended +their way thru the streets to Mount Pleasant Cemetery and grouped +themselves around the graves of Baran, Gerlot and Looney--Labor's +martyred dead. + +There, upon the hillside, in accordance with his final wishes, the ashes +of Joe Hill were scattered to the breeze, and with them were cast upon +the air and on the graves beneath, the ashes of Jessie Lloyd and Patrick +Brennan, two loyal fighters in the class struggle who had died during +the year just passed. + +A fitting song service, with a few simple words by speakers in English, +Russian, Swedish, Hungarian and Italian, in commemoration of those who +had passed away, completed the tribute to the dead. + +Nor were the living forgotten! The great crowd drifted from the +graveside, but hundreds of them reassembled almost automatically and +marched to the King County jail. Standing there, just outside of the +very heart of the great city, the crowd, led by the I. W. W. choir, sang +song after song from the revolutionary hymnal--the little red song book, +each song being answered by one from the free speech prisoners confined +in the jail. The service lasted until late in the day and, to complete +the one labor day that is as broad as the world itself, a meeting was +held in one of the largest halls of the city. At this meeting the final +collection for the Everett Prisoners' Defense was taken and at the +request of the imprisoned men one half of the proceeds was sent to aid +in the liberation of Tom Mooney and his fellow victims of the Merchants' +and Manufacturers' Association in San Francisco. + +There remained but the reading of the instructions of the court and the +addresses by the counsel for either side to complete this epoch making +case and place it in the hands of the jury for their final verdict. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +PLEADINGS AND THE VERDICT + + +The instructions of the court, carefully prepared by Judge J. T. Ronald, +required sixty-five minutes in the reading. These instructions were +divided into twenty-three sections, each section representing a +different phase of the case. Herewith is presented the first section in +its entirety and a summary of the remaining portion: + +"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury: + +"My responsibility is to decide all questions of law in this case; yours +to decide one question of fact. With these instructions my +responsibility practically ends, your commences. You have taken a solemn +oath that 'you will well and truly try and true delivery make between +the State of Washington and the prisoner at the bar, whom you have in +charge, according to the evidence.' + +"There is no escape from the responsibility which has come to you, save +in the faithful effort to render a true verdict. Any verdict other than +one based upon pure conscience will be an injustice. An honest juror +yields to no friendship, nor bears any enmity. He is moved by no +sympathy, nor influenced by any prejudice. He seeks the approval of no +one, nor fears the condemnation of anyone--save that one unerring, +silent monitor, his own conscience. Disregard this whispering voice in +yourself and you may fool the public, you may fool the defendant, you +may, hereafter, with some effort, even close your own soul to her +whispering reproaches and enjoy the ill-earned plaudits of the selfish +or biased friend or interest whom you sought to please, but be assured +you will not change the truth, you will not deceive justice which, at +some time, and in some way, will collect from you the penalty which is +always sooner or later exacted from those who betray the truth. + +"So let me urge that in deciding the issue of facts which is now your +responsibility you be guided by these instructions which you have sworn +to follow, and by their conscientious application to the evidence in +this case. + +"Do not permit yourselves to be swayed by sympathy, influenced by +prejudice, or moved in the least by a consideration of what might or +might not meet the approval or the condemnation of any person or class +of persons, or of interest whatever. To do so will be an act alike +dishonest, violative of your oath, substituting for a fair and impartial +trial an unfair and a partial one. This is an epoch in your lives to +which you will ever look back. Be sure that when you do you may face the +smiling approval of your conscience rather than its stinging reproach. + +"The guilt or innocence of this defendant is a single question of fact +to be determined by the evidence alone. If this evidence shows defendant +to be guilty, then no sympathy, no desire for approval, no fear of +condemnation, can make him innocent; if the evidence fails to show him +guilty, then no prejudice, no desire for approval, no fear of +condemnation, can make him guilty. The issue is a momentous one, not +only to the defendant, who, if innocent, deserves the deepest sympathy, +for the accusation made against him is a serious one; but likewise to +the public and to society at large, and the tranquility and security of +our different communities. + +"A false verdict against the defendant conflicts with the purpose and +the laws of the State as effectively as a false verdict in his favor. +The State has no higher duty or interest than to preserve all its +citizens from suffering under unfounded accusations. If, on the other +hand, the guilt of the defendant has been shown, a false verdict of +acquittal would not only be a breach of your oaths, but it would inflict +a grievous wrong upon the State. If a true verdict calls for conviction, +the misfortune to the defendant is not in the verdict, nor in the +penalty, but in the fact it was his conduct which makes the verdict +true. You alone of all the world, and who now possess all the facts, are +therefore responsible for the verdict in this case. The law is not +concerned about conviction merely--but it is concerned, deeply +concerned, that juries shall conscientiously and fearlessly declare the +truth. Whether it be conviction, or whether it be acquittal, a true +verdict is justice--a false is injustice." + +Judge Ronald followed this lecture on civic righteousness and personal +duty with more specific instructions to the jury, of which the following +are excerpts. + +"In this case you must answer the question--Is this defendant guilty or +innocent? * * * Keep constantly in mind this issue and do not go astray +to discuss any other of the many issues that may be suggested by or may +lay hidden among the great mass of evidence in this case. Whether the +Industrial Workers of the World shall or shall not speak at a certain +place in the City of Everett is not an issue here. * * * Whether the +open or the closed shop shall prevail is not a subject for your +consideration. + +"Every defendant in a criminal case is presumed to be innocent. * * * +You must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of the facts necessary +to show guilt before you can convict. * * * You should give the phrase +'proof beyond a reasonable doubt' its full meaning and weight as +explained and defined to you in these instructions. On the other hand, +you should not magnify nor exaggerate its force and fail to return a +verdict of guilty simply because the evidence does not satisfy you of +guilt to an absolute certainty. No crime can be proved to an absolute +certainty. + +"It does not follow because every one of the facts which are disputed +between the parties may not be established beyond a reasonable doubt, +that there cannot be a conviction. At the same time you will bear +carefully in mind that all facts which are necessary to establish the +conclusion of guilt must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. + +"There are two facts necessary to convict this defendant: + +(1) That some person on the boat unlawfully killed Jefferson Beard. + +(2) That this defendant aided, incited or encouraged such shooting. + +"If you are satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of these two facts, then +you must convict, no matter what may be your belief concerning any other +question in dispute in this case; if you have a reasonable doubt as to +either of these two facts, then you must acquit." + +The instructions then went into detail as to the rights of the workers +to organize, to bargain in regard to compensation, hours of labor and +conditions of work generally, to go on strike, to persuade or entice +their fellow workers by peaceful means from taking the positions which +they have left, to assemble at public places where such meetings are not +prohibited by law and ordinance, and "no person, either private citizen +or public official, has any right to deny, abridge or in any manner +interfere with the full and free enjoyment of those privileges and any +person who attempts to do so is himself guilty of an unlawful act." + +After reciting such acts attributed to the workers in this case as were +in violation of law, the instructions went on to state that "a sheriff +has no authority to arrest any person without a warrant except upon +probable cause for believing such person has violated a law of the +state; nor has he authority after making such arrest to hold his +prisoner in custody for a longer time than is reasonably necessary to +cause proper complaint to be filed, and an opportunity given for bail. * +* * A sheriff has no right or authority to interfere with or prevent any +person from violating a city ordinance, nor has he the right or +authority to arrest for violations of city ordinances" unless "the act +threatened, or the act done, in violation of such ordinance be at the +same time violation of a state law." + +The instructions then outlined the scope of criminal conspiracy, stating +that it was unnecessary for one conspirator to know all of the other +conspirators but that common design is the essence of the charge of +conspiracy. The acts of one conspirator become the acts of any and all +conspirators. In the eyes of the law the sheriff and the deputies also +constituted in this case but one personality, the sheriff being bound by +the acts of his deputies and the deputies being authorized by the powers +of the sheriff. Also the ordinance dated September 21st, 1916, was held +to be a valid one. + +"Now whether any of the Industrial Workers of the World have been, prior +to November 5, 1916, guilty of encouraging disrespect for law, or of +unlawful assemblage, or of riot, is not the question on trial here. They +could all be guilty of all the acts or offenses heretofore mentioned, +and still this defendant be innocent of this particular crime charged on +November 5th, or they could all be innocent of all the acts mentioned, +and defendant still be guilty of the main charge here. + +"Again, whether the sheriff or any of his assistants have been guilty of +any of the acts charged against them is not on trial here. They could +all be guilty of all the acts charged and still be the victims of +unjustifiable shooting from that boat, or they could all be innocent of +any offense, and still be the aggressors and cause of that shooting on +the dock wherein Jefferson Beard lost his life. + +"One of the questions in this case is the question--Which side was the +aggressor on that occasion? + +"In determining who was the aggressor it is your duty to consider all +the facts and circumstances surrounding the situation, the relations of +the parties to each other, their intentions toward each other, and all +the things they did. You will also consider the past conduct of all the +parties, any acts of violence or other assaults that may have been +committed, and any threats that may have been made, and the character +as known and understood by each other. + +[Illustration: Victims at Morgue. + +John Looney Hugo Gerlot, Felix Baran Abe Rabinowitz] + +"Therefore, simplify your deliberations and determine first the +question: Did somebody on the boat unlawfully kill Jefferson Beard? If +somebody on the boat did not kill Beard, then of course Tracy could not +be guilty of aiding John Doe to do something which John Doe did not do. +But if the State has satisfied you beyond a reasonable doubt that Beard +was killed by a shot fired by somebody on the boat, then such killing is +either unlawful, in which case John Doe would be guilty of one of three +degrees of unlawful or felonious homicide, viz., murder in the first +degree, murder in the second degree, or manslaughter; or it is +justifiable in which case John Doe would not be guilty. Hence you will +render one of four verdicts in this case-- + +1. Guilty of murder in the first degree, or + +2. Guilty of murder in the second degree, or + +3. Guilty of manslaughter, or + +4. Not guilty. + +"It is very desirable that you reach a verdict in this case. The law +requires that your conclusion shall be unanimous. It is not required +that any one of you should surrender his individual freedom of +judgement, but it is well that each of you should have in mind that your +true verdict cannot ordinarily be reached except by mutual consideration +and discussion of all the different views that may suggest themselves to +any of your number. The jury room is no place for pride of opinion. A +verdict which is the result of real harmony, or that growing out of +open-minded discussion between jurors, and a willingness to be +convinced, with a proper regard for the opinions of others, and with a +reasonable distrust of individual views not shared by their fellows, is +a fair yielding of one reason to a stronger one; such, having in mind +the great desirability of unanimity, is not open to criticism. The law +contemplates that jurors shall, by their discussions, harmonize their +views if possible, but not that they shall compromise and yield for the +mere purpose of agreement. One should not surrender his conscientious +convictions. + +"And now, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I commit the case to your +hands. Listen to the arguments. Regardless of what may be counsel's +recollection of testimony, you must take and follow your own +recollection. You are not required to adopt any view which counsel may +suggest in argument, but you should give close attention to all they +say. Take up your task fearlessly, with but one single aim--to discharge +the obligations of your oaths. You have no class to satisfy--simply the +dictates of your own conscience." + +Taken as a whole the instructions were distinctly unfavorable to the +defendant, not because of any particular bias of the judge whose +political ambitions might have made him desirous of establishing a +record for fairness, but by reason of the fact that the law itself on +the question of criminal conspiracy is archaic and absurd, being based +upon precedents established when the use of electricity and steam power +were unknown, when the stage coach was the fastest means of locomotion +and the tallow dip the principal form of illumination. This law, like +all other statute law, was created thru the desire of the ruling class +to protect property, therefore it contained no element of justice when +applied to the modern proletariat, the twentieth century worker stripped +of everything but his power to labor. + +Following the reading of the court's instructions prosecutor Black made +his argument, Vanderveer and Moore for the defense addressing the jury +in turn, and Cooley making the concluding plea for the state. This +arrangement gave Veitch no chance to turn loose his oratorical +fireworks, much to the chagrin of the gentleman who had been so kindly +loaned to the prosecution by the Merchants' and Manufacturers' +Association. + +Black's lengthy address was a whine for pity because of his youth and a +prayer for relief from the dire straits and legal bankruptcy into which +Snohomish County had fallen. It is summarized in the following: + +"We are at the close of a great trial. A great deal of evidence has been +introduced; practically two million five hundred words. From the +standpoint of the attorneys who have tried this case the evidence has +been very complicated because it had in it a great mass of evidence that +was only remotely connected with the real issue at bar. You as jurors +have a very simple question to decide in this case. + +"Thomas H. Tracy is charged with the crime of murder in the first +degree, not that he himself killed Jefferson Beard, but that he, Thomas +H. Tracy, aided, incited and encouraged some unknown one to kill +Jefferson Beard of Everett, on last November 5th. + +"I repeat first that some person on the boat unlawfully killed Jefferson +Beard; secondly that this defendant, aided, incited and encouraged such +shooting. + +"I come before you as the prosecuting attorney of Snohomish County. +Owing to the exigencies of politics I was elected to office a few days +after November 5th, the time of this catastrophe. Two months and a few +days after, I took office and found a man charged with a crime that I +did not have the power of prosecution over up to that time. Mr. Webb, +then prosecuting attorney, who had started the action and initiated and +seen fit to collect some of the evidence, was not able to complete the +prosecution on account of the size of the trial. + +"I am a young man without the experience that any man ought to have in +the prosecuting of a case like this, a case the size of which has never +been experienced in the State of Washington, and in many ways an +absolutely pioneer case in criminal trials the world over. + +"So the State has been hampered in that at the outset a young man, a new +prosecuting attorney, has come into office and to him there has come a +case that no man could read up concerning, and a large piece of +battle--it is the State's contention, a battle between hundreds of men +on the boat and a large number of deputies on the dock, a battle +absolutely and surely initiated by firing from the boat, but still a +battle;--a case without parallel in the criminal history of this State +or of the United States. + +"It happens that fortunately the State has had assistance in this case. +The State of Washington, thru its county commissioners, requested the +assistance in this case of Mr. Cooley, whom you have all grown to know, +a man who formerly for four years was prosecuting attorney of Snohomish +County, and who since that time has been associated as assistant counsel +in practically all the criminal prosecutions of Snohomish County that +have required assistance. + +"And in addition to this the State has been fortunate in having, at the +request of the county commissioners, the assistance of Mr. Veitch, a +young man it is true, but one who thru years of service in the district +attorney's office in Los Angeles County had experience in criminal +trials, and especially because of his connection with what are known as +the conspiracy murder trials in Los Angeles County, and also in +assisting the federal prosecution at Indianapolis. It has been necessary +in this kind of a case for the State to have assistance. + +"Now I told you my friends that I came here as prosecuting attorney of +Snohomish County. I am also a deputy prosecuting attorney of King County +under Mr. Lundin. After I was appointed I was very unpleasantly +surprised by one statement. A little phrase, 'without pay,' so that I +don't know whether really I am a deputy prosecuting attorney or not, +because I found that in public office a man always likes to see the +warrant come at the end of the month! + +"You are a jury in this case from King County because the defendant and +the other defendants filed an affidavit to the effect that they didn't +expect that a jury selected in Snohomish County would give the defendant +a fair trial. The State is happy in your selection and knows that you +will follow the dictates of your conscience and is likewise confident +that you cannot help but believe that Jefferson Beard was killed by +someone shooting from the Verona, and that Thomas H. Tracy, alias George +Martin, incited, aided and encouraged in that shooting. + +"Now, the witnesses on the dock are men of Everett, men of family, men +who are laborers, but with families; men who are clerks, with interests +in Snohomish County; men who hold some important positions, as lawyers; +people with families, people who by residence have established +reputation for truth and veracity; men who have established themselves, +have made themselves successful, sometimes in merely that they have +established a small home, or who have lived in Everett and have made +friends and acquaintances. That is the class of men that were on the +dock. + +"There are only two classes of people who know anything about the +shooting. The people on the dock are one set, and the people on the boat +are the other. + +"The people on the boat, with but one or two exceptions, are men who have +established no reputation for truth and veracity, have been successful +in the world in no way, even from the standpoint of stable friends, +living here and there, unfortunately; perchance, with some of them it is +due to unfortunate circumstances and environments, and they have been +unlucky, but still they haven't established stable friends in any +community. + +"Then there are the three boatmen on the boat--and those three men, +unprejudiced, unbiased, not deputies and not Commercial Club members, +but merely laborers, they know where the first shot came from, and they +tell, and their testimony absolutely and entirely contradicts the +testimony of the defense in this case from start to finish. + +"And when you look at that red face and red hair and that honest +expression of big Jack Hogan John Hogan here, and his honest blue eyes, +it doesn't seem to me that you can have any more doubt than I have that +Jack Hogan saw Tracy. + +"Now, these men that come on the stand all confess they had a common +design. Their common design they say, was that about two o'clock in +Everett they were going to speak at the corner of Wetmore and Hewitt +Avenues, that is their common design. + +"The court tells you that the purpose that they admit was unlawful, so +Tracy, by the testimony adduced in his favor, was one of the men having +a common design for an unlawful purpose. Tracy, regardless of his +location, regardless of whether he fired or not, is guilty. + +"The sheriff and his deputies could have been guilty of everything +claimed against them previous to this and the defendant still be guilty +of helping and encouraging someone else to unjustifiably kill Jefferson +Beard. + +"Under the Court's instructions there were acts done at Beverly Park +that were unlawful. There is no question about that. Instead of this +being a weakness on the State's part, it seems to me that it is an added +strength. Because the I. W. W. used Beverly Park for what purpose? They +jumped on it with desire, deeming it a fortunate circumstance because +they wanted to inflame men to invade Everett. They jumped on this, the +men at the head of the conspiracy, they jumped on Beverly Park because +they could use it to inflame their members. How do we know? Their own +statements! Their telegrams! 'Advertise conditions and send volunteers.' +Volunteers for what? Volunteers for what? When a man represents things +and so helps to make men mad he wants these men up there as volunteers +for retaliation. And the Court has instructed you that if these men went +up there with the purpose of retaliating, they are guilty. Tracy having +been one of a common design makes it central, vital, in good conscience +as citizens, that you return your verdict asked by the state. + +"Any time a murder is committed it is important that prosecution be had +and conviction secured. That is always vital from the standpoint of +protection to society. The police, the sheriff's office, and the +officials of all cities and states of the United States sometimes +forget themselves, I take it, sometimes do things they shouldn't do, +sometimes do things they should be censured for, but the fact that they +had is no reason that murder is to be excused or justified, because if +you did, we would have no society. That is true in an ordinary murder +case. That is overwhelmingly true in this case. + +"The I. W. W. is an organization that realizes the great truth in +combating government. They have stumbled upon an overwhelmingly +successful instrument in fighting society. What is that? To commit a +violation of the law in numbers, to violate the law by so many people +that only a few can be prosecuted and even if they are convicted, the +great majority go scott free. They built better than they knew when they +stumbled upon the great secret that the violation of a law in great +numbers would protect practically all of the violators. And this trial +itself is proof of that. + +"Snohomish County can ill afford the expense of this one trial; can ill +afford the expense of two or three trials after this; would be +overwhelmed with debt to convict all the men who are in this conspiracy, +if there were a conspiracy it can't do it; most of them are safe from +prosecution and they know it; and the only protection that Snohomish +County has, and King County has, and the State of Washington has, and +the United States has, is that when something happens like this a +conviction be secured against a man who is guilty, not because you are +convicting all, because you can't, you are helpless--but because that at +least is the voice of warning to the men that if you lead an attempt you +may be the one of the great number that will be caught. It is important +from the standpoint of citizens of the State of Washington to establish +the principle that crimes cannot be committed by numbers with impunity, +that while it is fairly safe, it won't be absolutely safe. We have no +protection. That is the vital part of this case. We have no protection. + +[Illustration: JOHN LOONEY] + +"If this case were just that of murder committed by one man acting +alone, the importance of your verdict would be of small significance, +compared with the importance of your verdict in a criminal case where +the members are part of an organization. True, the society has no doubt +a great many aims that are desirable to improve the welfare of the +workingman. But it has one aim, one vital aim, in its platform to bring +upon it the condemnation of thinking, sober men and women residing +permanently in the State of Washington, and that is sabotage. + +"We are not claiming that the killing of Jefferson Beard was in the +exercise of sabotage. We are saying that sabotage along with the +conscious withdrawal of efficiency, sabotage along with the destruction +of property, may also mean crime. + +"The I. W. W. members did not come to Everett for the purpose of +employment; they were men who were wanderers upon the face of the earth, +who desired to establish themselves nowhere, and none of them, as far as +this witness stand is concerned, expected to work in Everett or to put +sabotage in effect in Everett by working slow. The only way they could +use sabotage in Everett was by the destruction of property. The mayor +became alarmed, and the sheriff, after their repeated threats in their +papers. But whether you believe sabotage to be good, bad, or +indifferent, really is not vital in this case except as a circumstance. + +"Now, the Wanderer. The Wanderer did not happen the way they said it +happened. The sheriff did shoot after they refused to stop. The sheriff +did hit some of them with the butt of his gun. The sheriff brought them +into Everett because they constituted an unlawful assemblage. The +sheriff did the only thing he could do. He filed charges against them +and they were arraigned in court. Twenty-three men cannot be tried +quickly when each one demands a separate trial by jury. Twenty-three +trials would stop the judicial machinery for three months. They could +not be tried and so the sheriff turned them loose. Maybe he did hit them +harder than he should have. Policemen do that! Sheriff do that! Lots of +time they hit men when it is not necessary. Hit them too hard, +sometimes. They don't always understand exactly what they are supposed +to do. But the I. W. W. exaggerated the matter and used it to incite +retaliation on the fifth. So the Beverly Park incident, and all other +incidents, if true to the last syllable of the defense testimony, merely +in this case extenuated the motive on November 5th. + +"Now then, why did the State select Tracy? The State's evidence was to +the effect that Tracy was not only a member of the conspiracy, but was +firing. Several State's witnesses recognized Tracy. There was another +reason. What was that? Some of these men, some of these boys, flitting +here and there from job to job, with never more than a dollar or two in +their pockets, were inflamed intentionally by people who misrepresented +conditions. They did not have any right to be inflamed; they did not +have any right to go to Everett and they are guilty of murder if they +went up there to retaliate for any wrong, actual or conceived. But the +State has preferred to put on first a man who was in the forefront of +the conspiracy; the man that appeared to be an important cog of that +conspiracy, and that man is Tracy. + +"Tracy knew that a great many people of Everett were alarmed and +disturbed. Tracy knew that the I. W. W. did not want anything in +Everett, had no interests there, no friends there except as they were +disturbing conditions. Tracy knew the purposes and Tracy went back to +Seattle so he could lead this excursion to Everett. Tracy is a man of +determination. He knew the situation and he was prominent enough to be +selected by the organization as a stationary delegate. And if any man +knew what they intended to do in Everett, it undoubtedly was Tracy. So, +regardless of whether he fired or not, Tracy was one of the men who were +on the inside. Tracy is a part of the conspiracy that happened. But no +man, my friends, on that boat, that went up there with a common design +to break the ordinance has been sinned against because he is in jail. + +"Now, my friends, you want in good faith to follow the instructions of +the court. It seems to me that the only question you have to decide is +the one the court told you to decide--Was Beard killed unlawfully by a +shot from the boat, and did Tracy aid, encourage or incite that killing? + +"The murder of Jefferson Beard was a premeditated murder. Following the +instructions of the court, separating the wheat from the chaff, and +deciding that one question, we of the State are confident that you as +jurors and good citizens, as honest, sincere and conscientious citizens, +will protect Snohomish County--we believe that your verdict will say 'We +are convinced, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Tracy is guilty, and, +being so convinced, we are going to protect Snohomish County as we would +our own.' I thank you!" + +Vanderveer handled the case from two different viewpoints--that of a +first degree murder trial and also as a section of the class struggle. +His address was a masterly array of invincible logic and satire. +Omitting his readings from the transcript of evidence, his speech was +substantially as follows: + +"This cause is, as the counsel for the state has told you, one of +momentous importance not only to the defendant but to a class--a large +class of people of whom today he stands merely as an unfortunate single +member, fighting their battle. + +"We do not ask in this case for mercy, we do not ask for sympathy, but +it is essential, absolutely essential that we should have cold, stern +justice; justice for the defendant, justice for those who have oppressed +him, those who have denied him his rights. We hope this case is the +beginning of a line of prosecution which will see that justice is done +in the Everett situation. + +"It is not the defense who outlined the issues in this case, it was the +State who determined that. They have chosen their fighting ground, and +we had to meet them on that battle. In the beginning of this case the +State, thru Mr. Black, told you that it would prove a conspiracy of very +formidable proportions, a conspiracy in the first place to commit acts +of violence and to incite acts of violence, a conspiracy to commit +arson, a conspiracy to overrun all law and order in Everett and bring on +a condition of chaos. The claim was a very formidable one. The evidence +has been very silly. The State ought to apologize, in common decency, +for ever having suggested these things. + +"What is the evidence about the fires? The fire marshall's report, made +by a man who would naturally try to enlarge the performance of his +duties and impress upon the public the manner in which he discharged +them, reports only four fires of incendiary origin for the entire year. +Every one of these were discovered before they did five cents worth of +damage. Who had notice of them? Was it the I. W. W. who set them or was +it Reese or some paid employe of the Pinkerton Agency? Can you conceive +that an organization embracing as many members as this does, bent upon +the destruction of Everett, could not set one fire at least that would +do some damage. It is nothing but a hoax! + +"As to force and violence, who did they put on to prove it? Young Howard +Hathaway, a mere boy, whose father represents some mill companies in +Everett. Then Sheriff McRae, and McRae couldn't tell you one thing that +he heard at the street meetings. Then they put on Ed Hawes, the big +brute that out at Beverly called the little boy a coward, a baby, +because he wouldn't stand there and be slugged with guns and clubs. And +what did Hawes say? That he looked up sabotage in the International +Dictionary! And you can search that book until you are black in the face +and you won't find a word in there about sabotage. Why, if sabotage is +such a terrible thing, did Hawes, having heard all about it at the +street meeting, have to go home to look it up at all? + +"At these meetings there was not one thing said that could invite +criticism, there was not one thing said that could justify or invite +censure or abuse; there was not one disorderly thing done but was done +by the officers of the law themselves, and they went in recklessly, +without excuse, without right, they clubbed Henig, they clubbed Carr, a +former member of the council, and they roughed women around and knocked +them down. Why? Because these people were mill owners, their hirelings +and their representatives, who had been instructed in the propaganda of +the open shop by employes, aides and emissaries of the Merchants' and +Manufacturers' Association. + +"A lot of people went to the jail one night, a thousand, maybe. They +hooted, they cat-called, and they hissed. Is it any wonder they did? +Ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you there is no surer verdict on +earth than the verdict of a crowd; and the verdict of that crowd +condemned what the deputies had done. + +"Finally they say there was a conspiracy on the 5th of November to go to +Everett and to hold their meeting at all hazard, to brook no opposition, +to ride rough-shod over it, to oppose everyone and anything that stood +in the way of accomplishing their purpose. I ask you to think just for a +moment how foreign that is to everything you know about the I. W. W. and +their operations and behavior in Everett. Not one witness for the state +could tell you an incident where one of them resisted arrest, could tell +you an occasion where one of them had advocated violence, could tell you +one occasion where any one of them had committed any acts of violence. + +"These people wrote to Governor Lister calling his attention to the +violations of the law on the part of the officers of Everett; they wrote +to Mayor Merrill, enclosing a copy of that letter and calling on him to +restore the order that had been violated by the officers of the law; +they scattered handbills all over Everett, among its best homes and in +its business streets, calling upon the good citizens to come to their +meeting on November 5th at Wetmore and Hewitt, to come and help maintain +your own and our constitutional privileges; they mailed to the citizens +of Everett on October 30th, seven or eight hundred copies of a little +pamphlet calling upon them to intervene and stop the brutality of +officers of the law; they questioned Governor Lister at a public meeting +and again called his attention to the conditions in Everett; they called +in the reporters, called the newspapers and notified the editors that +they were going to Everett and asked them to have representatives +present: Are these the acts of conspirators? + +"You know how that meeting was called and why it was called. You know it +from ministers of the gospel, you know it from the lips of those whom +you cannot help but believe. And it was called for Sunday, the day when +people ordinarily resent disorders of the kind that had occurred there. +It was called for the daytime, when ordinarily abuse and violence are +not attempted. And this big crowd went up there on this fine Sunday +afternoon because in number there is strength and in numbers there is +protection against brutality. + +"At first the deputies had taken out one or two and abused and beaten +them; then they had taken five or six; they had taken eighteen; finally +they had taken forty-one. But I ask you, would you believe it possible +that they could take two hundred or three hundred people in broad +daylight and do to them what had been done to the others? Yet the +evidence in this case shows convincingly and conclusively they intended +to do substantially that thing. They intended to run those men into a +warehouse; they didn't intend to let one of them get away. And had they +gotten them into that warehouse you don't know, I don't know, nobody +knows what would have happened! + +"That is the evidence of conspiracy in this case. They have claimed no +other conspiracy; they have offered no other evidence of conspiracy, +either to set fires or to incite violence, or to override all opposition +on November 5th. Their evidence doesn't stand even if unanswered--and no +evidence could be more successfully answered. + +"What evidence is there that Tom Tracy had anything to do with such a +conspiracy, if there were one? Their most willing tools, Auspos and +Reese, don't say a word about Tracy. + +"What does the identification by McRae amount to? He identifies Tracy as +the man who leaned out of the window and shot at him. Now at the time +this shot was fired McRae had his back turned to the man who shot it. He +says himself he did, and he was shot thru the heel, which seems to prove +it. That, by the way, suggests to me that it was not an I. W. W. who +shot McRae. The man who shot him must have thought McRae a hero, like +the gentleman of mythological fame who was killed by an arrow thru the +heel which no I. W. W. does, I assure you. Or else he thought that McRae +wore his brains there. + +"But I am not going to discuss McRae at great length either now or at +any other stage of this case, because the greatest kindness I can do him +is to forget him. The man is a perjurer! He lied! He was not mistaken. +He deliberately, cold-bloodedly lied about almost everything in this +case wherein his conduct as an officer was questioned. He lied about +'Sergeant' Keenan! He lied about shooting at the "Wanderer," and you saw +the bullet holes. He lied about Berg and about Mitten, and finally, and +last of all lied, and we have proven it conclusively, about being out to +Beverly Park. + +"Bridge's identification of Tracy does not agree with that of Smith, and +Bridge does not even agree with his own testimony given at the coroner's +inquest. Smith picked out a photograph and said it was Tracy and that +picture resembles Tracy about as much as I do some of you jurors. Bridge +and Smith say that Tracy fired three shots, and Hogan says he fired only +one. And you know, ladies and gentlemen, that Hogan did not see this man +at all. You know that he did not even see the window at which he +pretends this man was sitting when the shot was fired. You know it +because you went there to the dock and you saw the boat lined up to a +mathematical certainty by the shot marks, and you saw a photograph taken +with the camera placed by John Hogan exactly where he said he was +standing himself. And there wasn't a one of you who could identify Bob +Mills, with his long nose and angular features, with everything that +makes identification easy, when he was in the position attributed to +Tracy. And when you came around from there to where you could look +directly at the place, the reflected glare of the sunshine left nothing +but a blank background. + +"There were one hundred and forty deputies looking toward the place +where the first shot was supposed to have been fired. They have produced +on the witness stand only about one in ten. We challenged them to bring +them all on, we dared them to do it, and Mr. Cooley said 'I accept that +dare!'--look it up Mr. Cooley on page 1802 of the transcript--but he did +not dare accept that dare. Mr. Cooley knows what those nine-tenths would +testify to. Twelve out of their sixteen witnesses who testified about +the first shots said that their brother deputies were mistaken as to +even the place on the boat where the first three shots came from. + +"I venture, ladies and gentlemen, that with a bit of the kind of work +the State has employed in this case, a little bit of the same zeal that +was employed on Auspos, a little bit of the same zeal that was employed +with Reese, a little bit of the help of McLaren of Los Angeles, I can +take these one hundred and forty-five men and pick out four men who will +honestly and truthfully testify that they saw anything, and I say that +with no reflection on their honesty either, because the power of +suggestion is enormous. It is not surprising that four people have come +here to say they saw Tracy. It is not surprising that three out of the +four should have been proven, conclusively, convincingly and absolutely, +not to know what they were talking about. + +[Illustration: FELIX BARAN + +Dark lines on body caused by internal hemorrhage; Portland doctor said +life might have been saved by operation.] + +"The court has told you that in this case it is not a question of who +shot first, not a question of which side shot first, it is a question of +who was the aggressor, who made the first aggressive movement, who did +the first hostile thing. The man who did a thing to excite fear was the +aggressor, and that man was McRae when he pulled his gun. McRae clearly +did that before there was any shooting. + +"In determining who the aggressor was, you are entitled--not only +entitled but must take into account the past behavior of all parties. +And what does that show you? Was it the I. W. W.'s who had never offered +violence, who had never done an act of violence, who had decried and +deplored violence, as members of their audiences told you, and advised +caution against it? Or was it McRae and his deputies? + +"It is only formally correct to refer to these as deputies. They had +commissions, but in nothing else in the world did they bear the remotest +resemblance to officers of the law, not in their conduct, not in their +training, not in their purposes, not in anything. They were the +hirelings of either the mill owners of Everett or the Commercial Club. +Did you ever in your life before hear of officials taking their +instructions from representatives of an industrial movement? Did you +ever before hear of deputy sheriffs being instructed in the propaganda +of the open shop, being instructed in the methods employed at Minot +unlawfully to prevent street speaking? That is where the first mistake +in this case was made. First in the selection of that kind of men; +second in the deliberate attempts which were made to color their +actions, to pervert them, to make them the tools of the employers. + +"That is the reason Henig and Carr were beaten, that is the reason +Feinberg and Roberts were beaten, that is the reason men and women were +knocked down in the crowds, that is the reason that this boy, Schwartz, +was taken out by McRae and chased zigzag down the road in mortal terror +of being run down by the sheriff's automobile, that is the reason +'Sergeant' Keenan was hit over the head with a gun, that is the reason +James Rowan was taken out and beaten black and blue. How do you suppose +Rowan got those marks on his back? Did he put them there for fun, or +were they put there by somebody else's rotten, dirty brutality? If you +didn't know a thing about him except what you know about Beverly and +these other incidents, and it was deep darkness where this happened, I +venture you would all say off-hand, 'It must have happened at Everett, +anyway. There is no place else that I know of where they do such +things.' + +"Black says the "Wanderer" has been greatly misrepresented to you, that +the things we claim happened did not happen there at all. Well, there is +a lot of evidence that they did happen. There are a lot of people who +could have denied it. There are a whole crew of deputies who could have +come up here and denied it. Why didn't they? Because they were ashamed +of it and they knew they could not stand the grilling that was awaiting +them in the court room. It is true, certainly! And I say here that +nothing but providential intervention prevented McRae on that day from +being a cold-blooded murderer! That is the manner of man you are +considering. You are considering whether he was the aggressor, he or the +people he shot at. + +"Counsel says that Louis Skaroff lied. Now I am very frank to confess +that when we produced that story on the witness stand I feared you would +not believe it, not because I doubted the truthfulness of his statement +but because the story itself is so brutal and inhuman that I questioned +whether there could be found anywhere in the county twelve persons who +would think such things could possibly happen just thirty miles away. +But when one of their own witnesses went on the stand here, in rebuttal, +and told you that Louis Skaroff came out of that room with his arms +above his head, crying, with the blood running from his finger tips, I +knew that you knew that Louis Skaroff had told the truth. + +"The state has been very reluctant in this case to admit that there were +rifles on the dock, because if the deputies went there with rifles there +was a reason for it. You could not find a rifle on that dock until we +proved--what? That rifle shells were around the dock in great numbers; +we proved it by innocent, clean little boys who picked up the shells; +until we proved by witnesses that the rifles were there and were being +shot; until we proved by a rifle bullet with human blood and a man's +hair on it that the use made of the rifles was a deadly one. + +"Who was the aggressor? Even now the State doesn't like to admit, +because the State knows it is fatal to their case to admit, and +notwithstanding hopeless to deny, that there were helpless men in the +water being shot at. They do not like to admit that a man was so +impressed with the inhumanity of the thing that he ran from the depot to +the boat house hoping to effect a rescue of the men and was stopped by +the armed deputies. The State does not like to admit the evidence of +their own deputy witness, Groger,--whose actions I want the counsel for +the state to explain and justify if he can--who repeatedly fired at a +man who was trying to untie the boat so the unarmed men could escape. + +"Counsel said that if there was any intention to start trouble men would +not have lined up as they were on the dock in an exposed position. And I +ask you, if there was not an intention to start trouble why were they +kept in the warehouse until the boat had almost tied up? If that was not +an ambuscade, what on earth was it? If they did not intend to start +trouble why was it McRae waited until the line was out and made fast. +Why was it, then, he did not say to the captain, 'Take your boat out?' +He said he was afraid they would go somewhere else. Well, when he told +those boys they could not land he expected them to go away. Or did he +expect them to go away? Which was it? + +"The manner in which McRae handled this thing indicates nothing so much +as that he intended to get them there and administer to them another of +the things that he calls a lesson, another of the things that other +people call infamous, damnable brutality. + +"Counsel says there have been mistakes made. He doesn't want to +apologize for them, but clearly he doesn't want to be held responsible +for them. There were mistakes made. Beverly was one! The "Wanderer" was +one! From the beginning to the end of all their operations in Everett +everything has been a mistake--a mistake because the ordinary processes +of law and the rights of other people were ignored. There was no +ordinance prohibiting speaking. The boys were yielding implicit, careful +obedience to such law as there was. McRae unblushingly tells you that +the reason he made arrests was because there were labor troubles in +Everett and the shingle mill owners didn't want things embarrassed by +the truth, by the disclosures contained in this little report of the +Industrial Relations Commission. + +"They were not afraid of the I. W. W.'s going up there to incite +violence, to advise disorder, to invoke a reign of terror. Reigns of +terror are the employers' specialty! They were afraid of cold fact. +Never a man went up there to speak on the street and used that little +Industrial Relations report but was thrown in jail for it--Thompson, +Rowan, Feinberg, Roberts, all. + +"It's nice to enjoy the powers, the position and authority of a dictator +who can repeal, amend and modify, ignore, disregard laws when it suits +his fancy, but it's kind of tough on other people. That's what McRae +did! + +"On the 5th of March, nearly nine weeks ago, His Honor called this case +from his bench 'State versus Thomas H. Tracy,' and my friend Mr. Cooley +rose from his chair and said 'Your Honor, the State is ready.' I say to +you, Mr. Cooley, you slandered the fair name of your state! What has the +State of Washington to do with this thing? The name of the State of +Washington in such a case as this should stand for law and order and +decency. The State is supposed to protect the innocent against abuse and +injustice and you who are now running this case do not now maintain +these things, or if you do, you protect them only when convenience +requires it. + +"It is not the State of Washington versus Thomas H. Tracy at all, and if +the decent people of Everett who know the facts could decide what course +this action should take it would never be here. Even the title of the +case is a mistake. It is the case of the Commercial Club of Everett, the +mill owners of Everett, against Labor. This is an attempt, just as all +the actions for months have been an attempt, to keep Labor out of its +rights in Everett. The same people who took possession of the machinery +of law in Everett, who took possession of the sheriff and furnished him +with guns and clubs and murderous things like that and instructed him +how to act, the same people who employed detectives to set fires in +order that they might manufacture evidence and public sentiment against +these boys, those same people are today prosecuting this case. + +"I don't know where Governor Clough was on November 5th. I suspect he +was not anywhere where there was any danger, but I know the smoke had +not left the decks of the Verona before he was hot-footing it to the +telegraph office,--Governor Clough, not the prosecuting attorney, not +the sheriff, nobody but Clough and Joe Irving, the man who was so drunk +that he beat up Schofield,--to send a telegram to Judge Burke of the +Chamber of Commerce of Seattle, to the Mayor of this City and to the +Chief of Police of this City to arrest the whole bunch of them. + +"Then right away they got their other emissaries at work, Reese and +Smith, down here with two fingers out of the door of a darkened cell, +deciding for the State of Washington who should be prosecuted in this +case, and H. D. Cooley, who surely then was not a prosecuting attorney, +giving them legal counsel and directing their energy, taking out the +men, preparing statements, and getting ready for the work he was going +to do in this case, because his employers wanted it. + +"There is a conspiracy in this case, a conspiracy supported by evidence, +a conspiracy of men in the Commercial Club to take over the machinery of +government, and by it club these fellows out of their rights, club them +out of Everett, club them out of all contact with the workers in order +that they might not bring to them the gospel of their organization. + +"But I say to you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, that this struggle, +the struggle of Capital against Labor, the struggle of the Commercial +Club against the I. W. W., which is just one phase of the bigger one, +this struggle is going on in spite of Cooley, this struggle is going on +in spite of McLaren, this struggle is going on in spite of Arthur L. +Veitch of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association, this struggle +is going on in spite of McRae, this struggle is going on in spite of the +Commercial Club, because it is founded on a principle so big, so +wholesome, and so decent, so righteous, that it must live. And it will +go on until in this country we have industrially that which we have +struggled so long and hard for and finally won politically; until we +have democracy. + +"There is nothing in revolution, gentlemen, that is wrong. We came to +the condition in which we now find ourselves by revolution; first the +grand American revolution and then the revolution against chattel +slavery. It was nothing more nor less than revolution, because slavery +was then entrenched under the highest law of the land, the decision of +the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case. We took it out of the courts +and slavery was wiped out. Slavery again will be wiped out! + +"The thing about this case which makes it of most serious importance, +the thing about this case which makes it of public interest, the thing +about this case which has so enlisted the sympathy of every one +connected with it, which makes us feel the importance of a just verdict, +is that it is not merely the liberty of a man that is at stake, but in a +larger measure than you know there is at stake in your verdict in this +case the rights of the working people, their right to organize, their +right to protect themselves, their right to receive and enjoy the fruits +of their labor. + +"There is involved the question of whether or not the working people +shall receive justice or forever must be victimized by organized +capitalists. There is involved the question of whether or not such +things as have gone on in Everett for the last six months may continue +forever with the endorsement of the jury or whether the working people +on the other hand may go and discuss their wrongs and grievances and +strive for their rights. + +"As I have confidence in the righteousness of this cause and the +integrity of this purpose, so I have confidence that your verdict will +be not guilty." + +Attorney Fred Moore closed the case for the defense with one of the +greatest speeches ever delivered in a court room, a speech that seered +its way to the minds and hearts of the jurors. Far more than a defense +of Thomas H. Tracy it was an explanation of the industrial problems +underlying society, the class warfare rooted in industry and manifesting +itself on November 5th. It was a sustained and definite statement of the +aims and objects of the I. W. W. and Moore showed, not only a great +knowledge of the problems of the working class, but a wonderful command +of satire and irony. Following is an abridgement of Moore's speech to +the jury: + +"May it please the court, and ladies and gentlemen of the jury; For a +period of something like five hundred years the Anglo-Saxon has seen fit +to place the final adjustment of the question of justice in the hands of +twelve men. In the evolution of the law, that number has been increased +until now in this state we have fourteen. Likewise, in the evolution of +the law and in the face of the vast amount of public protest, and in the +face of the most reluctant world, we have enlarged the term jurors to +include women jurors. This is the first time that I personally have ever +tried a lawsuit in which ladies sat in the jury. + +[Illustration: HUGO GERLOT] + +"The state has told you why this case is one of grave responsibility for +them. Allow me to tell you why this is one of grave responsibility for +you. One hundred and ninety-six witnesses have appeared for the +defendant in this case. Yesterday, counsel brought home the fact that +many of these witnesses were not residents of this community, were +without homes, without any permanent places of abode. All true. The +responsibility that you have in this case is commensurate with the fact +that the case reveals to you, as it were, a cross-section of our lives. +You who are property-qualified have a responsibility to pass upon the +liberties and the lives of a body of men who are propertyless. If there +is any change in men's thoughts and views as they acquire a home, as +they settle down, as they marry, as they bring into the world children, +then I ask you in all fairness to attempt to put yourselves in the +places of this defendant and of this defendant's witnesses who have +taken the stand, and to realize that your responsibility here is +commensurate with the fact that the testimony reveals, as it were, a +most deplorable condition of modern life. In other words, your +responsibility here is that of measuring out absolute and complete +justice between warring elements in our modern life, not for one moment +allowing your judgment to be swerved by the fact that one class of +witnesses here are witnesses of social position, are witnesses of +property qualifications, are witnesses with homes, while, on the other +hand, the witnesses called by the defense were witnesses from the four +parts of the earth, witnesses whose only claim to your consideration is +that they have built the railroads, that they have laid the ties, that +they have dug the tunnels, that they have harvested the crops, that they +have worked from one end of the country to the other, in season and out, +floating from job to job. + +"In most jurisdictions, the defendant has the opportunity of either a +grand jury investigation or of a preliminary; in other words, he is in +some degree advised of what evidence he is going to be called upon to +meet. In this case, we came in here on the 5th day of March with no +information whatsoever relative to the State's case other than that +given us from the four corners of the instrument on file here, known as +the information, together with the fact that on that information there +were the names of some three hundred or more witnesses. That was all we +had. We were further handicapped in view of the fact that we did not +have behind us all the resources of the State of Washington and the +county of Snohomish, neither did we have behind us all of the resources +of various business interests, neither did we have behind us all the +resources of allied business on this west coast, as represented by Mr. +Veitch." + +Mr. Veitch: To which I take an exception, if the court please. + +The Court: Exception allowed. + +Mr. Veitch: On a matter of personal privilege, I have a right to +characterize that statement as a deliberate misstatement of the fact. + +Mr. Moore: Mr. Veitch has not seen fit to explain why he was here. + +Mr. Veitch: I am employed by friends of Mr. Jefferson Beard. If that is +not enough-- + +Mr. Moore: That is outside of the record. + +The Court: Both of you are outside of the record. Proceed Mr. Moore. + +"Suffice it to say that we are here as the frank and honest +representatives of the defendant and of the defendant's organization. We +do not have behind us the power of the State, or the power of any +interest other than the defendant himself and of his organization. + +"Mr. Black complained that the State had been hampered in this cause. Is +it fair to say that the state has been hampered when on the fatal +November the 5th. Judge Bell and Mr. Cooley were both on the dock? Judge +Bell would have us believe that he was unarmed, and so far as we know +Mr. Cooley was unarmed. Then why were they on the dock? Judge Bell was +there as the representative, as he himself has testified, of a number of +lumber mills, and Mr. Cooley was there likewise; both citizen deputies; +both there; both unarmed if their testimony is to be believed. Again Mr. +Cooley was, in the matter of a few hours, down here at the Seattle jail. +Certainly he was not there to represent the defendant Tracy. Who was he +there to represent? He was either there in a private capacity, +representing private clients, or he was there in a public capacity +representing a public client, namely, Snohomish County. Wherein do you +find the evidence of the State being hampered, sir? From the beginning +to the end the State has moved majestically, exercising all the power +that it had. Mr. Black has had able assistance in this cause, the able +assistance of Mr. Cooley, the able assistance of Mr. Veitch, the able +assistance of the man behind Mr. Cooley and Mr. Veitch, Mr. McLaren. +Yet, all the resources of the State have failed to produce one scintilla +of evidence against the defendant Tracy here so far as tending to +indicate that he did counsel, aid, incite, abet, or encourage anyone to +fire any shot, except the testimony of George Reese produced at the +eleventh hour on rebuttal. I intend to treat of our friend Mr. Reese +later. + +"It is significant that out of all that mass of testimony that has been +introduced in this case up to this time not one single bit of testimony +has been introduced or any argument had upon that testimony dealing with +the object and principles and purpose of the Industrial Workers of the +World. Mr. Black did not refer to it. Mr. Cooley has the final say. I +anticipate his argument for the State. They have that old reliance, that +old faith, if you will, in the trial of a case of this character, namely +conspiracy; hallowed by age. + +"Way back in the sixteenth century the tub women on the banks of the +river Thames were indicted for conspiracy in attempting to raise wages. +The chandlers in London were likewise later indicted. The stonebreakers +in New York, the carpenters in Boston. From time immemorial the charge +of conspiracy has been leveled against the ranks of labor. Indeed, it +was only in the reign of Queen Victoria that labor unions became other +than simple conspiracies. Up to that time labor unions were within a +classification themselves of criminal conspiracy. + +"Knowing that under the charge contained in the information we might be +called upon to meet evidence of conspiracy, we then commenced a careful +survey of all the facts in connection with the Everett tragedy. And +what did we find? We found not a hint of conspiracy! + +[Illustration: Dead body of Abraham Rabinowitz.] + +"James Rowan had come into Everett without knowledge at the time that +there was any trouble there. He had not been advised that there was any +possibility of trouble. From all the prior history of Everett he had no +reason to anticipate trouble. Thompson had spoken there and many others +had spoken there. Rowan was charged with a violation of the peddling +ordinance. He had been given an arbitrary floater out of town and had +exercised his right to come back, was seized again and taken to the city +jail; the sheriff goes there and arbitrarily demands Rowan from the +Chief of Police. These things happened prior to any acts that by any +remote possibility could be charged to us. There was no literature in +the town at that time other than the Industrial Relations report. What +at that time did we have to conspire about? We had no object. + +"And as with Rowan so it was with Thompson, Remick and others. If there +was a conspiracy to violate a city ordinance why did not the city +officials make arrests and charge the men with such violations? The +record is silent. Why wait until Tom Tracy is on trial for murder, and +then at the eleventh hour spring this delightfully specious argument? + +"I can almost hear ringing in my ears the impassioned plea of Mr. Cooley +in closing this case. He is going to read this, 'The question of 'right' +and 'wrong' does not concern us.' He is going to say that is the I. W. +W. philosophy. My God, did it ever concern the sheriff of Snohomish +County? Does it seem very much to concern others who are attempting this +prosecution? + +"We were told in connection with the argument of counsel that Hickey was +not on trial. They might have said that sheriff McRae was not on trial; +they might have said that Bill Pabst was not on trial; they might have +said that Joe Irving was not on trial; they might have said that the +Commercial Club was not on trial; they might have said that all the men +that have been guilty of all the brutality in that County during the +months of August, September and October were not on trial. We know it! +Why are they not on trail? + +"Deprivation of due process of law and confiscation of property! And yet +Mr. Cooley is going to urge that the I. W. W. does not believe in +government; he is going to urge that the I. W. W. does not respect the +law. That kind of law never gets the respect of anyone. I hang my head +in shame before such a history of usurpation and seizure of public +authority as has been shown in this case. + +"Are you going to give the stamp of your approval to this sort of thing? +When you bring in a verdict in this case for the State you give your +approval to Donald McRae. I beg of you to not put the seal of your +approval upon lawlessness, official lawlessness, the kind of lawlessness +that is worse, tenfold worse, than any private lawlessness. + +"You are asked to stamp with your endorsement, to give your approval, to +a man; a public official, the chief executive officer of a municipality, +Mayor Merrill, who admits on the witness stand that he allowed a little +group of members of the Commercial Club to take the power of the police +department out of his office and turn it over to the sheriff of the +county. + +"Had the State put on Governor Clough and others on their side of the +case we might have wrung from their reluctant lips the evidence of what +occurred at the meeting on August 30th at the Commercial Club. But the +State was careful not to put him on. Indeed, the most significant and +outstanding thing in all this case is not who they put on, but who they +did not put on. Neil Jamison did not testify in this case for the State; +Governor Clough did not testify in this case for the State; Joe Irving +did not testify in this case; Colonel Hartley did not testify in this +case; Captain Ramwell did not testify. Why didn't Kelly, Chief of +Police, take the stand? You might go down the line and you will find +that the assets of all the witnesses for the State combined would total +but a few thousand dollars, while you could take the remaining witnesses +for the State who did not testify and you could build up an enormous +fortune, running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. We didn't +call them because we cannot cross-examine our own witnesses. + +"Is the administration of the law to be made a farce? Shall the State be +allowed to blow hot and cold; one minute hot on the enforcement of the +law, the next minute cold when the shoe pinches, and then hot again when +they can use the law for the advancement of the interests of their +prosecution? They say McRae and Hickey are not on trial; there is no +promise that they shall ever be on trial! + +"Let me say to you that no one violates the law, I care not who it is, +just for the fun of violating the law. Jails are not pleasant places to +abide in. People who violate the law and go to jail do so either because +they are deliberately criminal or because they want to focus attention +on some public issue. However, Mr. Black is too kind and considerate +when he gives all this credit to the I. W. W. + +"The facts are, if you go back into the history of the Revolutionary +Days, that our forefathers urged and banded together and combined and +federated, and if you will, conspired to violate the Stamp Act of the +British Government, and were willing to go to jail if necessary. They +went even further! They threw the British tea into Boston Harbor. +Violation of the law? Yes, if you want to call it such, but the +indignant protest of a people as against the enforcement of an unjust +law. + +"I might urge upon you that the State at that time wanted to absolutely +suppress any speech whatsoever, because they had constituted the chief +of police, the sheriff, the arresting officer, as the executive, the +legislative and the judicial department of our government. The sheriff +executed the law in person, the sheriff declared the question of guilt +himself, the sheriff ordered deportations, and the sheriff took physical +charge of the deportations. Isn't it impossible to avoid a fight when +someone usurps unlawfully and illegally the legislative and judicial +functions of government? Isn't it time to fight? If it isn't then we +may as well cease any attempt to administrate the law! + +"In the phraseology of these boys 'Fight' means a moral adherence to +principle, a firm determination to face the authorities in the +administration of the law, and if necessary to be arrested. But the +State would have you put into it now a more sinister meaning, entirely +new and foreign to its former use. + +"The State brought in the death of Sullivan of Spokane in their opening +and abandoned it in their close. One of the exploded hopes of the State! +They counted on North Yakima and Wenatchee to show violence and arson, +and they failed most miserably. They have failed in their identification +of the defendant. Now, their forlorn and bankrupt plea here is the +charge of conspiracy. + +"The court has told you that this is a murder case. Why then has the +State cumbered the record with the I. W. W. preamble and constitution? +Why with two pamphlets on sabotage? Why with an I. W. W. song book and +such matters? Why? + +"Because out of some of the phraseology here, phraseology far removed +from you and me, they may build up a condition of prejudice which may +result in your returning a conviction on a smaller degree of evidence +than you would otherwise require. Mr. Cooley is going to stand here and +read little, short, listed extracts from the context of the whole. The +pamphlets he has introduced on the question of patriotism and the worker +is the foundation from which Mr. Cooley will appeal to your prejudices +and passions. + +"We are not afraid of the evidence. We are afraid of this deep-grained +interest that goes down into men's conscience and that reached back a +thousand years. + +"Remember that behind this case are many women and children whose cause +these boys represent; whose cause these boys are attempting to fight +for. They fight because they must! They fight because to do anything +else is suicide. You could not have stopped the American Revolution with +all the powers of the British government. Since this jury was empaneled +you have had the collapse of one of the greatest powers of modern times. +I refer to Russia. It has passed from an absolute monarchy to a stage of +a republic. + +"The trial of this cause is the presentation of a great social issue, +the greatest issue of modern times, namely, what are we going to do +today with the migratory and occasional workers? These migratories, they +are the boys who have told their story on the stand. + +"If there is one principle that is ground into Anglo-Saxon thought it is +that of liberty of the press and freedom of speech. Those two things +stand as the bulwark of our liberty. They are the things for which the +Anglo-Saxon has fought from time immemorial. Away back in the eighteenth +century Charles Erskine, a member of the British bar, defended Thomas +Paine for having written the 'Rights of Man'. Case after case was fought +out during that period when English thought was budding into fruition; +when English thought was being tremendously influenced by the French +Revolution and when those thoughts were bearing fruit in England. Time +and time again the British crown attempted to throttle freedom of speech +and liberty of the press. Time and time again Charles Erskine's voice +was raised in the House of Lords in protest. Time and time again the +British courts and finally the British jurors, gave voice to the +doctrine that freedom of speech and liberty of the press may not be +invaded except insofar as that subject, that document, is accompanied +with acts; that you may not convict men for what they think; you may +convict men only for what they do. Freedom of discussion thru the press +and thru the public forum are the mainstay and the backbone of social +development and social evolution. Only in that way, thru freedom of +thought and freedom of discussion, may you fan the wheat from the chaff. + +"Why, if this I. W. W. literature is all the State claims it is, why +doesn't the State act in the way the law says they should act, prefer +charges, arrest someone, bring the literature before a duly qualified +body, a court with jurisdiction, and try the matter out? The State has +not done that; the State will not do that; and we are in the position of +a man fighting in the dark, without knowledge of what character of +argument the State proposes to make. + +"I do know that the name of Joe Hill is going to be paraded in front of +this jury. The I. W. W. song book dedicated to Joe Hill, with the +inscription 'Murdered by the authorities of the State of Utah, November +19th, 1915.' I cannot go into the conditions that surround that tragedy, +but I can call your attention to one or two things that bear upon the +question of the type of the man. Before he died, written in his cell on +the eve of the execution, was Joe Hill's last will: + + + My will is easy to decide, + For there is nothing to divide. + My kin don't need to fuss and moan-- + Moss does not cling to a rolling stone. + + My body? Ah, if I could choose, + I would to ashes it reduce, + And let the merry breezes blow + My dust to where some flowers grow. + + Perhaps some fading flower then + Would come to life and bloom again. + This is my last and final will. + Good luck to all of you, JOE HILL. + + +"This is the type of man you are asked, because he was honored, because +some odd hundred thousand workers who suffer and who wander and who live +in the jungles of labor as he did, and because he wrote songs that they +understood, songs that because their songs, to judge as the author of +the songs and bring in a verdict against Tom Tracy. Mr. Cooley will +parade the songs one by one. Remember that behind any words he voices, +any thought he expresses, behind it all was a human soul, a human soul +passed, a human soul that lived as you and I, a human soul that had +rights that had been trampled upon, and who attempted to voice those +things. + +"With all the oratory he can display Mr. Cooley will read the song, +'Christians at War.' A song that Mr. Thompson designated as a satire. +You recollect that when the European war broke out both parties in that +conflict called to their aid and said they were acting under divine +guidance; that the Kaiser was fighting under the name of God, and that +the British and French governments were allied with the Almighty. It is +not for me to attempt a settlement of that dispute. History will say +that of all the tragedies of the Twentieth Century, the most tragic +thing of our modern life is that we of different nationalities, but +bound together by all other ties, should be engaged in a death grapple. +But that is not the issue here. But I cannot at this time anticipate +wherein and how this literature presented by the State helps you to +decide the question of who was the aggressor on November 5th. + +"Who was the aggressor on July 31st when James Rowan was arrested and +brought into the city court? McRae comes in and tells him to get out of +town. An intervening series of events and Levi Remick is run out of +town. Who was the aggressor? Sheriff McRae! On August 22nd Rowan and +Remick were both in the union hall. McRae comes in and orders them out +of town. Who was the aggressor? That night Thompson and others came up +to Everett--who was the aggressor then? Next morning, with Kelly +treating them half way white, along comes McRae and takes away one of +the boy's money. Who was the aggressor? We come now to the deputies +meeting at the Commercial Club on August 30th. Who was the aggressor? +Had any of their members been beaten up? Had anything happened to their +members whatsoever? Not at all! Yet murderous blackjacks were put into +the hands of the membership of the club. Was James Rowan the aggressor +when he was railroaded out of town and beaten? Who was the aggressor at +the time of the 'Wanderer' outrage? Old Capt. Mitten, old John Berg, +Edith Frenette? Who was the aggressor with Henig? With Feinberg? With +Roberts? You have the testimony of Cannow, you have the testimony of +Schofield, you have testimony showing the instructions given to the +deputies. No one denies it. Here is a series of acts leading up to +October 30th, in which on each and every occasion McRae and his +deputies, either regular or citizen deputies, were the aggressors. I +said, who were the aggressors? Is there any question in your mind who +was the aggressor up to Beverly Park? Any question in God's world who +had done the dirty work up to that time? The State would have you +believe that the I. W. W., with its membership coming from the four +corners of the country, changed complexion practically over night, +changed their whole ideas and their methods. I do not believe it and you +do not believe it. + +[Illustration: Part of 78 prisoners of County Everett Wn. Released +May 8, 1917.] + +"The excuse the State gives for the actions of the deputies is that in +the case of large numbers they could not give due process of law. +Gentlemen, I refuse to believe that the Government is bankrupt in its +capacity to protect itself thru legal and lawful measures of law +enforcement. I have yet to sit in a court room and hear a plea on social +and governmental bankruptcy such as is the plea of counsel for the +State. + +"The machinery of the government was there but it was not the kind of +machinery that McRae wanted to use. It was not the kind Clough wanted to +use. It was not the kind of machinery the executive committee, whoever +they were, sitting behind the closed doors of the Commercial Club, +wanted to use. + +"And these members and leaders of the Commercial Club passed resolutions +stigmatizing their own citizens, member of their own community, property +owners in their own town, as well as the I. W. W., when they declared +for an open shop. How do they stigmatize them? 'Professional agitators!' +Yes. Lloyd Garrison was a professional agitator. Wendell Phillips was a +professional agitator. The men who fought the battle that lay the ground +work that made Abraham Lincoln possible, the men who are at work to +better American politics, those men have all been professional +agitators. + +"Now on the boat they were ninety-nine percent I. W. W.'s, just a few +passengers had bought their passage before. On the dock they were all +citizen deputies, persons interested therein, and persons satisfactory +to the men who had been stationed there to see that nobody but the right +ones got on the dock. That means that as far as the first shot was +concerned the two classes of witnesses are in some degree interested +parties. The State put on a total of twenty-two witnesses, one of them +not a deputy, all of whom testified that the shot came, or they thought +it came from the dock, and of that number thirty-seven were I. W. W.'s, +and twenty-four were not members at all but were Everett people from all +walks of life. + +"Now counsel is going to discount the value of the testimony of these +citizens. Well, Mr. Cooley, we used the only kind of witnesses that you, +in all of your care exercised in advance on November 5th, left for us. +In the exercise of the highest degree of judicial advance knowledge they +saw to it that nobody got any closer to the end of the dock than the +landing. We could not help that. You barred us from the dock; you barred +us from access to the facts. We did all we could to get the facts, and +if we couldn't get any closer it was not our fault. And the man who +barred us from access to the facts is the man who is least qualified to +come into court now and urge that our witnesses are disqualified in the +face of the evidence that they disqualified them. But those witnesses +could testify, and they did testify, to the very definite and specific +facts--the first tipping of the boat, the rushing of the men, the volley +firing, all of those matters. + +"At the eleventh hour there came into this case a man by the name of +Reese, a member, if you will, of the I. W. W. Back in the Chicago +stockyards they have a large pen where they keep the cattle which are to +be driven to slaughter. In that place they have had for years a steer +that has performed the function of going into the big pen where all the +cattle are, and, after mingling with them, then walking out thru a gate. +He is trained to do it, he is skilled at it, this steer--and after +walking around with the poor peaceful cattle that don't know they are +about to be killed, this steer then goes up an incline, the gate is +opened and the other cattle follow, and when he gets to the top of the +incline there is a door and he turns to the right thru this door to +safety and his followers turn to the left to death. That's George Reese! +Proud of him? George Reese, the man who reported day by day with his +confederates! To whom? During one period to the Pinkerton agency in +regard to the longshoremen's union; during another period on behalf of +the Pinkerton Agency to the Commercial Club in Everett. George Reese! A +man who doesn't even come under the approximately dignified title of a +detective; a man whom Ahern, of his own agency says, 'Well, he wasn't a +detective, we used him as an informer.' Informer! A human being that has +lost its human color. + +"In connection with the testimony of Reese let me call your attention to +the Industrial Relations Commission Report, a report that our friends of +the Commercial Club had read and knew all about: + +"'Spies in the Union: If the secret agents of employers, working as +members of labor unions, do not always instigate acts of violence, they +frequently encourage them. If they did not they would not be performing +the duties for which they are paid. If they find that labor unions never +discuss acts of violence they have nothing to report to those employing +them. If they do not report matters which the detective agencies +employing them can use to frighten the corporation to cause their +employment, they cannot continue long as spies. Either they must make +reports that are false, in which case discovery would be inevitable, or +they must create a basis on which to make a truthful report. The union +spy is not in business to protect the community. He has little respect +for the law, civil or moral. Men of character do not engage in such +work, and it follows that the men who do are, as a rule, devoid of +principle and ready to go to almost any extreme to please those who +employ them.' + +"That is the descriptive adjective, definition and analysis of the +character of union informants made by the National Industrial +Commission, appointed by President Wilson, and composed of nine men, all +men of national standing, three representatives of labor, three +representatives of capital and three representatives of the general +public. That is their definition, description and classification of that +character of testimony. + +"Mr. Vanderveer closed yesterday by saying that this struggle, whatever +your verdict is, will win. If yours is a verdict of 'not guilty,' Tom +Tracy must take up again the job of finding a job, the endless tragedy +of marching from job to job, without home, wife or kindred. His offense +consists of being a migratory worker. I beg of you to render a verdict +that has due regard and consideration for the tragedy of our twentieth +century civilization that does not as yet measure out economic justice. + +"Your verdict means much. The wires tonight will carry the word all over +this land, into Australia, New Zealand and thruout the world. Your +verdict means much to the workers, their mothers, their children, who +are interested in this great struggle. We are not in this courtroom as +the representatives of one person, two persons or three persons; our +clients run into five or six hundred thousand. We are here as the +mouthpiece of the workers of America, organized and unorganized, and +they are all behind our voices. + +"Tom Tracy stands here in your control. You are the ones to determine +whether or not he shall walk out free, whether or not he shall be +branded for all times with the most serious felony known to the law, +namely, that of a murderer. Can you find it in the evidence to bring in +a verdict of guilty in this case? + +[Illustration: Singing to the Prisoners.] + +"In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, we want no compromise here. When +you retire to your jury room I beg of you not to compromise with any +verdict other than not guilty. We don't want manslaughter in this case, +we don't want second degree murder in this case; it is either first +degree murder or an acquittal, one or the other. Allow none of those +arguments that we, as lawyers, know are made in the juryroom to +influence your honest verdict in this case. We ask at your hands, and we +believe with all the sincerity of our souls, that the evidence warrants +it, we ask a verdict of not guilty for the defendant, Thomas H. Tracy!" + +If the speech of prosecutor Black was a whine, that of prosecutor Cooley +was a yelp and a snarl. Apologies, stale jokes, and sneers at the +propertyless workers followed one another in close succession. The gist +of his harangue was as follows: + +"In this case I am going to try simply in the closing argument to select +a few of the monuments that it seems to me stand out in this case and +that point a way to a proper verdict. + +"Now, in the first place, a whole lot has been said here as to the +nature of the controversy that existed for a number of months before +November the 5th, 1916, between two classes of individuals there at +Everett. Upon the one side were the people who were living in the city +of Everett, who had made their homes there, who had come there for the +purpose of carrying out their future destiny in that city. It was their +home. Their interests were there. Their families were there. And upon +the other side were a class of people who did not claim Everett as their +home, who did not come there for the purpose of amalgamating with the +citizenship of the city of Everett. They were not coming there because +they had work there, nor because they were seeking work there; they were +not citizens of Everett, nor were they seeking to become citizens of +Everett, and there arose a controversy between the citizens of Everett +on the one hand and these people from the four corners of the earth upon +the other. The first thing we want to inquire into to find out if we can +from the testimony in this case exactly what was the nature of that +trouble that existed between them. Why was it that upon the one hand +there was a band of people congregated down here in the city of Seattle +from all over the land and making one excursion after another, +attempting to break into the city of Everett? Why was it that there were +citizens of Everett up there seeking to do only one thing, asking only +one thing, that these people keep away from Everett? + +"Was it a fight to win the right of free speech on the one hand? Was it +a fight on the other hand of a group of individuals who were simply +seeking to force the open shop? Or was it a fight of a more serious +nature on either hand? + +"I grant you that the origin of the trouble arose because a man was +seeking to speak upon the streets of Everett and he was stopped. But +long before November 5th that original incident was lost sight of and +forgotten. The controversy had grown to a magnitude that overshadowed +the original incident. It was necessary in order that you might +understand the situation with which the people of Everett were +confronted that you should be apprised of the nature of the organization +to which those people belong, that you should be apprised of the nature +of the place in the world that they had attained, and that you should be +apprised of the nature of their propaganda that they were seeking to +inject into the city of Everett and that locality. + +"I want to say right here and now that I have the highest regard for +organized labor. Labor has the right to organize. There is not any +question about it; there is not any dispute about it. Labor has +organized and it has made a manful fight, and all down the pages of +history you will find that labor, thru its organization and thru its +lawful methods pursued under its organization, has gradually bettered +its condition. + +"It is not a question, and never has been in this case, as to the right +of the labor men to organize; the right of the laboring man to use all +of the lawful methods for the purpose of bettering his condition. The +question in this case is as to whether any organization, whether it be +a labor organization or any other, has the right to use unlawful +methods; whether it has the right, because it may have the power, to use +unlawful methods. + +"Now there were coming into the city of Everett people representing this +organization known as the Industrial Workers of the World. What was the +propaganda that they were seeking to introduce there? They put upon the +stand their chief exponent in this part of the country, to tell you what +their purpose was in coming to the city of Everett, and what the +doctrines were that they were teaching to the people that congregated +there in the city of Everett. Mr. Thompson was upon the stand for about +two days, and he delivered to this jury a lecture, which he says was a +resume of three lectures that he gave up there in the city of Everett. +He was asked whether or not he talked on sabotage and he told you what +he had to say about it. He said sabotage was 'a conscious withdrawal of +efficiency, a folding of the arms.' But Thompson says it is never the +destruction of property, and yet the organization that sends him out to +talk on sabotage puts out right along with him the literature that has +been adopted by the I. W. W. as a part of their propaganda, defining +what sabotage really is and it gives the lie to Mr. Thompson. It may +mean working slow; it may mean poor work; it may mean folding of arms; +it may mean conscious withdrawal of efficiency. So far sabotage is legal +and anyone has a right to use it. But it may mean the spoiling of a +finished product, it may mean the destruction of parts of machinery, it +is the destruction of property. 'Sabotage is a direct application of the +idea that property has no rights that its creators are bound to +respect.' It does not say that certain kinds of property has no rights, +but that there is no property that has any rights that are bound to be +respected. But Thompson says that is not sabotage. + +"Sabotage is what? Where is that old song book? Let us see whether it +means simply the folding of the arms. (Cooley dived into a mass of +pamphlets, but being unable to locate the song book he came up with +Elizabeth Gurley Flynn's pamphlet on Sabotage, reading from it as +follows:) 'Sabotage itself is not clearly defined. Sabotage is as broad +and changing as industry, as flexible as the imagination and passions of +humanity.' Why, if it consisted simply of a folding of the arms, if it +consisted simply of the withdrawal of efficiency, there would not be +much flexibility to it, would there, and the passions of humanity would +have nothing to do with it? That language means that sabotage means +anything that the imagination can devise and the passions of men adopt, +if they had the power to use it and get away with it. Oh, it is not +wrong! No matter what form it takes it is not wrong, because they say so +in their official publication. 'The tactics used are determined solely +by the power of the organization to make good in their use. The question +of 'right' and 'wrong' does not concern us.' Put the two together. +Legality and illegality, those terms have no meaning to a man of the +Industrial Workers of the World. Why? Because there is no law that they +are bound to respect except the law that is made by them in their own +union hall. It is in the song book, 'Make your laws in the union hall, +the rest can go to hell.' That is the class of people that we had to +deal with, who were coming there to Everett. + +"In Spokane there were twelve hundred convictions upon a valid +ordinance, and yet, after they had convicted a hundred of them they +didn't stop coming, and two hundred, and two hundred and fifty, and five +hundred, and they continued coming there until the city jail of the city +of Spokane was filled, until the county jail of Spokane county was +filled, until an old deserted school house was filled, and then until an +army post jail was filled. A species of sabotage! They weren't willing +to accept the verdict of one jury, or ten juries, or of a hundred +juries, that they were violating the law. They had made their laws in +their union halls and they were going to speak at a certain place, upon +a certain street of Spokane; and they were going to compel the citizens +of Spokane to let them speak when they pleased, where they pleased, and +say what they pleased; and they kept it up until after Spokane had the +expense of a thousand trials and had upon its hands a thousand +defendants it began to think it had better yield and let them speak when +they pleased, where they pleased and say what they pleased. And Spokane +was licked! + +[Illustration: Charles Ashleigh speaking at the funeral, of Looney, +Baran and Gerlot.] + +"Is it any wonder that the citizens of Everett said 'If you have no +regard for law we will meet you on your own ground; we are not going to +be bankrupted; we are not going to be hammered into defeat as they were +in Spokane; we are not going to have you sabotage us in that manner by +your numbers; we are not going to have your people coming from the +Dakotas, from Montana, from Oregon, and from all over the various parts +of the state of Washington, and camping down on us until we surrender to +you. We are going to keep you out of here.' Now, that may not have been +strictly legal, but it was human nature. + +"There is not hint anywhere in the argument of either counsel for the +defense in this case as to what was ever done in the city of Everett by +the I. W. W. that would constitute new methods and new tactics. Do you +remember the testimony over a period of time there before Labor Day that +they allowed them to speak without interference and a meeting was held +there and every time they went up with a chip on their shoulder and were +not satisfied when no one interfered with them. When they were there +speaking on the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore somebody was going around +the city of Everett distributing a nasty stinking chemical in the +theater building, into the store buildings, into the business houses, +into the automobiles. And the paper in the next issue gloats over it and +intimates that the reason the officers did not arrest Feinberg was +because they were evidently too busy chasing a cat of malodorous +tendencies. When Thompson was upon the stand and was being questioned +about sabotage and about cats; he could tell you what a cat was, he got +a bit halting in his speech when he was asked what it meant when they +said that the claws of the cat had been sharpened, when he was asked +what a 'sabcat' meant, but when he was asked as to what a cat of +'malodorous tendencies' was he said he didn't know unless it was a +skunk. But by that was meant that the skunk accomplishes sabotage. You +never heard of a skunk that did sabotage by simply a withdrawal of +efficiency, never! + +"Now as to incendiary and phosphorous fires. Fire Chief Terrell tells +you that up to the date of September 28th, the date of the first known +phosphorous fire in Everett, that up to that time, in all of his +experience upon the fire force of the city of Everett, it never had come +to his knowledge or observation in any way that a phosphorous fire had +ever occurred in the city. It occurred there, known to be a phosphorous +fire, and within a period of two months at least two other fires +occurred, mysterious, the origin unknown because the fire had progressed +to such an extent that no one could tell how it did start." + +Mr. Vanderveer: Didn't your detective go to work September 21st? + +Mr. Cooley: Yes sir, he did. + +"And they would have you believe that the detective was up there setting +those fires. That, I know, is an insinuation not supported by any +evidence in this case, and the detective wasn't working up there, he was +operating down here in the city of Seattle. He was sending his reports +to Blain before the Wanderer started out, before the men started out on +October 30th, and that goes a good way to explain how it happened how +these people were met on these different excursions and were not +permitted to come within the city of Everett. They were trying to get +into the city of Everett, to use their own judgment, to act on their own +initiative, according to instructions that had gone out. And the +officers stopped the thing before it started. + +"What were they coming to Everett for, these forty-one men who were met? +Were they coming to hold a street meeting? Forty-one men, enthused with +the enthusiasm of the belief in their grand and glorious doctrine that +they are teaching, forty-one men starting out as crusaders to carry the +gospel of their organization to the benighted of Everett, forty-one +going up there to be martyrs, to be beaten for the cause, and nothing +else! + +"I have told of the tactics and methods advocated, used and encouraged, +by this peculiar, particular organization, so you can judge the +character, purpose and intentions of the individuals that were seeking +from time to time to force themselves into the city of Everett, in order +that you may judge the two hundred and sixty that left on the Verona on +November the 5th. + +"But there is another matter you should likewise take into consideration +in determining the character of the individuals of that crowd. +Regardless of all environment, regardless of the effect of all +legislation, regardless of all social conditions, men are born--not all +with the same propensities, not all with the same natural ambitions, not +all with the same qualifications, and out of the entire mass of humanity +there is a certain percentage that were born without any ambition, born +without any incentive; they go thru life without any incentive, +constantly tired. Now I am not here to say that all the I. W. W.'s are +that kind of people. I am not here to say that because a man is a member +of the I. W. W. he is a tramp or a hobo. But there is a class that has +been recognized in this country ever since the country existed, a class +that don't want to work, that would not work if you gave them an +opportunity. These are a percentage, I don't know how large, and I say +that every one of these people are members of the I. W. W. organization +or should be. Why? Well, in the first place, you don't have to show any +qualification for any line of work. You don't have to make proof of +anything whatever to become a member of that organization. And is there +any inducement for a man who has been drifting here and there, walking +the ties, counting the mile posts as he walks from one place to another, +to join that organization? It gives him a pass upon every freight train +that travels the length and breadth of the land. One of the best +inducements in the world. + +"There is another class of people in this country that are born with +criminal instincts implanted in their very natures; they are scattered +all over this land and we have them with us and we will always have them +with us. There are men who are driven to crime thru misfortune; there +are men who commit crime under the influence of environment; but there +is a percentage of men who are habitual, natural and instinctive +criminals. Now I don't say that because a man is a member of the I. W. +W. he is necessarily and instinctively a criminal, but I do say that +every habitual, instinctive criminal, who knows that he intends to +violate the law upon every opportunity to satisfy his own criminal +desire, has every inducement to become a member of that organization. + +"There are a few uncontested and undisputed facts in connection with the +occurrence at the dock. Jefferson Beard was killed on that dock. No +doubt about that! The defendant was on the boat. No question about that! +There is no question that the conversation between McRae and the people +on the boat occurred substantially in the language that you have heard +repeated here by witnesses for the State and for the defense, all +agreeing that the conversation preceded the shooting. There is no +dispute that McRae turned partially away from the boat and that one of +the first three shots fired hit McRae while he was turning. The burden +of the whole argument of the defense was that when somebody on the boat +saw McRae put his hand on his gun he was justified in shooting. It is +not material whether Tracy shot Jefferson Beard or somebody else. It is +not material whether Tracy fired a gun or not, provided the evidence in +this case satisfies you beyond a reasonable doubt that Tracy was a party +to the conspiracy to go up to the city of Everett to violate an +ordinance of the city of Everett. + +"But have you any doubt that Tracy was seen on the boat? Hogan saw the +window and he saw a man with his face at the window shooting in his +direction. Hogan wasn't thinking of the exact angle at which the boat +was standing to the dock, but he knows he was standing at such an angle +to the boat that he could see a man in a certain place on the boat. And +he testified he did see him. + +"It wasn't Thomas Tracy that was looking out of that window, it was +Martin. It wasn't Thomas Tracy dressed for the occasion, it wasn't +Thomas Tracy shaven for a picnic, it wasn't Thomas Tracy wearing a +Sunday countenance, it wasn't Thomas Tracy gazing placidly out of a mild +blue eye! It was Thomas Tracy, alias Martin, with his face drawn down +into a scowl of hatred, with his eyebrows lowering over his eyes, gazing +at John Hogan, not only gazing at him thru a window, but gazing at him +over a gun! And if there is anything that would impress itself into the +memory and recollection of a man it is the remembrance of a face filled +with venomous hatred, the eyes shooting daggers at you while he is +gazing at you over the muzzle of a gun--and you are not going to forget +that! + +"Counsel for the defense says this is an important trial, that important +questions are involved, that the verdict in this case will have a great +deal to do with the ultimate future of the working man and organized +labor. I don't think that matters of that kind should enter the minds of +the jurors in arriving at a verdict, but if it does, I want to +supplement what counsel for the defense has said. I want to say that in +my mind a verdict in this case will have much to do with the future +success and the future advancement of honest labor in every line and in +all organizations. It will have much to do with clarifying the situation +insofar as this one organization is concerned. Every organization don't +preach the doctrines that are preached by this organization, and if this +jury by its verdict does not support that kind of method and that kind +of procedure it will aid in purifying an organization that otherwise +might do a world of good, but as it stands today, uttering the +propaganda that it does, pursuing the tactics that it does it, is a +menace not only to society, but is a menace to the welfare of the other +labor organizations that believe in pursuing lawful methods, in a lawful +manner. This is an important case in that regard. + +"I believe that it is a fortunate thing that a jury of King County and a +jury from the city of Seattle should have been called to try this case. +The seed was not planted in Snohomish County! The plot was not hatched +in Snohomish County! It was hatched down here in Seattle. The expedition +started out from Seattle, not this one alone but many of them. Seattle +was the base, the enemy's base, and it was from here that they started. +Just down here almost in sight of this court house is the place where we +claim the plot was formed, and it has come back here, and we come into +court and lay it at your feet. They returned here, they have brought the +case here for trial, and we are satisfied. Now we lay it before you and +say,--'As citizens of Seattle do justice to the city of Everett and +Snohomish County.'" + +With these words ringing in their ears the twelve jurors retired for +their deliberations, the court having entered an order discharging from +further service the two alternate jurors, Efaw and Williams. + +Retiring shortly before noon, the jury consulted for nearly twenty-two +hours, taking ballot after ballot only to find that there were some who +steadfastly refused to agree to any compromise verdict. Then, shortly +after nine o'clock on May 5th, two full calendar months after the start +of the trial and just six months to the day from the time of the tragedy +of the Verona, Foreman James R. Williams announced the result of their +deliberations, and the word sped out to the many hundred thousands who +had spent an anxious and sleepless night; + +"We, the jury, find the defendant, Thomas H. Tracy, NOT GUILTY!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +SOLIDARITY SCORES A SUCCESS + + +"I. W. W. Not Guilty!" + +In this headline the daily papers of Seattle, Washington, gave the +findings of the jury. With an unbroken series of successful prosecutions +of Labor to the credit of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association +this, the first great victory for the working class on the Pacific +Coast, was a bitter pill for the allied employers and open shop +interests to swallow. + +With Tracy freed and the I. W. W. exonerated, there was nothing for the +Snohomish County officials to do but to release the rest of the free +speech prisoners. Yet the same contemptible spirit that had marked their +actions from the very start of the trouble led them to hold the +prisoners for several days and to try to make a few of the men think +that there would be a trial of a second prisoner. + +Part of the men were released in Seattle and part in Everett. All went +at once to the I. W. W. hall upon gaining their freedom, and from there +nearly the whole body of released men went to Mount Pleasant cemetery to +visit the graves of their dead fellow workers. + +Returning to the hall, those who had previously been delegates, or who +had fitted themselves for the work while in jail, immediately took out +credentials and started on an organizing campaign of the Northwest, with +the uniting of the workers in the lumber industry as their main object. + +[Illustration: Gus Johnson Felix Baran John Looney] + +[Illustration: Hugo Gerlot Abraham Rabinowitz] + +The dearth of workers due to the war, the tremendous advertisement the +I. W. W. had received because of the tragedy and the trial, and the +spirit of mingled determination and resentment that had grown up in the +jail, made the work easy for these volunteer organizers. Members joined +by the dozen, then by the score, and finally by the hundreds. + +Seattle had but two officials under pay on November 5th--Herbert +Mahler, secretary of the I. W. W., and J. A. MacDonald, editor of the +Industrial Worker. By July 4th, 1917, one year from the time of the +loggers' convention at which there were only half a hundred paid up +members, the I. W. W. in Seattle had thirty people under pay, working at +top speed to take care of the constantly increasing membership, and +preparations were under way to launch the greatest lumber strike ever +pulled in the history of the industry with the eight hour day as the +main demand. That strike in which thousands of men stood out for week +after week in the face of persecution of every character, in the face of +raids upon their halls and the illegal detention of hundreds of members +by city, county, state and federal agents, and in the face of +deportations by mobs of lumber trust hirelings, deserves a volume to +itself. + +This activity in the lumber industry reflected itself in all other +lines, particularly so in construction projects all over the Northwest. +Demands for literature, for speakers, for organizers, flooded the +offices of the organization and many opportunities to organize had to be +passed by simply because there were not enough men capable of taking up +the work. + +Part of this growth was of those who had interested themselves in the +trial. Many of those who had gone on the witness stand for the defense +afterwards took out membership cards in the I. W. W. The women of +Everett,--considerably more inclined toward revolutionary ideas than the +men there, by the way,--were among the first to ask for a "red card." + +Too great praise cannot be given to those who voluntarily gave their +services to the defense and thus helped to bring about a verdict of +acquittal. Thru the work of Mr. A. L. Carpenter a great deal of valuable +information was secured and it was thru his efforts that Deputy Joseph +Schofield was brought from Oregon to testify for the defense. For his +activity on behalf of organized labor Mr. Carpenter received the rebel's +reward--he was discharged from his position as district manager of a +large corporation. Scores of Everett citizens gave splendid assistance +to the defense, asking only that their names be withheld on account of +the Commercial Club blacklist. + +All persons directly in the employ of the defense proved their worth. +Deserving special mention in their work of investigation were Rev. T. T. +Edmunds, W. A. Loomis and John M. Foss. The Reverend Edmunds, being no +follower of a "cold statistical Christ" and having more of +humanitarianism than theology or current religion in his makeup, was +able to gain information where many another investigator might have +failed. The expert services of Loomis were of no less value, while the +particular merit of the work of John Foss was that he went to Everett +immediately after the catastrophe, at a time when chaos still reigned +and when the blood-lust of the deputies had not yet completely given way +to craven fear, and worked there night and day until a verdict of +acquittal for his fellow workers was practically assured. Both as an +investigator and as correspondent to the I. W. W. press, C. E. Payne, +familiarly known as "Stumpy," proved himself invaluable. Charles +Ashleigh handled the publicity for the Everett Prisoners' Defense +Committee in an able and efficient manner, while to Herbert Mahler +credit is due for the careful and painstaking handling of the large fund +raised to fight the case thru the courts. + +"Justice" is an expensive luxury in the lumber kingdom. Independent of +the large amount of money spent directly by individuals and by branches +of the I. W. W. the cost of the verdict of acquittal was $37,835.84. +Nearly thirty-eight thousand dollars! Thirty-eight thousand dollars to +free innocent workers from the clutches of the law! The victims in jail +and the murderers at liberty! But then, the last thing expected of +"Justice" is that it be just. + +Whence came the fund that, as a token of solidarity, set the free speech +prisoners at liberty? In the financial statement of the Everett +Prisoners Defense Committee it is set forth in full. Summarized, this +report shows that Labor united in the defense of the prisoners, that, +while this case was more largely financed directly thru the I. W. W. +than any other trial of the organization, there were many and generous +contributions from local unions of the American Federation of Labor, +from the Workers' Sick and Death Benefit Fund, from various other +working class societies and from sources so numerous as to make special +mention impossible. But these receipts varied from a dollar bill sent by +"A poor Working Stiff" from North Bend, Oregon, to a donation of $3.75 +from the Benevolent Society for the Propagating of Cremation at Yonkers, +New York. + +Hundreds of dollars were raised in Seattle by the I. W. W. thru smokers, +dances, theatrical benefits, entertainments and collections by speakers +who told the story of Bloody Sunday before societies of every kind and +character. The Dreamland Rink meetings, attended in every instance by +thousands of people, were the means of bringing hundreds of dollars to +the defense. A considerable fund was raised directly within the +organization by the sale of embossed leatherette membership card cases +issued in memoriam to the martyred dead. In Seattle notable service was +rendered by the International Workers' Defense League. + +[Illustration: May First at Graveside of Gerlot, Baran and Looney.] + +The nature of the case demanded heavy expenditures unlike those required +in any of the previous trials in which I. W. W. members were involved. +Many of the witnesses were men who had beaten their way from long +distances thru storms and snow to be in readiness to testify in behalf +of their imprisoned fellow workers, and most of these had to be +maintained at a relief station until called upon the stand. The care of +the wounded was an added item, and there were many necessary +expenditures for the big body of prisoners held as defendants. To each +of the men who was released at the end of the six months imprisonment +there was given a sum of $10. Owing to the sweeping nature of the +conspiracy charges and because of the large number of witnesses endorsed +by the State, all of whom required investigation, there was a large sum +required for use in taking these necessary legal precautions. Heavy +charges were also made for the work of the stenographers who recorded +the evidence, this being an item borne by the State in most parts of the +country. The totals of these expenditures were as follows: + + + Counsel fees in full $8,470.00 + Legal investigation 8,955.36 + Court stenographers 3,354.30 + Miscellaneous legal expense 1,304.20 + Office expense 1,942.53 + Publicity work 4,830.44 + Miscellaneous accounts 8,457.37 + ---------- + Total expenditures $37,314.20 + + +A balance of $521.64 was sent to the General Headquarters of the I. W. +W. and this, with $581.36 which remained in the General Office from the +sale of voluntary assessment stamps, was set aside as a fund to be used +for the maintenance of Harry Golden, Joseph Ghilezano and Albert +Scribner, three of the boys who were seriously injured on the Verona. + +The financial report was audited by E. G. Shorrock and Co., certified +accountants, and by a committee composed of Harry Feinberg and J. H. +Beyer, representing the prisoners, C. H. Rice, representing the Seattle +unions of the I. W. W., and General Executive Board member, Richard +Brazier, representing the General Headquarters of the I. W. W. The +statement made to contributors to the fund concluded with these +expressive words: + +"On behalf of the defendants, and the Industrial Workers of the World, +we take this opportunity to express our grateful appreciation to all +contributors, and to all the brave men and women who assisted us so +nobly in this great struggle to save seventy-three workingmen from a +living death at the hands of the Lumber Trust and the allied commercial +bodies of the Pacific Coast. + +"It was the solidarity of the working class, and that alone, which +brought about this great victory for labor, so let us turn fresh from +victory, with determined hearts and unquellable spirit to unflinchingly +continue the struggle for the liberation of all prisoners of the class +war, remembering always that greatest expression of solidarity, 'An +injury to one, is an injury to all.' + + + "THE EVERETT PRISONERS DEFENSE COMMITTEE. + + THOMAS MURPHY, + CHARLES ASHLEIGH, + WM. J. HOUSER, + RICHARD SMITH, + HERBERT MAHLER, Sec'y-Treas." + + Seattle, Wash., + June 12th, 1917. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE BANKRUPTCY OF "LAW AND ORDER" + + +The facts in this case speak pretty well for themselves. To draw +conclusions at length would be an impertinence. He who runs may read the +signs of decay of Capitalism, the crumbling of a social system based +upon the slavery and degradation of the vast majority of mankind. And +from the lips of the prosecution counsel--the Voice of the State--we +have the open and frank acknowledgement of the bankruptcy of law and +order, the failure of government as it is now administered. + +It is no part of this work to attack The Law. The Law is august, +majestic in its impartial findings and the equality of its judgements, +always however with due allowance for those subtle distinctions so +incomprehensible to the masses which exist between high finance, +kleptomania and theft. The Law strips no one of his possessions; under +its beneficent reign the rich retain their wealth and the poor keep +their poverty. Founded on dogma and moulded by tradition, The Law stands +as a mighty monument to Justice. It is ever in this way that we show our +respect and reverence for the dead. Being an outgrowth of precedent it +gains added sanctity with each fresh proof of antiquity, differing in +this regard from automobiles, eggs, women, hats, the six best sellers, +and the commoner things of life. Surrounded by mysticism, surcharged +with the language of the dead, and sustained by force, who is there +would have the temerity to question the sanctity of The Law? + +It remained for Attorneys Black and Cooley--and not for the outcast +industrial unionists, socialists or anarchists--to charge that The Law +is a bankrupt institution, and it was for the citizen-deputies--and not +for the despised workers--to prove the truth of the indictment. Truly +Society moves in a mysterious way its blunders to reform! + +With the true logic of the counting-house Cooley admitted that the mill +owners had formed a mob to protect themselves from the rabble, they had +pursued illegal methods to prevent the breaking of The Law, they had +jailed men in order to preserve Liberty, they had even blacklisted union +men in order to give to every man the right to work where, when and for +whom he pleased. There is no escaping such logic if one owns property. +Of course those who possess no property are the natural enemies of +property, and law being based upon property, they are defiers of The +Law, and Society being upheld only by observance of The Law, they are +the foes of Society. It is not best to kill them in too large numbers +for they are useful in doing the work of the world, but they must be +kept in fear and trembling of The Law and made to respect it as sacred +and inviolable, even if we do not. So argued Black and Cooley. + +But the whine of Black, the snarl of Cooley, the moody silence of +Veitch, alike served as a confession that "law and order" was a failure. +The plea of the State was that all law is the creature of property and +when the power of the law proves inadequate in its function of +protecting the accumulations of wealth the possessors of property are +justified in supplementing The Law with such additional physical or +brute force as they can muster, or in casting aside The Law altogether, +as it suits their convenience. To the workers The Law must remain sacred +while to the leisure class Property is the thing to worship, for however +much robbery is to be condemned, the proceeds of robbery are always to +be respected. + +Their further contention was that the streets are for traffic, for +maintaining commerce, in other words to aid in the gathering of property +and to enhance the property values already cleared. Out of the +graciousness of their hearts the business men and employers allow the +pedestrians to use the streets incidental to the purchase of goods or to +journey to and from their tasks in the factories, mines, mills and +workshops. That the streets might be used for social, religious, +political or educational purposes does not enter their calculations, +their ledgers carry no place for such entries on the profit side. Free +speech is tolerated at times provided nothing of importance is said. + +Two trials were going on in the court room at the same time; that of +Thomas H. Tracy and the I. W. W. before a property-qualified jury, and +that of the existing system of law enforcement before the great jury of +the working class. And just as surely as was the verdict that of +acquittal for Tracy and his union, was there a most decided judgment of +Guilty upon "law and order." For Tracy was not freed by the law but by +the common sense of the jury who refused to consider him guilty and +viewed him as a class rather than as an individual. Under the existing +conspiracy laws he might well have been considered technically guilty. +But "law and order" technically and otherwise was proven guilty, and the +charge that Capitalism is guilty of first degree murder, and a host of +other crimes, was clearly proven. + +Why? Why all the brutality depicted herein? Why? + +The answer is that we are living in an insane social system in which +money ranks higher than manhood. + +To be more specific the outrages at Everett had their roots in the +belief that the men who labor, and especially the migratory and the +unskilled element, form an inferior caste or class to those who exploit +them. The dominant class viewed any attempt to claim even the same civil +rights as an assault upon their supremacy and integrity,--this to them +being synonymous with social order and civilization. This is always more +evident where a single industry dominates, as evidenced by the +occurrences at Ludlow, in the coal district, Mesaba in the iron ore +section, and Bisbee where copper is the main product. Everett +controlled by the lumber interests clinches the argument. + +A community dominated by an industry, impelled by a desire for high +profits; or under the spell of fear or passion, whether justified or +not, cannot be restrained by law from a summary satisfaction of its +desires or a quieting of its apprehensions. Before such a condition the +fabric of local government crumbles and lynch law is substituted for the +more orderly processes designed to attain the same end. The Everett +outrages were no example of the rough and ready justice of primitive +communities. The outlaws were in full possession of local government, +legislative, judicial, and executive, yet they fell back upon brute +force and personal violence and attempted to protect the lumber trust +profits by tactics of terrorism. + +Insofar as the law can be wielded for their immediate purpose a +capitalistic mob, such as these at Everett, will clothe their violence +in the form of ostensible legal process, yet often the letter and the +spirit of their own class-influenced laws will be ruthlessly thrust +aside. They want law and order, efficacious, impartial, august, in the +eyes of the general citizenry, but they want exemption of their class +from the rule of the law on certain occasions. Strongly would they deny +that all law is class law, made, interpreted and administered in behalf +of a privileged property-owning class, yet the facts bear out this +contention. + +The conception of impersonal and impartial legalism has been generally +accepted along with traditional moral opinion and the naive belief in +the excellence of competitive, individualistic, and unrestrained +business. But this historical case has proven, as nothing else could +prove, that these bonds are relaxing and the faith and formulas +underlying the whole legal establishment are the subject of attack by an +increasingly large and uncompromising army of dissenters. + +From the developments of the Everett situation one can sense the rising +tide of industrial solidarity. It was the unity of the workers that won +the great case. It will be the unity of Labor that will win the world +for the workers, just as the embryonic democracy of the toilers in its +blind groupings has already cracked the shell of the industrial +autocracy of the present day. + +At present we are at the parting of the ways. There is not sufficient +faith in the Law to hold the dying wage system together and there is not +a sufficiently clear conception of the solidaric ideal of a new society +to bind the rebellious elements to a definite program. So chaos reigns +in society and events like those at Everett may be expected to arise +until the struggle of the exploited takes on a more constructive form +and develops the necessary power to overthrow capitalism and all its +attendant institutions. + +Industrial unionism is the only hope of the disinherited and +dispossessed proletariat. It is the voice of the future. It spells at +once Evolution and Revolution. Its assured success means an end to +classes and class rule and the rearing of a race of free individuals. + +The strength of the workers is in industry. Every worker, man, woman or +child, has economic power. The control of industry means the control of +the world. + +He who strives to bring the workers closer together so that their +allied forces in an industrial organization may overthrow the wage +system and rear in its place an Industrial Republic in which slavery +will be unknown and where joy will form the mainspring of human +activity, pays the highest homage to those who, in order that the spirit +of Liberty might not perish from the land, gave their lives at Everett, +Washington, on Sunday, November 5th, 1917: + + + FELIX BARAN, + HUGO GERLOT, + GUSTAV JOHNSON, + JOHN LOONEY, + ABRAHAM RABINOWITZ. + + +FINISH + + * * * * * + +SONGS + +Of The Workers + +The Latest + +I. W. W. SONG BOOK + +General Defense Edition + +Contains sixty-four pages of satirical, humorous and inspiring songs of +labor. Parodies on the well known popular airs. Wherever the English +language is spoken, there will be found countless numbers of workers +singing these real rebel songs. + +[Illustration] + +PRICES + +Single Copies Ten Cents + +$5.00 a Hundred + +Address + +I. W. W. Publishing Bureau + +1001 W. Madison St., Chicago, Ill. + + * * * * * + +I. W. W. LITERATURE + +I. W. W. Publishing Bureau + +1001 W. Madison St., Chicago + +Pamphlets at 10c Each, or 3.50 Per Hundred + + I. W. W. History, Structure & Methods (St. John), revised + Industrial Unionism, the Road to Freedom (Ettor) + The Evolution of Industrial Democracy (Woodruff) + One Big Union, The Greatest Thing on Earth + Advancing Proletariat (Woodruff) + Patriotism and the Worker (Hervé) + Onward Sweep of the Machine Process (Hanson) + Red Down (Harrison George) + Is Freedom Dead? + + +Pamphlets at 10c Each, or $5.00 Per Hundred + + The I. W. W. Song Book. + The General Strike (Haywood); also containing "The Last War." + Proletarian and Petit Bourgeois (Lewis) + The General Secretary's Report of the Tenth Convention + Hotel, Restaurant and Domestic Workers (L. S. Chumley) + Revolutionary Writings (Kelly Cole) + + +Books at Various Prices + + The New Unionism (Tridon), 35c per copy 100 $25.00 + Opening Statement of G. F. Vanderveer, 25c 100 20.00 + Cloath Bound, 50c per copy 100 35.00 + Testimony of William D. Haywood Before + the Industrial Relations Commission, 15c 100 10.00 + Trial of New Society (Ebert), 50c per copy 100 35.00 + Proceedings 10th Convention, 50c per copy 100 35.00 + The Everett Massacre, Cloath Bound, $1.00 100 75.00 + Indictment, 25c per copy 100 20.00 + + +I. W. W. Leaflets + + I. W. W. Industrial Unionism (St. John), 5c + per copy 100 $1.00 + High Cost of Living (Dougherty), 5c per copy 100 1.00 + Metal and Machinery Workers (leaflet) 100 .25 + To Colored Working Men and Women 100 .30 + + +Songs and Music by Joe Hill + + 25c copy; 5 for $1.00; 10 or more, 15c each. + Workers of the World, Awaken! + The Rebel Girl. + Don't Take My Papa Away from Me. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Everett massacre, by Walker C. 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Smith. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + hr.smler { width: 10%; } + .mynote { background-color: #DDE; color: black; padding: .5em; margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; } /* colored box for notes at beginning of file */ + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; border: none; text-align: right; } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + text-indent: 0px; + } /* page numbers */ + .s3 {display: inline; margin-left: 3em;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .block {margin: auto; text-align: center; width: 30em;} + .block2 {margin: auto; text-align: center; width: 35em;} + .right {text-align: right;} + .left {text-align: left;} + .tbrk {margin-bottom: 2em;} + + .mono {font-family: monospace;} + + .fnanchor { font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem div {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem div.i1 {display: block; margin-left: 1em;} + .poem div.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem div.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 3em;} + .poem div.i5 {display: block; margin-left: 5em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Everett massacre, by Walker C. Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Everett massacre + A history of the class struggle in the lumber industry + +Author: Walker C. Smith + +Release Date: March 28, 2010 [EBook #31810] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EVERETT MASSACRE *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class = "mynote"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:<br /><br /> +A Table of Contents and List of Illustrations have been added.</p></div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + +<h1>The Everett Massacre</h1> + +<h2>By Walker C. Smith</h2> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h2>A History of the Class Struggle<br />in the Lumber Industry</h2> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/tpage.jpg" width='250' height='150' alt="Decoration" /></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h3>I. W. W. Publishing Bureau<br />Chicago, Ill.</h3> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<div class="block"><p>This book is dedicated to those loyal soldiers of the great class war +who were murdered on the steamer Verona at Everett, Washington, in the +struggle for free speech and free assembly and the right to organize:</p> + +<p><span class="s3"> </span>FELIX BARAN,<br /><span class="s3"> </span><span class="s3"> </span>HUGO GERLOT,<br /> +<span class="s3"> </span><span class="s3"> </span><span class="s3"> </span>GUSTAV JOHNSON,<br /> +<span class="s3"> </span><span class="s3"> </span><span class="s3"> </span><span class="s3"> </span>JOHN LOONEY,<br /> +<span class="s3"> </span><span class="s3"> </span><span class="s3"> </span><span class="s3"> </span><span class="s3"> </span>ABRAHAM RABINOWITZ,</p> + +<p>and those unknown martyrs whose bodies were swept out to unmarked ocean +graves on Sunday, November Fifth, 1916.</p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/iww.jpg" width='70' height='68' alt="I.W.W. logo" /></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p>PRINTED BY THE<br />MEMBERS OF THE<br />GENERAL RECRUITING<br />UNION I. W. W.</p></div> + +<hr /> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table summary="CONTENTS"> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="left"><span class="smcap">Chapter</span></td> + <td><span class="smcap">Page</span></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="left"> PREFACE</td> + <td><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td class="left"> EVERETT, NOVEMBER FIFTH</td> + <td><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>I.</td> + <td class="left"> THE LUMBER KINGDOM</td> + <td><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>II.</td> + <td class="left"> CLASS WAR SKIRMISHES</td> + <td><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>III.</td> + <td class="left"> A REIGN OF TERROR</td> + <td><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>IV.</td> + <td class="left"> BLOODY SUNDAY</td> + <td><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>V.</td> + <td class="left"> BEHIND PRISON BARS</td> + <td><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>VI.</td> + <td class="left"> THE PROSECUTION</td> + <td><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>VII.</td> + <td class="left"> THE DEFENSE</td> + <td><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>VIII.</td> + <td class="left"> PLEADINGS AND THE VERDICT</td> + <td><a href="#Page_230">230</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>IX.</td> + <td class="left"> SOLIDARITY SCORES A SUCCESS</td> + <td><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>X.</td> + <td class="left"> THE BANKRUPTCY OF "LAW AND ORDER" </td> + <td><a href="#Page_297">297</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr /> + +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<table summary="Illustrations"> + <tr> + <td class="left">Released Free Speech prisoners who visited the graves of +their murdered<br /> Fellow Workers at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, May 12, 1917.</td> + <td style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href="#Page_8">8</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">The Flying Machine as now used in Western logging.</td> + <td><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">One of the thousands who donate their fingers to the Lumber<br /> Trust. + The Trust compensated all with poverty and<br /> some with bullets on November 5, 1916.</td> + <td style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Joe (Red) Doran Capt. Jack Mitten The Launch Wanderer.</td> + <td><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Organizer James Rowan;<br /> +Showing his back lacerated by Lumber Trust thugs.</td> + <td style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Beverly Park</td> + <td><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">A close up view of Beverly Park showing cattle guards.</td> + <td><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">The Ketchum Home near Beverly Park</td> + <td><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Mayor Gill says I. W. W. did not start riot</td> + <td><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Jail at <span class="smcap">Everett</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Funeral of <span class="smcap">Gerlot, Looney</span> and <span class="smcap">Baran</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">An all-I. W. W. crew raising a spar tree 160 ft. long, +22½<br /> inches at top and 54½ inches at butt, at Index, Wash.</td> + <td style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Another view of the same operation.</td> + <td><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Judge J. T. Ronald</td> + <td><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Pilot house of the "Verona" riddled with rifle bullets at <span class="smcap">Everett</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Arrival of the "<span class="smcap">Verona</span>" at <span class="smcap">Seattle</span></td> + <td><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Cutting off top of tree to fit block for flying machine.</td> + <td><a href="#Page_189">189</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">VERONA AT EVERETT DOCK,<br /> under same tide condition as at time of Massacre.</td> + <td style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">View of Beverly Park, showing County Road.</td> + <td><a href="#Page_210">210</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">THOMAS H. TRACY</td> + <td><a href="#Page_216">216</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Everett</span> from the water. To the left G. N. Depot<br /> from +where by-standers viewed battle.</td> + <td style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href="#Page_223">223</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Victims at Morgue.<br /> John Looney Hugo Gerlot, Felix Baran Abe Rabinowitz</td> + <td style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href="#Page_235">235</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">JOHN LOONEY</td> + <td><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">FELIX BARAN<br /> Dark lines on body caused by internal hemorrhage; Portland<br /> doctor + said life might have been saved by operation.</td> + <td style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href="#Page_252">252</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">HUGO GERLOT</td> + <td><a href="#Page_260">260</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Dead body of Abraham Rabinowitz.</td> + <td><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Part of 78 prisoners of County Jail Everett Wn.<br /> Released May 8, 1917.</td> + <td style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href="#Page_272">272</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Singing to the Prisoners.</td> + <td><a href="#Page_277">277</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Charles Ashleigh speaking at the funeral, of Looney, Baran and Gerlot.</td> + <td><a href="#Page_282">282</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Gus Johnson Felix Baran John Looney<br /> Hugo Gerlot Abraham Rabinowitz</td> + <td style="vertical-align: bottom"><a href="#Page_290">290</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">May First at Graveside of Gerlot, Baran and Looney.</td> + <td><a href="#Page_294">294</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> + +<h2>PREFACE</h2> + +<hr class="smler" /> + +<p>In ten minutes of seething, roaring hell at the Everett dock on the +afternoon of Sunday, November 5, 1916, there was more of the age-old +superstition regarding the identity of interests between capital and +labor torn from the minds of the working people of the Pacific Northwest +than could have been cleared away by a thousand lecturers in a year. It +is with regret that we view the untimely passing of the seven or more +Fellow Workers who were foully murdered on that fateful day, but if the +working class of the world can view beyond their mangled forms the +hideous brutality that was the cause of their deaths, they will not have died in vain.</p> + +<p>This book is published with the hope that the tragedy at Everett may +serve to set before the working class so clear a view of capitalism in +all its ruthless greed that another such affair will be impossible.</p> + +<p class="right">C. E. PAYNE.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<p class="center">With grateful acknowledgments to C. E. Payne for valuable<br />assistance in +preparing the subject matter, to Harry<br />Feinberg in consultation, to +Marie B. Smith<br />in revising manuscript, and to J. J.<br />Kneisle for photographs.</p> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + +<h2>EVERETT, NOVEMBER FIFTH</h2> + +<h3>By Charles Ashleigh</h3> + +<p class="center">["* * * and then the Fellow Worker died, singing 'Hold<br />the Fort' * * +*"—From the report of a witness.]</p> + +<div class="block2"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i2">Song on his lips, he came;</div> +<div class="i3">Song on his lips, he went;—</div> +<div class="i2">This be the token we bear of him,—</div> +<div class="i3">Soldier of Discontent!</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Out of the dark they came; out of the night</div> +<div class="i1">Of poverty and injury and woe,—</div> +<div>With flaming hope, their vision thrilled to light,—</div> +<div class="i1">Song on their lips, and every heart aglow;</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>They came, that none should trample Labor's right</div> +<div class="i1">To speak, and voice her centuries of pain.</div> +<div>Bare hands against the master's armored might!—</div> +<div class="i1">A dream to match the tools of sordid gain!</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>And then the decks went red; and the grey sea</div> +<div class="i1">Was written crimsonly with ebbing life.</div> +<div>The barricade spewed shots and mockery</div> +<div class="i1">And curses, and the drunken lust of strife.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Yet, the mad chorus from that devil's host,—</div> +<div class="i1">Yea, all the tumult of that butcher throng,—</div> +<div>Compound of bullets, booze and coward boast,—</div> +<div class="i1">Could not out-shriek one dying worker's song!</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i2">Song on his lips, he came;</div> +<div class="i3">Song on his lips, he went;—</div> +<div class="i2">This be the token we bear of him,—</div> +<div class="i3">Soldier of Discontent!</div> +</div></div></div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i001.jpg" width='700' height='551' alt="Released Free Speech prisoners who visited the graves of +their murdered Fellow Workers at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, May 12, 1917." /></div> + +<h4>Released Free Speech prisoners who visited the graves of +their murdered Fellow<br />Workers at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, May 12, 1917.</h4> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> + +<h1>The Everett Massacre</h1> + +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>THE LUMBER KINGDOM</h3> + +<p>Perhaps the real history of the rise of the lumber industry in the +Pacific Northwest will never be written. It will not be set down in +these pages. A fragment—vividly illustrative of the whole, yet only a +fragment—is all that is reproduced herein. But if that true history be +written, it will tell no tales of "self-made men" who toiled in the +woods and mills amid poverty and privation and finally rose to fame and +affluence by their own unaided effort. No Abraham Lincoln will be there +to brighten its tarnished pages. The story is a more sordid one and it +has to do with the theft of public lands; with the bribery and +corruption of public officials; with the destruction and "sabotage," if +the term may be so misused, of the property of competitors; with base +treachery and double-dealing among associated employers; and with +extortion and coercion of the actual workers in the lumber industry by +any and every means from the "robbersary" company stores to the +commission of deliberate murder.</p> + +<p>No sooner had the larger battles among the lumber barons ended in the +birth of the lumber trust than there arose a still greater contest for +control of the industry. Lumberjack engaged lumber baron in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> struggle +for industrial supremacy; on the part of the former a semi-blind groping +toward the light of freedom and for the latter a conscious striving to +retain a seat of privilege. Nor can the full history of that struggle be +written here, for the end is not yet, but no one who has read the past +rightly can doubt the ultimate outcome. That history, when finally +written, will recite tales of heroism and deeds of daring and unassuming +acts of bravery on the part of obscure toilers beside which the vaunted +prowess of famous men will seem tawdry by comparison. Today the +perspective is lacking. Time alone will vindicate the rebellious workers +in their fight for freedom. From all this travail and pain is to be born +an Industrial Democracy.</p> + +<p>The lumber industry dominated the whole life of the Northwest. The +lumber trust had absolute sway in entire sections of the country and +held the balance of power in many other places. It controlled Governors, +Legislatures and Courts; directed Mayors and City Councils; completely +owned Sheriffs and Deputies; and thru threats of foreclosure, blackmail, +the blacklist and the use of armed force it dominated the press and +pulpit and terrorized many other elements in each community. The sworn +testimony in the greatest case in labor history bears out these +statements. Out of their own mouths were the lumber barons and their +tools condemned. For, let it be known, the great trial in Seattle, +Wash., in the year 1917, was not a trial of Thomas H. Tracy and his +co-defendants. It was a trial of the lumber trust, a trial of so-called +"law and order," a trial of the existing method of production and +exchange and the social relations that spring from it,—and the verdict +was that Capitalism is guilty of Murder in the First Degree.</p> + +<p>To get even a glimpse into the deeper meaning of the case that developed +from the conflict at Everett, Wash., it is necessary to know something +of the lives of the migratory workers, something of the vital necessity +of free speech to the working class<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> and to all society for that matter, +and also something about the basis of the lumber industry and the +foundation of the city of Everett. The first two items very completely +reveal themselves thru the medium of the testimony given by the +witnesses for the defense, while the other matters are covered briefly here.</p> + +<p>The plundering of public lands was a part of the policy of the lumber +trust. Large holdings were gathered together thru colonization schemes, +whereby tracts of 160 acres were homesteaded by individuals with money +furnished by the lumber operators. Often this meant the mere loaning of +the individual's name, and in many instances the building of a home was +nothing more than the nailing together of three planks. Other rich +timber lands were taken up as mineral claims altho no trace of valuable +ore existed within their confines. All this timber fell into the hands +of the lumber trust. In addition to this there were large companies who +logged for years on forty acre strips. This theft of timber on either +side of a small holding is the basis of many a fortune and the +possessors of this stolen wealth can be distinguished today by their +extra loud cries for "law and order" when their employes in the woods +and mills go on strike to add a few more pennies a day to their beggarly pittance.</p> + +<p>Altho cheaper than outright purchase from actual settlers, these methods +of timber theft proved themselves quite costly and the public outcry +they occasioned was not to the liking of the lumber barons. To +facilitate the work of the lumber trust and at the same time placate the +public, nothing better than the Forest Reserve could possibly have been +devised. The establishment of the National Forest Reserves was one of +the long steps taken in the United States in monopolizing both the land +and the timber of the country.</p> + +<p>The first forest reserves were established February 22, 1898, when +22,000,000 acres were set aside as National Forests. Within the next +eight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> years practically all the public forest lands in the United +States that were of any considerable extent had been set off into these +reserves, and by 1913 there had been over 291,000 square miles included +within their confines.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> This immense tract of country was withdrawn +from the possibility of homestead entry at approximately the time that +the Mississippi Valley and the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains had +been settled and brought under private ownership. Whether the purpose +was to put the small sawmills out of business can not be definitely +stated, but the lumber trust has profited largely from the establishment +of the forest reserves.</p> + +<p>So long as there was in the United States a large and open frontier to +be had for the taking there could be no very prolonged struggle against +an owning class. It has been easier for those having nothing to go but a +little further and acquire property for themselves. But on coming to +what had been the frontier and finding a forest reserve with range +riders and guards on its boundaries to prevent trespassing; on looking +back and seeing all land and opportunities taken; on turning again to +the forest reserve and finding a foreman of the lumber trust within its +borders offering wages in lieu of a home, it was inevitable that a +conflict should occur.</p> + +<p>With the capitalistic system of industry in operation, the conflict +between the landless homeseekers and the owners of the vast +accumulations of capital would inevitably have taken place, but this +clash has come at least a generation earlier because of the +establishment of the National Forests than it otherwise would. The land +now in reserves would furnish homes and comfortable livings for ten +million people, and have absorbed the surplus population for another +generation. It is also true that the establishment of the National +Forests has been one of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> vital factors that made the continued +existence of the lumber trust possible.</p> + +<p>Prior to 1895 the shipments of lumber to the prairie states from west of +the Rocky Mountains were very small, and of no effect on the domination +of the lumber industry by the trust. Also, prior to that date but a +small part of the valuable timber west of the Rocky Mountains had been +brought under private ownership. But about this time the pioneer +settlers began swarming over the Pacific Slope and taking the free +government land as homesteads. As the timber land was taken up, floods +of lumber from the Pacific Coast met the lumber of the trust on the +great prairies. The lumber trust had looted the government land and the +Indian reservations in the middle states of their timber, and had almost +full control of the prairie markets until the lumber of the Pacific +Slope began to arrive. In 1896 lumber from the Puget Sound was sold in +Dakota for $16.00 per thousand feet, and it kept coming in a constantly +increasing volume and of a better quality than the trust was shipping +from the East. It was but natural that the trust should seek a means to +stifle the constantly increasing competition from the homesteads of the +West, and the means was found in the establishment of the National Forest Reserves.</p> + +<p>While the greater portion of North America was yet a wilderness, the +giving of vast tracts of valuable land on the remote frontier to private +individuals and companies could be accomplished. But at this time such a +procedure would have been impossible, tho it was imperative for the life +of the trust that the timber of the Pacific Slope should be withdrawn +from the possibility of homestead entry. In order to carry out this +scheme it was necessary to raise a cry of "Benefit to the Public" and +make it appear that this new public policy was in the interest of future +generations. The cry was raised that the public domain was being used +for private gain, that the timber was being wastefully handled, that +unnecessary amounts were being cut, that the future generations would +find themselves without timber,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> that the watersheds were being denuded +and that drought and floods would be the certain result, that the nation +should receive a return for the timber that was taken, together with +many other specious pleas.</p> + +<p>That the public domain was being used for private gain was in some +instances true, but the vast majority of the timber land was being taken +as homesteads, and thus taking the timber outside the control of the +trust. That the timber was being wastefully handled was to some extent +true, but this was inevitable in the development of a new industry in a +new country, and so far as the Pacific Slope is concerned there is but +little change from the methods of twenty years ago. That unnecessary +amounts were being cut was sometimes true, but this served only to keep +prices down, and from the standpoint of the trust was unpardonable on +that account alone. The market is being supplied now as formerly, and +with as much as it will take. The only means that has been used to +restrict the amount cut has been to raise the price to about double what +it was in 1896. The denuding of the watersheds of the continent goes on +today the same as it did twenty-five years ago, the only consideration +being whether there is a market for the timber. Some reforesting has +been done, and some protection has been established for the prevention +of fires, but these things have been much in the nature of an +advertisement since the government has taken charge of the forests, and +was done automatically by the homesteaders before the Reserves were +established. There has never been any restriction in the amount of +timber that any company could buy, and the more it wanted, the better +chance it had of getting it. The nation is receiving some return from +the sale of timber from the government land, but it is in the nature of +a division of the spoils from a raid on the homes of the landless.</p> + +<p>When the Reserve were established, the Secretary of the Interior was +empowered to "make rules and regulations for the occupancy and the use +of the forests and preserve them from destruction." No<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> attempt was made +in the General Land Office to develop a technical forestry service. The +purpose of the administration was mainly protection against trespass and +fire. The methods of the administration were to see to it first that +there were no trespassers. Fire protection came later. When the Reserves +were established, people who were at the time living within their +boundaries were compelled to submit the titles of their homesteads to +the most rigid scrutiny, and many people who had complied with the +spirit of the law were dispossessed on mere technicalities, while before +the establishment of the Reserve system the spirit of the compliance +with the homestead law was mainly considered, and very seldom the +technicality. And while the Forestry Service was examining all titles to +homesteads within the boundaries of the Reserve with the utmost care, +the large lumbering companies were given the best of consideration, and +were allowed all the timber they requested and a practically unlimited +time to remove it.</p> + +<p>The system of dealing with the lumber trust has been most liberal on the +part of the government. A company wanting several million feet of timber +makes a request to the district office to have the timber of a certain +amount and on a certain tract offered for sale. The Forestry Service +makes an estimate of the minimum value of the timber as it stands in the +tree and the amount of timber requested within that tract is then +offered for sale at a given time, the bids to be sent in by mail and +accompanied by certified checks. The bids must be at least as large as +the minimum price set by the Forestry Service, and highest bidder is +awarded the timber, on condition that he satisfies the Forestry Service +that he is responsible and will conduct the logging according to rules +and regulations. The system seems fair, and open to all, until the +conditions are known.</p> + +<p>But among the large lumber companies there has never been any real +competition for the possession of any certain tract of timber that was +listed for sale by request. When one company has decided on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>asking for +the allotment of any certain tract of timber, other companies operating +within that forest seldom make bids on that tract. Any small company +that is doing business in opposition to the trust companies, and may +desire to bid on an advertised tract, even tho its bid may be greater +than the bid of the trust company, will find its offer thrown out as +being "not according to the Government specifications," or the company +is "not financially responsible," or some other suave explanation for +refusing to award the tract to the competing company. On the other hand, +when a small company requests that some certain tract shall be listed +for sale, it very frequently happens that one of the large companies +that is commonly understood to be affiliated with the lumber trust will +have a bid in for that tract that is slightly above that of the +non-trust company, and the timber is solemnly awarded to "the highest bidder."</p> + +<p>When a company is awarded a tract of timber, the payment that is +required is ten per cent of the purchase price at the time of making the +award, and the balance is to be paid when the logs are on the landing, +or practically when they can be turned into ready cash, thus requiring +but a comparatively small outlay of money to obtain the timber. When the +award is made, it is the policy of the Forestry Service to be on +friendly terms with the customers, and the men who scale the logs and +supervise the cutting are the ones who come into direct contact with the +companies, and it is inevitable that to be on good terms with the +foreman the supervision and scaling must be "satisfactory." Forestry +Service men who have not been congenial with the foremen of the logging +companies have been transferred to other places, and it is almost +axiomatic that three transfers is the same as a discharge. The little +work that is required of the companies in preventing fires is much more +than offset by the fact that no homesteaders have small holdings within +the area of their operations, either to interfere with logging or to +compete with their small mills for the control of the lumber market.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p><p>That the forest lands of the nation were being denuded, and that this +would cause droughts and floods was a fact before the establishment of +the Reserves, and the fact is still true. Where a logging company +operates, the rule is that it shall take all the timber on the tract +where it works, and then the forest guards are to burn the brush and +refuse. A cleaner sweep of the timber could not have been made under the +old methods. The only difference in methods is that where the forest +guards now do the fire protecting for the lumber trust, the homesteaders +formerly did it for their own protection. In January, 1914, the Forestry +Service issued a statement that the policy of the Service for the +Kaniksu Forest in Northern Idaho and Northeastern Washington would be to +have all that particular reserve logged off and then have the land +thrown open to settlement as homesteads. As the timber in that part of +the country will but little more than pay for the work of clearing the +land ready for the plow, but is very profitable where no clearing is +required, it can be readily seen that the Forestry Service was being +used as a means of dividing the fruit—the apples to the lumber trust, +the cores to the landless homeseekers.</p> + +<p>One particular manner in which the Government protects the large lumber +companies is in the insurance against fire loss. When a tract has been +awarded to a bidder it is understood that he shall have all the timber +allotted to him, and that he shall stand no loss by fire. Should a tract +of timber be burned before it can be logged, the government allots to +the bidder another tract of timber "of equal value and of equal +accessibility," or an adjustment is made according to the ease of +logging and value of the timber. In this way the company has no expense +for insurance to bear, which even now with the fire protection that is +given by the Forestry Service is rated by insurance companies at about +ten per cent. of the value of the timber for each year.</p> + +<p>No taxes or interest are required on the timber<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> that is purchased from +the government. Another feature that makes this timber cheaper than that +of private holdings, is that to buy outright would entail the expense of +the first cost of the land and timber, the protection from fire, the +taxes and the interest on the investment. In addition to this there is +always the possibility that some homesteader would refuse to sell some +valuable tract that was in a vital situation, as holding the key to a +large tract of timber that had no other outlet than across that tract. +There has been as yet no dispute with the government about an outlet for +any timber purchased on the Reserves; the contract for the timber always +including the proviso that the logging company shall have the right to +make and use such roads as are "necessary," and the company is the judge +of what is necessary in that line.</p> + +<p>The counties in which Reserves are situated receive no taxes from the +government timber, or from the timber that is cut from the Reserves +until it is cut into lumber, but in lieu of this they receive a sop in +the form of "aid" in the construction of roads. In the aggregate this +aid looks large, but when compared with the amount of road work that the +people who could make their homes within what is now the Forest Reserves +could do, it is pitifully small and very much in the nature of the +"charity" that is handed out to the poor of the cities. It is the +inevitable result of a system of government that finds itself compelled +to keep watch and ward over its imbecile children.</p> + +<p>So in devious ways of fraud, graft, coercion, and outright theft, the +bulk of the timber of the Northwest has been acquired by the lumber +trust at an average cost of less than twelve cents a thousand feet. In +the states of Washington and Oregon alone, the Northern Pacific and the +Southern Pacific railways, as allies of the Weyerhouser interests of St. +Paul, own nearly nine million acres of timber; the Weyerhouser group by +itself dominating altogether more than thirty million acres, or an area +almost<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> equal to that of the state of Wisconsin. The timber owned by a +relatively small group of individuals is sufficient to yield enough +lumber to build a six-room house for every one of the twenty million +families in the United States.</p> + +<p>Why then should conservation, or the threat of it, disturb the serenity +of the lumber trust? If the government permits the cutting of public +timber it increases the value of the trust holdings in multiplied ratio, +and if the government withdraws from public entry any portion of the +public lands, creating Forest Reserves, it adds marvelously to the value +of the trust logs in the water booms. Even forest fires in one portion +of these vast holdings serve but to send skyward the values in the +remaining parts, and by some strange freak of nature the timber of trust +competitors, like the "independent" and co-operative mills, seems to be +more inflammable than that of the "law-abiding" lumber trust. And so it +happens that the government's forest policy has added fabulous wealth +and prestige and power to the rulers of the lumber kingdom.</p> + +<p>But whether the timber lands were stolen illegally or acquired by +methods entirely within the law of the land, the exploitation of labor +was, and is, none the less severe. The withholding from Labor of any +portion of its product in the form of profits—unpaid wages—and the +private ownership by individuals or small groups of persons, of timber +lands and other forms of property necessary to society as a whole, are +principles utterly indefensible by any argument save that of force. Such +legally ordained robbery can be upheld only by armies, navies, militia, +sheriffs and deputies, police and detectives, private gunmen, and +illegal mobs formed of, or created by, the propertied classes. Alike in +the stolen timber, the legally acquired timber, and in the Government +Forest Reserves, the propertyless lumberjacks are unmercifully +exploited, and any difference in the degree of exploitation does not +arise because of the "humanity" of any certain set<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> of employers but +simply because the cutting of timber in large quantities brings about a +greater productivity from each worker, generally accompanied with a +decrease in wages due to the displacement of men.</p> + +<p>With the development of large scale logging operations there naturally +came a development of machinery in the industry. The use of water power, +the horse, and sometimes the ox, gave way to the use of the donkey +engine. This grew from a crude affair, resembling an over-sized coffee +mill, to a machine with a hauling power equal to that of a small sized +locomotive. Later on came "high lead" logging and the Flying Machine, +besides which the wonderful exploits of "Paul Bunyan's old blue ox" are as nothing.</p> + +<p>The overhead system was created as a result of the additional cost of +hauling when the increased demand for a larger output of logs forced the +erection of more and more camps, each new camp being further removed +from the cities and towns. Today its use is almost universal as there +remains no timber close to the large cities, even the stumps having been +removed to make room for farming operations.</p> + +<p>Roughly the method of operation is to leave a straight tall tree +standing near the logging track in felling timber. The machine proper is +set right at the base of this tree, and about ninety feet up its trunk a +large chain is wrapped to allow the hanging of a block. From this spar +tree a cable, two inches in diameter, is stretched to another tree some +distance in the woods. On this cable is placed what is known as a +bicycle or trolley. Various other lines run back and forth thru this +trolley to the engine. At the end of one of these lines an enormous pair +of hooks is suspended. These grasp the timber and convey it to the cars.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i002.jpg" width='480' height='700' alt="The Flying Machine as now used in Western logging." /></div> + +<h4>The Flying Machine as now used in Western logging.</h4> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p><p>Ten to twenty thousand feet of logs a day was the output of the old +bull or horse teams. The donkey engine brought it to a point where from +seventy-five to one hundred thousand could be turned out, and the steam +skidder doubled the output of the donkey. Ordinarily the crew for one +donkey engine consists of from thirteen to fifteen men, sometimes even +as high as twenty-five, but this number is reduced to nine or even lower +with the introduction of the steam skidder. Loggers claim that the high +lead system kills and maims more men than the methods formerly in vogue, +but be that as it may, the fact stands out quite plainly that as +compared with a line horse donkey, operated with a crew of twenty-five +men, the flying machine will produce enough lumber to mean the +displacement of one hundred men.</p> + +<p>At the same time the sawmills of the old type have disappeared with +their rotary or circular saws, dead rollers, and obsolete methods of +handling lumber, and in their place is the modern mill with its band +saw, shot-gun feed, steam nigger, live rollers, and resaw. Nor do the +mills longer turn out rough lumber to be re-handled by trained +specialists and highly skilled carpenters with large and costly kits of +intricate hand tools. Relatively unskilled workers send forth the +finished products, window sashes, doors, siding, etc., carpenters armed +only with square, hammer and saw, and classed with unskilled labor, put +these in place, and a complete house can be ordered by parcel post.</p> + +<p>As is usual with the introduction of new machinery and methods where the +workers are not in control, the actual producers find that all these +innovations force them to work at a higher rate of speed under more +hazardous conditions for a lower rate of pay. It is true of all industry +in the main, particularly true of the lumber industry, and the mills of +Everett and camps of Snohomish county have no exceptions to test this rule.</p> + +<p>The story of Everett has no hint of romance. Some time in the late +seventies the representatives<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> of John D. Rockefeller gained possession +of a tract of land in Western Washington, on Puget Sound, about thirty +miles north of Seattle. The land was heavily timbered and water +facilities made it a perfect site for mill and shipping purposes. The +Everett Land Company was organized, the tract was plotted, and the city +of Everett laid out. The leading streets, Rockefeller, Colby, Hoyt, +etc., were named for these early promoters. Hewitt Avenue was given the +name of a man who is today recognized as the leading capitalist of the +state of Washington. Even the building of those streets reflected no +credit upon the city. The work was done by what amounted to convict +labor. Unemployed workers, even tho they were plentifully supplied with +money, were arrested and without being allowed the alternative of a fine +were set to work clearing, grading, planking and, later on, paving the +streets. Perhaps it is too much to expect freedom of speech to be +allowed on slave-built streets.</p> + +<p>In their articles of incorporation the promoters reserved to themselves +all right to the ownership and control of public utilities, such as +water, light and power and street railway systems. A mortgage of +$1,500,000 was placed upon the property. After a time the company +failed, the mortgage was foreclosed and the property purchased by Rucker +Brothers. The Everett Improvement Company was then organized with J. T. +McChesney as president. It held all rights to dispose of public utility +franchises. The firm of Stone & Webster, the construction, light, heat, +power and traction trust, secured franchises granting them the right to +furnish light and power for the city of Everett and also to operate the +street railway system for 99 years. The Everett Improvement Company owns +a dock lying to the south of the municipally owned City Dock where the +Everett tragedy was staged. Thru its alliances the shipping of Everett +is in the hands of the same group of capitalists that control all other +public utilities. The waterworks was sold to the city but has remained +in the hands of the same officials who were in charge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> when its title +was a private one. Everett operates under the commission form of government.</p> + +<p>The American National Bank was organized with McChesney as president. +The only other bank of importance in Everett was the First National. +These two institutions consolidated with Wm. C. Butler as president and +McChesney as one of the directors. The Everett Savings and Trust Company +was later organized, with the same stockholders and under the same +management as the First National Bank. The control of every public +service corporation in Everett is directly in the hands of these two +banks, and, indirectly, thru loans to industrial corporations, they +control both the lumber and the shingle mills of Snohomish County in +which Everett is situated.</p> + +<p>Everett, the "City of Smokestacks," as its promoters have named it, is +an industrial community of approximately 35,000 people. Its main +activities are the production of lumber and shingles, and shipping. The +practically undiversified nature of its economic life binds all those +engaged in the employment of labor into a common body. The owners of the +lumber and shingle mills, the owners and officials of the banks where +the lumber men do business, the lawyers representing the mills and the +banks, the employers engaged in shipping lumber and supplies for the +lumber industry, their lawyers and their bank connections, the owners of +hardware stores that supply equipment for the mills and allied +industries, all are united by common ties and common interests and they +all support one policy. Not only are they banded together against the +wage workers but they also oppose the entrance of any kind of business +that will in any way menace their rule. They arose almost as one in +opposition to the entrance of the ship building industry into Everett, +despite the fact that it would add measurably to the general prosperity +of the city, and with a full knowledge that their harbor offered +wonderful natural facilities for that line of endeavor. In the face of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +an action that threatened their autocratic power their alleged "patriotism" vanished.</p> + +<p>In 1912 the Everett Commercial Club was organized. In the month of +December, 1915, following a visit from a San Francisco representative of +the Merchants and Manufacturers' Association, it was re-organized on the +Bureau plan as a stock concern. Stock memberships were issued to +employers and business houses and were subsequently distributed among +the employers and their employes. Memberships were doled out to persons +who would be subservient to the wishes of the small group of capitalists +representing the great corporate interests. W. W. Blain, secretary of +the Commercial Club, testified, under oath, that the Everett Improvement +Company took 25 memberships, the First National Bank took 10, the +Weyerhouser Lumber Company 10, the Clough-Hartley Mill Company 5, the +Jamison Mill Company 5, and other mills and allied industries also +purchased memberships in bulk. Organized labor, however, had no +representation at the Commercial Club.</p> + +<p>There is nothing in the history of Everett to suggest the usual +spontaneous outgrowth of the honest endeavors of hardy pioneer settlers. +From the first day the Rockefeller interests set foot in the virgin +forests of Snohomish County up to the present time, the spirit of +democracy has been crushed by the greed and cupidity of this small and powerful group.</p> + +<p>The struggle at Everett was but one of the inevitable phases of the +larger struggle that takes place when a class or group that has no +property comes in contact with those who have monopolized the earth and +its resources. It was no new, marvelous, isolated case of violence. It +was the normal accompaniment of industry based upon the exploitation of +wage workers, and was of one piece with the outbreak on the Mesaba +Range, in Bayonne, Ludlow, Paint Creek, Paterson, Lawrence, San Diego, +Fresno, Spokane, Homestead and in countless other places. All these +apparently <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>disconnected and sporadic uprisings of labor and the +accompanying capitalist violence are joined together in a whole that +spells wage slavery. As one of the manifestations of the class conflict, +the Everett tragedy cannot be considered apart from that age-long and +world-wide struggle between the takers of profits and the makers of +values.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Data on Forest Reserve taken from 1911 Encyclopedia +Britannica articles by Gifford Pinchot.</p></div></div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>CLASS WAR SKIRMISHES</h3> + +<p>"Shingle-weaving is not a trade; it is a battle. For ten hours a day the +sawyer faces two teethed steel discs whirling around two hundred times a +minute. To the one on the left he feeds heavy blocks of cedar, reaching +over with his left hand to remove the rough shingles it rips off. He +does not, he cannot stop to see what his left hand is doing. His eyes +are too busy examining the shingles for knot holes to be cut out by the +second saw whirling in front of him.</p> + +<p>"The saw on his left sets the pace. If the singing blade rips fifty +rough shingles off the block every minute, the sawyer must reach over to +its teeth fifty times in sixty seconds; if the automatic carriage feeds +the odorous wood sixty times into the hungry teeth, sixty times he must +reach over, turn the shingle, trim its edge on the gleaming saw in front +of him, cut out the narrow strip containing the knot hole with two quick +movements of his right hand and toss the completed board down the chute +to the packers, meanwhile keeping eyes and ears open for the sound that +asks him to feed a new block into the untiring teeth. Hour after hour +the shingle weaver's hands and arms, plain, unarmored flesh and blood, +are staked against the screeching steel that cares not what it severs. +Hour after hour the steel sings its crescendo note as it bites into the +wood, the sawdust cloud thickens, the wet sponge under the sawyer's +nose, fills with fine particles. If 'cedar asthma,' the shingle weaver's +occupational disease, does not get him, the steel will. Sooner or later +he reaches over a little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> too far, the whirling blade tosses drops of +deep red into the air, and a finger, a hand or part of an arm comes +sliding down the slick chute."<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p>This description of shingle weaving was given by Walter V. Woehlke, +managing editor of the Sunset Magazine, in an article which had as its +purpose the justification of the murders committed by the Everett mob, +and it contains no over-statement. Shingle weavers are set apart from +the rest of the workers by their mutilated hands and the dead grey +pallor of their cheeks.</p> + +<p>"The nature of a man's occupation, his daily working environment, marks +in a large degree the nature of the man himself, and cannot help but +mold the early years, at least, or his economic organization. Men who +flirt with death in their daily calling become inured to physical +danger, they become contemptuous of the man whose calling fails to bring +forth physical prowess. So do they in their organizations become +irritated and contemptuous at the long-drawn-out process of bargaining, +the duel of wits and brain power engaged in by the more conservative +organizations to win working concessions. Their motto becomes 'Strike +quick and strike hard,'* * *" So says E. P. Marsh, President of the +Washington State Federation of Labor, in speaking of the shingle +weavers.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>Logging, no less than shingle weaving, is a dangerous occupation. The +countless articles of wood in every-day use have claimed their toll of +human blood. A falling tree or limb, a mis-step on the river, a faulty +cable, a weakened trestle; each may mean a still and mangled form. Time +and again the loggers have organized to improve their working conditions +only to find themselves beaten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> or betrayed. Playing upon the natural +desire of the woodsmen for organization, shrewd swindlers have formed +unions which were nothing more than dues collection agencies. +Politicians have fathered organizations for their own purposes. Unions +built by the men themselves have fallen into the hands of officials who +used them for selfish personal gain. Over and over the employers have +crushed the embryonic unions only to see them rise again with added +strength. Forced by the very necessities of their daily lives, the +workers always returned to the fight with a new and better form of unionism.</p> + +<p>Like the loggers, the shingle weavers were routed time and again, but +their spirit never died. The Everett shingle weavers formed their union +as a result of a successful strike in 1901. In 1905 they were strong +enough to resist a proposed reduction of wages. In 1906 they struck in +sympathy with the Ballard weavers, and lost. Within a year the defeated +union was back as strong as before. By 1911 the International Shingle +Weavers Union had attained a membership of nearly 2,000, the majority of +whom were in accord with the Industrial Workers of the World. The +question of affiliation with the I. W. W. was widely discussed and was +only prevented from going to a referendum vote by the efforts of a few +officials. Further discussion of the question was excluded from the +columns of their official organ, "The Shingle Weaver," by the Ninth +Annual Convention.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>Following this slap in the face, the progressive members quit the union +in large numbers, leaving affairs in the hands of conservative and +reactionary elements. Endeavors were made to negotiate contracts with +the employers; and in 1913 the officials secured $30,000 from the +American Federation of Labor and made a pretense at the organization of +all workers in the woods and mills into one body. This was a move aimed +at the Forest and Lumber<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> Workers of the I. W. W., which was feared +alike by the employers and the craft union officials because of its new +strength gained thru the affiliation of the Brotherhood of Timber +Workers in the southern states. Instead of gaining ground by the move, +the shingle weavers union lost in membership and subsequently claimed +that industrial unionism was a failure in the lumber industry.</p> + +<p>The industrial depression of 1914-15 found all unions in bad shape. +Employers used the army of unemployed as an axe to cut wages. In the +spring of 1915 notice of a wage reduction was posted in the Everett +shingle mills. The weavers promptly struck. Scabs, gunmen, injunctions, +and violence followed. The strike failed, the wage reduction was made, +but the men returned to work relying upon a "gentlemen's agreement" that +the employers would voluntarily raise the wages of the shingle weavers +when shingles again sold for what they were bringing before the +depression. Faith in agreements had gotten in its deadly work; the +shingle weavers believed that the employers meant to keep their word.</p> + +<p>In the spring of 1916 shingles soared to a price higher than had +prevailed for years, but the promised raise failed to materialize. With +but a skeleton of an organization to back them, a handful of determined +delegates met in Seattle in April and decided to demand the restoration +of the 1915 scale thruout the entire jurisdiction of the Shingle +Weavers' Union, setting May 1st as the date when the raise should take effect.</p> + +<p>At the time set, or shortly thereafter, most of the mills in the +Northwest paid the scale. Everett, where the employers had given their +"word of honor," refused the strikers' demand. The fight was on! The +Seaside Shingle Company, which held no membership in the Commercial +Club, soon granted the raise. Many of the other companies, notably the +Jamison Mill, began the importation of scabs within the month. The cry +of "outside agitators" was forgotten long enough to go outside in search +of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>notorious gunmen and scab-herders. The slums, the hells of +Capitalism, were raked with a fine-toothed comb for degenerates with a +record for lawless deviltry. The strikers threw out their picket line +and the ever-present class war began to show itself in other than peaceful ways.</p> + +<p>During May, June and July the picket line had to be maintained in the +face of strong opposition by the local authorities who were the pliant +tools of the lumber trust. The ranks of the pickets were constantly +being thinned by false arrest and imprisonment on every charge and no +charge, until on August 19th there were but eighteen men on the picket line.</p> + +<p>On that particular morning the Everett police searched the little +handful of pickets in front of the Jamison Mill to make sure that they +were unarmed, and when that fact was determined, they started the men +across the narrow trestle bridge that extended over an arm of the bay. +When the pickets were well out on the bridge, the imported thugs, some +seventy in number, personally directed and urged on by their employer, +Neil Jamison, poured in from either side, leaving no means of escape +save that of making a thirty foot leap into the deep waters of the bay, +and with brass knuckles and blackjacks made an attack upon the +defenseless weavers. The pickets were unmercifully beaten. Robert H. +Mills, business agent of the Shingle Weavers' Union, was knocked down by +one of the open-shop thugs and kicked in the ribs and face as he lay +senseless in the roadway. From a vantage point, thoughtfully removed +from the danger zone, the police calmly surveyed the scene.</p> + +<p>When darkness fell that night, the pickets, aided by irate citizens, +returned to the attack with clubs and fists. The tables were turned. The +"moral heroes" had their heads cracked. Seeing that the scabs were +thoroly whipped, the "guardians of the peace" rushed to the rescue with +drawn revolvers. In the melee one union picket was shot thru the leg.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p><p>About ten nights later, Mr. Jamison herded his scabs into military +formation and after a short parade thru the main streets led them to the +Everett Theater; the party being in appreciation of their "efficiency." +This arrogant display incensed the strikers and citizens, and when the +scabs emerged from the show a near-riot occurred. Mills was present and +altho too weak from his recent injuries to have taken any active part in +the fray, he was arrested and thrown in jail in default of bail. The man +who had murderously assaulted him at the mill swore out the complaint. +Mills was subsequently tried and acquitted on a charge of inciting to +riot. Nothing was done to his assailant. And in none of these acts of +violence was the I. W. W. in any way a participant.</p> + +<p>During this period there existed a strike of longshoremen on the entire +Pacific Coast, including the port of Everett. The wrath of the employers +fell heavily upon the Riggers and Stevedores because that body was not +in sympathy with the idea of craft contracts or agreements, and because +of the adoption by a large majority of a proposal to "amalgamate all the +unions of the Maritime Transportation Industry, between the Warehouse at +the Shipping Point and Warehouse at the Receiving Point into one big +powerful organization, meeting, thinking, and acting together at all +times."<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> The industrially united employers of the Pacific Coast did +not relish the idea of the workers grouping themselves together along +lines similar to those on which the owners were associated. The +longshoremen's strike started on June 1st and was marked by more or less +serious disorders at various points, most of the violence being +precipitated by detectives placed in the unions by the employers. The +tug boat men were also on strike in Everett, particularly against the +American Tug Boat Company owned by Captain Harry Ramwell. All of the +unions on strike in Everett were affiliated with the A. F. of L. +Striking longshoremen from Seattle aided the shingle weavers on their +picket line from time to time, and individual members of the I. W. W., +holding duplicate cards in the A. F. of L. stood shoulder to shoulder +with the strikers, but officially the I. W. W. had no part in any of the +strikes.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i003.jpg" width='481' height='700' alt="One of the thousands who donate their fingers to the +Lumber Trust. The Trust compensated all with poverty and some with +bullets on November 5, 1916." /></div> + +<h4>One of the thousands who donate their fingers to the +Lumber<br />Trust. The Trust compensated all with poverty and<br />some with bullets on November 5, 1916.</h4> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>Meanwhile in Seattle the I. W. W. had planned to organize the forest and +lumber workers on a scale never before attempted. Calls for organizers +had been coming in from the surrounding district and there were demands +for a mass convention to discuss conditions in the industry. Yet, +strange as it may seem to those who do not know of the ebb and flow of +labor unions, there were at that time less than half a hundred paid-up +members in the Seattle loggers branch, so great had been the depression +from 1914 to 1916. The conference was set for July 4th and five hundred +logger delegates responded, representing nearly as many camps in the +district. Enthusiasm ran high! The assembled workers suggested the +adoption of a plan of district organization along lines more in keeping +with the modern trend of the lumber industry. The loggers' union, then +known as Local 432, ratified the actions of the conference. As a +preliminary move it was decided that an organizer be secured to make a +survey of the lumber situation in the surrounding territory. General +Headquarters in Chicago was communicated with, James Rowan was found to +be available, and on July 31st he was sent to Everett to find out the +sentiment for industrial unionism at that point.</p> + +<p>That night Rowan spoke on Wetmore Avenue fifty feet back from Hewitt +Avenue, in compliance with the street regulations. No mention was made +of local conditions as Rowan had just come from another part of the +country and was unaware that a shingle weavers strike was in progress. +His speech consisted mainly of references to the Industrial Relations +Commission Report, a pamphlet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> summarizing that report being the only +literature offered for sale at the meeting. Toward the end of his speech Rowan declared:</p> + +<p>"The A. F. of L. believes in signing agreements with the employers. The +craft unions regard these contracts as sacred. When one craft goes on +strike the others are forced to remain at work. This makes the craft +unions scab on each other."</p> + +<p>"You are a liar!" cried Jake Michel, an A. F. of L. representative, +staunchly defending his organization.</p> + +<p>From an automobile near the edge of the crowd, Donald McRae, Sheriff of +Snohomish County, called to Michel:</p> + +<p>"Jake, I will run that guy in if you say so."</p> + +<p>"I don't see any need to run him in;" remonstrated Michel. "He hasn't +said anything yet to run him in for."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless McRae, usurping the powers of the local police department, +made Rowan leave the platform and go with him to the county jail. McRae was drunk.</p> + +<p>Rowan was held for an hour. Immediately upon his release he returned to +the corner to resume his speech. Police Officer Fox thereupon arrested +him and took him to the city jail. He was thrown into a dark cell for +refusing to do jail work, was taken into court next morning and absurdly +charged with peddling without a license, was denied a jury trial, +refused a postponement, not allowed a chance to secure counsel, and was +sentenced to thirty days imprisonment with an alternative of leaving +town. No ordinance against street speaking at Wetmore and Hewitt then +existed. Rowan chose to leave town. No time was set as to how long he +was to remain away. He then left for Bellingham and from there went to +Sedro-Woolley. Using an assumed name to avoid the blacklist he worked at +the latter place for a short time to familiarize himself with job +conditions, subsequently returning to Everett.</p> + +<p>Levi Remick, a one-armed veteran of the industrial war, was next sent to +Everett on August 4th<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> to act as temporary delegate. He interviewed a +number of people and sold some literature. Receiving orders to stop +selling the pamphlets and papers, he inquired the price of a peddler's +license and finding it prohibitive he returned to Seattle to secure +funds to open an office. A small hall was found at 1219½ Hewitt +Avenue, a month's rent was paid, and on August 9th Remick placed a sign +in the window and started to sell literature and transact business for the I. W. W.</p> + +<p>The little hall remained open until late in August. Migratory workers, +strikers, and citizens generally, dropped in from time to time to ask +about the organization or to purchase papers. Solidarity and the +Industrial Worker were particularly in demand, the latter paper having +commenced publication in Seattle on April 1st, 1916. A number of Everett +citizens, desiring to hear a lecture by James P. Thompson, who had +spoken in Everett without molestation in 1915 and in March and April of +1916, made donations to Remick sufficient to cover all expenses, and it +was arranged that Thompson speak on August 22nd. Attempts to secure a +hall met with failure; the halls of Everett were closed to the I. W. W. +The conspiracy against free speech and free assembly was on in earnest! +No other course was left but to hold the proposed meeting on the street, +so Hewitt and Wetmore, the spot where the Salvation Army and various +religious and political bodies spoke almost nightly, was selected and +the meeting advertised.</p> + +<p>Early in the morning on the day before the scheduled meeting, Sheriff +McRae, commanding a body of police officers over whom he had no official +control, stormed into the I. W. W. hall and tore from the wall all bills +advertising Thompson's meeting, saying with an oath:</p> + +<p>"That man won't be allowed to speak in Everett!"</p> + +<p>Turning to Remick and throwing back his coat to display the badge, he yelled:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p><p>"I order you out of this town! Get out by afternoon or you go to jail!"</p> + +<p>McRae was drunk. Stalking out as rapidly as his condition would permit +he staggered down the street to a near-by pool hall where the order was +repeated to the men assembled therein. These, with other workingmen, 25 +in all were rounded up, seized, roughly questioned, searched, and all +those who had no families or property in Everett were forcibly deported. +That night ten more were taken from the shingle weaver's picket line and +sent out of town without due process of law. Treatment of this kind became general.</p> + +<p>"Not a man in overalls is safe!" declared the secretary of the Everett +Building Trades Council. "Men just off the job with their pay checks in +their pocket have been unceremoniously thrown out of town just because +they were workingmen."<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>Remick closed the little hall and left for Seattle the next morning to +place the question of the Thompson meeting before the Seattle +membership. Shortly before noon Rowan, who had just returned to Everett, +went to the hall and finding it closed and locked he proceeded to open +it up. Within a few minutes Sheriff McRae, in company with police +officer Fox, entered the place and ordered Rowan to leave town by two +o'clock. He then tore up the balance of the advertising matter for the +Thompson meeting. McRae was drunk. Rowan went to Seattle, where the +report of this occurrence made the members more determined than ever to +hold the meeting that night.</p> + +<p>With about twenty other members of the I. W. W., Thompson went to +Everett. The Salvation Army was holding services on the corner. Placing +his platform even further back from the street intersection Thompson +waited until the Army had concluded and then commenced his lecture. +Using the Industrial Relations Commission Report as the basis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> of his +talk, he spoke for about twenty minutes without interruption. Then a +body of fifteen policemen marched down the street and swung into the +crowd. The officer in charge stepped up to Thompson and requested him to +go to see the chief of police at the police station. After addressing a +few remarks to the crowd Thompson withdrew from the platform. His place +was taken at once by Rowan, who was immediately dragged from the stand +and turned over to the same officer who had charge of Thompson and his +wife. Mrs. Edith Frennette then spoke briefly and called for a song. The +audience responded with "The Red Flag," but meanwhile Mrs. Frennette and +Mrs. Lorna Mahler had been placed under arrest. In succession several +others attempted to speak but were pulled or pushed off the stand. The +police then formed a circle by holding hands around those who were close +to the platform. One by one the citizens were allowed to slip outside +the "ring-around-a-rosy" until only "desperadoes" were left. These made +no effort to resist arrest, and were started toward the city jail. The +officer entrusted with Thompson was so interested in his captive that +Rowan was able to quietly remove himself from the scene, returning to +the street corner where he spoke for more than half an hour before being rearrested.</p> + +<p>Aroused by this invasion of liberty, Mrs. Letelsia Fye, an Everett +citizen, arose to recite the Declaration of Independence, but even that +proved too revolutionary for the tools of the lumber trust. A +threatening move on the part of the police brought back the thought of +her two unprotected children and caused her to cease her efforts to +declare independence in Everett.</p> + +<p>"Is there a red-blooded man in the audience who will take the stand?" +called out the gallant little woman as she stepped from the platform. +Jake Michel promptly accepted the challenge and was as promptly +suppressed by the police at the first mention of free speech.</p> + +<p>In the jail the arrested persons were searched one by one and thrown +into the "receiving tank."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> When Thompson's turn came, Commissioner of +Public Safety, as Chief of Police Kelly was known under Everett's form +or government, said to him:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Thompson, I don't want to lock you up."</p> + +<p>"That's interesting," replied Thompson. "Why have you got me down here?"</p> + +<p>"We don't want you to speak on the street at this time."</p> + +<p>"Have you any ordinance against it, that is, have I broken any law?" +enquired Thompson.</p> + +<p>"Oh no, no. That isn't the idea," rejoined Kelly. "We have strikes on, +labor troubles here, and we don't want you to speak here at all. You are +welcome at any other time, but not now."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Thompson, "as a representative of labor, when labor is in +trouble is the time I would like to speak, but I am not going to +advocate anything that I think you could object to."</p> + +<p>"Now, Thompson," said Kelly, "if you will agree to get right out of town +I will let you go. I don't want to lock you up."</p> + +<p>"Do you believe in free speech?" asked Thompson.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And I am not arrested?"</p> + +<p>"No, you are not arrested."</p> + +<p>"Come up to the meeting then," Thompson said with a smile, "for I am +going back and speak."</p> + +<p>"Oh no, you are not!"—and Kelly kind of laughed. "No, you are not!"</p> + +<p>"If you let me go I will go right up to the corner and speak, and if you +send me out of town I will come back," said Thompson emphatically. "I +don't know what you are going to do, but that's how I stand."</p> + +<p>"Lock him up with the rest!" was the abrupt reply of the "Commissioner +of Public Safety."</p> + +<p>At this juncture James Rowan was brought in from the patrol wagon, and +searched. As the officers were about to put him in the cell with the +others, Sheriff McRae called out:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p><p>"Don't put him in there, he is instigator of the whole damn business. +Turn him over to me." He then took Rowan in his automobile to the county +jail and threw him in a cell, along with B. E. Peck, who had previously +been given a "floater" out of town for having spoken on the street on or +about August 15th. McRae was drunk.</p> + +<p>More than half a thousand indignant citizens followed the twenty-one +arrested persons to the jail, loudly condemning the outrage against +their constitutional rights. Editor H. W. Watts, of the Northwest +Worker, a union and socialist paper published in Everett, forcibly +expressed his opinion of the suppression of free speech and was +thereupon thrown into jail. Fearing a serious outbreak, Michel secured +permission to address the people surrounding the jail. The crowd, upon +receiving assurances from Michel that the men would be well treated and +could be seen in the morning, quietly dispersed and returned to their homes.</p> + +<p>The free speech prisoners were charged with vagrancy on the police +blotter, but no formal charge was ever made, nor were they brought to +trial. Next morning, Thompson and his wife, who had return tickets on +the Interurban, were deported by rail, together with Herbert Mahler, +secretary of the Seattle I. W. W. Mrs. Mahler, Mrs. Frennette and the +balance of the prisoners were taken to the City Dock and deported by +boat. At the instigation of McRae, and without a court order, the sum of +$13. was seized from the personal funds of James Orr and turned over to +the purser of the boat to pay the fares of the deportees to Seattle. +Protests against this legalized robbery were of no avail; the amount of +the fares was never repaid. Mayor Merrill of Everett, replying to a +letter from Mahler, promised that this money would be refunded to Orr. +His word proved to be as good as that of the Everett shingle mill +owners. Prominent members of the Commercial Club lent civic dignity to +the deportation by their profane threats to use physical force in the +event that any of the deported prisoners dared to return.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p><p>Upon their arrival in Seattle the deported men conferred with other +members of the union, telling of the beating some of them had received +while in jail, and as a result there was organized a free speech +committee composed of Sam Dixon, Dan Emmett and A. E. Soper. Telegrams +were then sent to General Headquarters, to Solidarity and to various +branches of the organization, notifying them of what had happened. At a +street meeting that night, Mrs. Frennette, Mrs. Mahler and James P. +Thompson, gave the workers the facts and collected over $50.00 for the +committee to use in its work. In Everett the Labor Council passed a +resolution stating that the unions there were back of the battle for +free speech and condemning McRae and the authorities for their illegal +actions. The Free Speech Fight was on!</p> + +<p>Remick, in the meantime, had returned to Everett and found that all the +literature had been confiscated from the hall. The day following his +return, August 24th, Sheriff McRae blustered into the hall with a police +officer in his train. Leering at Remick he exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"You God damn son of a b——, are you back here again? Get on your coat +and get into that auto!"</p> + +<p>Seizing an I. W. W. stencil that was lying on the table he tore it to shreds.</p> + +<p>"If anybody asks who tore that up,"—bombastically—"tell them Sheriff +McRae tore it!"</p> + +<p>Shoving Remick into the automobile with the remark that jail was too +easy for him and they would therefore take him to the Interurban and +deport him, the sheriff drove off to make good his threat. McRae was drunk.</p> + +<p>On the corner that night, Harry Feinberg spoke to a large audience and +was not molested. That this was due to no change of policy on the part +of the lumber trust tools was shown when secretary Herbert Mahler went +to Everett the following day in reference to the situation. He was met +at the depot by Sheriff McRae who asked him what he had come to Everett +for. "To see the Mayor," answered <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>Mahler. "Anything you have to say to +the Mayor, you can say to me," was McRae's rejoinder. After a brief +conversation Mahler was deported to Seattle by the same car on which he +had made the trip over. McRae was drunk.</p> + +<p>F. W. Stead reopened the hall on the 26th and managed to hold it down +for a couple of days. Three speakers appeared and spoke that night. J. +A. MacDonald, editor of the Industrial Worker, opened the meeting. +George Reese spoke next, but upon commencing to advocate the use of +violence he was pulled from the platform by Harry Feinberg, who +concluded the meeting. No arrests were made.</p> + +<p>It was during this period that Secretary Herbert Mahler addressed a +letter to Governor Ernest Lister, informing him of the state of +lawlessness existing in Everett. A second letter was sent to Mayor +Merrill and in it was enclosed a copy of the letter to Lister. No reply +was received to the communication.</p> + +<p>For a time following this there was no interference with street +meetings. Feinberg spoke without molestation on Monday night and Dan +Emmett opened up the hall once more. On Tuesday evening, the same night +as the theater riot, Thompson addressed an audience of thousands of +Everett citizens, giving them the facts of the arrests made the previous +week, and advising the workers against the use of violence in any +disputes with employers.</p> + +<p>After having been held by McRae for eight days without any commitment +papers, Rowan was turned over to the city police and released on +September 1st. He returned to the street corner and spoke for several +succeeding nights including "Labor Day" which fell on the 4th. +Incidentally he paid a visit to the home of Jake Michel and, after +industrial unionism was more fully explained, Michel agreed that the +craft union contract system forced scabbery upon the workers. Rowan left +shortly thereafter for Anacortes to find out the sentiment for +organization in that section.</p> + +<p>This period of comparative peace was due to the fact that the lumber +barons realized that their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>actions reflected no credit upon themselves +or their city and they wished to create a favorable impression upon +Federal Mediator Blackman who was in Everett at the request of U. S. +Commissioner of Labor Wilson. It was during this time, too, that the +protagonists of the open shop were secretly marshalling their forces for +a still more lawless and brutal campaign.</p> + +<p>Affairs gradually slipped from the hands of the Everett authorities into +the grasp of those Snohomish County officials who were more completely +dominated by the lumber interests.</p> + +<p>"Tom," remarked Jake Michel one day to Chief of Police Kelley, "it seems +funny that you can't handle the situation."</p> + +<p>"I can handle it all right," replied Kelley, bitterly, "but McRae has +been drunk around here for the last two or three weeks and he has butted +into my business."</p> + +<p>It was on August 30th that the lumber trust definitely stripped the city +officials of all power and turned affairs over to the sheriff. On this +point a quotation from the Industrial Relations Commission Report is +particularly illuminating in showing a common industrial condition:</p> + +<p>"Free speech in informal and personal intercourse was denied the +inhabitants of the coal camps. It was also denied public speakers. Union +organizers would not be permitted to address meetings. Periodicals +permitted in the camps were censored in the same fashion. The operators +were able to use their power of summary discharge to deny free press, +free speech, and free assembly, to prevent political activities for the +suppression of popular government and the winning of political control. +<b>I find that the head of the political machinery is the sheriff.</b>"</p> + +<p>In Everett the sheriff's office was controlled by the Commercial Club +and the Commercial Club in turn was dominated, thru an inner circle, by +the lumber trust. Acting for the trust a small committee meeting was +held on the morning of the 30th with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> the editor of a trust-controlled +newspaper, the secretary of the Commercial Club, two city officials, a +banker and a lumber trust magnate in attendance. A larger meeting of +those in control met in the afternoon and, pursuant to a call already +published in the Everett Herald, several hundred scabs, gunmen, and +other open shop advocates were brought together that night at the Commercial Club.</p> + +<p>Commissioner of Finance, W. H. Clay, suggested that as Federal Mediator +Blackman, an authority on labor questions, was in the city it might be +well to confer with him regarding a settlement. Banker Moody said he did +not think a conference would be advisable as Mr. Blackman might be +inclined to lean toward the side of the laboring men, and at a remark by +"Governor" Clough, formerly Governor of Minnesota and spokesman for the +mill owners, to the effect that there was nothing to be settled the +suggestion was not considered further.</p> + +<p>H. D. Cooley, special counsel for a number of the mills, Governor +Clough, a prominent mill owner, and others then addressed the meeting in +furtherance of the plans already laid. Clough asked McRae if he could +handle the situation. McRae said he did not have enough deputies.</p> + +<p>"Swear in the members of the Commercial Club, then!" demanded Clough. +This was done. Nearly two hundred of the men whose membership had been +paid for by the mill owners "volunteered" their services. McRae swore in +a few and then, for the first time in his life, found swearing a +difficulty, so W. W. Blain, secretary of the Commercial Club, who was +neither a city nor a county official, administered the remainder of such +oaths as were taken by the deputies. The whole meeting was illegal.</p> + +<p>From time to time the deputy force was added to until it ran way up in +the hundreds. It was divided into sections A, B, C, etc. Each division +was assigned to a special duty, one to watch incoming trains for free +speech advocates, another to watch the boats for I. W. W. members, and +others for various duties such as deporting and beating up workers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +This marked the beginning of a reign of terror during which no +propertyless worker or union sympathizer was safe from attack.</p> + +<p>About this same time the Commercial Club made a pretense of +investigating the shingle weavers' strike. Not one of the strikers was +called to give their side of the controversy, and J. G. Brown, +international president of the Shingle Weavers' Union, was refused +permission to testify. The committee claimed that the employers could +not pay the wages asked. An adverse report was returned and was adopted +by the club.</p> + +<p>Attorneys E. C. Dailey, Robert Fassett, and George Loutitt, along with a +number of other fair minded members who did not favor the open shop +program, withdrew from membership on account of these various actions. +Their names were placed on the bulletin board and a boycott advised. +Feeling against the organization responsible for the chaotic conditions +in Everett finally became so strong that practically all of the +merchants whose places were not mortgaged or who were not otherwise +dependent upon the whims of the lumber barons, posted notices in their windows,</p> + +<p class="center">"WE ARE NOT MEMBERS OF THE<br />COMMERCIAL CLUB."</p> + +<p>Their names, too, were placed on the bulletin board, and the boycott and +other devices used in an endeavor to force them into bankruptcy.</p> + +<p>Prior to these occurrences and for some time thereafter, the club was +addressed by emissaries of the open shop interests. A. L. Veitch, +special counsel for the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association, on +one occasion addressed the deputies on labor troubles in San Francisco +and the methods used to handle them. Veitch was later one of the +attorneys in the case against Thomas H. Tracy, and he was employed by +the state, it being stipulated that he receive no state compensation. H. +D. Cooley,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> lumber mill lawyer and former prosecuting attorney, also +spoke at different times on the open shop questions. Cooley was likewise +an attorney for the prosecution in the Tracy case and he, like Veitch, +was retained by "interested parties." Cooley was one of the anti-union +speakers at a meeting of the deputies which was also addressed by F. C. +Beach, of San Francisco, president of the M. & M., Robert Moody, +president of the First National Bank of Everett, Governor Clough, mill +magnate, F. K. Baker, president of the Commercial Club, and Col. Roland +H. Hartley, open shop candidate for the nomination as governor of +Washington at the pending election. Leigh Irvine, of Seattle, secretary +of the Employers' Association, and Murray, president of the National +Association of Manufacturers, were also active in directing the +destinies of the Commercial Club.</p> + +<p>A special open shop committee was formed, the nature of its operations +being apparent when the following two quotations from its minutes, taken +from among others of similar purport, are considered:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Decided to go after advertisements in labor journals and the +Northwestern Worker."<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>"Matter of how far to go on open shop propaganda at the deputies meeting +this morning was discussed. Also the advisability of submitting pledges. +Mr. Moody to take up matter of the legality of pledges with Mr. Coleman. +Note: At deputies meeting all speakers touched quite strongly on the +open shop, and as far as it was possible to see all in attendance seemed +favorable."<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>Just how far they finally did go is a matter of history. At the time, +however, there were appropriations made for the purchase of blackjacks, +leaded clubs, guns and ammunition, and for the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>employment of +detectives, labor spies, and "agents provocateur."<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Sunset Magazine, February 1917. "The I. W. W. and the +Golden Rule."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Supplemental report on "Everett's Industrial Warfare," by +President Ernest P. Marsh to State Federation of Labor convention held +at Everett, Wash., from January 22 to 26, 1917.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Vol. 9, No. 2, The Shingle Weaver, Special Convention +Number, February, 1911.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Proposition No. 5, submitted to referendum of membership of +Pacific Coast District I. L. A., Riggers and Stevedores Local 38, at +their annual election on Jan. 6, 1916.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Dreamland Rink Meeting, Seattle, Nov. 19th, over 5,000 in +attendance.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Minutes of Open Shop Committee, Sept. 27th.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Minutes of Open Shop Committee, October 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> The incidents of the foregoing chapter are corroborated by +the sworn testimony of prosecution witnesses Donald McRae, sheriff of +Snohomish County; and D. D. Merrill, Mayor of Everett; and by witnesses +called by the Defense, W. W. Blain, secretary of the Commercial Club: J. +G. Brown, International president of the Shingle Weavers' Union; W. H. +Clay, Commissioner of Finance in Everett; Robert Faussett, Everett +attorney; Harry Feinberg, one of the defendants; Mrs. Letelsia Fye, +Everett citizen; Jake Michel, Secretary Everett Building Trades Council; +Herbert Mahler, Secretary Seattle I. W. W. and subsequently secretary of +the Everett Prisoners' Defense Committee; Robert Mills, business agent +Everett Shingle Weavers' Union; James Orr, and Levi Remick, I. W. W. +members; James Rowan, I. W. W. organizer; and James P. Thompson, +National Organizer for the I. W. W. and a speaker of international +reputation.</p></div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i004.jpg" width='700' height='491' alt="Joe (Red) Doran Capt. Jack Mitten The Launch Wanderer." /></div> + +<h4>Joe (Red) Doran<span class="s3"> </span>Capt. Jack Mitten<br />The Launch Wanderer.</h4> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>A REIGN OF TERROR</h3> + +<p>No sooner had Mediator Blackman left Everett than the "law and order" +forces resumed their hostilities with a bitterness and brutality that +seems almost incredible. On September 7th Mrs. Frennette, H. Shebeck, +Bob Adams, J. Johnson, J. Fred, and Dan Emmett were dragged from the +platform at Hewitt and Wetmore Avenues and were literally thrown into +their cells. Next morning Mrs. Frenette was released but the men were +"kangarood" for 30 days each. Petty abuses were heaped upon them and +Johnson was cast into the "black hole" by the sheriff. Some of the men +were severely beaten just before their release a few days afterward.</p> + +<p>When Fred Reed and James Dwyer were arrested the next night for street +speaking, the crowd of Everett citizens, in company with the few I. W. +W. members present, followed the deputies to the county jail, demanding +the release of Reed, Dwyer and Peck, and those who had been arrested the +night before. In its surging to and from the crowd pushed over a +post-rotted picket fence that had been erected in the early days of +Everett. This violence, together with cries of "You've got the wrong +bunch in jail! Let those men out and put the 'bulls' in!" was the basis +from which the trust-owned press built up a story of a riot and +attempted jail delivery. On the same flimsy basis a warrant was issued +charging Mrs. Frennette with inciting a riot.</p> + +<p>The free speech committee sent John Berg to Everett that same day to +retain an attorney for the men held without warrants. He secured the +services of E. C. Dailey, and, while waiting to learn the result<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> of the +lawyer's efforts, he went to the I. W. W. hall only to find it closed. A +man was there waiting to get his blankets to go to work and Berg +volunteered to get them for him. He then went to the county jail and +asked for McRae. When McRae came in and learned that Berg wanted to see +the secretary in order to get the keys to the hall, he yelled out:</p> + +<p>"You are another I. W. W. Throw him in jail, the old son-of-a-b——!"</p> + +<p>Without having any charges placed against him, Berg was held until the +next morning, when McRae and a deputy took him out in a roadster to a +lonely spot on the county road. Forcing him to dismount, McRae ordered +Berg to walk to Seattle under threats of death if he returned, and then +knocked Berg down and kicked him in the groin as he lay prostrate. McRae +was drunk. Berg subsequently developed a severe rupture as a result of +this treatment. He managed to make his way to Seattle and in spite of +his condition returned to Everett that same night.</p> + +<p>Undaunted by their previous deportations, and determined to circumvent +the deputies who were seizing men from the railroad trains and regular +boats, a body of free speech fighters, on September 9th, took the train +to Mukilteo, a village about four miles from Everett, and there, by +pre-arrangement, were taken aboard the launch "Wanderer."</p> + +<p>The little boat would not hold the entire party and six men were towed +behind in a large dory. There were 17 first class life preservers on +board, the captain borrowing some to supplement his equipment.</p> + +<p>When the "Wanderer" reached a point about a mile and a half from the +Weyerhouser dock a boat was seen approaching. It was the scab tug +"Edison," belonging to the American Tugboat Company. On board was +Captain Harry Ramwell, Sheriff McRae and a body of about sixty deputies. +When the "Edison" was about 200 feet away the sheriff commenced +shooting—but let Captain Jack Mitten tell his own story.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p><p>"The first shot went over the bow. I don't know whether there was one +or two shots fired, then there was a shot struck right over my head onto +the big cast iron muffler. The next shot came on thru the boat,—I had +my bunk strapped up against the wall,—and thru the blanket,—and the +cotton in the blanket turned the bullet,—and it struck flat on the +bottom of the bunk.</p> + +<p>"I shut the engine down and went out to the stern door and just as I +stepped out there was a shot went right by my head and at the same time +McRae hollered out and says 'You son-of-a-b—, you come over here!' Says +I, "If you want me, you come over here." With that they brought their +boat and my boat up together. Six shots in all were fired.</p> + +<p>"McRae commenced to take the people off the boat and when he had them +all off he kicked the pilot house open and says, 'Oho, there is a woman +here!' Mrs. Frennette was sitting in the pilot house. Anyhow, they took +her and he says, 'You'll get a one piece suit on McNeil's island for +this,' and then he says to Cap Ramwell—Cap Ramwell was sitting on the +side—'This is Oscar Lindstrom, drag him along too.'</p> + +<p>"Then they were going to make fast the line—they had made fast my stern +line—and as I bent over with the line McRae struck me with his revolver +on the back of the head, and when I straightened up he struck me in +here, a revolver about that long. (Indicating.) I said something to him +and then he ran the revolver right in here in my groin and he ruptured +me at the same time. I told him 'It's a fine way of using a citizen.' He +says, 'You're a hell of a citizen, bringing in a bunch like that,' he +says, 'to cause a riot in this town.' I says, 'Well, they are all union +men anyway.' He says, 'You shut your damn head or I will knock it clean +off!' and I guess he would, because he had whiskey enough in him at the time to do it.</p> + +<p>"There was a small man, I believe they call him Miller, he saw him +standing there and he says, 'You here, too?' and he hauled off and +struck him in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> temple and the blood flowed way down over his face +and shirt. He struck him again and staggered him. If he hadn't struck +him so he would have gone inboard, he would have gone over the edge, +close to the edge.</p> + +<p>"Then there was a man by the name of Berg, it seemed he knowed John +Berg. He said, 'You ——, I will fix you so you will never come back!' +and then he went at Berg, but Berg was foxy and kept ducking his head. +He rapped him on the shoulders two or three different times, I wouldn't +say how often, but he didn't draw blood on Berg. (An I. W. W. member +named Kurgvel was also beaten on the head and shoulders.)</p> + +<p>"They drove us all in alongside of the boiler between the decks, down on +the main deck of the "Edison" and kept us there till they docked and got +automobiles and the patrol wagon and filed us off into them and took us to jail."</p> + +<p>The arrest of Captain Mitten and acting engineer Oscar Lindstrom made +twenty-one prisoners in all, and these were jailed without any charge +being placed against them. As Berg was taken into the jail, McRae cursed +him roundly, ordering two deputies to hold him while a beating was +administered over the shoulders and back with a leather strap loaded +with lead on the tip.</p> + +<p>The men were treated with great brutality within the jail. One young +fellow was asked by the deputies, "Are you an I. W. W.?" and each time +the lad answered "Yes!" he was thrown violently against the steel walls +of the cell, until his body was a mass of bruises. Mitten was denied a +chance to communicate with his Everett friends in order to get bail. The +nights were cold and the prisoners had to sleep on the bare floor without blankets.</p> + +<p>At the end of nine days all the men were offered their liberty except +Mitten. They promptly refused the offer. "All or none!" was their +indignant demand, and Peck and Mitten were set at liberty with the rest +as a result of this show of solidarity.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p><p>Upon his release Captain Mitten found that the life preservers had been +stolen from his boat, and the flattened bullet removed from his bunk. +Scotty Fife, the Port Captain of the American Tugboat Company, told +Captain Mitten that he had straightened up the things on the "Wanderer!"</p> + +<p>Thus to the crimes of unlawful arrest, false imprisonment, theft, +deportation, assault and physical injury, the lumber trust added that of +piracy on the high seas. And all this was but a taste of what was yet to come!</p> + +<p>Organizer James Rowan returned to Everett from Anacortes on the +afternoon of September 11th and was met at the depot by three deputies +who promptly took him to the county jail. There were at that time +between thirty and forty other members of the I. W. W. being unlawfully +held. Rowan learned that these men had been taken from their cells one +at a time and beaten by the deputies, Thorne and Dunn having especially +severe cuts on the face and head.</p> + +<p>Rowan's story of the outrage that followed gives a glimpse of the +methods employed by the lumber trust.</p> + +<p>"As soon as I dropped off the train at Everett I was met by three +deputies. One of them told me the sheriff wanted to see me and I asked +if he was a deputy. He said, 'Yes,' and showed me a badge. Then I went +up with two of the deputies to the county jail. In a minute or two +Sheriff McRae came in and he was pretty drunk. He caught hold of me and +gave me a yank forward, and he says, 'So you are back, eh?' and I says +'Yes.' And he says 'We are going to fix you so you won't come back any +more.' There was some more abusive talk and then I was searched and put in a cell.</p> + +<p>"Just after dark that night I was taken out of the cell, my stuff was +given back, and McRae says, 'We are going to start you on the road to +Seattle.' With a deputy he took me out to the automobile and McRae drove +the automobile, and we had some conversation. McRae seemed to feel very +sore because<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> I told the people on the street that the jail was lousy, +and he says 'We wanted you to get out of here and you would not do it, +and now,' he says, 'Now instead of dealing with officers you have to +deal with a bunch of boob citizens, and there is no telling what these +boobs will do.' There was more talk that is not worth repeating and most +of it not fit to repeat anyhow.</p> + +<p>"We went out in the country until we came to where the road crosses the +interurban tracks about two miles from Silver Lake and McRae told me to +get out. He then pointed down the track and says, 'There is the road to +Seattle and you beat it!' so I started down the track.</p> + +<p>"I hadn't gone far, maybe 50 or 75 yards, when I met a bunch of gunmen. +They came at me with guns. They had clubs and they started to beat me up +on the head with the butts of their guns and with the clubs. They all +had handkerchiefs over their face except one. They threw a cloth over my +head and beat me some more on the head with their gun butts and then +they dragged me thru the fence at the right-of-way and went a little +ways back into the woods. Then they held me down over a log about +eighteen inches or two feet in diameter. There were about a dozen of +them I would say. Two or three held each arm and two or three each leg +and there were four or five of them holding guns around my ribs—they +had the guns close around my ribs all the time, several of them—and +they tore my clothes off, tore my shirt and coat off. Then one of them +beat me on the back, on the bare back with some kind of a sap, I don't +know just what kind it was, but I could hear him grunt every time he was +going to strike a blow. I was struck fifty times or more.</p> + +<p>"After he got thru beating me they went back to the fence toward the +road and I picked up my scattered belongings and went down to Silver +Lake, taking the first car to Seattle."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i005.jpg" width='456' height='700' alt="Organizer James Rowan; +Showing his back lacerated by Lumber Trust thugs." /></div> + +<h4>Organizer James Rowan;<br />Showing his back lacerated by Lumber Trust thugs.</h4> + +<p>Rowan exhibited his badly lacerated and bruised back to several +prominent Seattle citizens, and then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> had a photograph made, which was +widely circulated. Contrary to the expectation of the lumber barons this +treatment did not deter free speech fighters from carrying on the +struggle. Instead, it brought fresh bodies of free speech enthusiasts to +the scene within a short period.</p> + +<p>The personnel of the free speech committee changed continually because +of the arrest of its members. On Sunday, September 10th, at a mass +meeting in Seattle Harry Feinberg and William Roberts were elected to +serve. Roberts had just come down from Port Angeles and desired to +investigate conditions at first hand, so in company with Feinberg he +went to Everett on the 11th. They met Jake Michel, who telephoned to +Chief of Police Kelley for permission to hold a street meeting.</p> + +<p>"I have no objection to this meeting," replied Kelley, "but wait a +minute, you had better call up McRae and find out."</p> + +<p>Attempts to reach McRae at the Commercial Club and the sheriff's office +met with failure. Meanwhile Feinberg had gone ahead with the meeting, +the following being his sworn statement of what transpired:</p> + +<p>"I went to Everett at 7:30 Monday night. I got a box and opened a +meeting for the I. W. W. There must have been three thousand people on +the corner, against buildings and looking out of the windows.</p> + +<p>"I spoke about 35 minutes, with the crowd boisterous in their applause. +Three companies of deputies and vigilantes, about one hundred and fifty +thugs in all, marched down the street and divided up in three companies. +One of the deputies came up and told me he wanted me and grabbed me off the box.</p> + +<p>"They took me up to the jail, took my description, and my money and +valuables, which were not returned. By that time Fellow Worker Roberts +was brought in. A drunken deputy came in and grabbed me by the coat and +dragged me out of the jail, with the evident permission of the officers. +The vigilantes proceeded to beat me up on the jail steps. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> were +anyway fifty deputies waiting outside and all of them crowded to get a +chance to hit me. They gave me a chance to get away finally and shot +after me, or in the air, I could not tell which, but I was not hit by the bullets."</p> + +<p>The sworn statement of William Roberts corroborated the foregoing:</p> + +<p>"I took the box after Fellow Worker Feinberg had been arrested. The +crowd were extreme in their hostility to the lawlessness of the +officers. I told them to keep cool, that the I. W. W. would handle the +situation, in their own time and way. They arrested me, and, right +there, they clubbed me on the head. They brought me to the jail, where +Feinberg was at the desk. They took me out of the jail and threw me into +the bunch of vigilantes with clubs. They started beating me around the +body. One of them said: 'Do anything, but don't kill him!'</p> + +<p>"Finally one of them hit me on the head and I came out of it and as I +was getting away they shot in the air. A bunch of them then jumped into +an automobile, came after me and again clubbed me. One of them knocked +me out for ten minutes, according to one of the women who were watching.</p> + +<p>"While we were in the jail, two men we did not know were brought into +the jail with their heads cut open. The vigilantes were clubbing women +right and left, and a young girl, about eight years of age, had her head +cut open by one of Sheriff McRae's Commercial Club tools."</p> + +<p>Roberts ran down the street to the interurban depot, where he hid behind +a freight car until just before the car left for Seattle. Feinberg, with +his face and clothing covered with blood, got on the same car about a +mile and a half from Everett and the two returned to Seattle.</p> + +<p>John Ovist, a resident of Mukilteo who had joined the I. W. W. in +Everett on Labor Day, got on the box and said, "Fellow comrades——" but +got no further. He was knocked from the box. Ovist states: "Mr. Henig +was standing alongside of me when Sheriff McRae came up and cracked him +over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> the forehead with a club. I don't know what else happened to him +for just then Sheriff McRae came in front of me and pushed the fellow +off the box. When the two fellows were arrested I started to speak and +McRae took me and turned me over to one of them—I don't know what you +call them—deputies, or whatever they are. He had a white handkerchief +around his neck and he took me toward the county jail. There was a +policeman standing in front of the jail. If I am not mistaken his name +is Ryan, a short heavy-set fellow. I walked by him. Of course, I never +thought he was going to hit me, but I felt something over behind. He hit +me with a club behind the ear and cut my head until it was bleeding awful."</p> + +<p>"When we came to the county jail, Henig, he was in there already. His +face was red and he was full of blood. And they took us into the toilet +to have us wash the blood off, and when I came back I heard screams and pounding.</p> + +<p>"Then the sheriff recognized me, he had been down in Mukilteo before, +and he says, 'What are you doing up here?' I said, 'Well, I didn't come +up here, they brought me up here.' He says, 'You are a member of the I. +W. W., too.' So I told him, 'I don't see why I should come and ask you +what organization I should belong to!' So he opened the gate and says, +'Here is a fellow from Mukilteo,' he says. 'Beat it!' And I seen, I +guess—a hundred and fifty or maybe two hundred, I didn't have time to +count them, right out back of the jail lined up in lines on either side. +And I had to run between them and come out the other end. They banged me +on the head with clubs, and all over. I looked bad and I felt worse. I +had blue marks on my shoulders and on my hips and under my knees.</p> + +<p>"I got thru them and there was a couple ran after me, but I beat it +ahead of them. I guess they intended to club me. I ran down to that +depot where the electric car goes thru to Seattle and then I turned to +look around because the car was at Hewitt and Colby, and as I went down +the walk two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> men stopped me and asked me if I hadn't had enough. They +told me to beat it, and as I turned around the same policeman, Ryan, I +think his name is, hit me on the forehead and then pulled his gun and +said, 'Beat it!' He was drunk and they were all swearing at me.</p> + +<p>"After I got a block or so, there were two or three shots. I walked two +more blocks and then was so dizzy I had to rest. Finally I walked +further and an automobile came past me and I tried to holler but they +didn't hear me. And then I walked a little further and the stage came +along and they picked me up."</p> + +<p>Eye witnesses declared that officer Daniels was one of those who fired +shots at the fleeing men after they had been forced to run the gauntlet.</p> + +<p>Frank Henig, an Everett citizen, tells what happened in these words:</p> + +<p>"I will start from the time I left the house. My wife and I, and the +little baby were going to the show. When we got on Wetmore there was a +big crowd standing there. I had worked the night before in the mill and +I had cedar asthma, so I said to my wife, 'I would like to stay out in +the fresh air,' And she said, 'All right, I will meet you at nine +o'clock at Wetmore and Hewitt.'</p> + +<p>"There was quite a crowd and I got up pretty close in front so I could +hear the speaker. I stood there a little while and finally the sheriff +came along with a bunch of deputies, and the speaker said, 'Here they +come, but now people, I will tell you, don't start anything, let them start it.'</p> + +<p>"They took him off the box and arrested a couple of others with him, and +then immediately after that the Commercial Club deputies came along in a +row. They had white handkerchiefs around their necks. So I looked out +there and the crowd commenced to yell and cheer like, and McRae got +excited and started toward me, saying, 'We have been looking for you +before.' When he said that I stopped—before that I had tried to get +farther back—I stopped and he got hold of me. Meanwhile<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> Commissioner +Kelley came up and took care of me and McRae walked away a little way. +Kelley had hold of my right arm and he pinched me a little bit, and I +said 'Let go Kelley and I will go with you.'</p> + +<p>"We stood there a few minutes longer and McRae came back. Kelley said +'Come along with me,' and just as I said 'All right,' McRae grabbed me +by the coat and hit me on the head with a black club fastened to his +strap with a leather thong. I was looking right at him and he knocked me +unconscious. Then Kelley picked me up and shook me and I came to again, +and I fell over the curb of the sidewalk.</p> + +<p>"Kelley then turned me over to Daniels, a policeman in Everett, and he +turned me over to a couple of Commercial Club deputies. Then Fred Luke +came along and said, 'I will take care of him.' So we walked a little +ways and he said, 'You better go to the doctor and have that dressed.' I +said to him, 'Oh, I guess it ain't so bad,' and so he said, 'Come along +with me and we will wash up at the jail.' I said, 'All right,' and while +I was going up the steps to the jail, why a policeman by the name of +Bryan or something like that,—a little short fellow, well anyhow he got +canned off the force for being drunk, that is how I heard of him,—when +I was kind of slow walking along because I was bleeding pretty bad, he +said, 'Hurry up and get in there, you low-down, dirty son-of-a-b——' +And I answered, 'I guess I ain't arrested, I don't have to hurry in +there.' So he cursed some more.</p> + +<p>"I went into the jail and washed up and came back into the office of the +county jail. The fellows that they had arrested were sitting in the +chairs and McRae came in and grabbed one of the I. W. W.'s—I guess they +were I. W. W.'s, anyway one of them that was arrested—and he says, +'What in hell are you doing up here, don't you know I told you to keep +away from here?' and while he was going in the door into the back office +I saw him haul off with his sap, but I don't see him hit him, but the +little fellow cried like a baby.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p><p>"McRae came back and he looked at me and said, 'What in hell are you +doing up here?' I didn't know what to say for a little while and then I +said, 'I didn't do nothing, Mac, I don't see what you wanted to sap me +for.' And he said, 'I didn't sap you,' he said, 'Kelley hit you.' Then I +said to him, 'My wife says for me to meet her down at the corner of +Wetmore and Hewitt at nine o'clock and I would like to go down there and +meet her.' So he said, 'All right, you go; you hurry and go.' I was +going out the front door and he said, 'No, don't go out there. If you go +out there, they will kill you!' He led me to the back door of the jail, +I don't know where it was, I never was in jail in my life before, and he +said, 'Hurry and beat it, and pull your hat down over your head so they +wont know you.' But when I got to town everybody knew, because there was +blood still running all over my face after I washed up."</p> + +<p>Henig endeavored to prosecute McRae for his illegal and unwarranted +assault but all attempts to secure a warrant met with failure. Lumber +trust law operates only in one direction.</p> + +<p>In this raid upon the meeting McRae smashed citizens right and left, +women as well as men. He was even seen to kick a small boy who happened +to get in his path. Deputy Sam Walker beat up Harry Woods, an Everett +music teacher; another deputy was seen smashing an elderly gentleman on +the head; still another knocked Mrs. Louise McGuire, who was just +recovering from a sprained knee, into the gutter; and Ed Morton, G. W. +Carr and many other old-time residents of Everett were struck by the +drunken Commercial Club thugs.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Leota Carr called up Chief of Police Kelley next morning, the +following being an account of the conversation that ensued:</p> + +<p>"I said, 'What are you trying to kill my husband for?' and he kind of +laughed and said he didn't believe it, and I said, 'Did you know they +struck him over the head last night and he could hardly go to work +today?' He said, 'My God, they didn't strike<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> him, did they?' and I +said, 'They surely did!' And he said 'Why there isn't a better man in +town than he is,' and I said, 'I know it.' It surprised me to think that +he thought I didn't know it myself. And then I said, 'These here +deputies are making more I. W. W.'s in town than the I. W. W.'s would in +fifty years.' And he said, 'I know it.' Then I said, 'Why do you allow +them to do it? You are the head of the police department.' He replied, +'McRae has taken it out of my hands; the sheriff is ahead of me and it +is his men who are doing it, and I am not to blame.'"</p> + +<p>At the city park four nights after this outrage, only one arrest for +street speaking having occurred in the meantime, the aroused citizens of +Everett met to hear Attorney E. C. Dailey, T. Webber, and various local +speakers deal with the situation, and to view at first hand the wounds +of Ovist, Henig and other towns people who had been injured. Thousands +attended the meeting, and disapproval of the actions of the Commercial +Club and its tools was vehemently expressed.</p> + +<p>This remonstrance from the people had some effect. The Commercial Club, +knowing that all arrests so far had been unlawful, took steps to +"legalize" any further seizing of street speakers at Hewitt and Wetmore +Avenues. The lumber interests issued an ordinance preventing street +speaking on that corner. The Mayor signed it without ever putting it to +a reading, thus invalidating the proposed measure. This made no +difference; henceforth it was a law of the city of Everett and as such +was due to be enforced by the lumber trust.</p> + +<p>During the whole controversy there had not been an arrest made on the +charge of violation of any street speaking ordinance. With the new +ordinance assumed to be a law, Mrs. Frennette went to Everett and +interviewed Chief Kelley. After telling him that the I. W. W. members +were being disturbed and mistreated by men who were not in uniform, she said:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p><p>"It seems that there is an ordinance here against street speaking and +we feel that it is unjust. We feel that we have a right to speak here. +We are not blocking traffic and we propose to make a test of the +ordinance. Will you have one of your men arrest me or any other speaker +who chooses to take the box, personally, and bring me to jail and put a +charge against me, and protect me from the vigilantes who are beating +the men on the street?"</p> + +<p>Kelley replied that so far as he was concerned he would do the best he +could but McRae had practically taken the authority out of his hands and +that he really could not guarantee protection. So a legal test was practically denied.</p> + +<p>Quiet again reigned in Everett following the brutalities cited. A few +citizens were manhandled for too openly expressing their opinion of mob +methods and several wearers of overalls were searched and deported, but +the effects of bootleg whiskey seemed to have left the vigilantes.</p> + +<p>On Wednesday, Sept. 20th, a committee of 2000 citizens met at the Labor +Temple and arranged for a mass meeting to be held in the public park on +the following Friday. The meeting brought forth between ten and fifteen +thousand citizens, one-third of the total population at least, who +listened to speakers representing the I. W. W., Socialists, trades +unions and citizens generally. Testimony was given by some of the +citizens who had been clubbed by the vigilantes. Recognizing the hostile +public opinion, Sheriff McRae promised that the office of the I. W. W. +would not again be molested. As he had lied before he was not believed, +but, as a test, Earl Osborne went from Seattle to open up the hall once more.</p> + +<p>For a period thereafter the energies of the deputies were given to a +course of action confined to the outskirts of the city. Migratory +workers traveling to and from various jobs were taken from the trains, +beaten, robbed and deported. As an example of McRae's methods and as +depicting a phase of the life of the migratory worker the story of +"Sergeant" John J. Keenan, sixty-five years old,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> and still actively at +work, is of particular interest:</p> + +<p>"I left Great Falls, Mont., about the 5th of September after I had been +working on a machine in the harvest about nine miles from town. The boys +gathered together—they were coming from North Dakota—and we all came +thru together. We had an organization among ourselves. We carried our +cards. There was a delegate with us, a field delegate, and I was +spokesman, elected by the rank and file of the twenty-two. There was +another division from North Dakota on the same train with us, going to +Wenatchee to pick apples. We were going to Seattle. I winter in Seattle +every year and work on the snow sheds.</p> + +<p>"We carried our cooking utensils with us, and when we got off at a +station we sent our committee of three and bought our provisions in the +store, and two of the cooks cooked the food, and we ate it and took the +next train and came on. This happened wherever we stopped.</p> + +<p>"We arrived in Snohomish, Wash., on Sept. 23rd at about 8:45 in the +morning. When the committee came down I sent out and they brought me +back the bills—I was the treasurer as well—one man carried the funds, +and they brought back $4.90 worth of food down, including two frying +pans, and when I was about cooking, a freight train from Everett pulled +in and a little boy, who was maybe about ten years old, he says, 'Dad, +are you an I. W. W.?' I says, 'I am, son.' 'Well,' he says, 'there are a +whole bunch of deputies coming out after you.' I laughed at the boy, I +thought he was joshing me.</p> + +<p>"About half an hour after the boy told me this the deputies appeared. In +the first bunch were forty-two, and then Sheriff McRae came with more, +making altogether, what I counted, sixty-four. The first bunch came +around the bush alongside the railroad track where I was and the sheriff +came in about twenty minutes later with his bunch from the opposite way.</p> + +<p>"In the first bunch was a fat, stout fellow with two guns. He had a +chief's badge—a chief of police's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> badge—on him. He was facing toward +the fire and he says, 'If you move a step, I will fill you full of +lead!' I laughed at him, says I, 'What does this outrage mean?' There +was another old gentleman with a chin beard, fat, middling fat, probably +my own age, and he picked up my coat which was lying alongside me and +looked at my button. He says, 'Oh, undesirable citizen!' I says, 'What +do you mean?' He says, 'Are you an I. W. W.?' I says, 'I am, and I am +more than proud of it!' 'Well,' he says, 'we don't want you in this +county.' I says, 'Sure?' He says, 'Yes.' I says, 'Well, I am not going +to stay in this county, I am going to cook breakfast and go to Seattle.' +He says, 'Do you understand what this means?' I says, 'No.' He says, +'The sheriff will be here in a few minutes and he will tell you what it +means.' I heard afterward that this man was the mayor of Snohomish.</p> + +<p>"I was sitting right opposite the fire with my coffee and bread and meat +in my hand when Sheriff McRae came up and says, 'Who is this bunch?' So +a tall, black deputy, a tall, dark complected fellow, says, 'They are a +bunch of harvest hands coming from North Dakota.' McRae says, 'Did you +search these men?' And he says, 'Yes.' 'Did you find any shooting arms +on them?' He says, 'No.' They had searched us and we had no guns or clubs.</p> + +<p>"McRae then asked, 'Who is their leader?' and this old gentleman that +spoke to me first, he says, 'They have no leader, but that old man over +there is the spokesman.' So he came over to me and says, 'Where are you +going?' I says, 'I am going to Seattle.' Then he used an expression that +I don't think is fit for ladies to hear. I says, 'My mother was a lady +and she never raised any of us by the name you have mentioned, and,' I +says, 'I don't think I have done anything that I will have to walk out +of the county.' He says, 'Do you see that track?' I says, 'Yes.' He +says, 'Well, you will walk down that track!' I says, 'But for these +twenty-one men that are here in my hands I wouldn't walk a foot for +you.' He says, 'You get out. I am going to shoot all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> these things to +pieces.' I says, 'You will shoot nothing to pieces, I bought them with +my hard-earned money.' He says, 'All right, take them with you.' Then he +shot up the cans and things, and he says, 'That is the track to Seattle +and you go up it, and if I ever catch you in this county again you will +get what you are looking for.'</p> + +<p>"So we walked up the hill toward Seattle and there is a town, I think +they call it Maltby, and we got there between four and five o'clock in +the evening. Fellow Worker Thornton, Adams and Love were the committee +men and they asked me how I felt. I told them my feet were pretty sore.</p> + +<p>"I went over to the station agent and found out that there was a freight +due at 9:30 but that sometimes it didn't get in until three in the +morning. I then asked permission to light a fire and cook some coffee, +and after we were thru eating we lay down.</p> + +<p>"About 9:30 the train came along and I called the men. As the train was +backing up I saw some light come, and one auto throwing her searchlight, +and I counted four automobiles. That is all I could count but there were +a whole lot of them coming. I says, 'Men, we have run up against a stone wall.'</p> + +<p>"Fellow Worker Love and I—he came off the machine with me in Great +Falls—we were first in line and Sheriff McRae and two other men with +white handkerchiefs around their necks came forward first and he says, +'You son-of-a-b——, I thought you were going to Seattle?' I says, +'Ain't I going to Seattle? I can't go till the train goes,' I says, +'you've had me walking now till I have no foot under me. What do you +mean by this outrage? My father fought for this country and I have a +right here. I am on railroad property and have done nothing to anybody.' +McRae then hit Fellow Worker Love on the head and I yelled 'Break and +run, men, or they will kill you!' He turned around then and he said to +me, 'You dirty old Irish bastard, now I will make you so you can't run. +I'll show you!' With that he let drive and hit me, leaving this three +cornered mark here (indicating place on head).<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> And when the others went +up the track he says, 'Get now, God damn your old soul, or I will kill +you!' I says, 'Sheriff, look here, you are a perfect gentleman, you are, +to hit a fellow old enough to be your father.' He made as if to hit me +again and then Fellow Worker Love came back and says, 'Have a heart!' I +says 'You run,' and he says 'No, they are not going to kill you while I +am here.' And Fellow Worker Paterson came back down the track and I +says, 'What is the matter, Paterson, are you crazy? Get the men and tell +them to go over the line. Don't stay in this county or they are liable +to murder you!' Then Love and I went off the track into the thick bushes +and lay down till next morning.</p> + +<p>"At daylight we got up, went down to the junction and gathered up +fifteen of the men. When the train pulled in the trainman asked me where +I was going and I said I was going to Seattle. He says, 'Do you carry a +card?' 'Yes,' says I. 'Produce!' says he. That is the word the trainmen +use. So I put my hand in my pocket and pulled it out. 'You better get +back in the caboose, you are hurt,' he said. He saw the blood where +Fellow Worker Love had bandaged my head with his handkerchief. 'No,' +says I, 'Where the men are riding is good enough for me.' So we went to +where the interurban comes in and I was seven men short. I paid +two-fifty into Seattle, and we came in, and I made a report to the Seattle locals."</p> + +<p>Incidents similar to this were of almost daily occurrence, scores of +deportations taking place during the month of September. Then on the +26th, despite his promises to refrain from molesting the hall, McRae +entered the premises, forcibly seized Earl Osborne, the secretary, took +him a long distance out in the country, and at the point of a gun made +him start the thirty-mile trip on foot to Seattle. On the 29th of +September the Everett authorities arrested J. Johnson and George Bradley +in Seattle. Johnson was held on an arson charge but no legal warrant for +his arrest was issued until October 17th, or until he had been in jail +for nineteen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> days. Then the charge against him was that he had set fire +to a box factory—but this was soon changed when it was learned by the +authorities that the box factory had not caught fire until after Johnson +was in jail, and for the first charge they substituted the claim that +Johnson had burned the garage of one Walter Smith, a scab shingle weaver +deputy. George Bradley, who had been deported from Everett after having +served one day as secretary, was accused of second degree arson as an +alleged accomplice. Each man was told that the other had confessed and +the best thing to do was to make a clean breast of matters, but this +scheme of McRae's fell thru for two reasons: the men were not guilty, +and they had never seen or heard of each other before. Johnson was in +jail fifty-eight days without a preliminary hearing. Both men were +released on property bonds, and the trials were "indefinitely +postponed," that still being their status at this writing.</p> + +<p>No further attempts were made to open the hall after Osborne's +deportation until October 16th when the organization in Seattle again +selected a man to act as secretary in Everett. Thomas H. Tracy took +charge on that date, remaining in Everett until a few days prior to +November 5th, at which time he resigned, his place being taken by Chester Micklin.</p> + +<p>During the month of October there were between three and four hundred +deportations, the vigilantes operating mainly from the Commercial Club. +Many of these "slugging parties" were attended by Mayor D. D. Merrill, +Governor Clough, Captain Harry Ramwell, T. W. Anguish, W. R. Booth, +Edward Hawse, and other "pillars of society" in Everett. Most of the men +were deported without any formalities whatever, and the methods used in +handling the others may well be judged by frequent entries on the police +blotter to the effect that men arrested by Great Northern detective Fox +were ordered turned over to Sheriff McRae by Mayor Merrill. The railroad +company, acting in conjunction with the lumber trust, put on a private +army, and had its men roughly dressed to resemble honest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> workingmen. +Cases of "hi-jacking" became quite numerous about this time, but no +redress from this highway robbery could be had.</p> + +<p>On the question of the hiring of armed forces by the railroads the +Industrial Relations Commission Report has this to say:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Under the authority granted by the several states the railroads +maintain a force of police, and some, at least, have established +large arsenals of arms and ammunition. This armed force, when +augmented by recruits from detective agencies and employment +agencies, as seems to be the general practice during industrial +disputes, constitutes a private army clothed with a degree of +authority which should be exercised only by public officials; these +armed bodies, usurping the supreme functions of the state and +oftentimes encroaching on the rights of citizens, are a distinct +menace to public welfare."</p></blockquote> + +<p>A number of the men deported during September and October were not +members of the I. W. W., some even being opposed at the time to the +tenet of the organization, "The working class and the employing class +have nothing in common," but almost without exception the non-members +who suffered deportation made it a point to join the union when the +nearest branch or field delegate was reached. In Everett, delegates +working quietly among the millmen, longshoremen, and other workers, were +also getting numerous recruits as the class struggle stood forth in its +naked form. All the efforts of the lumber trust to suppress the I. W. W. +were as tho they had tried to quench a forest fire with gasoline.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i006.jpg" width='700' height='562' alt="Beverly Park" /></div> + +<h4>Beverly Park</h4> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i007.jpg" width='700' height='538' alt="A close up view of Beverly Park showing cattle guards." /></div> + +<h4>A close up view of Beverly Park showing cattle guards.</h4> + +<p>It was on October 30th that forty-one men left Seattle by boat in a +determined effort to reach the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore Avenues in +order to test the validity of the alleged ordinance prohibiting free +speech at that point. They were the first contingent of an army of +harvesters who were just returning from a hard season's labor in the +fields<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> and orchards. The party was double the size of any free speech +group that had tried to enter Everett at any previous time.</p> + +<p>They were met at the dock by a drunken band of deputies, most of whom +wore white handkerchiefs around their necks as a means of +identification. The deputies were armed with guns and clubs, and they +outnumbered the I. W. W. body five to one. Several of the lawless crew +were so intoxicated they could scarcely stand, and one in particular had +to be forcibly restrained by his less drunken associates from attempts +to commit murder in the open. The I. W. W. men were clubbed with gun +butts and loaded clubs whenever their movements were not swift enough to +suit the fancies of the drunken mob. John Downs' face was an +indistinguishable mass of blood where Sheriff McRae had "sapped up" on +him and split open his upper lip. Boat passengers who remonstrated were +promised the same treatment unless they kept still. In its mad frenzy +the posse struck in all directions. So blindly drunk and hysterical was +deputy Joseph Irving that he swung his heavy revolver handle with full +force onto the head of deputy Joe Schofield. He continued the insane +attack, while McRae, awry-eyed and lusting for blood, assisted in the +brutal task until warning cried from the other vigilantes showed them +their mistake. Schofield was carried to an automobile and hastened to +the nearest drug store, where it was found necessary to call a physician +to take three stitches to bind together the edges of the most severe wound.</p> + +<p>The prisoners were loaded into large auto trucks and passenger cars, +more than twenty of which were lined up in waiting, and were taken out +to a lonely wooded spot near Beverly Park on the road to Seattle. McRae, +with deputies Fred Luke, William Pabst and Fred Plymale, took one I. W. +W. out in their five-passenger Reo, McRae afterward endeavored +unsuccessfully to prove an alibi because his own car was in a garage. +Deputy Sheriff Jefferson Beard also took out a prisoner.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p><p>Upon their arrival at Beverly the prisoners were made to dismount at +the point of guns and stand in the cold drizzling rain until their +captors had formed two lines reaching from the roadway to the interurban +tracks. There in the darkness the men were forced to run stumbling over +the uneven ground down a gauntlet that ended only with the cruel sharp +blades of a cattle guard, while on their unprotected heads and shoulders +the drunken outlaws rained blow after blow with gun-butts, black-jacks, +loaded saps and pick-handles. In the confusion one boy escaped from Ed +Hawse, but before he could get away into the brush this bully, weighing +about 260 pounds, bore down upon him, and with a couple of other +deputies proceeded to beat him well-nigh into insensibility. Deputies +who lost their clubs in the scramble aimed kicks at the privates of the +men as they passed down the line. Deputy Fred Luke swung at one man with +such force that the leather wrist thong parted and the club disappeared +into the woods. With drunken deliberation Joseph Irving cracked the head +of man after man, informing each one that they were getting an extra +dose because of his mistake in beating up a brother deputy. In the thick +of it all, smashing, kicking, and screaming obscene curses at the +helpless men and boys who dared demand free speech within the territory +sacred to the lumber trust, was the deputy-sheriff of Snohomish County, +Jefferson E. Beard!</p> + +<p>A few of the men broke the lines and ran into the woods, a bullet past +their heads warning others from a like attempt. Across the cattle guard, +often sprawling on hands and knees from the force of the last blows +received, went the men who had cleared the gauntlet. Legs sank between +the blades of the guard and strained ligaments and sprained ankles were +the result. One man suffered a dislocated shoulder at the hands of a +Doctor Allison, another had the bridge of his nose broken by a blow from +McRae, and dangerously severe wounds and bruises were sustained by +nearly all of the forty-one.</p> + +<p>So horrible were the moans and outcries of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> stricken men, so bestial +were the actions of the infuriated deputies, that one of their own +number, W. R. Booth, sickened at the sight and sound, went reeling up +the roadway retching as he left the brutal scene.</p> + +<p>Attracted by the curses of the deputies, the sound of the blows, and the +moans and cries of the wounded men, Mrs. Ruby Ketchum came to the door +of her house nearly a quarter of a mile away, and remained there +listening to the hideous din, while her husband, Roy Ketchum, and his +brother, Lew, went down to the scene of the outrage to investigate. The +Ketchum brothers reported that the deputies were formed in two lines +ending in six men, three on each side of the cattle guard. A man would +be taken out of the car and two deputies would join his arms up behind +him meanwhile hammering his unprotected face from both sides as hard as +they could strike with their fists. Then the man was started down the +line, one deputy following to club him on the back to make him hurry, +and the other deputies striking with clubs and other weapons and kicking +the prisoner as he progressed. Just before reaching the cattle guard he +was made to run, and, in crossing the blades, the three men on the east +side of the track would swing their clubs upon his back while the men on +the west clubbed him across the face and stomach. This was repeated with +the men as fast as they were dragged from the autos. They also heard the +sound of blows and then cries of "Oh my God! Doc, don't hit me again, +doc, you're killing me!" Lew Ketchum took deputy Fred Luke by the coat +tails and pulled him back from the cattle guard, asking, "What are you +doing, what is going on here?" and Luke replied, "We are beating up forty-one I. W. W.'s."</p> + +<p>Harry Hubbard tells the story in these words from the time the autos +arrived at Beverly:</p> + +<p>"I got out of the car with another fellow, Rice, and I says, 'We had +better stay together, it looks to me like we were going to get tamped +up,' and somebody grabbed hold of him, and I stood a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>minute, and then I +ran by one fellow up into the woods. Just as I got out of the radius of +the automobile lights I fell over a stump on the edge of the embankment. +I was in kind of a peculiar predicament and I had to get hold of the +stump to pull myself up, and just as I did that some fellow behind me +swung with a blackjack and grazed my temple, knocking me to my knees. I +got up and he grabbed hold of me and we both fell down the bank +together. Then two or three others grabbed me, and this Hawse had me by +the collar, and Sheriff McRae walked up and said 'You are the +son-of-a—— that was over here last week,' and I answered, 'I was +working here last week.' Then he said, 'Are you an I. W. W.?' I said, +'Yes,' and he hit me an upward swing on the nose. He repeated, 'You are +an I. W. W., are you?' and again I said, 'Yes.' He then swore at me and +said, 'Say that you ain't!' and I replied, 'No, I won't say that I +ain't,' and he hit me three more times on the nose.</p> + +<p>"Then the man who was holding my left wrist with one hand and my +shoulder with the other, said, 'Wait a minute until I get a poke at +him,' and McRae said, 'All right, doc,' and then someone else said 'All +right Allison, hit him for me!' This fellow they called Doc Allison hit +me and blackened my eye. McRae swore at me, he seemed to be intoxicated +and he looked and acted like a maniac, he said 'If you fellows ever come +back some of you will die, that's all there is to it.' I said, 'I don't +think there is any necessity for killing anybody,' and he answered 'I +will kill you if you come back,' and he raised his blackjack and said +'Run!' I said 'I wont run,' and he hit me again and I dropped to the +ground. He raised his foot over my face, and used some pretty raw +language, and as he stood there with his heel over my face I grabbed +hold of a fellow's leg and pulled myself along so instead of hitting my +face his heel scraped my side. Then I got some kicks, three of them in +the small of the back around my kidneys.</p> + +<p>"When I got up I walked thru the line, there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> were twenty or thirty +different ones hollered for me to run, but I was stubborn and wouldn't +do it. And when I got to the cattle guard and stood at the other side +kind of wiping the blood off my face I heard some one coming and I said, +'Four Hundred," and he said 'Yes,' and he was crying. It was a young boy +and I walked down the track with him afterward.</p> + +<p>"At the City Hospital in Seattle next day the doctor told me my nose was +badly fractured and that I had internal injuries. A few days later my +back pained me severely and I passed blood for a time after that."</p> + +<p>C. H. Rice, whose shoulder was dislocated, gives about the same version.</p> + +<p>"Two big fellows would hold a man until they were thru beating him and +then turn him loose. I was turned loose and ran probably six or eight +feet, something like that, and I was hit and knocked down. As I +scrambled to my feet and ran a few feet again I was hit on the shoulder +with a slingshot. This time I went down and I was dazed, I think I must +have been unconscious for a moment because when I came to they were +kicking me, and some of them said, 'He is faking,' and others said, 'No, +he is knocked out.' I remember seeing some of the boys during that time +running by me, and when they got me up I started to run a bit farther +and was knocked down again.</p> + +<p>"Then they called for somebody there, addressing him as Dr. Allison, and +he grabbed my arm and pulled me up, and he raised my arm up and said, +'Aw, there is nothing the matter with you,' and jerked it down again. My +arm was out of place, it seemed way over to one side, and I couldn't straighten it up.</p> + +<p>"As I was going over the cattle guard several of them hit me and some +one hollered 'Bring him back here, don't let him go over there.' They +brought me back and this doctor said 'You touch your shoulder with your +hand,' and I couldn't. He says 'There is nothing the matter with you.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p><p>"Then the fellow who was on the dock, and who had been drinking pretty +heavily, because they would have to shove him back every once in a +while, he shouted out 'Let's burn him!' About that time Sheriff McRae +came over and got hold of my throat and said, 'Now, damn you, I will +tell you I can kill you right here and there never would be nothing +known about it, and you know it.' And some one said, 'Let's hang him!' +and this other fellow kept hollering 'Burn him! Burn him!' McRae kept +hitting me, first on one side and then the other, smacking me that way, +and then he turned me loose again and hit me with one of those +slingshots, and finally he said 'Oh, let him go,' and he started me +along, following behind and hitting me until I got over the cattleguard.</p> + +<p>"I went down to the interurban track until I caught up with some of the +boys. They tried to pull my shoulder back into place and then they took +handkerchiefs and neckties, and one thing and another, and made a kind +of a sling to hold it up. We then went down to the first station and the +boys took up a collection and the eight of us who were hurt the worst +got on the train and went to Seattle. The others had to walk the +twenty-five miles into Seattle. Most of us had to go to the hospital next day."</p> + +<p>Sam Rovinson was beaten with a piece of gaspipe, but taking advantage of +the fact that the shooting when Archie Collins made his escape had +attracted the attention of the deputies he got thru the gauntlet with +only minor injuries. Rovinson testifies that McRae said to him:</p> + +<p>"This time we will let you off with this, but next time you come up here +we will pop you full of holes."</p> + +<p>"I just came up here to exercise my constitutional right of free +speech," expostulated Rovinson.</p> + +<p>"To hell with free speech and the Constitution!" shouted McRae, "You are +now in Snohomish county, and we are running the county!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p><p>After the deputies had returned to town the two Ketchum brothers took +their lanterns and went out to the scene thinking they might find some +of the men out there hurt, with a broken leg, or arm or something, and +that they could be taken to their house to be cared for. No men were +seen, but three covered with blood were found and after examination were +returned to where they had been picked up.</p> + +<p>Early next morning some of the deputies, frightened at their cowardly +actions of the previous night, were seen at Beverly Park making an +examination of the ground. Two of them approached the Ketchum residence +and asked if any I. W. W.'s had been found lying around there. After +being assured that they had stopped short of murder, the deputies departed.</p> + +<p>A little later an investigation committee composed of Rev. Oscar McGill +of Seattle, and Rev. Elbert E. Flint, Rev. Jos. P. Marlatt, Jake Michel, +Robert Mills, Ernest Marsh, E. C. Dailey, Commissioner W. H. Clay, +Messrs. Fawcett, Hedge, Ballou, Houghton and others from Everett, made a +close examination of the grounds. In spite of the heavy rain and +notwithstanding the fact that deputies had preceded them, the committee +found blood-soaked hats and hat bands and big brown spots of blood +soaked into the cement roadway. In the cattle guard was the sole of a +shoe, evidently torn off as one of the fleeing men escaped his assailants.</p> + +<p>"Hearing of the occurrence I accompanied several gentlemen, including a +prominent minister of the gospel of Everett, next morning to the scene. +The tale of that struggle was plainly written. The roadway was stained +with blood. The blades of the cattle guard were so stained, and between +the blades was a fresh imprint of a shoe where plainly one man in his +hurry to escape the shower of blows, missed his footing in the dark and +went down between the blades. Early that morning workmen going into the +city to work, picked up three hats from the ground, still damp with +blood. There can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> be no excuse for nor extenuation of such an inhuman +method of punishment," reported President E. P. Marsh to the State Federation of Labor.</p> + +<p>J. M. Norland stated that "there were big brown blotches on the pavement +which we took to be blood. They were perhaps two feet in diameter, and +there were a number of smaller blotches for a distance of twenty-five +feet. In the vicinity of the cattle guard the soil was disarranged and +there were shoe marks near the cattle guard. You could also notice +where, in their hurry to get across, they would go in between, and there +would be little parts or shreds of clothing there, and on one there was a little hair."</p> + +<p>All that day the talk in Everett centered around the crime of the +preceding night. Little groups of citizens gathered here and there to +discuss the matter. The deputies went about strenuously denying that +they had a hand in the infamous affair, and friends of long standing +refused to speak to those who were known positively to have been +concerned in the outrage. A number of the ministers of the city +conferred regarding a course of action, but finding the problem too deep +for them to solve they left it to up to the individual. Various Everett +citizens, representing a large degree of public sentiment, felt that the +thing to do was to hold an immense mass meeting in order to present the +facts of the hideous crime to the whole public. This plan met with +immediate approval from many quarters, and the I. W. W. in Seattle was +notified of this desire by mail, by telephone, and by means of citizens' +delegations. Rev. Oscar McGill conferred with secretary Herbert Mahler +and was quite insistent upon the necessity for such a meeting, as the +Everett papers had carried no real information about the affair in +Beverly. He brought out the fact that there had been thousands in +attendance at the mass meeting in the Everett city park a month or so +previous to this occurrence, and the speakers were then escorted by a +large body of citizens from the interurban depot to the meeting place, +and the feelings of the people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> were such that similar or even more +adequate protection would be given were another meeting held. He +suggested that the meeting be held in broad daylight and on a Sunday. +That the plan met with the approval of the I. W. W. membership was shown +by its adoption at a meeting the night following the trouble at Beverly +Park. And the date selected was Sunday, November 5th.</p> + +<p>Immediately steps were taken to inform the various I. W. W. branches in +the Northwest of the proposed action. Telegrams were sent to Solidarity, +and a ringing call for two thousand men to help in the fight for free +speech was published in the Industrial Worker. In addition to +telegraphing the story and its attendant call for action to the unions +of the Pacific Coast there were various members selected from among the +forty-one who had been beaten, and these were dispatched to different +points to spread the tale of Everett's atrocities, and to gain new +recruits for the "invading army" of free speech fighters.</p> + +<p>Seeking the widest possible publicity the free speech committee had +printed and circulated thousands of handbills in Everett to call +attention to the proposed meeting.</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center"><b>CITIZENS OF EVERETT</b><br />ATTENTION!</p> + +<p>A meeting will be held at the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore Aves., +on Sunday, Nov. 5th, 2 p. m. Come and help maintain your and our +constitutional right. <b>Committee.</b></p></blockquote> + +<p>The authorities in Everett were notified, the editors of all the Seattle +daily papers were requested to have representatives present at the +meeting, and reporters were called in and told of the intentions of the +organization. During the week frequent meetings were held in the hall in +Seattle to arrange for the incoming free speech fighters, and without an +exception all these meetings were held with no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> examination of +membership books and were open to the public. With their cards laid upon +the table the members of the Industrial Workers of the World were +preparing to call the hand of the semi-legalized outlaws of Snohomish +county who had cast aside the law, abrogated the Constitution of the +United States, and denied the right of free speech and free assembly.</p> + +<p>Following the Beverly affair the Commercial Club redoubled its +activities. Blackjacks and "Robinson-clubs," so called because they were +manufactured especially for the deputies by the Robinson Mill, were set +aside for revolvers and high power rifles, and the ranks of the deputies +were enlarged by the off-scouring and scum of the open shop persuasion.</p> + +<p>McRae entered the I. W. W. hall on Friday, Nov. 3rd, the day Thomas H. +Tracy turned the office over to Chester Micklin, and abruptly said "By +God, I will introduce myself. I am Sheriff McRae! I won't have a lot of +sons-of-bitches hanging around this place like in Seattle."</p> + +<p>Micklin looked at the drunken sheriff a moment and replied, "The +constitution guarantees us free speech, free assembly, and free——"</p> + +<p>"To hell with the Constitution," broke in McRae. "We have a constitution +here that we will enforce."</p> + +<p>"You believe in unions, you believe in organized labor, don't you?" asked Micklin.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I belonged to the shingle weavers at one time," returned McRae, +"but when the shingle weavers went out on strike I donated $25.00 to +their strike fund and they gave me a rotten deal and sent the check back +to me, and to hell with the shingle weavers and the rest of the unions!"</p> + +<p>Then, as he was leaving the hall, McRae pulled from his pocket a letter; +took from it a black cat cut from pasteboard and stuck it in the +secretary's face, saying "That's the kind of ——s that is in your organization!"</p> + +<p>Next morning the sheriff raided the hall and seized the men who were +found there, with the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>exception of the secretary. Turning to Micklin he +said boastfully "I'll bet you a hundred dollars you ——s won't hold +that meeting tomorrow!" McRae was drunk.</p> + +<p>The arrested men were searched and deported and, as was the case in +every previous arrest and deportation, there was no resistance offered, +no physical violence threatened, and no weapons of any character found +upon any of the I. W. W. men.</p> + +<p>That night the deputies were secretly assembled at the Commercial Club +where they were given their final instructions by the lumber trust and +ordered to report fully armed and ready for action at the blowing of the +mill whistles. With these preparations the open shop forces were ready +to go to still greater lengths to uphold "law and order!"</p> + +<p>The answer of the I. W. W. to this damnable act of violence at Beverly +Park and to the four months of terrorism that had preceded it was a call +for two thousand men to enter Everett, there to gain by sheer force of +numbers that right of free speech and peaceable assembly supposed to +have been guaranteed them by the Constitution of the United States.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> (The incidents in the foregoing chapter are corroborated +by the sworn testimony of I. W. W. men who were shot at, beaten, robbed, +and abused; by citizens of Everett and Seattle who were also beaten and +mistreated or who witnessed the scenes; by physicians, attorneys, public +officials, members of craft unions, and by deputies who hoped to make +amends by testifying to the truth for the defense.)</p></div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i008.jpg" width='700' height='445' alt="The Ketchum Home near Beverly Park" /></div> + +<h4>The Ketchum Home near Beverly Park</h4> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>BLOODY SUNDAY</h3> + +<p>How shall we enter the kingdom of Everett? was the question that +confronted the committee in charge of affairs in Seattle on the morning +of November 5th. Inquiries at the Interurban office developed the fact +that sufficient cars could not be had to accommodate the crowd. The cost +of making the trip by auto truck was found to be prohibitive. At the +eleventh hour the committee, taking the money pooled by the members, +secured the regular passenger steamship Verona, and an orderly and +determined body of men filed down the steps leading from the I. W. W. +headquarters and marched by fours to the Colman Dock.</p> + +<p>Their mission was an open and peaceable one. Cheerful, optimistic, +enthusiastic, the band of social crusaders felt that the conquest of +free speech was assured. Not for a moment did they think that the +Everett Klu-Klux-Klan would dare resort to violent and criminal tactics +in the broad daylight of that beautiful sunny day and in plain view of a +host of conscientious Everett citizens.</p> + +<p>Assisted by Harry Feinberg and John T. (Red) Doran, Captain Chauncey +Wiman checked the number of men who went on board, stopping further +entry when the legal limit of two hundred and fifty persons was reached, +Feinberg joining the men on board in order to serve as the main speaker +at the proposed meeting. Among those who secured passage were several +who were not members of the free speech party, but in the work of +checking, the tickets of these persons were not collected, their fares +being paid in the lump sum that was handed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> to the captain. Regular +passengers of the Verona were informed that their tickets would be good +for the steamer Calista, lying at Pier 3. Thirty-eight additional +members of the free speech band joined the regular patrons who took +passage on the Calista.</p> + +<p>Laughter and jest were on the lips of the men who crowded the Verona, +and songs of the One Big Union rang out over the sparkling waters of +Puget Sound. Loyal soldiers were these in the great class war, +enlightened workers who were willing to give their all in the battle for +bread, happiness and liberty. Men of all callings these—logger, +carpenter, laborer, railroad clerk, painter, miner, printer, seaman and +farmhand, all united with one common aim—the desire to gain for Labor +the right of free expression.</p> + +<p>Among their number, however, were two individuals of a breed reckoned +among the lowest order of the human species; two "stool pigeons," low +informers upon whom even a regular detective looks down with contempt. +One of these, carrying an I. W. W. card and in the employ of Snohomish +county and the Everett Commercial Club under the direction of the +Pinkerton Detective Agency, had sneaked out of the I. W. W. headquarters +long enough to telephone Lieutenant Hedges of the Seattle Police force +that there was a boatload of I. W. W. men leaving for Everett. There was +no secret in connection with the trip, but that there exist such class +traitors, relatively few as they are, to whom the enemies of the workers +can look for information is one of the sad features of the class +struggle. The "stool's" message was relayed to the Everett authorities +and, after being revised by the advocates of the open shop, it finally +reached the deputies in the form of a report that a boatload of I. W. +W.'s, armed to the teeth, were about to invade, pillage, and burn the city.</p> + +<p>At one o'clock the mill whistles blew, the mill deputies armed with +their mill clubs, mill revolvers, rifles and shotguns, assembled at the +mill headquarters—the Commercial Club—and from there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> were transported +in mill automobiles down the alleys and back streets to the City Dock.</p> + +<p>Citizens were driven from the dock and a rope, guarded by armed +deputies, was stretched across the land end to prevent access by any +save men with guns. Part of the equipment of the Naval Militia was +stored in readiness at the Commercial Club—a stubborn fact for those +who deny that government is a class institution. At the Pacific Hardware +Company, deputy Dave Oswald had an auto load of rifles and ammunition +prepared for immediate transportation and use. In Captain Ramwell's +office, at the point where the rope was stretched, there were stacked a +number of high-power rifles, brought there from the same source. It is +even rumored that there was a machine gun on the dock. On the scab +tugboat Edison, moored at the north side of the dock, men armed with +rifles lay in waiting. The Everett Improvement Dock to the south was +also prepared for action. Hundreds of deputies were admitted to the City +Dock and were lined up under the direction of Sheriff McRae, +Deputy-Sheriff Jefferson Beard, and Lieutenant Charles O. Curtis, of the +Officers' Reserve Corps of the National Guard of Washington. Boards were +removed from the sides of the warehouses so as to command a view of the +landing place, and sacks of potatoes and lumber were used as partial +barricades. A few of the deputies were in the west warehouse at the +extreme end of the dock, but the majority of them were in the larger +warehouse to the east of the open docking space. Plentifully supplied +with ammunition and "booze," the cowardly deputies lay hidden in this +ambush. The scene was set and the tragedy of November Fifth about to be staged.</p> + +<p>As the Verona cleaved the placid, sunlit waters of the Bay and swung up +to the City Dock at Everett, shortly before two o'clock, the men were +merrily singing the English Transport Workers' strike song,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span><div class="i3">"HOLD THE FORT!"</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>We meet today in Freedom's cause,</div> +<div class="i1">And raise our voices high;</div> +<div>We'll join our hands in union strong,</div> +<div class="i1">To battle or to die.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i5">CHORUS</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div class="i1">Hold the fort for we are coming,</div> +<div class="i1">Union men be strong.</div> +<div class="i1">Side by side we battle onward,</div> +<div class="i1">Victory will come!</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Look, my comrades, see the union,</div> +<div class="i1">Banners waving high.</div> +<div>Reinforcements now appearing,</div> +<div class="i1">Victory is nigh.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>See our numbers still increasing;</div> +<div class="i1">Hear the bugle blow:</div> +<div>By our union we shall triumph</div> +<div class="i1">Over every foe.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Fierce and long the battle rages,</div> +<div class="i1">But we will not fear.</div> +<div>Help will come whene'er it's needed,</div> +<div class="i1">Cheer, my comrades, cheer!</div> +</div></div> + +<p>From a hillside overlooking the scene thousands upon thousands of +Everett citizens sent forth cheer after cheer as a hearty welcome to the +"invading army." High up on the flag-pole of the Verona clambered Hugo +Gerlot, a youthful free speech enthusiast, to wave a greeting to the +throng that lined the shore. Passenger Oscar Carlson and his friend +Ernest Nordstrom, from their position on the very bow of the boat, +caught the spirit of the party and endeavored to join in the song that +resounded louder and clearer as many of the men left the cabins to go +out upon the deck.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p><p>Completely filling the bow of the boat and blocking the passageway on +either side, the singers crowded to the rail in the usual joyously +impatient manner of holiday excursionists, and then for the first time +observed a body of deputies march from the large warehouse and settle +into lines across the back and sides of the open landing space on the +dock, where Curtis, McRae, and Beard were stationed.</p> + +<p>Waiting until Captain Ramwell's wharfinger, William Kenneth, had made +fast the bowline to prevent the boat from backing out, Sheriff Donald +McRae gave his belt holster a hitch to bring his gun directly across his +middle and then lurched forward to the face of the dock. Holding up his +left hand to check the singing, he yelled to the men on board:</p> + +<p>"Who is your leader?"</p> + +<p>Immediate and unmistakable was the answer from practically every member +of the Industrial Workers of the World:</p> + +<p>"We are all leaders!"</p> + +<p>Angrily jerking his gun from its holster and flourishing it in a +threatening manner, McRae cried:</p> + +<p>"You can't land here!"</p> + +<p>"The hell we can't!" came the reply as the men stepped toward the partly +thrown-off gang plank.</p> + +<p>A shot rang out from the immediate vicinity of deputy W. A. Bridges, +then another, closely followed by a volley that sent them staggering +backward. Many fell to the deck. Evidently the waving of McRae's +revolver was the prearranged signal for the carnage to commence. The +long months of lumber trust lawlessness had culminated in cowardly, +deliberate, premeditated and foul murder!</p> + +<p>Young Gerlot crumpled up and slid part way down the flag pole, then +suddenly threw out both arms and crashed lifeless to the deck, his +bullet-torn and bleeding body acting as a shield for several who had +thrown themselves prostrate. Passenger Oscar Carlson threw himself flat +upon the forward deck and while in that position seven bullets found +their way into his quivering flesh, life clinging to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> shattered form +by a strange vagary of fate. With a severe bullet wound in his abdomen, +Ed Roth swayed back and forth for a moment and then toppled forward on his face.</p> + +<p>When a bullet whistled past the head of Captain Chauncey Wiman, and +another tore a spoke as thick as a man's wrist from the pilot wheel +beneath his hand, he deserted his post to barricade himself behind the +safe with a mattress, remaining in that position until the close of the hostilities.</p> + +<p>At the first shot and during the first volley the unarmed men wildly +sought cover from the deadly leaden hail. Those who had not dropped to +the deck, wounded or seeking shelter, surged to the starboard side of +the boat, causing it to list to an alarming degree, the fastened bowline +alone preventing it from capsizing. Several men lost their footing on +the blood-slimed decks and were pitched headlong overboard. There, +struggling frantically in the water,—by no possible chance +combatants—a storm of rifle bullets churning little whirlpools around +their heads, one by one they were made the victims of lumber trust greed +by the Hessianized deputies stationed at the shore end of the City Dock +and upon the dock to the south. The bay was reddened with their blood. +Of all who went overboard, James Hadley alone regained the deck, the +rest disappearing beneath the silent waters to be dragged by the +undertow out to an unknown and nameless ocean grave.</p> + +<p>Young Joe Ghilezano seized the rail preparatory to jumping overboard, +but seeing two men shot dead while they were in the water he lay down on +the deck instead. While there a bullet pierced his hip, another went +thru his back close to the spine, and a third completely tore off his +left knee cap. Harry Parker slipped over the starboard side in order to +gain the lower deck, and a rifle bullet from the vicinity of the tug +Goldfinch, along the Everett Improvement Company Dock, ranged thru his +back from left to right, just as his friend, Walter Mulholland, also +wounded, pulled him in thru a hole torn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> in the canvas wind shield. An +abdominal wound laid Felix Baran low. The thud of bullets as they struck +the prostrate men added to the ghastly sound caused by the firing of +rifles and revolvers, the curses of the deputies and the moans of the wounded men.</p> + +<p>Following the first volley the deputies who had been out in the open +scuttled into the warehouses on either side. Thru their scattering ranks +the scabs on the tug Edison poured their rifle fire toward the men on +the Verona. Lieutenant C. O. Curtis pitched forward and fell dead upon +the dock—the victim of a rifle bullet. One of the fleeing deputies +paused behind the corner of the waiting room just long enough to +flinchingly reach out his hand and, keeping his head under cover, +emptied his revolver without taking aim. Deputy Sheriff Jefferson Beard +fell mortally wounded as he turned to run, and was dragged into the +warehouse by some of the less panic stricken murderers. Sheriff McRae, +with a couple of slight wounds in his left leg and heel, was forced to +his knees by the impact of bullets against the steel jacket which he +wore, remaining in a supplicating attitude for a few seconds while he +sobbed out in a quavering tone, "O-o-oh! I'm hit! I-I'm hit!! I-I-I'm hit!!!"</p> + +<p>Placed on board the Verona to serve the interests of the lumber trust, +what were the two Pinkerton operatives doing while the boat was landing +and just before the first heavy firing commenced? Their actions were +shrouded in mystery. But, as if anticipating something, one was seen +directly after the first shot scurrying into hiding where he lay +shivering until long after the firing had ceased. The other, while under +cover, was struck on the head by a glancing bullet. He became so enraged +at this lack of thoughtfulness on the part of his degenerate brothers +that he emptied his revolver at their backs as they broke for cover. +From a safe position on the dock, deputy H. D. Cooley, with a pair of +field glasses, was tremblingly trying to spy for the approach of the Calista.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p><p>Inside the waiting room and the warehouses the drink-crazed deputies +ran amuck, shooting wildly in all directions, often with some of their +own number directly in the line of fire—bullet holes in the floor and a +pierced clock case high up on the waiting room wall giving mute evidence +of their insane recklessness. One deputy fled from the dock in terror, +explaining to all who would listen that a bullet hole in his ear was +from the shot of one of his associates on the dock.</p> + +<p>"They've gone crazy in there!" he cried excitedly. "They're shootin' +every which way! They shot me in the ear!"</p> + +<p>Thru the loopholes already provided, and even thru the sides of the +warehouses they blazed away in the general direction of the boat, using +revolvers and high powered rifles with steel and copper-jacketed +missiles. Dum-dums sang their deadly way to the Verona and tore gaping +wounds in the breasts of mere boys—an added reward by the industrial +lords for their first season of hard labor in the scorching harvest +fields. John Looney was felled by a rifle bullet and even as he fell +shuddering to the deck another leaden missile shattered the woodwork and +impaled one of his eyeballs upon a spear of wood, gouging it from the socket.</p> + +<p>At the foot of the dock, protected by the Klatawa slip, (Indian name for +runaway) C. R. Schweitzer, owner of a scab plumbing establishment, fired +time after time with a magazine shotgun, the buckshot scattering at the +long range and raking the forward deck with deadly effect. The pilot +house was riddled and the woodwork filled with hundreds of the little +leaden messengers that carried a story of "mutual interests of Capital +and Labor." Deputy Russell and about ten others assisted in the +dastardly work at that point, pouring shot after shot into the +convulsive struggling heaps of wounded men piled four and five deep on +the deck. One boy in a brown mackinaw suddenly rose upright from a +tangled mass of humanity, the blood gushing from his wounds, and with an +agonized cry of "My God! I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> can't stand this any longer!" leaped high in +the air over the side of the boat, sinking from sight forever, his +watery resting place marked only by a few scarlet ripples.</p> + +<p>Two bodies, one with the entire throat shot away, were found next +morning washed up on the beach, and that fact was reported to the +Everett police by Ed. and Rob. Thompson. That night some men fishing in +a little sailboat far out in the bay saw five weighted objects about six +feet long, and apparently wrapped in canvas, thrown overboard from a +launch, but in none of the daily papers was there any mention of bodies +having been found. Six uncalled-for membership cards, deposited by men +who took passage on the Verona, may represent as many murders by the +cowards on the dock. Those cards are made out to Fred Berger, William +Colman, Tom Ellis, Edward Raymond, Peter Viberts, and Chas. E. Taylor. +Some of the deputies gloatingly declared that the death toll of the +workers was twelve men at the lowest count.</p> + +<p>So wanton was the slaughter of the helpless men and boys that strong men +who witnessed the scene turned away vomiting. From the hillside the +women—those whom the deputies were pretending to protect from the +"incoming horde,"—casting aside all womanly fears, raced to the dock in +a vain endeavor to stop the commission of further crime, crying out in +their frenzy, "The curs! The curs! The dirty curs! They're nothing but +murderers!" They, as well as the men who tried to launch boats to rescue +the men in the water, were halted by the same citizen deputies whose +names head the list of Red Cross donors.</p> + +<p>For a short period of time, seemingly endless hours to the unarmed and +helpless men on the boat, the rain of lead continued. Tho the boat had +righted itself, the men were still unable to extricate themselves from +the positions into which they had been thrown. Near the top of one heap +lay Abraham Rabinowitz, a young Jewish college graduate, and as he +struggled to regain his footing a bullet tore<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> off the whole back part +of his head, his blood and brains splashing down over Raymond Lee and +Michael Reilly who lay just beneath him. Rabinowitz died in the arms of +Leonard Broman, his "pal" in the harvest fields, without ever having +regained consciousness.</p> + +<p>"Hold me up, fellow workers!" suddenly called out Gus Johnson as he was +fatally stricken by a bullet. "I want to finish the song." Then, above +the din of the gunfire and curses of the deputies, the final verse of +"Hold the Fort" rang out in defiance of industrial tyranny, and with the +termination of the words "Cheer, my comrades, cheer!" the bright red +death-foam flecked the ever-to-be silent lips of the brave Swedish revolutionist.</p> + +<p>Splintering the stairways, seats and woodwork, and wounding many of the +men crouched in hiding, thousands of rounds of ammunition found their +way into the boat during the ten long minutes of the onslaught. Finally, +with a 41 Colts revolver to enforce his demand, J. F. Billings ordered +engineer Ernest Shellgren to back the boat away from the dock. With no +pilot at the wheel the propeller churned madly backward for a moment, +the bowline drew taut and snapped, and the Verona pulled away from the +murderous crew of vigilantes. Not content with the havoc they had +wrought at close quarters some of the deputies continued to fire as long +as the boat was within range, a bullet from a high powered rifle +shattering the left leg of Harry Golden, a youth of twenty-two years, +when the boat was far out in the bay. Amputation of the limb was +necessary, a cork leg daily reminding young Golden of the majesty of the law.</p> + +<p>The Verona with its grim cargo of dead and wounded steamed toward +Seattle, meeting the steamer Calista about four miles out, stopping just +long enough for Captain Wiman to shout thru his megaphone, "For God's +sake don't land! They'll kill you! We have dead and wounded on board now."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p><p>With unaccustomed fingers the uninjured men bathed the wounded, tearing +up shirts and underclothing in order to bind up their injuries, and +making the men as comfortable as possible during the two and one half hour return trip.</p> + +<p>A few of the men on board had been armed. These voluntarily threw +overboard their revolvers, together with the few empty shells that lay +scattered upon the deck, George Reese alone having to be forced to +discard the "souvenirs" he had picked up.</p> + +<p>It was a quiet crowd that pulled into Seattle, not only because they +realized that the class struggle is not all jokes and songs, but also in +deference to the sufferings of their wounded comrades. This same spirit +animated the men when they were met by drawn cordons of police at the +Seattle dock, their first thought and first words being, "Get the +wounded fellows out and we will be all right." In the city jail, located +on the floor above the hospital, the same generous consideration of +their wounded fellow workers' condition led them to forego the +demonstration usually attending the arrest and jailing of any body of I. W. W. members.</p> + +<p>The four dead members, their still forms covered with blankets, were +first removed from the boat and taken to the morgue. Police and hospital +ambulances were soon filled with the thirty-one wounded men, who were +taken to the city hospital. The uninjured men were then lined up and +slowly marched to the city jail. From the Calista the thirty-eight I. W. +W. members were taken and placed in the county jail.</p> + +<p>At the hospital, Felix Baran, shot in the abdomen, slowly and painfully +passed away from internal hemorrhage. Dr. Mary Equi, of Portland, Ore., +who examined the body, stated that with surgical attention there would +have been more than an even chance of recovery.</p> + +<p>No one will ever know how many brave workers were swept out to sea and +lost, but Sunday, November Fifth, of the year Nineteen-sixteen, wrote +in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> imperishable letters of red on the list of Labor's martyrs who gave +up their lives in Freedom's Cause the names of</p> + +<div class="block"><p> +FELIX BARAN;<br /> +HUGO GERLOT;<br /> +GUSTAV JOHNSON;<br /> +JOHN LOONEY;<br /> +ABRAHAM RABINOWITZ.</p></div> + +<p>French, German, Swedish, Irish, and Russian Jew,—these are the true +internationalists of the world-wide brotherhood of toil who died for +free speech and the right to organize in this "land of liberty." To them +Courtenay Lemon's tribute to the I. W. W. applies with full force.</p> + +<p>"Again and again its foot-free members, burning with an indignation and +a militant social idealism which is ever an inscrutable puzzle to local +authorities, have hastened to towns where free speech fights were on, +defied the police, braved clubbings, and voluntarily filled the jails to +overflowing, to the rage and consternation of the police and taxpayers. +It has acted as the flying squadron of liberty, the unconquered +knight-errantry of all captive freedoms; and the migratory workers who +constitute a large part of its membership, ever on the march and +pitching their camp wherever the industrial battle is thickest, form a +guerilla army which is always eager for a fight with the powers of +tyranny. Whether they disagree with its methods and aims, all lovers of +liberty everywhere owe a debt to this organization for its defense of +free speech. Absolutely irreconcilable, absolutely fearless, and +unsuppressibly persistent, it has kept alight the fires of freedom, like +some outcast vestal of human liberty. That the defense of traditional +rights to which this government is supposed to be dedicated should +devolve upon an organization so often denounced as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> 'unpatriotic' and +'un-American,' is but the usual, the unfailing irony of history."<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>Baran, Gerlot, Johnson, Looney, Rabinowitz,—these names will be a +source of inspiration to the workers when their cowardly murderers have +long been forgotten.</p> + +<p>Those who survived their wounds, saving as pocket pieces the buckshot, +copper and steel jacketed and dum-dum bullets extracted from their +persons, were; mentioning their more serious wounds:</p> + +<blockquote><p>Harry Golden, age 22, shot in left leg, making amputation necessary.</p> + +<p>Joseph Ghilazano, age 20, shot in shoulder and both legs, entire +knee-cap shot off and replaced with a silver substitute.</p> + +<p>Albert Scribner, age 32, severely wounded in hip, probably lamed for life.</p> + +<p>Mario Marino, age 18, shot thru the lungs.</p> + +<p>Edward Roth, age 30, severely wounded in abdomen.</p> + +<p>Walter Mulholland, age 18, shot in buttock.</p> + +<p>Carl Bjork, age 25, wounded in back.</p> + +<p>Harry Parker, age 22, shot above abdomen, in back, and in legs.</p> + +<p>John Ryan, age 21, wounded in right shoulder and left leg.</p> + +<p>Leland E. Butcher, age 28, shot in the left leg.</p> + +<p>J. A. Kelly, age 31, shot in right leg.</p> + +<p>Hans Peterson, age 32, wounded in head.</p> + +<p>Fred Savery, age 25, wounded in hip.</p> + +<p>Steve Sabo, age 21, shot in left shoulder.</p> + +<p>Robert Adams, age 32, shot in left arm.</p> + +<p>Owen Genty, age 26, wounded in right kidney.</p> + +<p>C. C. England, age 27, shot in left knee.</p> + +<p>Nick Canaeff, age 35, shot in left arm.</p> + +<p>Albert Doninger, age 20, wounded in left arm.</p> + +<p>Brockman B. Armstrong, age 35, wounds on head.</p> + +<p>E. J. Shapeero, age 24, wounded in right leg.</p> + +<p>Carl Burke, age 25, shot in back and shoulder.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p><p>Ira Luft, age 27, shot in right side of back.</p> + +<p>George Turnquist, age 26, wounded in left leg.</p> + +<p>George Brown, age 21, shot in back.</p> + +<p>D. J. McCarthy, age 37, shot in side of head and in right leg.</p> + +<p>John Adams, age 28, wounded in right elbow.</p> + +<p>Edward Truitt, age 28, shot in right elbow.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Others on the boat who were wounded were Oscar Carlson, passenger, nine +severe bullet wounds in all parts of his body; L. S. Davis, ship +steward, wounded in the arm, and Charles Smith, Pinkerton "stool pigeon" +with a slight scalp injury.</p> + +<p>The wounded men were none too well treated at the city hospital, only a +part of the neglect being due to the overcrowded condition of the wards. +Wounds were hastily dressed and in some cases the injured men were +placed in jail at once where they had to care for themselves as best they might.</p> + +<p>In Everett the deputies left the dock when the Verona had steamed out of +the range of their rifle fire, taking with them the corpse of gunman C. +O. Curtis, office manager of the Canyon Lumber Company, and +deputy-sheriff Jefferson Beard, whose wounds caused his death the +following morning. The injured deputies were H. B. Blackburn, James A. +Broadbent, R. E. Brown, E. P. Buehrer, Owen Clay, Louis Connor, Jr., +Fred Durr, A. J. Ettenborough, Athol Gorrell, Thomas Hedley, Joe Irving, +James Meagher; Donald McRae, J. C. Rymer, Edwin Stuchell, and Charles +Tucker. Hooted, hissed, and jeered at by the thousands of citizens on +the viaduct and hill above the dock, these self-immolated prostitutes to +the god of greater profits were taken to the hospitals for treatment.</p> + +<p>Among the crowd of citizens was Mrs. Edith Frennette, who had been in +Everett a couple of days in connection with a lumber trust charge +against her, and with her were Mrs. Lorna Mahler and Mrs. Joyce Peters, +who had come from Seattle to attend the proposed street meeting. Making +the claim that Mrs. Frenette had threatened the life of Sheriff McRae +with a gun and had tried to throw red pepper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> into his eyes as he was +being transported from the dock, the Everett authorities caused the +arrest of the three women in Seattle as they were returning in an auto +to meet the Verona at the Seattle dock. They were held several days +before being released, no charges having been placed against Mrs. Mahler +or Mrs. Peters, and the case against Mrs. Frenette was eventually +dismissed, just as had been all previous charges made by McRae. These +three arrests brought the total number of free speech prisoners up to +two hundred and ninety-four.</p> + +<p>What were the feelings of the Everett public directly following the +massacre can best be judged from the report of an Everett correspondent +to the Seattle Union Record, the official A. F. of L. organ.</p> + +<p>"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.'"</p> + +<p>Corroborating this is the report of President E. P. Marsh to the State +Federation of Labor.</p> + +<p>"A dangerous situation existed in Everett after the battle of November +5. Public feeling ran high and anything might have happened. Half a +thousand citizens were under arms enraged at the Industrial<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> Workers of +the World and deadly determined to stamp out their organization in +Everett. It is no exaggeration to say that literally thousands of the +working people of Everett were just as enraged toward the members of the +Commercial Club who participated in the gun battle. * * * As an instance +of how high the feeling ran let me tell you that on the following +morning the mayor of the city appeared on the (shingle weavers') picket +line with a high power rifle and told the union pickets that he had +every reason to believe that an attempt might be made by snipers to pick +them off. He asked them to scatter as much as possible, make no +demonstration whatever, and declared he would defend them with his life if necessary."</p> + +<p>Mayor Merrill, equally guilty with the deputies who were on the dock, +taking advantage of a means of spreading information that was denied to +the workers, directly after the massacre spoke from a soap box on the +corner of Wetmore and California Avenues, telling all who would listen +that he was not responsible for the trouble as the Commercial Club had +taken the power away from him and put it in the hands of McRae. The +insincerity of this vacillating lackey of the lumber trust was +demonstrated by his brutal treatment of young Louis Skaroff, who with +Chester Micklin and Osmond Jacobs, had been arrested and thrown into +jail when the three, bravely taking their lives in their hands, +attempted to speak on the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore two hours after +the tragedy. It was on Monday night about ten o'clock that the night +jailer took Skaroff into a room where Mayor Merrill and a man posing as +an immigration officer were seated. The fake immigration officer tried +to frighten the prisoner with threats of deportation, after which the +jailer beat Skaroff across the head. Merrill arose and took a hand in +the proceedings, buffeting the boy back and forth until he fell to the +floor. Then, with the aid of the jailer, Skaroff's fingers were placed, +one by one, beneath the legs of an iron bed in the room while the +ponderous mayor jumped up and down on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> bed, mashing and tearing +flesh and knuckles. Upon regaining consciousness the mutilated boy found +himself in the jail corridor, crushed beneath Merrill's massive form, +the mayor having grasped Skaroff by the hair in order to repeatedly +hammer the lad's head against the hard cement floor. Finding that +Skaroff's spirit could not be broken the cowards finally desisted. +Skaroff was released at the end of eleven days.</p> + +<p>Chaos reigned in Everett following the tragedy. That night over five +hundred deputies patrolled the streets, fearing just retribution for +their criminal misdeeds. Those who had been on the dock as parties to +the massacre were overheard saying to each other, "We must stick +together on this story about the first shot coming from the boat." +Certain officials called for the state militia which was mobilized in +Seattle but not used. One militiaman, a young lad named Ted Kennedy, +refused to serve, claiming that it was the same as strike duty. The fact +that the militia was mobilized at once, and that Governor Ernest Lister +went to Everett to confer with officials and mill owners there, when he +had refused to furnish protection or even to make an investigation at +the request of the I. W. W. a short time before showed the governor's +bias in favor of the employers. In this lumber district the militia was +apparently the property of the mill owners.</p> + +<p>A hastily gathered coroner's jury in Everett on November 6th brought in +a verdict that C. O. Curtis and Jefferson F. Beard met death from +"gunshot wounds inflicted by a riotous mob on the Steamer Verona at the +city dock." If any of the jury dissented from its false statement they +were too spineless to express their opinion. The deliberations were +under the direction of Coroner A. R. Maulsby and the members of the jury +were Adam Hill, C. E. Anthony, O. H. King, Chris Culmback, C. Sandstein, +and Charles F. Manning.</p> + +<p>The inquest was a farce. Those who were outside the "deadline" and who +were willing to swear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> that the first shots came from the dock were not +permitted to testify, only sympathizers with the Commercial Club being +called as witnesses. No real attempt to take testimony was made. The +Seattle Central Labor Council on November 8th appropriated $100 for a +more complete investigation after branding the Everett inquest as +fraudulent in the following resolution:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"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 business men of that city have attempted to +ruthlessly and lawlessly suppress all street speaking and +demonstrations by labor organizations, and that unarmed men have +been brutally beaten and terrorized, and</p> + +<p>Whereas, This policy culminated in a bloody battle on Sunday, +November 5, resulting in the death of seven or more men and the +wounding of many more, and</p> + +<p>Whereas, A fair inquest should be held to fix responsibility for +this crime, and it appears that this has not been done, but that +only witnesses favorable to the bosses have been heard;</p> + +<p>Therefore, we demand another inquest, free from control by the +forces opposed to labor, and a change of venue, if that be necessary."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Capitalism stood forth in all its hideous nakedness on that day of red +madness, and public opinion was such that the striking shingle weavers +had but to persistently press their point in order to win. A conference +of prominent men, held in Everett on Monday, decided that the situation +could be relieved only by a settlement of the strike. The mill men, when +called in, abruptly refused to grant a single demand so long as the men +were still out, an attitude they could not have maintained for long. +Listening to the false advice of "friends of labor" and "labor leaders" +the shingle weavers, albeit grudgingly, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>returned to their slavery, +unconditional surrender being the price they were forced to pay for the +doubtful privilege of "relieving the social tension." But with the pay +envelopes that could not be stretched to cover the increased cost of +living, the weavers, discouraged to an extent and lacking their former +solidarity, were forced to down tools again within a few weeks by the +greatest of all strike agitators—Hunger.</p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i009.jpg" width='333' height='700' alt="Newspaper report" /> +<img src="images/i010.jpg" width='394' height='700' alt="Newspaper report cont." /></div> + +<p>The prisoners in Seattle were held incommunicado for several days. They +were fed upon the poorest grade of prison fare, and were made to sleep +on the winter-chilled cement floors without blankets. But Mayor Hiram +Gill, realizing that public sentiment was with the imprisoned men, +ordered that they be placed upon a proper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> diet, be given blankets and +be allowed to see relatives and friends. On November 8th in the Seattle +Times there appeared a statement by Gill that played a very important +part in riveting the attention of the people upon the real criminals in +the case. As the Times is a notoriously conservative and labor-hating +sheet, being largely responsible for the raid on the I. W. W. and +Socialist Halls on July 19, 1913, and for the attack by drunken sailors +and soldiers on the I. W. W. hall on June 16, 1917, it can hardly be +accused of exaggeration in favor of the workers in this interview.</p> + +<p>Following the publication of this interview the Seattle Chamber of +Commerce, Seattle's "Commercial Club," endeavored to father a movement +looking to the recall of Gill from office. Back of this attempt were +Judge Thomas Burke, Louis Lang, Jay Thomas, and four stall-fed +ministers, the Reverends W. A. Major, E. V. Shailer, Wood Stewart and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +Carter Helm Jones. Of these, Thomas represented the liquor interests, +Lang was the former police chief who had been discharged in disgrace and +was herding scabs on the waterfront, Burke was chief spokesman for the +low-wage open-shop interests, and as to the preachers—the less said the +better. The lumber and shipping trusts had adequate representation at +the "Law and Order" meeting as the attempted recall gathering was +styled. But the whole thing fell flat when Gill himself offered to sign +the recall for the opportunity it would give him to tell the real facts +about the Everett case and the interests lined up behind the prosecution and the recall.</p> + +<p>On the night of the tragedy a report was circulated in Seattle to the +effect that every known I. W. W. would be arrested on sight. The answer +to this was a street meeting at which nearly ninety dollars were +collected as the first money toward the Everett Prisoners' Defense, and +the packing of the hall for weeks thereafter by members and sympathizers +who had not attended meetings for a long time. A temporary committee was +chosen to handle the work of the defense of the imprisoned men, and this +committee acted until November 16th, at which time at a mass meeting of +I. W. W. members Herbert Mahler was elected secretary of the Everett +Prisoners' Defense Committee, Charles Ashleigh, publicity agent, and W. +J. Houser, Morris Levine and Thomas Murphy as the committee. Richard +Smith was afterward chosen to take the place vacated by Levine. This +committee functioned thruout the case and up until the final audit of +their account on June 12, 1917.</p> + +<p>Within the jail a process of selection had gone on. One by one the free +speech prisoners were taken from their cells and slowly led past a +silent and darkened cell into whose gloomy depths the keenest eye was +unable to penetrate. Again and again they were marched past the +peephole, first with hats on and then with them off, while two sinister +looking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> fingers were slid out of a narrow opening from time to time to +indicate those who should be held.</p> + +<p>"I'd give two of my fingers," muttered one of the prisoners bitterly, +"to know the skunk that belongs to those two fingers."</p> + +<p>Little did he and his fellow workers realize that they were to learn +later, thru the development of the trial, that the principal person +engaged in the despicable work was George Reese, a member of the I. W. +W. and of the I. L. A. It was on learning this that many of the actions +of Reese were made clear; his connection with dock riots during the +longshoremen's strike, his establishment of a "flying squadron" to beat +up scabs on the waterfront, his open boast on the floor of I. L. A. +meetings that his pockets were lined with money gained by robbing the +strike-breakers after they had been beaten up and his advice to other +strikers to do likewise, his activities just prior to the various dock +fires, his seemingly miraculous escape in every instance when strikers +were arrested, his election as delegate from the longshoremen to the +Seattle Central Labor Council, his requests of prominent I. W. W. +members that they purchase various chemicals for him, his giving of +phosphorus to members of the I. L. A. and the I. W. W. with instructions +as to how and where to use it, his attempts to advocate violence at an +Everett street meeting, his gathering of "souvenirs" on the Verona—all +actions designed either to aid the employers in their fights against the +workers or to furnish an excuse for his further employment as an "informer."</p> + +<p>Well may the question be asked—What was Reese doing just as the Verona +docked in Everett on November 5th? Was Reese merely a "stool pigeon" or +was he an "agent provocateur?"</p> + +<p>Aiding Reese in the selective process was Charles Smith, the other +Pinkerton operative who had been on the boat. One of the men first +picked out was I. P. McDowell, alias Charles Adams, and this individual +was weak enough to fall for the promise of immunity offered by agents of +the lumber trust<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> if he would point out the "leaders" and then take the +stand to swear that the men on the boat were armed and the first shot +came from one of them. McDowell pointed out some of the men, but lacking +the nerve to carry out the last part of the program he was held with the +rest for trial. The seventy-four men thus picked were formally charged +with murder in the first degree. The first charge carried the names of +C. O. Curtis as well as that of Jefferson Beard, but later the name of +Curtis was dropped from the information. The men so charged were:</p> + +<blockquote><p>Charles Auspos, alias Austin, age 38, teamster, born in Wisconsin.</p> + +<p>James D. Bates, age 29, steam fitter, born in Illinois.</p> + +<p>E. M. Beck, age 45, laborer, born in New York.</p> + +<p>Charles Berg, age 22, laborer, born in Germany.</p> + +<p>J. H. Beyer, age 56, painter, born in Michigan.</p> + +<p>J. F. Billings, age 35, cook, born in Nebraska.</p> + +<p>Charles Black, age 23, laborer, born in Pennsylvania.</p> + +<p>J. J. Black, age 27, longshoreman, born in Massachusetts.</p> + +<p>John W. Bowdoin, age 35, laborer, born in Sweden.</p> + +<p>Frank Boyd, age 43, laborer, born in Illinois.</p> + +<p>Pete Breed, age 26, laborer, born in Holland.</p> + +<p>W. H. Brown, age 40, laborer, born in Maryland.</p> + +<p>H. T. Cheetman, age 25, carpenter, born in Florida.</p> + +<p>Fred Crysler, age 26, laborer, born in Canada.</p> + +<p>Charles H. Cody, age 46, painter, born in Montana.</p> + +<p>William Coffin, age 34, motorman, born in California.</p> + +<p>Clarence Cyphert, age 35, logger, born in Washington.</p> + +<p>Roy Davis, age 47, laborer, born in California.</p> + +<p>William Davis, age 35, cook, born in Maryland.</p> + +<p>Axel Downey, age 17, laborer, born in Iowa.</p> + +<p>John Downs, age 28, sailor, born in Colorado.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p><p>Adolph Ersson, age 26, laborer and sailor, born in Sweden.</p> + +<p>Harry Feinberg, age 25, cleaner and dyer, born in Illinois.</p> + +<p>Charles Hawkins, age 28, laborer, born in Indiana.</p> + +<p>Charles Haywood, age 46, miner, born in Minnesota.</p> + +<p>E. F. Hollingsworth, age 29, fireman, born in North Carolina.</p> + +<p>J. E. Houlihan, age 36, miner, born in Ireland.</p> + +<p>Alfred Howard, age 28, coal packer, born in New York.</p> + +<p>Harvey Hubler, age 21, teamster, born in Illinois.</p> + +<p>Oscar Johnson, age 24, laborer, born in Sweden.</p> + +<p>Victor Johnson, age 37, laborer, born in Finland.</p> + +<p>J. A. Kelly, age 31, logger, born in Ohio.</p> + +<p>Theodore Lauer, age 29, laborer, born in New York.</p> + +<p>William Lawson, age 32, laborer, born in Washington.</p> + +<p>Jack Leonard, age 27, laborer, born in Kentucky.</p> + +<p>Pat Lyons, age 48, laborer, born in England.</p> + +<p>Jim Mack, age 31, laborer, born in Ireland.</p> + +<p>Joseph Manning, age 28, automobile repairer, born in Pennsylvania.</p> + +<p>Laurence Manning, age 26, laborer, born in New York.</p> + +<p>Ed Miller, age 48, painter, born in New York.</p> + +<p>Harold Miller, age 21, gas fitter, born in Kansas.</p> + +<p>John Mitchell, age 38, miner, born in Illinois.</p> + +<p>George Murphy, age 28, laborer, born in Kentucky.</p> + +<p>Louis McCall, age 24, laborer, born in Texas.</p> + +<p>I. P. McDowell, alias Charles Adams, age 28, printer, born in Illinois.</p> + +<p>C. D. McLennan, age 48, longshoreman, born in Georgia.</p> + +<p>Carl Newman, age 30, laborer, born in Sweden.</p> + +<p>John Nugent, age 38, laborer, born in New York.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p><p>Malachi O'Neill, age 34, blacksmith, born in Ireland.</p> + +<p>Earl Osborne, age 33, logger, born in North Carolina.</p> + +<p>Jack Paterson, age 24, laborer, born in Illinois.</p> + +<p>Harston Peters, age 32, laborer, born in Virginia.</p> + +<p>James Powers, age 47, sheet metal worker, born in Massachusetts.</p> + +<p>John Rawlings, age 26, laborer, born in Wisconsin.</p> + +<p>Michael J. Reilly, age 23, laborer, born in New York.</p> + +<p>John Ross, age 36, laborer, born in Massachusetts.</p> + +<p>Ed. Roth, age 31, longshoreman, born in New York.</p> + +<p>Thomas Savage, age 50, machinist, born in New York.</p> + +<p>E. J. Shapeero, age 23, timekeeper, born in Pennsylvania.</p> + +<p>William Shay, age 28, laborer, born in Massachusetts.</p> + +<p>H. Shebeck, age 24, laborer, born in Wisconsin.</p> + +<p>Albert Shreve, age 40, laborer, born in Illinois.</p> + +<p>H. Sokol, age 26, laborer, born in Russia.</p> + +<p>D. Stevens, age, 21, longshoreman, born in Canada</p> + +<p>Robert Struick, age 24, farmer, born in Michigan.</p> + +<p>Frank Stewart, age 35, logger, born in Canada.</p> + +<p>Tom Tracy, age 30, crane driver, born in Pennsylvania.</p> + +<p>Thomas H. Tracy, age 36, teamster, born in Nebraska.</p> + +<p>Edwart Truitt, age 28, longshoreman, born in Pennsylvania.</p> + +<p>F. O. Watson, age 35, blacksmith, born in Louisiana.</p> + +<p>James Whiteford (Kelly), age 36, cook, born in New York.</p> + +<p>Abraham B. Wimborne, age 22, buss-boy, born in England.</p> + +<p>William Winn, age 44, miner, born in Maryland.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p><p>All of these men, with the exception of J. H. Beyer, were heavily +handcuffed and secretly transferred to Everett, forty-one being taken in +the first contingent and the balance later.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the I. W. W. branches in Seattle had communicated with the +General Headquarters of the organization and steps had been taken to +secure legal aid. Attempts to enlist the services of Frank P. Walsh, +former chairman of the Industrial Relations Commission, were +unsuccessful. For various reasons other well known attorneys refused to +ally themselves with the defense.</p> + +<p>Attorney Fred H. Moore of Los Angeles, responding to the call from +Seattle, reached Seattle just one week after the tragedy, on Sunday, +November, 12th. Moore acted as chief counsel for the defense. He had +first come into prominence thru his connection with the great free +speech fight waged in Spokane, Wash., during the fall of 1909 and the +spring of 1910. During that fight he handled the legal end of the cases +of many hundreds of free speech fighters whose arrests ran into the +thousands. He was also connected with various other cases in connection +with the Industrial Workers of the World, notably that of Jack Whyte and +others arrested in the contest for free speech in San Diego, Cal. and +the famous Ettor-Giovannitti case that developed from the great strike +of textile workers in Lawrence, Mass., in 1912. His sympathy with the +workers and his understanding of the class struggle made him invaluable +to the defense.</p> + +<p>Of equal importance was attorney George F. Vanderveer, who was called +into the case a little later than Moore. Vanderveer was formerly the +prosecuting attorney for King county, in which position he won a +reputation for clever and merciless cross-examination. One of Seattle's +most prominent and brilliant lawyers, his wide acquaintance with all +classes of people and his comprehensive knowledge of conditions in King +and Snohomish counties, coupled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> with his keen satire and compelling +logic, gave a force to the case that cannot be underestimated.</p> + +<p>Attorney E. C. Dailey of Everett, Caroline A. Lowe of Kansas City, Mo., +and Harry Sigmond and J. L. Finch, both of Seattle, completed the list +of counsel for the defense.</p> + +<p>After being held in the Seattle city jail for nine days without any +charge having been placed against them, one hundred twenty-eight men who +were on the Verona were released, small bodies of them being sent out at +different periods in order to avoid demonstrations from the public. +Those who were released were:</p> + +<p>James Agen, Frank Andrews, Brockman Armstrong, W. D. Beachy, J. H. +Beyer, John Bolan, J. Bonfield, Elmer Brisbon, Leonard Broman, George +Brown, James Burns, Martin Cable, Val Calze, A. L. Cameron, James +Carlough, J. H. Carr, Ray Clark, Joseph Cline, Archie Collins, Robert +Conning, Nick Conaieff, Joseph Costello, R. F. Dalton, Frank Dante, C. +W. Davis, Lawrence Davis, Albert Doninger, John Donohue, William Dott, +Joseph Dougherty, Ned Dustard, J. H. Elliott, C. C. England, John +Fitzpatrick, A. Fletcher, Russell Free, Alfred Freeman, Ben Freeman, +James Freeman, John Gibson, Frank Gillarkey, P. A. Gragler, Charles +Gray, James Gray, Paul Grossman, Ed Gruberg, Raymond Gurber, Robert +Hansen, Joe Harris, L. W. Harris, Arnold Hensel, Roy Howell, G. H. +Isenberg, Carl Jacobson, George Johnson, Ray Johnson, John Karne, Henry +Krieg, Fred Laveny, Henry Lea, Raymond Lee, William Ledingham, Charles +Leider, Ira Luft, Ed Lynn, George Maguire, William Micklenburg, August +Miller, Dennis Miller, Frank C. Miller, John Miller, Frank Millet, Roy +Mitchell, William Montgomery, William Moore, James Murray, Leo McCabe, +J. McCoy, Bernard Narvis, Al. Nickerson, Ben Noll, Tom Norton, Tom +O'Connor, Jack Osborne, E. Peckman, Hans Peterson, A. Pilon, Ira Porter, +Max Ramsey, Edward Rays, Herman Rechlenberg, Frank Reiner, Ernest Rich, +John J. Riley, C. H. Ross, M.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> Rountell, Steve Sabo, J. L. Samuel, Joe +Sarracco, Ed Schwartz, Carl Schultz, H. Stredwick, Arthur Shumek, +Charles Smith, Harry Smith, E. J. Smith, Cecil Snedegar, Frank Sofer, +Stanley Stafl, Raymond St. Clair, John Stroka, Mike Stysco, C. Thomas, +Richard Tibbs, John Utne, Joseph Vito, John Walker, Benny Warshawsky, F. +Westwood, Ben Whitehead, Arley Whiteside, William Wilke, H. Wilson, +Frank Wise, and Charles Wolskie.</p> + +<p>Most of these were mere boys. Mere boys—but undaunted by their recent +terrible experience on the Verona where the open shop fiends had fired +upon them without warning. Mere boys—and yet they loyally marched +straight to the I. W. W. hall as soon as they were released, there to +inquire about the condition of their wounded fellow workers and to gain +news of those who had been taken to Everett to answer charges of first +degree murder. Mere boys—youthful enthusiasm shining on their beardless +faces. Scattered among them were a few men of middle years, and here and +there a grey head stood out in bold relief—but the majority of them +were mere boys, youthful soldiers in the Social Revolution, fine and +clean and loyal material called together by the compelling ideal of a New Society.</p> + +<p>The predominance of young blood in the organization was noted in the +report of the 1912 convention, where it was shown that ninety per cent +of the membership were under thirty years of age, due of course to the +fact that the modern tendency is to displace the older men in industry. +As one wit has put it "If a man works as hard as the employers want him +to he is worn out at forty-five; if he isn't worn out at forty-five he +is not the kind of worker the employers want." Others have noted the +percentage of the very young. John Graham Brooks, for instance, in +"American Syndicalism—The I. W. W." has this to say:</p> + +<p>"Of the same nature as a characteristic is the <b>youth</b> of the membership. +The groups I saw in the West bore this stamp so unmistakably as to +suggest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> bodies of students at the end of a rather jolly picnic. The +word 'bum' usually applied to them in that region does not fit them. +There are plenty of older men, as there are men with every appearance of +being 'down and out'—with trousers chewed off at the heels, after the +manner of tramps, but in face and bearing they are far from 'bums.' In +one of the speeches the young were addressed as 'best material;' because +they could stand the wear and tear of racking journeys. They were free +from family responsibilities, and could at any moment respond to the call of duty."</p> + +<p>Bearing out this idea, tho along a somewhat different line, is an +excerpt from an article by Anna Louise Strong which appeared in the +Survey magazine just prior to the trial. This and other articles, +together with the personal efforts of Miss Strong, whose official +standing as a member of the Seattle School Board and as Executive +Secretary of the Seattle Council of Social Agencies gave weight to her +opinion, did much toward creating a favorable public sentiment during +the trial. Says Miss Strong:</p> + +<p>"The boys in jail are a cheerful lot. The 'tanks' which contain them are +the tanks of the usual county jail, much overcrowded now by the unusual +number. Bunks crowded above each other, in full sight thru the bars; a +few feet away, all the processes of life open to the casual beholder. +But they sit in groups playing cards or dominoes; they listen to tunes +played on the mouth-organ; most of all they sing. They sing whenever +visitors come, and smile thru the bars in cheerful welcome. Theirs is +the spirit of the crusader of all ages, and all causes, won or lost, +sane or insane. Theirs is the irresponsibility and audacious valor of +youth. When they disliked their food, says a conservative newspaper, +they went on strike and 'sang all night.' Sang all night! What sane +adults in our drab, business-as-usual world would think of doing that? +Who, in fact, could think of doing it but college boys or Industrial +Workers of the World, cheerfully defying authority?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p><p>Thru an absurd and laughable error J. H. Beyer, one of the seventy-four +men charged with first degree murder, was among those who were released. +Beyer immediately sought out and told attorney Moore his story. Then +this "hardened criminal" walked the street of Seattle after public +announcement had been made that he was willing to be taken to Everett to +be incarcerated with the rest of his fellow workers, and that he awaited +rearrest. The prosecution made no move to apprehend him, so on December +14th Beyer went to Everett and asked the authorities to lock him up. The +Snohomish officials shamefacedly granted this unique request but they +absolutely refused to refund the money Beyer had paid to deliver himself up to "Justice."</p> + +<p>Before leaving Seattle Beyer made this statement: "I have waited here +nearly a month since my release from the Seattle jail, yet no officer +from Everett has come for me. In justice to the other boys accused I +feel that I should share their lot as well as the accusation. I do not +fear returning to Everett and giving myself up for I am confident that +we shall be all exculpated. I am fifty-three years of age and have had +many and varied experiences in my career, but I never expected to be +accused of crime because I endeavored to assert my constitutional right of Free Speech."</p> + +<p>The same day that Beyer surrendered himself, bonds of $50 each were +secured for thirty-eight men who had been selected from the Verona and +Calista and held on charges of unlawful assembly. Bail was given by +James Duncan, Secretary of the Central Labor Council, and E. B. Ault, +editor of the Union Record, both of Seattle. The released men were Dewey +Ashmore, E. Belmat, C. Burke, L. E. Butcher, James Callahan, Harry +Chase, Charles Day, A. J. Deach, Charles Ellis, J. Ford, Owen Genty, Hy +Gluckstad, Frank Goff, James C. Hadley, Steve Heletour, A. O. Hooper, C. +C. Hulbert, H. P. Hunsberger, C. L. Johnson, R. W. Jones, Joe Kelley, F. +Lansing, W. O. Lily, E. McBride, William <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>McGregor, R. Nicholson, David +O'Hern, Harry Parker, J. Ryan, Sam Scott, Mark Skomo, Thomas Smye, and F. Thorpe.</p> + +<p>Altho an inquest had been held over the dead gunmen at such an early +date after the tragedy and with such haste as to seem suspicious, +repeated demands for an inquest over Labor's dead were of no avail. No +such inquest was ever held. Only by strong protest were the bodies kept +from the potter's field.</p> + +<p>Thirty-eight charged with unlawful assembly, seventy-four in jail +accused of first degree murder, thirty-two severely wounded and at least +two of these crippled for life, six unaccounted for and probably shot +and drowned, and five known dead in the city morgue,—this was the +answer of the tyrannical timber barons to Labor's demand for free speech +and the right to organize within the confines of the Lumber Kingdom.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Courtenay Lemon, "Free Speech in the United States." +Pearson's Magazine, December 1916.</p></div></div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>BEHIND PRISON BARS</h3> + +<p>"One of the greatest sources of social unrest and bitterness has been +the attitude of the police toward public speaking. On numerous occasions +in every part of the country the police of cities and towns have, either +arbitrarily or under the cloak of a traffic ordinance, interfered with +or prohibited public speaking, both in the open and in halls, by persons +connected with organizations of which the police or those from whom they +receive their orders did not approve. In many instances such +interference has been carried out with a degree of brutality which would +be incredible if it were not vouched for by reliable witnesses. Bloody +riots frequently have accompanied such interference, and large numbers +of persons have been arrested for acts of which they were innocent or +which were committed under the extreme provocation of brutal treatment +by police or private citizens.</p> + +<p>"In some cases this suppression of free speech seems to have been the +result of sheer brutality and wanton mischief, but in the majority of +cases it undoubtedly is the result of a belief by the police or their +superiors that they were 'supporting and defending the Government' by +such invasion of personal rights. There could be no greater error. Such +action strikes at the very foundation of government. It is axiomatic +that a government which can be maintained only by the suppression of +criticism should not be maintained. Furthermore, it is the lesson of +history that attempts to suppress ideas result only in their more rapid propagation."</p> + +<p>The foregoing is the view of the Industrial Relations Commission as it +appears on page 98 and 99 of Volume One of their official report to the +United States Government.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i011.jpg" width='700' height='487' alt="Jail at EVERETT" /></div> + +<h4>Jail at <span class="smcap">Everett</span></h4> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p><p>The growth of a public sentiment favorable to the Industrial Workers of +the World was clearly shown on November 18th, at which time the bodies +of Felix Baran, Hugo Gerlot and John Looney were turned over to the +organization for burial. Gustav Johnson had already been claimed by +relatives and a private funeral held, and the body of Abraham Rabinowitz +sent to New York at the request of his sister.</p> + +<p>Thousands of workers, each wearing a red rose or carnation, formed in +line at the undertaking parlors and then silently marched four abreast +behind the three hearses and the automobiles containing the eighteen +women pall bearers and the floral tributes to the martyred dead.</p> + +<p>To the strains of the "Red Flag" and the "Marseillaise" the grim and +imposing cortege wended its way thru the crowded city streets, meeting +with expressions of sorrow and sympathy from those who lined the +sidewalk. Delegations of workers from Everett, Tacoma, and other +Washington cities and towns were in line, and a committee from Portland, +Ore., brought appropriate floral offerings. The solidarity of labor was +shown in this great funeral procession, by all odds the largest ever +held in the Northwest.</p> + +<p>Arriving at the graveside in Mount Pleasant cemetery the rebel women +reverently bore the coffins from the hearses to the supporting frame, +surrounded by boughs of fragrant pine, above the yawning pit. A special +chorus of one hundred voices led the singing of "Workers of the World, +Awaken," and as the song died away Charles Ashleigh began the funeral oration.</p> + +<p>Standing on the great hill that overlooks the whole city of Seattle, the +speaker pointed out the various industries with their toiling thousands +and referred to the smoke that shadowed large portions of the view as +the black fog of oppression and ignorance which it was the duty of the +workers to dispel in order to create the Workers' Commonwealth. The +entire address was marked by a simple note of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> resolution to continue +the work of education until the workers have come into their own, not a +trace of bitterness evincing itself in the remarks. Ashleigh called upon +those present never to falter until the enemy had been vanquished. +"Today," he said, "we pay tribute to the dead. Tomorrow we turn, with +spirit unquellable, to give battle to the foe!"</p> + +<p>As the notes of "Hold the Fort!" broke a moment of dead silence, a +shower of crimson flowers, torn from the coats of the assembled +mourners, covered the coffins and there was a tear in every eye as the +bodies slowly descended into their final resting place. As tho loath to +leave, the crowd lingered to sing the "Red Flag" and "Solidarity +Forever." Those present during the simple but stirring service were +struck with the thought that the class struggle could never again be +looked upon as a mere bookish theory, the example of those who gave +their lives in the cause of freedom was too compelling a call to action.</p> + +<p>But the imperious exactions of the class war left no time for mourning, +and ere the last man had left the graveside the first to go was busily +spreading the news of an immense mass meeting to be held in Dreamland +Rink on the next afternoon. At this meeting five thousand persons from +all walks of life gathered to voice their protest against the Everett +outrage and to demand a federal investigation. The labor unions, the +clergy, public officials and the general citizenry, were represented by +the speakers. This was the first of many mass meetings held by the +aroused and indignant people of Seattle until the termination of the case.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i012.jpg" width='700' height='482' alt="Funeral of GERLOT, LOONEY and BARAN" /></div> + +<h4>Funeral of <span class="smcap">Gerlot, Looney and Baran</span></h4> + +<p>The "kept" press carried on a very bitter campaign against the I. W. W. +for some few days after the dock tragedy, but dropped that line of +action when the public let them understand that they were striking a +wrong note. Thereafter their policy was to ignore, as far as possible, +the entire affair. Practically the only time this rule was broken was in +the printing of the song "Christians At War" by John F. Kendrick, taken +from the I. W. W. song book.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> The Seattle Post-Intelligencer gave a +photographic reproduction of the cover page of the book and of the page +containing the song. The obvious intent was to have people think that +this cutting satire was an urge for the members of the I. W. W. to do in +times of peace those inglorious things that are eminently respectable in +times of war. Later the Times, and several other papers, reproduced the +same cover and song, the only change being that certain words were inked +out to make it appear that the song was obscene. And tho the P.—I. had +published the song in full the Times placed beneath their garbled +version these words, "The portions blotted out are words and phrases +such as never appear in The Times or in any other decent newspaper." The +simultaneous appearance of this song in a number of papers was merely a +coincidence, no doubt; there is no reason to believe that the lumber +trust inspired the attack!</p> + +<p>Allied as usual with the capitalist press and "stool pigeons" and +employers' associations in a campaign to discredit the workers involved +in the case, was the moribund Socialist Labor Party thru its organ, the Weekly People.</p> + +<p>The entire I. W. W. press came to the support of the imprisoned men as a +matter of course. The Seattle Union Record and many other craft union +papers, realizing that an open shop fight lay back of the suppression of +free speech, also did great publicity work. But no particular credit is +due to those "labor leaders" who, like J. G. Brown, president of the +Shingle Weavers' Union, grudgingly gave a modicum of assistance under +pressure from radicals in their respective organizations.</p> + +<p>The Northwest Worker of Everett deserves especial praise for its +fearless and uncompromising stand in the face of the bitterest of +opposition. This paper had practically to suspend publication because of +pressure the lumber trust brought to bear on the firm doing their +printing. This, with the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>action recorded in the minutes of the +Commercial Club, "decided to go after advertisements in labor journals +and the Northwest Worker," shows that a free press is as obnoxious to +the lumber lords as are free speech and free assembly.</p> + +<p>It scarcely needs noting that the International Socialist Review +rendered yeoman service, as that has been its record in all labor cases +since the inception of the magazine. Several other Socialist +publications, to whom the class struggle does not appear merely as a +momentary quadrennial event, also did their bit. Diverse foreign +language publications, representing varying shades of radical thought, +gave to the trial all the publicity their columns could carry.</p> + +<p>Just why seventy-four men were picked as prisoners is a matter of +conjecture. Probably it was because the stuffy little Snohomish county +jail could conveniently, to the authorities, hold just about that +number. The men were placed four in a cell with ten cells to each tank, +there being two tanks of steel resting one above the other. Even with +all the windows thrown open the ventilation was so poor that the men +were made ill by the foul air.</p> + +<p>For almost two full months after being transported to Everett the men +were held incommunicado; were not allowed to see papers or magazines or +to have reading matter of any description; were subjected to the +brutalities of Sheriff McRae and other jail officials who had been +prominent in previous outrage and participants in the massacre at the +dock; and were fed on the vilest prison fare. Mush was the principal +article of diet; mush semi-cooked and cold; mush full of mold and +maggots; mush that was mainly husks and lumps that could not be washed +down with the pale blue prison milk; mush—until the prisoners fitfully +dreamed of mush and gagged at the mere mention of the word. Finding +themselves slowly starving the men decided that it were better to +complete the job at once rather than to linger in misery. A hunger +strike was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>declared! Meal after meal—or mush after mush—passed and +the men refused to eat. Those who were thought to be leaders in the +miniature revolt were thrown in the blackhole where there was neither +light nor fresh air. Still the men refused to eat, so the authorities +were forced to surrender and the men had something to eat besides mush.</p> + +<p>Great discomfort was experienced by the prisoners from having to sleep +on the cold steel floors of the unheated cells during the chill November +nights. Deciding to remedy the condition they made a demand for +mattresses and blankets from the authorities, not a man of them being +willing to have the Defense Committee purchase such supplies. The needed +articles were refused and the men resorted to a means of enforcing their +demands known as "building a battleship."</p> + +<p>With buckets and tins, and such strips of metal as could be wrenched +loose, the men beat upon the walls, ceilings, and floors of the steel +tanks. Those who found no other method either stamped on the steel +floors in unison with their fellows, or else removed their shoes to use +the heels to beat out a tattoo. To add to the unearthly noise they +yelled concertedly with the full power of their lungs. Three score and +ten men have a noise-making power that words cannot describe. The +townspeople turned out in numbers, thinking that the deputies were +murdering the men within the jail. The battleship construction workers +redoubled their efforts. Acknowledging defeat, the jail officials +furnished the blankets and mattresses that had been demanded.</p> + +<p>A few days later the men started their morning meal only to find that +the mush was strongly "doped" with saltpeter and contained bits of human +manure and other refuse—the spite work, no doubt, of the enraged +deputies. Another battleship was started. This time the jailers closed +all the windows in an effort to suffocate the men, but they broke the +glass with mop-handles and continued the din. As<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> before, the deputies +were defeated and the men received better food for a time.</p> + +<p>On November 24th an official of the State Board of Prisoners took the +finger prints and photographs of the seventy-four men who were innocent +until proven guilty under the "theory" of law in this country, and, +marking these Bertillion records with prison serial numbers, sent copies +to every prison in the United States. In taking the prints of the first +few men brute force was used. Lured from their cells the men were +seized, their hands screwed in a vise, and an imprint taken by forcibly +covering their hands with lampblack and holding them down on the paper. +When the others learned that some had thus been selected they voted that +all should submit to having their prints taken so the whole body of +prisoners would stand on the same footing. Attorney Moore was denied all +access to the prisoners during the consummation of this outrage.</p> + +<p>After obtaining permission of the jail officials a committee of Everett +citizens, with the voluntary assistance of the Cooks' and Waiters' +Union, prepared a feast for the free speech prisoners on Thanksgiving +Day. When the women arrived at the jail they were met by Sheriff McRae +who refused to allow the dinner to be served to the men. McRae was +drunk. In place of this dinner the sheriff set forth a meal of moldy +mush so strongly doped with chemicals as to be unfit for human +consumption. This petty spite work by the moon-struck tool of the lumber +trust was in thoro keeping with the cowardly characteristics he +displayed on the dock on November 5th. And the extent to which the daily +press in Everett was also under the control of the lumber interests was +shown by the publication of a faked interview with attorney Fred Moore +published in the Everett Herald under date of November 29th, Moore +having been credited with the statement that the prison food deserved +praise and the prisoners were "given as good food and as much of it as +they could wish."</p> + +<p>During the whole of McRae's term as sheriff<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> there was no time that +decent food was given voluntarily to the prisoners as a whole. At times, +with low cunning, McRae gave the men in the upper tank better food than +those confined below, and also tried to show favoritism to certain +prisoners, in order to create distrust and suspicion among the men. All +these attempts to break the solidarity of the prisoners failed of their +purpose.</p> + +<p>On one occasion McRae called "Paddy" Cyphert, one of the prisoners whom +he had known as a boy, from his cell and offered to place him in another +part of the jail in order that he might escape injury in a "clubbing +party" the deputies had planned. Cyphert told McRae to put him back with +the rest for he wanted the same treatment as the others and would like +to be with them in order to resist the assault. In the face of this +determination, which was typical of all the prisoners, the contemplated +beating was never administered.</p> + +<p>McRae would oftentimes stand outside the tanks at a safe distance and +drunkenly curse the prisoners and refer to them as cowards, to which the +men would reply by repeating the words of the sheriff on the dock, +"O-oh, I'm hit! I-I'm h-hit!! I-I-I'm h-h-hit!!!" Then they would burst +forth with a song written by William Whalen in commemoration of the +exploits of the doughty sheriff, a song which since has become a +favorite of the migratory workers as they travel from job to job, and +which will serve to keep the deeds of McRae fresh in the minds of the +workers for many years to come.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="stanza"><div class="i5">TO SHERIFF McRAE</div></div> +<div>Call out your Fire Department, go deputize your bums;</div> +<div>Gather in your gunmen and stool pigeons from the slums;</div> +<div>You may resolute till doomsday, you ill-begotten knave;</div> +<div>We'll still be winning Free Speech Fights when you are in your grave!</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span><div>You reprobate, you imp of hate, you're a traitor to the mind</div> +<div>That brought you forth in human shape to prey upon mankind.</div> +<div>You are lower than the snakes that crawl or the scavengers that fly;</div> +<div>You're the living, walking image of a damn black-hearted lie!</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>We'll still be here in Everett when your career is ended,</div> +<div>And back among the dregs of life your dirty hide has blended;</div> +<div>When you shun the path of honest wrath and fear the days to come,</div> +<div>And bow your head to the flag of red, you poor white-livered bum!</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>For the part you played in Everett's raid that fateful Sunday morn,</div> +<div>May your kith and kindred live to curse the day that you were born;</div> +<div>May the memory of your victims haunt your conscience night and day,</div> +<div>Until your feeble, insect mind beneath the strain gives way!</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Oh, Don McRae, you've had your day; make way for Freedom's host:</div> +<div>For Labor's sun is rising, soon 'twill shine from coast to coast!</div> +<div>The shot you fired at Everett re-echoes thru the night</div> +<div>As a message to the working class to organize and fight!</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Those graves upon the hillside as monuments will stand</div> +<div>To point the way to Freedom's goal to slaves thruout the land;</div> +<div>And when at last the working class have made the masters yield,</div> +<div>May your portion of the victory be a grave in the Potter's Field!</div> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p><p>The end of the first week in January brought about the change in the +administrative force of Snohomish county that had been voted at the +November election. A new set of lumber trust lackeys were placed in +office. James McCullogh succeeded Donald McRae as sheriff, and Lloyd +Black occupied the office vacated by Prosecuting Attorney O. T. Webb.</p> + +<p>The advent of a new sheriff made some slight difference in the jail +conditions, but this was more than offset by the underhanded methods +used from that time on with the idea of breaking the solidarity of the +free speech fighters. Liquor was placed in the bathrooms where the men +could easily get hold of it, but even among those who had been hard +drinkers on the outside there were none who would touch it. Firearms +were cunningly left exposed in hopes that the men might take them and +attempt a jail break, thus giving the jailers a chance to shoot them +down or else causing the whole case to be discredited. The men saw thru +the ruse and passed by the firearms without touching them.</p> + +<p>Working in conjunction with the prosecuting attorney was H. D. Cooley. +This gentleman was one of the deputies on the dock, having displayed +there his manly qualities by hiding behind a pile of wood at first, and +later by telling others to go with rifles to head off the Calista which +he had spied approaching from the direction of Mukilteo. Cooley had a +practice among the big lumbermen, and in the case against the I. W. W. +he was hired by the state with no stipulation as to pay. The general +excuse given for his activities in the case, which dated from November +6th, was that he was retained by "friends of Jefferson Beard" and other +"interested parties."</p> + +<p>Attorney A. L. Veitch was also lined up with the prosecution. He was the +same gentleman who had lectured to the deputies during the preceding +fall as a representative of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' +Association, and had told the deputies how to handle "outside +agitators." Veitch was also <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>employed by the state as a matter of +record, but there was a direct stipulation that he receive no pay from +state funds. He also was employed by "friends of Jefferson Beard" and +other "interested parties."</p> + +<p>With Veitch there was imported from Los Angeles one Malcolm McLaren, an +M. and M. detective and office partner with Veitch, to act as "fix-it" +man for the lumber trust. McLaren was at one time an operative for the +infamous Wm. J. Burns, and Burns has well said "Private detectives, +ninety per cent of them, as a class, are the worst of crooks, +blackmailers and scoundrels." Under McCullogh's regime this open-shop +gumshoe artist had free access to the jail with instructions to go as +far as he liked.</p> + +<p>Just what the prisoners thought about jail conditions during the time +they were incarcerated is given in the following report which was +smuggled out to the Industrial Worker and published on March 3rd:</p> + +<p>"'Everything is fine and dandy on the outside, don't worry, boys.'"</p> + +<p>"This is the first thing we heard from visitors ever since we +seventy-four have been incarcerated in the Snohomish County Jail at Everett.</p> + +<p>"While 'everything is fine and dandy on the outside' there are, no +doubt, hundreds who would like to hear how things are on the inside. Let +us assure everyone on the outside that 'everything is fine and dandy' on +the inside. We are not worrying as it is but a short time till the +beginning of the trials, the outcome of which we are certain will be one +of the greatest victories Labor has ever known, if there exists a shadow +of justice in the courts of America.</p> + +<p>"One hundred days in jail so far—and for nothing! Stop and think what +one hundred days in jail means to seventy-four men! It means that in the +aggregate the Master Class have deprived us of more than twenty years of +liberty. Twenty years! Think of it, and a prospect of twenty more before +all are at liberty.</p> + +<p>"And why?</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p><p>"There can be but one reason, one answer: We are spending this time in +jail and will go thru the mockery of a trial because the masters of +Everett are trying to shield themselves from the atrocious murders of +Bloody November Fifth.</p> + +<p>"After being held in Seattle, convicted without a trial, except such as +was given us by the press carrying the advertising of the boss and +dependent on him for support, on November 10th forty-one of us were +brought to Everett. A few days later thirty more were brought here.</p> + +<p>"We found the jail conditions barbarous. There were no mattresses and +only one blanket to keep off the chill of a Puget Sound night in the +cold, unheated steel cells. There were no towels. We were supplied with +laundry soap for toilet purposes, when we could get even that. Workers +confined in lower cells were forced to sleep on the floors. There were +five of them in each cell and in order to keep any semblance of heat in +their bodies they had to sleep all huddled together in all their clothing.</p> + +<p>"The first few days we were in the jail we spent in cleaning it, as it +was reeking with filth and probably had never been cleaned out since it +was built. It was alive with vermin. There were armies of bedbugs and +body lice. We boiled up everything in the jail and it is safe to say +that it is now cleaner than it had ever been before, or ever will be +after the Wobblies are gone.</p> + +<p>"When we first came here the lower floor was covered with barrels, boxes +and cases of whiskey and beer. This was moved in a few days, but +evidently not so far but McRae and his deputies had access to it, as +their breath was always charged with the odor of whiskey. It was an +everyday occurrence to have several of the deputies, emboldened by +liquid courage and our defenseless condition—walk around the cell +blocks and indulge in the pastime of calling us vulgar and profane +names. Threats were also very common, but we held our peace and were +content with the thought that 'a barking dog seldom bites.'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p><p>"The worst of these deputies are gone since the advent of sheriff +McCullogh, but there are some on the job yet who like their 'tea.' About +two weeks ago every deputy that came into the jail was drunk; some of +them to the extent of staggering.</p> + +<p>"When we first entered the jail, true to the principles of the I. W. W., +we proceeded to organize ourselves for the betterment of our condition. +A 'grub' committee, a sanitary committee and a floor committee were +appointed. Certain rules and regulations were adopted. By the end of the +week, instead of a growling, fighting crowd of men, such as one would +expect to find where seventy-four men were thrown together, there was an +orderly bunch of real I. W. W.'s, who got up at a certain hour every +morning, and all of whose actions were part of a prearranged routine. +Even tho every man of the seventy-four was talking as loudly as he could +a few seconds before ten p. m., the instant the town clock struck ten +all was hushed. If a sentence was unfinished, it remained unfinished +until the following day.</p> + +<p>"When the jailer came to the door, instead of seventy-four men crowding +up and all trying to talk at once, three men stepped forward and +conversed with him. Our conduct was astonishing to the jail officials. +One of the jailers remarked that he had certainly been given a wrong +impression of the I. W. W. by McRae. He said, 'this bunch is sure +different from what I heard they were. You fellows are all right.' The +answer was simply: 'Organization.' Instead of a cursing, swearing, +fighting mob of seventy-four men, such as sheriff McRae would like to +have had us, we were entirely the opposite.</p> + +<p>"Time has not hung heavy on our hands. One scarcely notices the length +of the days. Educational meetings are frequent and discussions are +constantly in order. Our imprisonment has been a matter of experience. +We will all be better able to talk Industrial Unionism than when we +entered the jail.</p> + +<p>"The meals! Did we say 'meals?' A thousand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> pardons! Next time we meet a +meal we will apologize to it. Up to the time we asserted our displeasure +at the stinking, indigestible messes thrown up to us by a drunken brute +who could not qualify as head waiter in a 'nickel plate' restaurant, we +had garbage, pure and simple. Think of it! Mush, bread and coffee at +7:30 a. m., and not another bite until 4 p. m. Then they handed us a +mess which some of us called 'slumgullion,' composed of diseased beef. +Is it any wonder that four of the boys were taken to the hospital? But +we will not dwell on the grub. Suffice it to say we were all more or +less sick from the junk dished out to us. We were all hungry from +November 10th until January 22nd. One day in November we had beans. +Little did we surmise the pains, the agony contained in that dish of +innocent looking nutriment, beans. At two in the morning every man in +the jail was taken violently ill. We aroused the guards and they sent +for a doctor. He came about eight hours later and looked disappointed +upon learning that we were not dead. This doctor always had the same +remedy in all cases. His prescription was, 'Stop smoking and you will be +all right.' This is the same quack who helped beat up the forty-one +members of the I. W. W. at Beverly Park on October 30th, 1916. His nerve +must have failed him or his pills would have finished what his +pickhandle had started.</p> + +<p>"During the entire time of our confinement under McRae, drunken deputies +came into the jail and did everything in their power to make conditions +as miserable as possible for us. McRae was usually the leader in +villification of the I. W. W.</p> + +<p>"When on January 8th a change of administration took place, we called a +meeting which resulted in an interview with Sheriff McCullogh. Among +other things we demanded a cook. For days the sheriff stalled us off. He +professed that he wanted to do things for our comfort. We gave him ample +time—but there was no change in the conditions. On January 15th the +matter came to a climax. For five<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> days prior to this we had been served +with what some called 'mulligan.' In reality it was nothing more or less +than water slightly colored with the juice of carrots. If there had ever +been any meat in it that meat was taken out before the mulligan was +served. We called for the sheriff and were informed that he had gone +away. We called for one of our attorneys who was in one of the outer +offices at the time, but Jailer Bridges refused to let us see him. +Having tried peaceful methods without success, we decided to forcibly +bring the matter to the attention of the authorities. We poured the +contents of the container out thru the bars and onto the floor. The boys +in the upper tank did the same thing. For doing this we were given a +terrible cursing by Jailer Bridges and the drunken cook, the latter +throwing a piece of iron thru the bars, striking one of the boys on the +head, and inflicting a long, ugly wound. The cook also threatened to poison us.</p> + +<p>"That night when we were to be locked in, one of our jailers, decidedly +under the influence of liquor, was in such a condition that he was +unable to handle the levers properly and in some manner put the locking +system out of commission. After probably three quarters of an hour, +during which all of us and every I. W. W. in the world were consigned to +hell many times, the doors were finally locked.</p> + +<p>"'By God, you s—s-of-b——s will wish you ate that stew,' was the way +in which the jailer said 'good night' to us. The significance of his +words was brought back to us next morning when the time came for us to +be unlocked. We were left in our cells without food and with the water +turned off so we could not even have a drink. We might have remained +there for hours without toilet facilities had we not taken matters into +our hands. With one accord we decided to get out of the cells. There was +only one way to do this—'battleship!'</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i013.jpg" width='700' height='479' alt="An all-I. W. W. crew raising a spar tree 160 ft. long, +22-1/2; inches at top and 54-1/2; inches at butt, at Index, Wash." /></div> + +<h4>An all-I. W. W. crew raising a spar tree 160 ft. long, +22½<br />inches at top and 54½ inches at butt, at Index, Wash.</h4> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i014.jpg" width='700' height='481' alt="Another view of the same operation." /></div> + +<h4>Another view of the same operation.</h4> + +<p>"Battleship we did! Such a din had never before been heard in Everett. +Strong hands and shoulders were placed to the doors which gave up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> their +hold on the locks as if they had been made of pasteboard, and we emerged +into the recreation corridors. The lumber trust papers of Everett, which +thought the events of November 5th and the murder of five workers but a +picnic, next day reported that we had wrecked the jail and attempted to +escape. We did do a little wrecking, but as far as trying to escape is +concerned that is a huge joke. The jail has not been built that can hold +seventy-four I. W. W. members if they want to escape. We had but decided +to forcibly bring the jail conditions to the attention of the +authorities and the citizens. We were not willing to die of hunger and +thirst. We told Sheriff McCullogh we were not attempting to escape; he +knew we were not. Yet the papers came out with an alleged interview in +which the sheriff was made to say that we were. It was also said that +tomato skins had been thrown against the walls of the jail. There were none to throw!</p> + +<p>"Summing up this matter: we are here, and here we are determined to +remain until we are freed. Not a man in this jail would accept his +liberty if the doors were opened. This is proven by the fact that one +man voluntarily came to the jail here and gave himself up, while still +another was allowed his liberty but sent for the Everett authorities to +come and get him while he was in Seattle. This last man was taken out of +jail illegally while still under the charge of first degree murder, but +he preferred to stand trial rather than to be made a party to schemes of +framing up to perjure away the liberties of his fellow workers.</p> + +<p>"Signed by the workers in the Snohomish County Jail."</p> + +<p>If the authorities hoped to save money by their niggardly feeding policy +the battleship of January 19th, mentioned in the foregoing account, +convinced them of their error. With blankets tied to the cell doors they +first tore them open and then twisted them out of shape. Taking a small +piece of gaspipe they disarranged the little doors that controlled the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> +locking system above each cell, and then demolished the entire system of +locks. Every bolt, screw and split pin was taken out and made useless. +While some were thus engaged others were busy getting the food supplies +which were stacked up in a corner just outside the tanks. When Sheriff +McCullogh finally arrived at the jail, some three hours later, he found +the prisoners calmly seated amid the wreckage eating some three hundred +pounds of corned beef they had obtained and cooked with live steam in +one of the bath tubs. Shaking his head sadly the sheriff remarked, "You +fellows don't go to the same church that I do." The deputy force worked +for hours in cleaning up the jail, and it took a gang of ironworkers +nine working days, at a cost of over $800.00, to repair the damage done +in twenty minutes. Twenty of the "hard-boiled Wobblies" were removed to +Seattle shortly after this, but it was no trouble for the men to gain +their demands from that time on. They had but to whisper the magic word +"battleship" to remind the jailers that the I. W. W. policy, as +expressed in a line in Virgil, was about to be invoked:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>"If I cannot bend the powers above,</div> +<div class="i1">I will rouse Hell."</div> +</div></div> + +<p>Lloyd Black, prosecuting attorney only by a political accident, soon +dropped his ideals and filled the position of prosecutor as well as his +limited abilities allowed, and it was apparent that he felt the hands of +the lumber trust tugging on the strings attached to his job and that he +had succumbed to the insidious influence of his associates. He called +various prisoners from their cells and by pleading, cajoling and +threatening in turn, tried to induce them to make statements injurious +to their case.</p> + +<p>Fraudulently using the name of John M. Foss, a former member of the +General Executive Board of the I. W. W. and then actively engaged in +working for the defense, Black called out Axel Downey, a boy of +seventeen and the youngest of the free speech prisoners, and used all +the resources of his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>department to get the lad to make a statement. +Downey refused to talk to any of the prosecution lawyers or detectives +and demanded that he be returned to his cell. From that time on he +refused to answer any calls from the office unless the jail committee +was present. Nevertheless the name of Axel Downey was endorsed, with +several others, as a witness for the prosecution in order to create +distrust and suspicion among the prisoners.</p> + +<p>About this time the efforts of Detective McLaren and his associates were +successful in "influencing" one of the prisoners, and Charles Auspos, +alias Charles Austin, agreed to become a state's witness. Contrary to +the expectation of the prosecution, the announcement of this +"confession" created no sensation and was not taken seriously on the +outside, while the prisoners, knowing there was nothing to confess, were +concerned only in the fact that there had been a break in their +solidarity. "We wanted to come out of this case one hundred per cent +clean," was the sorrowful way in which they took the news.</p> + +<p>Auspos had joined the I. W. W. in Rugby, North Dakota, on August 10th, +1916, and whether he was at that time an agent for the employers is not +known, but it is evident that he was not sufficiently interested in +industrial unionism to study its rudimentary principles. It may be that +the previous record of Auspos had given an opportunity for McLaren to +work upon that weak character, for Auspos started his boyhood life in +Hudson, Wisconsin, with a term in the reformatory, and his checkered +career included two years in a military guard house for carrying +side-arms and fighting in a gambling den, a dishonorable discharge from +the United States Army, under the assumed name of Ed. Gibson, and +various arrests up until he joined the I. W. W.</p> + +<p>This Auspos was about 33 years of age, five foot eleven inches tall, +weight about 175 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes, medium complexion but +face inclined to be reddish, slight scar on side of face, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> was a +teamster and general laborer by occupation, his parents living in Elk River, Minn.</p> + +<p>And while Auspos had by his actions descended to the lowest depths of +shame, there were those among the prisoners who had scaled the heights +of self-sacrifice. There were some few among them whose record would +look none too well in the light of day, but the spirit of class +solidarity within them led them to say, "Do with me as you will, I shall +never betray the working class." James Whiteford, arrested under the +name of James Kelly, deserves the highest praise that can be given for +he was taken back to Pennsylvania, which state he had left in violation +of a parole; to serve out a long penitentiary sentence which he could +have avoided by a few easily told lies implicating his fellow workers in +a conspiracy to do murder on November 5th.</p> + +<p>Shortly after the attempted "frame-up" with Axel Downey there was a +strong effort made to bring pressure upon Harvey Hubler. A "lawyer" who +called himself Minor Blythe, bearing letters obtained by +misrepresentation from Hubler's father and sister, attempted to get +Hubler from his cell on an order signed by Malcolm McLaren, the +detective. With the experience of Downey fresh in mind, Hubler refused +to go out of the tank, even tho the "lawyer" stated that he had been +sent by Hubler's father and could surely get him out of jail.</p> + +<p>The next day twelve armed deputies came into the jail to force Hubler to +accompany them to the office. The prisoners as a whole refused to enter +their cells, and armed themselves with such rude weapons as they could +find in order to repulse the deputies. The concerted resistance had its +effect and a committee of three, Feinberg, Peters and Watson, +accompanied Hubler to the office. Hubler there refused to read the +letter, asking that it be read aloud in the presence of the other men. +The detectives refused to do this and the men were put back in the tank.</p> + +<p>That afternoon, with two other prisoners, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>Hubler went out of the tank +to wash his clothes. The jailers had been awaiting this opportunity and +immediately locked the men out. The gunmen then overpowered Hubler and +dragged him struggling to the office. The letter was then read to +Hubler, who made no comment further than to say that the I. W. W. had +engaged attorneys to defend him and he wished to be taken back where the +rest of the men were.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the men in the tanks had started another battleship. A hose +had been installed in the jail since the previous battleship and the +deputies turned this upon the men as soon as the protest started. The +prisoners retaliated by taking all mattresses, blankets, clothing and +supplies belonging to the county and throwing them where they would be +ruined by the water, and not knowing what was happening to Hubler they +shouted "Murder" at the top of their voices. While the trouble was going +on several members of the I. W. W., many Everett citizens, and one +attorney tried to gain admittance to the jail office to learn the cause +of the disturbance, but this was denied for more than an hour. Hubler +was finally brought back and the battleship ceased. The county had to +furnish new bedding and clothing for the prisoners.</p> + +<p>After this occurrence the prisoners were allowed the run of the +corridors and were often let out to play ball upon the jail lawn, with +only two guards to watch them. There were no disorders in the jail from that time on.</p> + +<p>A committee of Everett women asked permission to serve a dinner to the +imprisoned men and when this was granted they fairly outdid themselves +in fixing up what the boys termed a "swell feed." This was served to the +men thru the bars but tasted none the less good on that account.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i034.jpg" width='521' height='700' alt="Judge J. T. Ronald" /></div> + +<h4>Judge J. T. Ronald</h4> + +<p>The Seattle women, not to be outdone, gave a banquet to the prisoners +who had been transported to the Seattle county jail. The banquet was +spread on tables set the full length of the jail corridor, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> the menu +ran from soup to nuts. An after dinner cigar, and a little boutonniere +of fragrant flowers furnished by a gray-haired old lady, completed the program.</p> + +<p>These banquets and the jail visitors, together with numerous books, +magazines and papers—and a phonograph that was in almost constant +operation—made the latter part of the long jail days endurable.</p> + +<p>The defense was making strong efforts, during this time, to secure some +judge other than Bell or Alston, the two superior court judges of +Snohomish County, finally winning a victory in forcing the appointment +of an outside judge by the governor of the state.</p> + +<p>Judge J. T. Ronald, of King County, was selected by Governor Lister, and +after the men had pleaded "Not Guilty" on January 26th, a change of +venue on account of the prejudice existing in Everett's official circles +was asked and granted, Seattle being selected as the place where the +trial would take place.</p> + +<p>Eleven of the prisoners were named on the first information, the men +thus arraigned being F. O. Watson, John Black, Frank Stuart, Charles +Adams, Harston Peters, Thomas H. Tracy, Harry Feinberg, John Downs, +Harold Miller, Ed Roth and Thomas Tracy. The title of the case was +"State vs. F. O. Watson et al.," but the first man to come to trial was +Thomas H. Tracy. The date of the trial was set for March 5th.</p> + +<p>On November 5th, when he was taken from the Verona to jail, Thomas H. +Tracy gave his name at the booking window as George Martin, in order to +spare the feelings of relatives to whom the news of his arrest would +have proven a severe shock. When the officers were checking the names +later he was surprised to hear them call out "Tracy, Thomas Tracy." +Thinking that his identity was known because of his having been +secretary in Everett for a time, he stepped forward. An instant later a +little fellow half his size also marched to the front. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> were two +Tom Tracys among the arrested men! Neither of them knew the other! Tracy +then gave his correct name and both he and "Little Tom Tracy" were later +held among the seventy-four charged with murder in the first degree.</p> + +<p>During all the time the free speech fighters were awaiting trial the +lumber trust exerted its potent influence at the national capital to the +end of preventing any congressional investigation of the tragedy of +November 5th and the circumstances surrounding it. The petitions of +thousands of citizens of the state of Washington were ignored. All too +well the employers knew what a putrid state of affairs would be +uncovered were the lumber trust methods exposed to the pitiless light of +publicity. That the trial itself would force them into the open +evidently did not enter into their calculations.</p> + +<p>In changing the information charging the murder of C. O. Curtis to the +charge of murdering Jefferson Beard the prosecution thought to cover one +point beyond the possibility of discovery, which change seems to have +been made as a result of the exhuming of the body of C. O. Curtis in +February. Curtis had been buried in a block of solid concrete and this +had to be broken apart in order to remove the body. Just who performed +the autopsy cannot be ascertained as the work was covered in the very +comprehensive bill of $50.50 for "Exhuming the body of C. O. Curtis, and +autopsy thereon," this bill being made out in the name of the +superintendent of the graveyard and was allowed and paid by Snohomish +County. This, together with the fact that at no time during the trial +did the prosecution speak of C. O. Curtis as having met his death at the +hands of the men on the Verona, seems to bear out the contention of the +defense that Curtis was the victim of the rifle fire of one of his associates.</p> + +<p>So on March 5th, after holding the free speech prisoners for four months +to the day, the lumber trust, in the name of the State of Washington, +brought the first of them, Thomas H. Tracy, to trial, on a charge of +first degree murder, in the King County Court House at Seattle, Washington.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>THE PROSECUTION</h3> + +<p>The King County Court House is an imposing, five story, white structure, +covering an entire block in the business section of the city of Seattle. +Its offices for the conduct of the county and city business are spacious +and well appointed. Its corridors are ample, and marble. The elevator +service is of the best. But the courtrooms are stuffy little dens, illy +ventilated, awkwardly placed, and with the poorest of acoustics. They +seem especially designed to add to the depressing effect that invariably +attends the administration of "law and order." The court of Judge +Ronald, like many other courts in the land, is admirably designed for +the bungling inefficiencies of "justice." Yet it was in this theater, +thru the medium of the Everett trial, that the class struggle was +reproduced, sometimes in tragedy and sometimes in comedy.</p> + +<p>To reach the greatest trial in the history of labor unionism, perhaps +the greatest also in the number of defendants involved and the number of +witnesses called, one had to ascend to the fourth floor of the court +house and line up in the corridor under the watchful eyes of the I. W. +W. "police," C. R. Griffin and J. J. Keenan, appointed by the +organization at the request of the court. There, unless one were a +lawyer or a newspaper representative, it was necessary to wait in line +for hours until the tiny courtroom was opened and the lucky hundred odd +persons were admitted to the church-like benches of J. T. Ronald's +sanctum, where the case of State versus Tracy was on trial.</p> + +<p>Directly in front of the benches, at the specially constructed press +table, were seats provided for the representatives of daily, weekly and +monthly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>publications whose policies ranged from the ultra conservative +to the extreme radical. Here the various reporters were seen writing +madly as some important point came up, then subsiding into temporary +indifference, passing notes, joking in whispers, drawing personal +cartoons of the judge, jury, counsel, court functionaries and +out-of-the-ordinary spectators,—the only officially recognized persons +in the courtroom showing no signs of reverence for the legal priesthood +and their mystic sacerdotalism.</p> + +<p>Just ahead of the press table were the attorneys for the prosecution: +Lloyd Black, a commonplace, uninspired, beardless youth as chief +prosecutor; H. D. Cooley, a sleek, pusillanimous recipient of favors +from the lumber barons, a fixture at the Commercial Club, and an +also-ran deputy at the dock on November 5th, as next counsel in line; +and A. L. Veitch, handsome in a gross sort of a way, full faced, sensual +lipped, with heavy pouches beneath the eyes, a self-satisfied favorite +of the M. & M., and withal the most able of the three who by virtue of +polite fiction represented the state of Washington. From time to time in +whispered conference with these worthy gentlemen was a tall, lean, grey, +furtive-eyed individual who was none other than the redoubtable +Californian detective, Malcolm McLaren.</p> + +<p>At right angles to this array of prosecutors the counsel for the defense +were seated, where they remained until the positions were reversed at +the close of the prosecution's case. Chief counsel Fred H. Moore, +serious, yet with a winning smile occasionally chasing itself across his +face and adding many humorous wrinkles to the tired-looking crow-feet at +the corners of his eyes; next to him George F. Vanderveer, a strong +personality whose lightning flashes of wit and sarcasm, marshalled to +the aid of a merciless drive of questions, were augmented by a smile +second only to Moore's in its captivating quality; then E. C. Dailey, +invaluable because of his knowledge of local conditions in Everett and +personages connected with the case; and by his side, at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> times during +the trial, was H. Sigmund, special counsel for Harry Feinberg.</p> + +<p>Seated a little back, but in the same group, was a man of medium height, +stocky built, slightly ruddy complexion, black hair, and twinkling blue +eyes. He was to all appearances the most composed man in the courtroom. +A slight smile crept over his face, at times almost broadened into a +laugh, and then died away. This was Thomas H. Tracy, on trial for murder +in the first degree.</p> + +<p>To the rear of the defendant and forming a deep contrast to the +determined, square-jawed prisoner was the guard, a lean, hungry-looking +deputy with high cheek bones, unusually sharp and long nose and a pair +of moustachios that drooped down upon his chest, a wholly useless and +most uncomfortable functionary who could scarce seat himself because of +the heavy artillery scattered over his anatomy.</p> + +<p>The court clerk, an absurdly dignified court bailiff, a special +stenographer, and Sheriff McCullogh of Snohomish county, occupied the +intervening space to the pulpit from which Judge J. T. Ronald delivered +his legal invocations.</p> + +<p>The judge, a striking figure, over six feet in height and well +proportioned, of rather friendly countenance and bearing in street +dress, resembled nothing so much as a huge black owl when arrayed in his +sacred "Mother Hubbard" gown, with tortoise-shell rimmed smoked glasses +resting on his slightly aquiline nose and surmounting the heavy, closely +trimmed, dark Vandyke beard.</p> + +<p>To the right of the judge as he faced the audience was the witness +chair, and across the whole of the corner of the room was a plat of the +Everett City Dock and the adjacent waterfront, together with a smaller +map showing part of the streets of the city. The plat was state's +exhibit "A." Below these maps on a tilted platform was a model of the +same dock, with the two warehouses, waiting room, Klatawa Slip, and the +steamer Verona, all built to scale. This was defendant's exhibit "1."</p> + +<p>Extending from these exhibits down the side of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> the railed enclosure, +were seats for two extra jurors. The filling of this jury box from a +long list of talesmen was the preliminary move to a trial in which the +defendant was barely mentioned, and which involved the question of +Labor's right to organize, to assemble peaceably, to speak freely, and +to advocate a change in existing social arrangements. Capital was lined +up in a fight against Labor. There was a direct reflection in the courts +of the masters of the age-long, world-wide class struggle.</p> + +<p>The examination of talesmen occupied considerable time. Each individual +was asked whether he had read any of the following papers: The +Industrial Worker, The Socialist World, or the Pacific Coast +Longshoreman. The prosecution also inquired as to the prospective +juror's familiarity with the I. W. W. Song Book and the various works on +Sabotage. Union affiliations were closely inquired into, and favorable +mention of the right to organize brought a challenge from the state. The +testing of the talesmen was no less severe on the part of the defense.</p> + +<p>Fifty-one talesmen were disqualified, after long and severe legal +battles, before a jury was finally secured from among the voters and +property owners who alone were qualified to serve. The jury, as +selected, was rather more intelligent than was to be expected when +consideration is taken of the fact that any person who acknowledged +having an impression, an opinion, or a conclusion regarding the merits +of the case was automatically excused from service. Those who were +chosen to sit on the case were:</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mattie Fordran, wife of a steamfitter; Robert Harris, a rancher; +Fred Corbs, bricklayer, once a member of the union, then working for +himself; Mrs. Louise Raynor, wife of a master mariner; A. Peplan, +farmer; Mrs. Clara Uhlman, wife of a harnessmaker in business for +himself; Mrs. Alice Freeborn, widow of a druggist; F. M. Christian, tent +and awning maker; Mrs. Sarah F. Brown, widow, working class family; +James R. Williams, machinist's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> helper, member of union; Mrs. Sarah J. +Timmer, wife of a union lineman, and T. J. Byrne, contractor. The two +alternate jurors, provided for under the "Extra Juror" law of +Washington, passed just prior to this trial, were: J. W. Efaw, furniture +manufacturer, president of Seattle Library Board and Henry B. Williams, +carpenter and member of a union.</p> + +<p>Judge Ronald realized the importance of the case as was shown in his +admonition to the jury, a portion of which follows:</p> + +<p>"It is plain, from both sides here, that we are making history. Let us +see that the record that we make in this case,—you and I, as a +court,—be a landmark based upon nothing in the world but the truth. We +may deceive some people and we may, a little, deceive ourselves; but we +cannot deceive eternal truth."</p> + +<p>On the morning of March 9th Judge Ronald, the tail of his black gown +firmly in hand, swept into the courtroom from his private chambers, the +assembled congregation arose and stood in deep obeisance before His +Majesty The Law, the pompous bailiff rapped for order and delivered an +incantation, the Judge seated himself on the throne of "Justice," the +assemblage subsided into their seats—and the trial was opened in +earnest. Prosecuting Attorney Lloyd Black then gave his opening +statement, the gist of which is contained in the following quotations:</p> + +<p>"You are at the outset of a murder trial, murder in the first degree. +The defendant, Thomas H. Tracy, alias George Martin, is charged with +murder in the first degree, in having assisted, counselled, aided, +abetted and encouraged some unknown person to kill Jefferson Beard on +the 5th of November, 1916.</p> + +<p>"* * * As far as the state is concerned, no one knows or can know or +could follow the course of the particular bullet that struck and +mortally wounded and killed Jefferson Beard.</p> + +<p>"* * * The evidence further will show that the first, or one of the +first, shots fired was from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> the steamer Verona and was from a revolver +held in the hand of Thomas H. Tracy.</p> + +<p>"* * * As to the killing of Jefferson Beard itself the probabilities +are, as the evidence of the state will indicate, that he was killed by +someone on the hurricane deck of the Verona because the evidence will +show that the revolver shots went thru his overcoat, missing his coat, +and thru his vest, and had a downward course, so that it must have come +from the upper deck. The evidence will show that Thomas H. Tracy was on +the main deck firing thru an open cabin window.</p> + +<p>"* * * Of the approximately 140 special and regular deputies of +Snohomish County about one-half were armed, some with revolvers, some +with rifles and some with clubs.</p> + +<p>"* * * When the fusilade had come from the I. W. W.'s on the Verona, a +portion of the deputies ran thru a door into this warehouse, +(indicating): a portion of them went into that warehouse, and used some +of the knotholes there, and some shot holes thru which they could see, * * *"</p> + +<p>Black then gave a recital of the lumber trust version of the events +leading up to November 5th, bringing in the threats of an alleged +committee who were said to have declared "that they would call thousands +of their members to the city of Everett, flood the jails, demand +separate trials, and tie up and overwhelm the court machinery, and that +the mayor should consider that they had beaten Spokane and killed its +chief, killed Chief Sullivan of that city, that they had defeated +Wenatchee and North Yakima, and now it was Everett's turn."</p> + +<p>"* * * That in furtherance of their threats that they would burn the +city of Everett, that a number of mysterious fires took place, fires +connected with some person who was opposed to the I. W. W. * * * And in +addition, the I. W. W. members were arrested at different times +preceding this trouble on the 5th of November and phosphorus was found +upon their person either in cans or wrapped up.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p><p>"* * * At different times, the evidence will show, Sheriff Donald McRae +and other peace officers of the city of Everett, including Mayor +Merrill, received anonymous letters, and also received direct statements +from the I. W. W. that they would get them; and, as one speaker put it, +he says 'Sheriff McRae will wake up some day and say '"Good morning, Jesus!"'</p> + +<p>Black continued his recital of events, admitting the "Wanderer" +incident, but he tried to sidestep the criminal actions at Beverly Park.</p> + +<p>"Now, there happened at Beverly Park an incident that the State in this +action doesn't feel that it has anything to do with this particular cause."</p> + +<p>Ironical laughter at this juncture caused the removal of several +spectators from the courtroom. So disconcerted was Black that he +proceeded to give away the real cause of action against the I. W. W.</p> + +<p>"The I. W. W. organization itself is an unlawful conspiracy, an unlawful +conspiracy in that it was designed for the purpose of effecting an +absolute revolution in society and in government, effecting it not by +the procedure of law thru the ballot, but for effecting it by direct +action. The I. W. W. meant to accomplish the change in society, not by +organization as the labor unions hope to get higher wages, not to get +into effect their theory of society by the ballot, as the Socialists +hope, but that they expressly state that the election of a Socialist +president will accomplish no good, and that sabotage should be employed +against government ownership as well as against private production, so +that directly they might put into effect their theories of government and society."</p> + +<p>The defense reserved the right to make their opening statement at the +close of the prosecution's case, thus leaving the state in the dark as +to the line of defense, and forcing them to open their case at once.</p> + +<p>Lester L. Beard and Chester L. Beard, twin sons of the deceased deputy +sheriff, testified as to the condition of their father's clothing, +Attorney <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>Vanderveer drawing from Lester Beard the admission that his +father was an employment agent in Seattle in 1914.</p> + +<p>Following them, Drs. William O'Keef Cox, H. P. Howard, and William P. +West testified to having performed an autopsy on Beard and described the +course of the bullet upon entering the body. Dr. West was an armed guard +at the land end of the City Dock on November 5th, Dr. Cox was also on +the dock as a deputy, and Dr. Howard carried a membership in the +Commercial Club. They were the physicians present when the autopsy was performed.</p> + +<p>The next witness, Harry W. Shaw, a wood and coal dealer of Everett, +admitted having joined the citizen deputies because of a call issued by +the sheriff thru the Commercial Club. Shaw went to the dock on November +5th, carrying, as he claimed, a revolver with a broken firing pin which +he had hoped to have repaired on that Sunday on the way to the dock. He +was close to Beard when the latter fell and helped to carry him from the +open space on the dock into the warehouse. He afterward accompanied +Beard to the hospital in an automobile and returned to the dock with +Beard's unfired revolver in his possession. He swore that he had seen +McRae sober three times in succession! When asked by Attorney Moore he +gave an affirmative answer to this pertinent question:</p> + +<p>"You knew that the matter of the enforcement of the city ordinances of +Everett was peculiarly within the powers of the police department of the city, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>Owen Clay was then called to the stand. Clay had been made bookkeeper of +the Weyerhouser Mill about a year and a half before this, and had been +given a membership in the Commercial Club at the time. He was injured in +the right arm in the trouble at the dock and then ran around the corner +of the ticket office, after which he emptied his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>revolver with his left +hand. Attorney Vanderveer questioned this witness as follows:</p> + +<p>"Who shot Jeff Beard in the right breast?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know."</p> + +<p>"Did you do it?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know."</p> + +<p>"Thank you! That's all," said Vanderveer with a smile.</p> + +<p>The next witness was C. A. Mitchell, employee of the Clark-Nickerson +Mill. He testified that he belonged to Company "B" under the command of +Carl Clapp. His testimony placed Sheriff McRae in the same position as +that given by the preceding witness, about eight to ten feet from the +face of the dock in the center of the open space between the two +warehouses, but unlike Clay, who testified that McRae had his left hand +in the air, he was positive that the sheriff had his right hand in the +air at the time the shooting started.</p> + +<p>W. R. Booth, engaged in real estate and insurance business, a member of +the Commercial Club, and a deputy at the dock, was next called. Attorney +Cooley asked this witness about the speech made at an unspecified street +meeting. Vanderveer immediately objected as follows:</p> + +<p>"We object to that as immaterial and calling for a conclusion of the +witness. He does not know who was speaking, nor whether he was +authorized to do it, or brought there by the Industrial Workers of the +World, or a hireling of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' society. It +has happened time and time again that people are employed by these +capitalists themselves to go out and make incendiary speeches and cause +trouble, and employed to go out and fire buildings and do anything to +put the opposition in wrong."</p> + +<p>When questioned about McRae's position on the dock, Booth stated that +the sheriff had both hands in the air. This witness admitted having been +a member of the "Flying Squadron" and being a participant in the outrage +at Beverly Park. He named others who went out with him in the same +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>automobile, Will Seivers and Harry Ramwell, and stated that A. P. +Bardson, clerk of the Commercial Club, was probably there as he had been +out on all the other occasions. He said that he would not participate in +the beating up of anyone, and that when the affair started he went up +the road for purposes of his own. He was asked by Vanderveer as to the +reason for continuing to associate with people who had abused the men at +Beverly Park, to which he replied:</p> + +<p>"Because I believe in at least trying to maintain law and order in our city."</p> + +<p>During the examination of this witness, and at various times thruout the +long case, it was only with evident effort that Attorney Vanderveer kept +on the unfamiliar ground of the class struggle, his natural tendencies +being to try the case as a defense of a pure and simple murder charge.</p> + +<p>W. P. Bell, an Everett attorney representing a number of scab mills, a +member of the Commercial Club and a deputy on the dock, testified next, +contradicting the previous witnesses but throwing no additional light +upon the case. He was followed by Charles Tucker, a scab and gunman +employed by the Hartley Shingle Company and a deputy on the dock. Tucker +lied so outrageously that even the prosecution counsel felt ashamed of +him. He was impeached by his own testimony.</p> + +<p>Editor J. A. MacDonald of the Industrial Worker was called to the stand +to show the official relation of the paper to the I. W. W. and to lay a +foundation for the introduction of a file of the issues prior to +November 5th. A portion of the file was introduced as evidence and at +the same time the state put in as exhibits a copy of the I. W. W. +Constitution and By-Laws, Sabotage by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Sabotage +by Walker C. Smith, The Revolutionary I. W. W. by Grover H. Perry, The +I. W. W., Its History, Structure and Methods by Vincent St. John, and +the Joe Hill Memorial Edition of the Song Book.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p><p>Herbert Mahler, former secretary of the Seattle I. W. W. and at the +time Secretary-Treasurer of the Everett Prisoners' Defense Committee, +was next upon the stand. He was asked to name various committees and to +identify certain telegrams. The unhesitatingly clear answers of both +MacDonald and Mahler were in vivid contrast to the mumbled and +contradictory responses of the deputies.</p> + +<p>William J. Smith, manager of the Western Union Telegraph Company was +then called to further corroborate certain telegrams sent and received by the I. W. W.</p> + +<p>As the next step in the case prosecutor Black read portions of the +pamphlet "Sabotage" by Smith, sometimes using half a paragraph and +skipping half, sometimes using one paragraph and omitting the next, +provoking a remonstrance from Attorney Vanderveer which was upheld by +the Court in these words:</p> + +<p>"You have a right to do what you are doing, Mr. Black, but it don't +appeal to my sense of fairness if other omissions are as bad as the one +you left out. You are following the practice, but I don't know of an +instance where there has been such an awful juggling about, and it is +discretionary with the Court, and I want to be fair in this case. I want +to let them have a chance to take the sting out of it so as to let the +jury have both sides, because it is there. Now, Mr. Vanderveer, I am +going to leave it to you not to impose upon the Court's discretion. Any +new phases I don't think you have the right to raise, but anything that +will modify what he has read I think you have the right to."</p> + +<p>Thereupon Vanderveer read all the omitted portions bearing upon the +case, bringing special emphasis on these two parts:</p> + +<p>"Note this important point, however. Sabotage does not seek nor desire +to take human life."</p> + +<p>"Sabotage places human life—and especially the life of the only useful +class—higher than all else in the universe."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p><p>With evidences of amusement, if not always approval, the jury then +listened to the reading of numerous I. W. W. songs by Attorney Cooley +for the prosecution, tho some of the jurymen shared in the bewilderment +of the audience as to the connection between the song "Overalls and +Snuff" and defendant Tracy charged with a conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree.</p> + +<p>D. D. Merrill, Mayor of Everett, next took the stand. He endeavored to +give the impression that the I. W. W. was responsible for a fire loss in +Everett of $100,000.00 during the latter part of the year 1916. +Vanderveer shot the question:</p> + +<p>"From whom would you naturally look for information on the subject of fires?"</p> + +<p>"From the Fire Chief, W. C. Carroll," replied the mayor;</p> + +<p>"We offer this report in evidence," said Vanderveer crisply.</p> + +<p>The report of the Fire Chief was admitted and read. It showed that there +were less fires in 1916 that in any previous year in the history of +Everett, and only four of incendiary origin in the entire list!</p> + +<p>The prosecution tried to squirm out of this ticklish position by stating +that they meant also the fires in the vicinity of Everett, but here also +they met with failure for the principal fire in the surrounding district +was in the co-operative mill, owned by a number of semi-radical +workingmen at Mukilteo.</p> + +<p>The mayor told of having been present at the arrest of several men taken +from a freight train at Lowell, just at the Everett city limits. Some of +these men were I. W. W.'s, and on the ground afterward there was said to +have been found some broken glass about which there was a smell of +phosphorus. The judge ruled out this evidence because there were other +than I. W. W. men present, no phosphorus was found on the men, and if +only one package were found it would not indicate a conspiracy but might +have been brought by an agent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> of the employers. This was the nearest +the prosecution came at any time in the trial in their attempt to +connect the I. W. W. with incendiary fires.</p> + +<p>A tense moment in this sensational trial came during the testimony of +Mayor Merrill, when young Louis Skaroff was suddenly produced in court +and the question flashed at the cringing witness:</p> + +<p>"Do you recognize this boy standing here? Do you recognize him, Louis Skaroff?"</p> + +<p>"I think I have seen him," mumbled the mayor.</p> + +<p>"Let me ask you if on the 6th day of November at about ten o'clock at +night in a room in the City Hall at Everett where there was a bed room +having an iron bedstead in it, in the presence of the jailer, didn't you +have an interview with this man?"</p> + +<p>Merrill denied having mutilated Skaroff's fingers beneath the casters of +the bed, but even the capitalist press reported that his livid face and +thick voice belied his words of denial.</p> + +<p>And Prosecutor Lloyd Black remarked heatedly, "I don't see the +materiality of all this."</p> + +<p>Merrill left the stand, having presented the sorriest figure among the +number of poor witnesses produced by the prosecution.</p> + +<p>Carl Clapp, superintendent of the Municipal Waterworks at Everett, and +commander of one of the squads of deputies, followed with testimony to +the effect that sixty rifles from the Naval Militia were stored in the +Commercial Club on November 5th. At this juncture the hearing of further +evidence was postponed for a half day to allow Attorney Vanderveer to +testify on behalf of Mayor H. C. Gill in a case then pending in the Federal Court.</p> + +<p>On several other occasions Vanderveer was called to testify in this case +and there were times when it was thought that he also would be indicted +and brought to trial, yet with this extra work and the threat of +imprisonment hanging over him, Vanderveer never flagged in his keen +attention to the work of the defense. It was commonly thought that the +case against Gill and the attempt to involve<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> Vanderveer were moves of +the lumber trust and Chamber of Commerce directed toward the I. W. W., +for in the background were the same interested parties who had been +forced to abandon the recall against Seattle's mayor. Gill's final +acquittal in this case was hailed as an I. W. W. victory.</p> + +<p>Upon the resumption of the trial the prosecution temporarily withdrew +Clapp and placed Clyde Gibbons on the stand. This witness was the son of +James Gibbons, a deceased member of the I. W. W., well and favorable +known in the Northwest. James Gibbons was killed by a speeding +automobile about a year prior to the trial, and his widow and son, +Clyde, were supported by the I. W. W. and the Boiler Makers' Union for +several months thereafter.</p> + +<p>Clyde Gibbons, altho but seventeen years old, joined the Navy by +falsifying his age. Charity demands that the veil be drawn over the +early days of Clyde's training, yet his strong imagination and general +untruthfulness are matters of record. He was shown in court to have +stolen funds left in trust with him by Mrs. Peters, one of the persons +against whom his testimony was directed. It is quite probable that the +deceit about his age, or some other of his queer actions, were +discovered and used to force him to testify as the prosecution desired. +The following testimony bears out this idea:</p> + +<p>"Who was it that you met at the Naval Recruiting Station and took you to McLaren?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know his name."</p> + +<p>"Well, how did you get to talking to this total stranger about the Everett matter?"</p> + +<p>"He told me he wanted to see me in the judge's office."</p> + +<p>"And they took you down to the judge's office, did they?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"And when you got to the judge's office you found you were in Mr. +McLaren's and Mr. Veitch's and Mr. Black's office in the Smith Building?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p><p>Gibbons testified as to certain alleged conversations in an apartment +house frequented by members of the I. W. W., stating that a party of +members laid plans to go to Everett and to take with them red pepper, +olive oil and bandages. Harston Peters, one of the defendants, had a gun +that wouldn't shoot and so went unarmed, according to this witness. +Gibbons also stated that Mrs. Frenette took part in the conversation in +this apartment house on the morning of the tragedy, whereupon Attorney Moore asked him:</p> + +<p>"On directing your attention to it, don't you remember that you didn't +see Mrs. Frenette at all in Seattle, anywhere, at any time subsequent to +Saturday night; that she went to Everett on Saturday night?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I am quite sure I saw her Sunday, but maybe I am mistaken."</p> + +<p>The judge upheld the defense attorneys in their numerous objections to +the leading questions propounded by prosecutor Black during the +examination of this witness.</p> + +<p>Clapp was recalled to the stand and testified further that Scott Rainey, +head of the U. S. Naval Militia at Everett, had ordered Ensign McLean to +take rifles to the dock, and that the witness and McLean had loaded the +guns, placed them in an auto and taken them to the dock, where they were +distributed to the deputies just as the Verona started to steam away.</p> + +<p>Ignorance as to the meaning of simple labor terms that are in the +every-day vocabulary of the "blanketstiff" was shown by Clapp in his +answers to these queries:</p> + +<p>"What is direct action?"</p> + +<p>"Using force instead of lawful means."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Well, either physical force, or conspiracy."</p> + +<p>"You understand conspiracy to be some kind of force, do you?"</p> + +<p>"It may be force."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p><p>When asked where he had obtained information about sabotage, this +witness said that he had looked up the word in Webster's Unabridged +Dictionary, a work in which the term is strangely absent.</p> + +<p>Clapp was the first witness to admit the armed character of the deputy +body and also to state that deputies with guns were stationed on all of Everett's docks.</p> + +<p>After excusing this witness, Cooley brought in copies of two city +ordinances covering street speaking in Everett. One of them which +allowed the holding of meetings at the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore +Avenues was admitted without question, but the other which purported to +have been passed on September 19, 1916, was objected to on the ground +that it had not been passed, was never put upon passage and never moved +for passage in the Everett City Council.</p> + +<p>Richard Brennan, chauffeur of the patrol wagon, A. H. Briggs, city dog +catcher, and Floyd Wildey, police officer, all of Everett, then +testified regarding the arrest of I. W. W. members during August and +September. Wildey stated that on the night of August 30 four or five +members of the I. W. W. came away from their street meeting carrying +sections of gaspipe in their hands. This was thought to be quite a blow +against the peaceful character of the meeting until it was discovered on +cross-examination that the weapons were the removable legs of the street speaking platform.</p> + +<p>David Daniels, Arthur S. Johnson, Garland Queen, J. R. Steik, M. J. Fox +and, later on, Earl Shaver, all of whom were police officers in Everett, +gave testimony along somewhat the same lines as the other witnesses from +Everett who owed their jobs to the lumber trust. They stated that the I. +W. W. men deported on August 23rd, had made threats against McRae and +several police officers.</p> + +<p>Ed. M. Hawes, proprietor of a scab printing and stationery company, +member of the Commercial Club and citizen deputy, gave testimony +similar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> to that of other vigilantes as to the trouble on November 5th. +When asked if he had ever known any I. W. W. men offering resistance, +Hawes replied that one had tried to start a fight with him at Beverly +Park. Having thus established his connection with this infamous outrage, +further questioning of this witness developed much of the story of the +brutal gauntlet and deportation. Hawes told of one of his prisoners +making an endeavor to escape, and when asked whether he blamed the man +for trying to get away, answered that he thought the prisoner was a pretty big baby.</p> + +<p>"You thought he was a pretty big baby?" queried Vanderveer.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"Or do you think the men were pretty big babies and cowards who were +doing the beating?"</p> + +<p>The witness had no answer to this question.</p> + +<p>"How much do you weigh?" demanded Vanderveer sharply.</p> + +<p>"I weigh 260 pounds," replied Hawes.</p> + +<p>Frank Goff and Henry Krieg, two young lads who were severely beaten at +Beverly Park, were suddenly produced in court and the big bully was made +to stand alongside of them. He outweighed the two of them. It was +plainly evident who the pretty big baby was!</p> + +<p>Howard Hathaway, law student and assistant to the state secretary of the +Democratic Central Committee, was forced to admit his connection with +the raid upon the launch "Wanderer" and also upon the men peacefully +camping at Maltby. His testimony was mainly for the purpose of making it +appear that James P. Thompson had advocated that the shingle weavers set +fire to the mills and win their strikes by methods of terrorism.</p> + +<p>Two newspaper reporters, William E. Jones of the Seattle +Post-Intelligencer, and J. J. Underwood of the Seattle Times, were +placed upon the stand in order to lay the foundation for an introduction +of an article appearing in the P-I on Sunday morning,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> November 5th. +Jones testified that he was present at the Seattle police station when +Philip K. Ahern, manager of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, requested +the release of Smith and Reese, two of his operatives who had been on +the Verona. Underwood stated that upon hearing of the treatment given +the I. W. W. men at Beverly Park he had exclaimed, "I would like to see +anybody do that to me and get away with it."</p> + +<p>"You meant that, did you?" asked Vanderveer.</p> + +<p>"You bet I meant it!" asserted the witness positively.</p> + +<p>The two reporters proved to be better witnesses for the defense than for the prosecution.</p> + +<p>Sanford Asbury, T. N. Henry, Ronald Johnson, John S. Donlan, and J. E. +Gleason, then testified regarding the movements of the men who left +Seattle on the Verona and Calista on the morning of November 5th. They +uniformly agreed that the crowd was in no way disorderly, nor were their +actions at all suspicious. The defense admitted that the Verona had been +chartered but stated that there were passengers other than I. W. W. members on board.</p> + +<p>The first witness from the Verona was Ernest Shellgren, the boat's +engineer, who testified that he was in the engine pit when the boat +landed and heard crackling sounds telegraphed down the smoke stack that +he knew an instant later were bullets. He was struck by a spent bullet +and ran to various places on the boat seeking shelter from the hail of +lead that appeared to come from all directions, finally returning to the +boiler as the safest place on the boat. He stated that he saw one man +firing a blue steel revolver from the boat, only the hand and revolver +being in his line of vision. The only other gun he saw was one in the +hands of the man who asked him to back the boat away from the dock +during the firing. He also stated that the I. W. W. men on the way over +to Everett comported themselves as was usual with any body of passengers.</p> + +<p>Shellgren was asked if he could identify John<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> Downs or Thomas H. Tracy +as being connected with the firing in any way and he stated that he +could not do so. The defense objected to the use of Downs' picture, as +it did on every occasion where a picture of one of the prisoners was +used, on the grounds that the photographs were obtained by force and in +defiance of the constitutional rights of the imprisoned free speech fighters.</p> + +<p>Seattle police detectives, Theodore Montgomery and James O'Brien, who +made a search of the Verona upon its return to Seattle, testified to +having found a little loose red pepper, two stones the size of a goose +egg tied up in a cloth, and a few empty cartridges. These two witnesses +also developed the fact that in no case were regular bandages used on +the wounded men, thus establishing the fact that no serious trouble was anticipated.</p> + +<p>James Meagher, occupation "home owner," member of the Commercial Club +and citizen deputy, testified that a hundred shots were fired from the +Verona before a gun was pulled on the dock, one of the first shots +striking him in the leg. This witness was asked:</p> + +<p>"Did you see a single gun on the boat?"</p> + +<p>"No sir," was his mumbled response.</p> + +<p>The prosecution witnesses disagreed as to the number of lines of +deputies stretched across the back and sides of the open space on the +dock, the statements varying from one to four files.</p> + +<p>Chad Ballard, Harry Gray, and J. D. Landis, of the Seattle police +detective bureau, and J. G. McConnell, Everett Interurban conductor, +testified to the return and arrest of Mrs. Frenette, Mrs. Mahler and +Mrs. Peters, after the trouble on November 5th. The police officers also +told of a further searching of the Verona on its return. The defense +admitted that some of the members had red pepper in their possession and +stated that they would ask the judge to instruct the jury that red +pepper is a weapon of defense and not of offense and that murder cannot +be committed with red pepper.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p><p>Elmer Buehrer, engineer at the Everett High School, and citizen deputy, +gave testimony that was halting, confused and relatively unimportant. He +was prompted by the prosecution to such an extent that Attorney +Vanderveer at the close of one question said, "Look at me and not at counsel."</p> + +<p>"Look where you please," cried Cooley angrily.</p> + +<p>"Well, look where you please," rejoined Vanderveer. "He can't help you."</p> + +<p>It was apparent that the only reason for putting on this witness and +former witness Meagher was because of a desire to create sympathy thru +the fact that they had been wounded on the dock.</p> + +<p>Edward Armstrong, master mariner on the Verona, testified that he had +thrown out the spring line and lifted out the gate when the firing +started. He fell to the deck behind a little jog, against the bulkhead, +and while in that position two bullets went thru his cap. Altho this +witness stated that he judged from the sound that the first shot came +from some place to the rear of him, his testimony as to the attitude of +McRae was as follows:</p> + +<p>"I seen him with his right hand hanging on the butt of the gun."</p> + +<p>"And that was before there was any shooting?"</p> + +<p>"Yes sir."</p> + +<p>As to the condition of the boat after the trouble he gave an affirmative +answer to the question:</p> + +<p>"You know that the whole front of the pilot house and the whole front of +this bulkhead front of the forward deck leading to the hurricane deck is +full of B. B. shot, don't you?"</p> + +<p>James Broadbent, manager of the Clark-Nickerson Mill, and a citizen +deputy, followed Armstrong with some unimportant testimony.</p> + +<p>L. S. Davis, steward on the Verona, also stated that McRae committed the +first overt act in taking hold of his gun. He was asked:</p> + +<p>"He had his hand on his gun while he was still facing you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes sir. I could see it plainly," answered Davis.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i015.jpg" width='484' height='700' alt="Pilot house of the Verona riddled with rifle bullets at Everett" /></div> + +<h4>Pilot house of the "Verona" riddled with rifle bullets at <span class="smcap">Everett</span></h4> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That was before he started to turn, before he was hit?"</p> + +<p>"Yes sir."</p> + +<p>Davis was wounded in the arm as he was on the pilot house steps.</p> + +<p>He was asked about the general disposition, manner and appearance of the +men on the Verona on the way over to Everett, and answered:</p> + +<p>"I thought they were pretty nicely behaved for men—for such a crowd as that."</p> + +<p>"Any rough talk; any rough, ugly looks?"</p> + +<p>"No sir."</p> + +<p>"Any guns?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Any threats?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't hear any threats."</p> + +<p>"Jolly, good-natured bunch of boys?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Lots of young boys among them, weren't there?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, quite a few."</p> + +<p>Davis stated that three passengers got off at Edmunds on the way up to +Everett, thus establishing the fact that there were other than I. W. W. men on board.</p> + +<p>R. S. "Scott" Rainey, commercial manager of the Puget Sound Telephone +Company and a citizen deputy, was called and examined at some length +before it was discovered that he was not an endorsed witness. This was +the second time that the prosecution had turned this trick. Vanderveer +objected, stating that there would be two hundred endorsed witnesses who +would not be used.</p> + +<p>"Oh no!" returned Mr. Veitch.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Vanderveer, "a hundred then. A hundred we dare you to produce!"</p> + +<p>"We will take that dare," responded Veitch. But the prosecution failed +to keep their word, and deputy Dave Oswald of the Pacific Hardware +Company, who during the various deportations tried to have the I. W. W. +men stripped, covered with hot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> tar, rolled in feathers and ridden out +of town on a rail, and a number of his equally degenerate brother +outlaws were never produced in court.</p> + +<p>Rainey testified that he had seen a quantity of murderous looking +black-jacks in the Commercial Club for distribution to the deputies. He +also saw men fall overboard from the Verona and saw none of them +rescued. He thought there were twenty-five men with guns on the boat, +and he did his firing at the main deck.</p> + +<p>"And you didn't care whether you hit one of the twenty-five or one of +the other two hundred and twenty-five?" scornfully inquired Vanderveer.</p> + +<p>"No sir," said the miserable witness.</p> + +<p>The next witness called was William Kenneth, city dock wharfinger in the +employ of Captain Ramwell. This witness testified that there were +numerous holes in the warehouses that were smooth on the inside and +splintered on the outside, thus indicating that they were from shots +blindly fired thru the walls from within. On being recalled on the +Monday morning session of March 26th the witness said he wished to state +that he was unable to testify from which direction the holes in the +warehouses had been made. It appeared that he had discovered the bullet +marks to have been whittled with a penknife since he had last viewed them.</p> + +<p>Arthur Blair Gorrell, of Spokane, student at the State University, was +on the dock during the trouble and was wounded in the left shoulder +blade. He stated that he knew that McRae had his gun drawn before he was shot.</p> + +<p>Captain K. L. Forbes, of the scab tugboat Edison, next took the witness +chair. He didn't like the idea of calling his crew scabs for the +engineer carried a union card. When questioned about the actions of the +scab cook on the Edison, this witness would not state positively that +the man was not firing directly across the open space on the dock at the +Verona, and in line with Curtis and other deputies.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p><p>Thomas E. Headlee, ex-mayor of Everett, bookkeeper at the +Clark-Nickerson mill, and a citizen deputy, said he went whenever and +wherever he was called to go by the sheriff.</p> + +<p>"Then it's just like this," said Vanderveer, "when you pull the string, +up jumps Headlee?"</p> + +<p>This witness tried to blame all the fires in Everett onto the I. W. W. +and the absurdity of his testimony brought this question from the defense:</p> + +<p>"Just on general principles you blame it on the I. W. W.?"</p> + +<p>"Sure!" replied the witness, "I got their reputation over in Wenatchee +from my brother-in-law who runs a big orchard there."</p> + +<p>Lewis Connor, member of the Commercial Club, and his friend, Edwin +Stuchell, university student, both of whom were deputies on the dock on +November 5th, then testified, but developed nothing of importance. +Stuchell's father was part owner of the Eclipse mill and was said to +have been on the board of directors of the Commercial Club. These +witnesses were followed by Raymond E. Brown, owner of an Everett shoe +store, a weak-kneed witness who had been sworn in as a deputy by W. W. +Blain, secretary of the Commercial Club.</p> + +<p>One of the greatest sensations in this sensational trial was when former +sheriff Donald McRae took the stand on Tuesday, March 27th.</p> + +<p>McRae was sober!</p> + +<p>The sheriff was fifty years of age, of medium height, inclined to +stoutness, smooth-shaven, with swinish eyes set closely on either side +of a pink-tinted, hawk-like nose that curved just above a hard, cruel +and excessively large mouth. The sneering speech and contemptible manner +of this witness lent weight to the admissions of his brutality that had +been dragged from reluctant state's witnesses thru the clever and +cutting cross-examination conducted by Moore and Vanderveer.</p> + +<p>McRae told of his former union affiliations, having once been +International Secretary of the Shingle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> Weavers' Union, and on another +occasion the editor of their paper—but he admitted that he had never in +his life read a book on political economy.</p> + +<p>He detailed the story of the arrests, deportations and other similar +actions against the striking shingle weavers and the I. W. W. members, +the recital including an account of the "riot" at the jail, the +deportation of Feinberg and Roberts, the shooting at the launch +"Wanderer" and the jailing of its passengers, and the seizing of +forty-one men and their deportation at Beverly Park. McRae's callous +admissions of brutality discounted any favorable impression his +testimony might otherwise have conveyed to the jury.</p> + +<p>He admitted having ordered the taking of the funds of James Orr to pay +the fares of workers deported on August 23rd, but denied the truth of an +account in the Everett Herald of that date in which it was said that I. +W. W. men had made some remarks to him "whereupon Sheriff McRae and +police officer * * promptly retaliated by cracking the I. W. W.'s on the +jaw with husky fists."</p> + +<p>Regarding the launch "Wanderer" the sheriff was asked:</p> + +<p>"Did you strike Captain Mitten over the head with the butt of your gun?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly did!" replied McRae with brutal conciseness.</p> + +<p>"Did any blood flow?"</p> + +<p>"A little, not much."</p> + +<p>"Not enough to arouse any sympathy in you?"</p> + +<p>"No," said the sheriff unfeelingly.</p> + +<p>"Did you strike a little Finnish fellow over the head with a gun?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly did!"</p> + +<p>"And split his head open and the blood ran out, but not enough to move +you to any sympathy?"</p> + +<p>"No, not a bit!" viciously answered McRae.</p> + +<p>"Did you hit any others?" inquired Vanderveer.</p> + +<p>"No, not then."</p> + +<p>"Why not?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p><p>"They probably seen what happened to the captain and the other fellow +for getting gay."</p> + +<p>As to the holding of Mitten in jail for a number of days on a charge of +resisting an officer, and his final release, McRae was asked:</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you try him on that charge?"</p> + +<p>"Because when we let the I. W. W.'s go they insisted on him going, too, +and I said, 'all right, take him along.'"</p> + +<p>"You did whatever the I. W. W.'s wanted in that?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I was glad to get rid of them," remarked the sheriff.</p> + +<p>McRae said that none of the men taken to Beverly Park were beaten on the +dock before being placed in automobiles for deportation, but on +cross-examination he admitted that one of the deputies got in a mix-up +and was beaten by a brother deputy. The sheriff stated that he took one +man out to Beverly Park in a roadster, and had then returned to Everett +to attend a dance given by the Elks' lodge.</p> + +<p>In relating the events on November 5th, McRae's story did not differ +materially from that of the witnesses who had already testified. He +stated that a bullet passed thru his foot, striking the heel of his +shoe, and coming out of the side. The shoe was then offered in evidence. +He testified that another shot struck the calf of his leg and passed +completely thru the limb. Both these wounds were from the rear. His +entire suit was offered in evidence. The coat had nine bullet holes in +it, yet McRae was not injured at all in the upper portion of his body! +The sheriff stated that he fired twenty shots in all, and was then +removed to the Sister's Hospital while the shooting was still in progress.</p> + +<p>McRae then identified Ed Roth, James Kelly and Thomas H. Tracy as three +of the I. W. W. men who were most active in firing from the Verona. In +his identification of Tracy, McRae stated that the defendant was in the +second or third cabin window aft the door, and was hanging out of the +window<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> with his breast against the sill and his elbow on the ledge. +Vanderveer then placed himself in the position described by the sheriff +and requested McRae to assume the same attitude he was in at the time he +saw Tracy. Upon doing this it was apparent that the edge of the window +sill would have cut off all view of Tracy's face from the sheriff, so +McRae endeavored to alter his testimony to make it appear that Tracy's +face was a foot or more inside the cabin window. This was the first +identification of Tracy or other men on the boat that was attempted by the prosecution.</p> + +<p>The sheriff stated that there were only twenty or twenty-five armed men +on the Verona, and he admitted, before he left the stand, that he had +told Attorney Vanderveer it was a pity that the spring line on the +Verona did not break when the boat tilted so as to drown all the I. W. W.'s in the Bay.</p> + +<p>Charles Auspos, alias Charles Austin, followed McRae as the state's +witness second in importance only to the ex-sheriff. The testimony of +these two was relied upon for a conviction.</p> + +<p>Just why Auspos joined the I. W. W. will never be known, but his claim +was that he could not work in the Dakota harvest fields or ride on the +freight trains without an I. W. W. card. He was asked:</p> + +<p>"When you did line up, you were then willingly a member, were you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes sir."</p> + +<p>"And you did not go to Yakima and come back to Seattle to fight for free +speech because you were compelled to do so?" asked Moore.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Auspos, "there was no compulsion."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i016.jpg" width='700' height='473' alt="Arrival of the Verona at Seattle" /></div> + +<h4>Arrival of the "<span class="smcap">Verona</span>" at <span class="smcap">Seattle</span></h4> + +<p>Auspos stated that he was willing to take a chance in the fight for free +speech and that the worst he expected was something similar to the +happenings at Beverly Park. That he was not so willing in his testimony +was shown by the uneasy actions of the prosecution lawyers, who moved +from place to place around the court room during the examination<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> of +this witness, with the view of having him look one of them in the eyes +at all times during his recital. At one time Black nearly climbed into +the jury box, while Cooley fidgeted in his chair placed directly in the +middle of the aisle, and Veitch stood back of the court clerk on the +opposite side of the court room, trying to engage the attention of the hesitating witness.</p> + +<p>The testimony was to the effect that Auspos had reached Seattle on +Saturday, November 4th, and had slept in the I. W. W. hall that night. +Next morning at about eleven o'clock he returned from breakfast and was +again admitted with examination for a membership card. A meeting was in +progress in the gymnasium but was too crowded for him to be able to get +in. There was no secrecy, however, just as there was no oath of fealty +demanded of a worker upon joining the organization. The witness claimed +that he and one of the defendants, J. E. Houlihan, were standing +together in the hall when "Red" Doran called Houlihan aside into the +gymnasium. Two minutes later Houlihan returned and said, "I made it." +"What did you get?" Auspos declared he then asked his partner, receiving +the reply, "A thirty-eight." Auspos claimed he saw Earl Osborne cleaning +a gun in the gymnasium that same morning, and there was a rifle or +shotgun in a canvas case in one corner. He said that men were breaking +up chairs to obtain legs as clubs and that he, with others, was +furnished with a little package of red pepper.</p> + +<p>Regarding his actions upon the Verona the witness stated that he and +James Hadley came up the steps from the freight deck to the passenger +deck just as the boat was nosing against the dock and that he walked +across the deck to a point within three feet of the rail. His +description of the motion of McRae's hands differed from that given by +the deputy witnesses and was such as would indicate the drawing of a gun +from a belt holster. He testified that McRae swung around to the right +just <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>before being shot, thus contradicting McRae, who had declared that +the turn he had made was to the left. The witness in a rather indefinite +manner stated that the first shot came from the boat. All the damaging +claims in the testimony of Auspos were severely shaken by the +cross-examination conducted by Moore, and Auspos finally admitted that +the only point on which he wished to have his evidence differ from the +statement he had made to Vanderveer prior to the trial was in the matter +of the firing of the first shot. Auspos made no attempt to identify +anyone on the boat as having a firearm.</p> + +<p>During the examination some reference was made to "Red" Downs, at which +Judge Ronald remarked:</p> + +<p>"I am a little confused. Did he say 'Red' Downs or 'Red' Doran?"</p> + +<p>"There are two of them," responded Moore.</p> + +<p>"Lots of red in this organization," cut in prosecutor Cooley, amid +laughter from the spectators.</p> + +<p>Attorney Moore brought from Auspos the admission that the plea of "Not +Guilty" was a true one and he still believed that he and the other +prisoners were not guilty of any crime. Yet such are the peculiarities +of the legal game that an innocent man can turn state's evidence upon +his innocent associates.</p> + +<p>After uncovering the previous record of Auspos, he was asked about his +"confession" as follows:</p> + +<p>"Mr. McLaren and you had reached an understanding in your talk before Mr. Cooley came?"</p> + +<p>"Yes sir."</p> + +<p>"The question of what you are to get in connection with your testimony +here has not as yet been definitely decided?"</p> + +<p>"I am going to get out of the country."</p> + +<p>"You are not going to get a trip to Honolulu?" asked Moore with a smile +as he concluded the cross-examination of Auspos.</p> + +<p>"No sir," stammered the tool of the prosecution unconvincingly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p><p>It was at this point that the prosecution introduced several additional +leaflets and pamphlets issued by the I. W. W. Publishing Bureau, the +principal reason being to allow them to appeal to the patriotism of the +jury by referring to Herve's pamphlet, "Patriotism and the Worker," and +Smith's leaflet, "War and the Workers."</p> + +<p>The next witness after Auspos was Leo Wagner, another poor purchase on +the part of the prosecution. He merely testified that a man on the +Calista had said that the men were armed and were not going to stand for +being beaten up. Objection was made to the manner in which Cooley led +the witness with his questions, and when Cooley stated that it was +necessary to refresh the memory of the witness, Vanderveer replied that +the witness had been endorsed but a few days before and his recollection +should not be so very stale.</p> + +<p>When this witness was asked what he was paid for his testimony he +squirmed and hesitated until the court demanded an answer, whereupon he said:</p> + +<p>"I got enough to live on for a while."</p> + +<p>William H. Bridge, deputy sheriff and Snohomish county jailer, was the +next witness. He stated on his direct examination that the first shot +came from the second or third window back from the door on the upper +cabin. Black asked Bridge:</p> + +<p>"How do you know there was a shot from that place?"</p> + +<p>"Because I saw a man reach out thru the window and shoot with a revolver."</p> + +<p>"In what position was he when shooting?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I could see his hand and a part of his arm and a part of his body and face."</p> + +<p>"Who was the man, if you know?"</p> + +<p>"Well, to the best of my judgement, it was the defendant, Thomas H. Tracy."</p> + +<p>Under Vanderveer's cross-examination this witness was made to place the +model of the Verona with its stern at the same angle as it had been at +the time of the shooting. The witness was then asked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> to assume the same +position he had been in at the time he said he had seen Tracy. The +impossibility of having seen the face of a man firing from any of the +cabin windows was thus demonstrated to the jury.</p> + +<p>Then to clinch the idea that the identification was simply so much +perjury, Vanderveer introduced into evidence the stenographic report of +the coroner's inquest held over Jefferson Beard in which the witness, +Bridge, had sworn that the first shot came from an open space just +beneath the pilot house and had further testified that he could not +recognize the person who was doing the firing.</p> + +<p>Walter H. Smith, a scab shingle weaver, and deputy on the dock, followed +with a claim to have recognized Tracy as one of the men who was shooting +from the Verona. He also stated that he could identify another man who +was shooting from the forward deck. He was handed a number of +photographs and failed to find the man he was looking for. Instead he +indicated one of the photographs and said that it was Tracy. Vanderveer +immediately seized the picture and offered it in evidence.</p> + +<p>"I made a mistake there," remarked Smith.</p> + +<p>"I know you did," responded Vanderveer, "and I want the jury to know it."</p> + +<p>The witness had picked out a photograph of John Downs and identified it +as the defendant.</p> + +<p>The prosecution then called S. A. Mann, who had been police judge in +Spokane, Wash., from 1908 into 1911, and questioned him in regard to the +Spokane Free Speech fight and the death of Chief of Police John +Sullivan. Here attorney Fred Moore was on familiar ground, having acted +for the I. W. W. during the time of that trouble. Moore developed the +fact that there had been several thousand arrests with not a single +instance of resistance or violence on the part of the I. W. W., not a +weapon found<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> on any of their persons, and no incendiary fires during +the entire fight. He further confounded the prosecution by having Judge +Mann admit that in the Spokane fight a prisoner arrested on a city +charge was always lodged in the city jail and one arrested on a county +charge was always placed in the county jail—a condition not at all observed in Everett.</p> + +<p>Moore also brought out the facts of the death of Chief Sullivan so far +as they are known. The witness admitted that Sullivan was charged with +abuse of an adopted daughter of Mr. Elliott, a G. A. R. veteran; that +desk officer N. V. Pitts charged Sullivan with having forced him to turn +over certain Chinese bond money and the Chief resigned his position +while under these charges; that the Spokane Press bitterly attacked +Sullivan and was sued as a consequence, the Scripps-McRae paper being +represented by the law firm of Robertson, Miller and Rosenhaupt, of +which Judge Frank C. Robertson was the head; that the Chronicle and +Spokesman-Review joined in the attack upon the Chief; and that when +Sullivan was dying from a shot in the back the following conversation +occurred between himself and the dying man: "I said to him 'John, who do +you suppose did this?' He says, 'Judge F. C. Robertson and the Press are +responsible for this.' I said, 'John, you don't mean that, you can't +mean it?' He says, 'That is the way I feel.'"</p> + +<p>Judge Ronald prevented the attorneys from going very deeply into the +Spokane affair, saying:</p> + +<p>"I am not going to wash Spokane linen here; we have some of our own to wash!"</p> + +<p>C. R. Schweitzer, owner of a scab plumbing shop, aged 47, yet +grey-haired, brazenly admitted having emptied a shotgun into the unarmed +boys on the Verona. It was the missiles from the brand-new +shotgun—probably furnished by Dave Oswald—that riddled the pilot house +and wounded many of the men who fell to the deck when the Verona +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>tilted. Schweitzer fired from a safe position behind the Klatawa slip. +Why the prosecution used him as a witness is a mystery.</p> + +<p>W. A. Taro, Everett Fire Chief, testified regarding the few incendiary +fires that had occurred in Everett during the year 1916, but failed to +connect them with the I. W. W. in any way. D. Daniels, Everett police +officer, testified to a phosphorous fire which did no damage and was in +no way connected with the I. W. W.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Jennie B. Ames, the only woman witness called by the prosecution, +testified that Mrs. Frennette was on the inclined walk at the Great +Northern Depot, at a point overlooking the dock, and was armed with a +revolver at the time the Verona trouble was on. Police officer J. E. +Moline also swore to the same thing, but was badly tangled when +confronted with his own evidence given at the preliminary hearing of +Mrs. Frennette on December 6th, 1916.</p> + +<p>Never was there a cad but who wished himself proclaimed as a gentleman; +never a bedraggled and maudlin harlot but who wanted the world to know +that she was a perfect lady. The last witness to be called by the +prosecution was John Hogan—"Honest" John Hogan if prosecutor Lloyd +Black was to be credited.</p> + +<p>"Honest" John Hogan was a young red-headed regular deputy sheriff, who +was a participant in the outrage on the City Dock on November 5th. +"Honest" John Hogan claimed to have seen the defendant, Thomas Tracy, +firing a revolver from one of the forward cabin windows. "Honest" John +Hogan had the same difficulty as the other "identifying" witnesses when +he also was asked to state whether it was possible to see a man firing +from a cabin window when the stern of the boat was out and the witness +in his specified position on the dock. "Honest"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> John Hogan was sure it +was Tracy that he saw because the man had a week's growth of whiskers on his face.</p> + +<p>And this ended the case for the prosecution.</p> + +<p>As had been predicted there were hundreds of witnesses who were endorsed +and not called, and almost without an exception those who testified were +parties who had a very direct interest in seeing that a conviction was +secured. But thru the clever work of the lawyers for the defense what +was meant to have been a prosecution of the I. W. W. was turned into an +extremely poor defense of the deputies and their program of "law and +order." From the state's witnesses the defense had developed nearly the +whole outline and many of the details of its side of the case.</p> + +<p>When the state rested its case, Tracy leaned over to the defense lawyers +and, with a smile on his face, said:</p> + +<p>"I'd be willing to let the case go to the jury right now."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>THE DEFENSE</h3> + +<p>The case for the defense opened on Monday morning of April 2nd when +Vanderveer, directly facing the judge and witness chair from the +position vacated by the prosecution counsel, moved for a directed +verdict of not guilty on the ground that there had been an absolute +failure of evidence upon the question of conspiracy, any conspiracy of +which murder was either directly or indirectly an incident, and there +was no evidence whatever to charge the defendant directly as a principal +in causing the death of Jefferson Beard. The motion was denied and an +exception taken to the ruling of the court.</p> + +<p>Fred Moore made the opening statement for the defense. In his speech he +briefly outlined the situation that had existed in Everett up to and +including November 5th and explained to the jury the forces lined up +against each other in Everett's industrial warfare. Not for an instant +did the attention of the jury flag during the recital.</p> + +<p>Herbert Mahler, secretary of the I. W. W. in Seattle during the series +of outrages in Everett, was the first witness placed upon the stand. +Mahler told of the lumber workers' convention and the sending of +organizer James Rowan to make a survey of the industrial situation in +the lumber centers, Everett being the first point because of its +proximity to Seattle and not by reason of any strikes that may have +existed there. The methods of conducting the free speech fight, the +avoidance of secrecy, the ardent desire for publicity of the methods of +the lumber trust as well as the tactics of the I. W. W., were clearly explained.</p> + +<p>Cooley cross-examined Mahler regarding the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> song book with reference to +the advocacy and use of sabotage, asking the witness:</p> + +<p>"How about throwing a pitchfork into a threshing machine? Would that be all right?"</p> + +<p>"There are circumstances when it would be, I suppose," replied Mahler. +"If there was a farmer deputy who had been at Beverly Park, I think they +certainly would have a right to destroy his threshing machine."</p> + +<p>"You think that would justify it?" inquired Cooley.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the witness, "I think that if the man had abused his power +as an officer and the person he abused had no other way of getting even +with him and that justice was denied him in the courts, I fully believe +that he would be. That would not hurt anybody; it would only hurt his pocketbook."</p> + +<p>"Now what is this Joe Hill Memorial Edition?"</p> + +<p>"Joe Hillstrom, known as Joe Hill, had written a number of songs in the +I. W. W. Song Book and he was murdered in Utah and the song book was +gotten out in memory of him," responded Mahler.</p> + +<p>"He was executed after having been convicted of murder in the first +degree, and sentenced to death. And you say he was murdered?" said Cooley.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Mahler with emphasis. "Our contention has been that +Hillstrom did not have a fair trial and we are quite capable of proving +it. I may say that President Wilson interceded in his behalf and was +promptly turned down by Governor Spry of Utah. Hillstrom was offered a +commutation of sentence and he refused to take it. He wanted a retrial +or an acquittal. When the President of the United States had interceded +with the Governor of Utah, when various labor organizations asked that +he be given a retrial, and a man's life is to be taken from him, and +people all over the country ask for a retrial, that certainly should be +granted to him."</p> + +<p>James P. Thompson was placed upon the stand to explain the principles of +the I. W. W. The courtroom was turned into a propaganda meeting during<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +the examination of the witness. One of the first features was the +reading and explanation of state's exhibit "K," the famous I. W. W. +preamble which has been referred to on various occasions as the most +brutally scientific exposition of the class struggle ever penned:</p> + +<blockquote><p class="center">I. W. W. PREAMBLE</p> + +<p>The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. +There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among +millions of the working people and the few, who make up the +employing class, have all the good things of life.</p> + +<p>Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers +of the world organize as a class, take possession of the earth and +the machinery of production, and abolish the wage system.</p> + +<p>We find that the centering of the management of industries into +fewer and fewer hands makes the trade unions unable to cope with +the ever growing power of the employing class. The trade unions +foster a state of affairs which allow one set of workers to be +pitted against another set of workers in the same industry, thereby +helping defeat one another in wage wars. Moreover, the trade unions +aid the employing class to mislead the workers into the belief that +the working class have interests in common with their employers.</p> + +<p>These conditions can be changed and the interests of the working +class upheld only by an organization formed in such a way that all +its members in any one industry, or in all industries, if +necessary, cease work whenever a strike or lockout is on in any +department thereof, thus making an injury to one an injury to all.</p> + +<p>Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair +day's work," we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary +watchword, "Abolition of the wage system."</p> + +<p>It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with +capitalism. The army of production<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> must be organized, not only for +the every day struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on +production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By +organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new +society within the shell of the old.</p></blockquote> + +<p>"Men in society represent economic categories," said Thompson. "By that +I mean that in the world of shoes there are shoemakers, and in the world +of boats there are seamen, and in this society there are economic +categories called the employing class and the working class. Now, +between them as employing class and working class there is nothing in +common. Their interests are diametrically opposed as such. It is not the +same thing as saying that human beings have nothing in common. The +working class and the employing class have antagonistic interests, and +the more one gets the less remains for the other.</p> + +<p>"Labor produces all wealth," continued Thompson, "and the more the +workers have to give up to anyone else the less remains for themselves. +The more they get in wages the less remains for the others in the form +of profits. As long as labor produces for the other class all the good +things of life there will be no peace; we want the products of labor +ourselves and let the other class go to work also.</p> + +<p>"The trades unions are unable to cope with the power of the employers +because when one craft strikes the others remain at work and by so doing +help the company to fill orders, and that is helping to break the +strike. If a group of workers strike and win, other workers are +encouraged to do likewise: if they strike and lose, other workers are +discouraged and employers are encouraged to do some whipping on their own account.</p> + +<p>"We believe in an industrial democracy; that the industry shall be owned +by the people and operated on a co-operative plan instead of the wage +plan; that there is no such thing as a fair day's pay; that we should +have the full product of our labor in the co-operative system as +distinguished from the wage system.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p><p>"Furthermore," went on the witness, as the jury leaned forward to catch +his every word, "our ideas were suggested to us by conditions in modern +industry, and it is the historical mission of the workers to organize, +not only for the preliminary struggles, but to carry on production afterward."</p> + +<p>"We object to this!" shouted Mr. Cooley, and the court sustained the objection.</p> + +<p>Despite continual protests from the prosecution Thompson gave the ideas +of the I. W. W. on many questions. Speaking of free speech the witness said:</p> + +<p>"Free speech is vital. It is a point that has been threshed out and +settled before we were born. If we do not have free speech, the children +of the race will die in the dark."</p> + +<p>The message of industrial unionism delivered thru the sworn testimony of +a labor organizer was indeed an amazing spectacle. Judge Ronald never +relaxed his attention during the entire examination, the jury was +spell-bound, and it was only by an obvious effort that the spectators +kept from applauding the various telling points.</p> + +<p>"There is overwork on one hand," said Thompson, "and out-of-work on the +other. The length of the working day should be determined by the amount +of work and the number of workers. You have no more right to do eight or +ten or twelve hours of labor when others are out of work, despondent, +committing suicide, than you have to drink all the water, if that were +possible, while others are dying of thirst.</p> + +<p>"Solidarity is the I. W. W. way to get their demands. We do not advocate +that the workers should organize in a military way and use guns and +dynamite. The most effective weapon of labor is economic power: the +modern wage workers are the living parts of industry and if they fold +their arms, they immediately precipitate a crisis, they paralyze the +world. No other class has that power. The other class can fold their +arms, and they do most of the time, but our class has the economic +power. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> I. W. W. preaches and teaches all the time that a far more +effective weapon than brickbats or dynamite is solidarity.</p> + +<p>"We have developed from individual production, to social production, yet +we still have private ownership of the means of production. One class +owns the industries and doesn't operate them, another class operates the +industries and does not own them. We are going to have a revolution. No +one is more mistaken than those who believe that this system is the +final state of society. As the industrial revolution takes place, as the +labor process takes on the co-operative form, as the tool of production +becomes social, the idea of social ownership is suggested, and so the +idea that things that are used collectively should be owned +collectively, presents itself with irresistible force to the people of +the twentieth century. So there is a struggle for industrial democracy. +We are the modern abolitionists fighting against wage slavery as the +other abolitionists fought against chattel slavery. The solution for our +modern problems is this, that the industries should be owned by the +people, operated by the people for the people, and the little busy bees +who make the honey of the world should eat that honey, and there should +be no drones at all in the hives of industry.</p> + +<p>"When we have industrial democracy you will know that the mills, the +mines, the factories, the earth itself, will be the collective property +of the people, and if a little baby should be born that baby would be as +much an owner of the earth as any other of the children of men. Then the +war, the commercial struggles, the clashes between groups of conflicting +interests, will be a night-mare of the past. In the place of capitalism +with its one class working and its other class enjoying, in the place of +the wages system with its strife and strikes, lockouts and grinding +poverty, we will have a co-operative system where the interests of one +will be to promote the interests of all—that will be Industrial Democracy."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p><p>Thompson explained the meaning of the sarcastic song, "Christians at +War," to the evident amusement of the jury and spectators. The witness +was then asked about Herve's work on anti-patriotism in this question by attorney Moore:</p> + +<p>"What is the attitude of your organization relative to internationalism +and national patriotism?"</p> + +<p>"We object to that as incompetent and immaterial," cried Veitch of the prosecution.</p> + +<p>"What did you put this book in for then?" said Judge Ronald in a testy +manner as he motioned the witness to proceed with his answer.</p> + +<p>"In the broader sense," answered Thompson, "there is no such thing as a +foreigner. We are all native born members of this planet, and for the +members of it to be divided into groups or units and to be taught that +each nation is better than the other leads to clashes and the world war. +We ought to have in the place of national patriotism—the idea that one +people is better than another,—a broader conception, that of +international solidarity. The idea that we are better than others is +contrary to the Declaration of Independence which declares that all men +are born free and equal. The I. W. W. believes that in order to do away +with wars we should remove the cause of wars; we should establish +industrial democracy and the co-operative system instead of +commercialism and capitalism and the struggles that come from them. We +are trying to make America a better land, a land without child slaves, a +land without poverty, and so also with the world, a world without a +master and without a slave."</p> + +<p>When the lengthy direct examination of Thompson had been finished, the +prosecution questioned him but five minutes and united in a sigh of +relief as he left the stand.</p> + +<p>The next witness called was Ernest Nordstrom, companion of Oscar Carlson +who was severely wounded on the Verona. Nordstrom testified rather out +of his logical order in the trial by reason of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> fact that he was +about to leave on a lengthy fishing trip to Alaska. His testimony was +that he purchased a regular ticket at the same time as his friend +Carlson, but these tickets were not taken up by the purser. The original +ticket of this passenger was then offered in evidence. The witness +stated that the first shot came from almost the same place on the dock +as did the words "You can't land here." He fell to the deck and saw +Carlson fall also. Carlson tried to rise once, but a bullet hit him and +he dropped; there were nine bullet holes in him. Nordstrom was asked:</p> + +<p>"Did you have a gun?"</p> + +<p>"No sir."</p> + +<p>"Did Carlson have a gun?"</p> + +<p>"No sir."</p> + +<p>"Did you see anybody with a gun on the boat?"</p> + +<p>"No. I didn't."</p> + +<p>Organizer James Rowan then gave his experiences in Everett, ending with +a vivid recital of the terrible beating he had received at the hands of +deputies near Silver Lake. Upon telling of the photograph that was taken +of his lacerated back he was asked by Veitch:</p> + +<p>"What was the reason you had that picture taken?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Rowan, in his inimitable manner, "I thought it would be a +good thing to get that taken to show up the kind of civilization that +they had in Everett."</p> + +<p>Dr. E. J. Brown, a Seattle dentist, and Thomas Horner, Seattle attorney, +corroborated Rowan's testimony as to the condition of his back. They had +seen the wounds and bruises shortly after the beating had been +administered and were of the opinion that a false light was reflected on +the photograph in such a way that the severest marks did not appear as +bad as they really were.</p> + +<p>Otto Nelson, Everett shingle weaver, gave testimony regarding the +shingle weavers' strikes of 1915 and 1916 but was stopped from going +into detail by the rulings of the court. He told also of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>peaceful +character of all the I. W. W. meetings in Everett, and stated that on +one occasion police officer Daniels had fired two shots down one of the +city streets at an I. W. W. man who had been made to run the gauntlet.</p> + +<p>H. P. Whartenby, owner of a five-ten-fifteen cent store in Everett, said +that the I. W. W. meetings were orderly, and further testified that he +had been ordered out of the Commercial Club on the evening of November +5th but not until he had seen that the club was a regular arsenal, with +guns stacked all over the place.</p> + +<p>To establish the fact that the sidewalks were kept clear, that there was +no advocacy of violence, that no resistance was offered to arrest, and +that the I. W. W. meetings were well conducted in every particular, the +defense put on in fairly rapid succession a number of Everett citizens: +Mrs. Ina M. Salter, Mrs. Elizabeth Maloney, Mrs. Letelsia Fye, Bruce J. +Hatch, Mrs. Dollie Gustaffson, Miss Avis Mathison, Mrs. Peter Aiken, +Mrs. Annie Pomeroy, Mrs. Rebecca Wade, F. G. Crosby, and Mrs. Hannah +Crosby. The fact that these citizens, and a number of other women who +were mentioned in the testimony, attended the I. W. W. meetings quite +regularly, impressed the jury favorably. Some of these women witnesses +had been roughly handled by the deputies. Mrs. Pomeroy stated that the +deputies, armed with clubs and distinguished by white handkerchiefs +around their necks, invaded one meeting and struck right and left. "And +they punched me at that!" said the indignant witness.</p> + +<p>"Punched you where?" inquired Vanderveer in order to locate the injury.</p> + +<p>"They punched me on the sidewalk!" answered the witness, and the solemn +bailiff had to rap for order in the court room.</p> + +<p>Cooley caught a Tartar in his cross-examination of Mrs. Crosby. He inquired:</p> + +<p>"Did you hear the I. W. W.'s say that when they got a majority of the +workers into this big union<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> they would take possession of the +industries and run them themselves?"</p> + +<p>"Why certainly!"</p> + +<p>"You did hear them say they would take possession?"</p> + +<p>"Why certainly!" flashed back the witness. "That's the way the North did +with the slaves, isn't it? They took possession without ever asking +them. My people came from the South and they had slaves taken away from +them and never got anything for it, and quite right, too!"</p> + +<p>"Then you do believe it would be all right, yourself?" said Cooley.</p> + +<p>"I believe that confiscation would be perfectly right in the case of +taking things that are publicly used for the public good of the +people——."</p> + +<p>"That's all," hastily cut in Cooley.</p> + +<p>"That they should be used then by the people and for the people!" +finished the witness.</p> + +<p>"That's all!" cried Cooley loudly and more anxiously.</p> + +<p>Frank Henig, the next witness, told of having been blackjacked by +Sheriff McRae and exhibited the large scar on his forehead that plainly +showed where the brutal blow had landed. He stated that he had tried to +secure the arrest of McRae for the entirely unwarranted attack but was +denied a warrant.</p> + +<p>Jake Michel, secretary of the Everett Building Trades Council, gave +evidence regarding a number of the I. W. W. street meetings. He was +questioned at length about what he had inferred from the speeches of +Rowan, Thompson and others. Replying to one question he said:</p> + +<p>"I think the American Federation of Labor uses the most direct action +that any organization could use."</p> + +<p>"In a strike?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"And by that you mean a peaceful strike?" said Cooley suggestively.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p><p>"Well, I haven't seen them carry on very many peaceful ones yet," +replied Michel.</p> + +<p>Cooley asked Michel whether Rowan had said that "the workers should form +one great industrial union and declare the final and universal strike; +that is, that they should remain within the industrial institutions and +lock the employers out for good as owners?"</p> + +<p>"I never heard him mention anything about locking anyone out; I think he +wanted to lock them in and make them do some of the work!" answered +Michel.</p> + +<p>"You haven't any particular interest in this case, have you?" asked +Cooley with a sneer.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have!" replied Michel with emphasis.</p> + +<p>When asked what this particular interest was, Michel caused +consternation among the ranks of the prosecution by replying:</p> + +<p>"The reason I have that interest is this; I have two sons and two +daughters. I want to see the best form of organization so that the boys +can go out and make a decent living; I don't want my girls to become +prostitutes upon the streets and my boys vagabonds upon the highways!"</p> + +<p>Harry Feinberg, one of the free speech prisoners named on the first +information with Watson and Tracy, was then placed on the stand and +questioned as to the beating he had received at the hands of deputies, +as to the condition of Frank Henig after McRae's attack, and upon +matters connected with various street meetings at which he had been the +speaker. Mention of the name of George Reese brought forth an argument +from the prosecution that it had not been shown that Reese was a +detective. After an acrimonious discussion Vanderveer suddenly declared:</p> + +<p>"Just to settle this thing and settle it for now and all the time, I +will ask a subpoena forthwith for Philip K. Ahern and show who Reese is working for."</p> + +<p>The subpoena was issued and a recess taken to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> allow it to be served. As +Vanderveer stepped into the hall, detective Malcolm McLaren said to him, +"You can't subpoenae the head of the Pinkerton Detective Agency!"</p> + +<p>"I have subpoenaed him," responded Vanderveer shortly as he hurried to +the witness room.</p> + +<p>While awaiting the arrival of this witness, Feinberg was questioned +further, and was then taken from the stand to allow the examination of +two Everett witnesses, Mrs. L. H. Johnson and P. S. Johnson, the latter +witness being withdrawn when Ahern put in an appearance.</p> + +<p>Vanderveer was very brief, but to the point, in the examination of the +local head of the Pinkerton Agency.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Ahern, on the fifth day of November you had in your employ a man +named George Reese?"</p> + +<p>"Yes sir."</p> + +<p>"For whom was he working, thru you, at that time?"</p> + +<p>"For Snohomish County."</p> + +<p>"That's all!" said Vanderveer triumphantly.</p> + +<p>Cooley did not seem inclined to cross-examine the witness at any length +and Vanderveer in another straightforward question brought out the fact +that Reese was a Pinkerton employe during the Longshoremen's +strike—this being the time that Reese also was seated as a delegate to +the Seattle Trades Council of the A. F. of L.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i017.jpg" width='474' height='700' alt="Cutting off top of tree to fit block for flying machine." /></div> + +<h4>Cutting off top of tree to fit block for flying machine.</h4> + +<p>A portion of the testimony of Mrs. L. H. Johnson was nearly as important +as that concerning Reese. She recited a conversation with Sheriff McRae as follows:</p> + +<p>"McRae said he would stop the I. W. W. from coming to Everett if he had +to call out the soldiers. And I told him the soldiers wouldn't come out +on an occasion like this, they were nothing but Industrial Workers of +the World and they had a right to speak and get people to join their +union if they wanted to. And he said he had the backing of the millmen +to keep them out of the city, and he was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>going to do it if he had to +call the soldiers out and shoot them down when they landed there, when +they came off the dock."</p> + +<p>This clearly indicated the bloodthirsty designs of the millmen and the +sheriff at a time long before November 5th.</p> + +<p>G. W. Carr, Wilfred Des Pres, and J. M. Norland testified to the +breaking up of peaceably conducted I. W. W. meetings, Des Pres also +telling of rifles having been transported from the Pacific Hardware +Company to the dock on November 5th. All three were Everett citizens. +Black asked Norland if he knew what sabotage was, to which Norland replied:</p> + +<p>"Everybody that follows the labor movement knows what sabotage is."</p> + +<p>There was a sensation in court at this question for it was the first and +only time that any of the prosecution counsel correctly pronounced the word sabotage!</p> + +<p>W. W. Blain, secretary of the Commercial Club, altho an unwilling +witness, gave much information of value to the defense. He was forced to +produce the minutes of the "open shop committee" and give up the story +of how control of the club was purchased by the big interests, how the +boycott was invoked against certain publications, and finally to tell of +the employment of Pinkerton detectives prior to November 5th, and to +give a list of the deputies furnished by the Commercial Club.</p> + +<p>During the examination of this witness some telegrams, in connection +with the testimony, were handed up to the judge. While reading these +Judge Ronald was interrupted by a foolish remark from Black to +Vanderveer. Looking over his glasses the judge said:</p> + +<p>"Every time I start to read anything, you gentlemen get into a quarrel +among yourselves. I am inclined to think that the 'cats,' some of them, +are here in the courtroom."</p> + +<p>"I will plead guilty for Mr. Black, Your Honor!" said Vanderveer +quickly, laughing at the reference to sabotage.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p><p>Testimony to further establish the peaceable character of the I. W. W. +meetings and the rowdyism of the police and deputies was given by +witnesses from Everett: Gustaf Pilz, Mrs. Leota Carr, J. E. McNair, Ed +Morton, Michael Maloney, Verne C. Henry and Morial Thornburg. The +statements of these disinterested parties regarding the clubbings given +to the speakers and to citizens of their acquaintance proved very effective.</p> + +<p>Attorney H. D. Cooley for the prosecution was placed upon the witness +stand and Vanderveer shot the question at him:</p> + +<p>"By whom were you employed in this case, Mr. Cooley?"</p> + +<p>"Objected to as immaterial!" cried Veitch, instantly springing to his feet.</p> + +<p>But the damage had been done! The refusal to allow an answer showed that +there were interested parties the prosecution wished to hide from the public.</p> + +<p>Levi Remick related the story of the deportation from Everett, and was +followed on the witness stand by Edward Lavelly, James Dwyer, and Thomas +Smye, who testified to different atrocities committed in Everett by +McRae and the citizen deputies. Their evidence had mainly to do with the +acts of piracy committed against the launch "Wanderer" and the +subsequent abuse of the arrested men. A little later in the trial this +testimony was fully corroborated by the statements of Captain Jack +Mitten. During Mitten's examination by Black the old Captain continually +referred to the fact that the life preservers and other equipment of his +boat had been stolen while he was in jail. The discomfiture of the +youthful prosecutor was quite evident.</p> + +<p>J. H. Buel impeached the testimony of state's witness Judge Bell who had +made the claim that a filer at the Clark-Nickerson mill had been +assaulted by a member of the I. W. W. Vanderveer asked this witness:</p> + +<p>"What was the name of the man assaulted?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p><p>"Jimmy Cain."</p> + +<p>"Who did it?"</p> + +<p>"I did."</p> + +<p>"Are you an I. W. W.?"</p> + +<p>"No sir."</p> + +<p>"Were you ever?"</p> + +<p>"No sir."</p> + +<p>Louis Skaroff followed with a detailed story of the murderous attack +made upon him by Mayor Merrill in the Everett jail, his story being +unshaken when he was recalled and put thru a grilling cross-examination.</p> + +<p>William Roberts, who had been beaten and deported with Harry Feinberg, +related his experience. The childish questions of Black in regard to the +idea of abolishing the wages system nettled this witness and caused him +to exclaim, "the trouble is that you don't understand the labor movement."</p> + +<p>James Orr then told of having his money stolen by the officials so they +might pay the fares of twenty-two deported men, and John Ovist followed +with the tale of the slugging he had received upon the same occasion +that Feinberg, Roberts and Henig were assaulted.</p> + +<p>Attorneys George W. Loutitt and Robert Faussett, of Everett, stated that +the reputation of McRae for sobriety was very bad. Both of these lawyers +had resigned from the Commercial Club upon its adoption of an open shop policy.</p> + +<p>Thomas O'Niel testified regarding street meetings and other matters in +connection with the case. Cooley asked the witness how many people +usually attended the meetings.</p> + +<p>"It started in with rather small meetings," said the witness, "and then +every time, as fast as they were molested by the police, the crowd kept +growing until at last the meetings were between two and three thousand people."</p> + +<p>The witness said he had read considerable about industrial unionism, and +tho he was shocked at first he had come to believe in it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p><p>"Until now you are satisfied that their doctrines taken as a whole are +proper and should be promulgated and adopted by the working class?" inquired Cooley.</p> + +<p>"In this way," answered O'Niel, "it was not the I. W. W. literature that +convinced me so much as the actions of the side that was fighting them."</p> + +<p>"That is, you believe they were right because of the actions of the +people on the other side?" said Cooley.</p> + +<p>"Yes," responded the witness, "because I think there are only two people +interested in this movement, the people carrying on the propaganda and +the people fighting the propaganda, and I saw the people who were +fighting the propaganda use direct action, sabotage, and every power, +political and industrial, they used it all to whip this organization, +and then I asked myself why are they fighting this organization. And the +more deeply I became interested, the more clearly I saw why they were +doing it, and that made me a believer in the I. W. W."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Louise McGuire followed this witness with testimony about injuries +she had received thru the rough treatment accorded her by citizen +deputies engaged in breaking up a street meeting.</p> + +<p>W. H. Clay, Everett's Commissioner of Finance, was brought on the stand +to testify that he was present and active at the conference that +resulted in the formation of the citizen deputies.</p> + +<p>John Berg then related his experiences at the time he was taken to the +outskirts of Everett and deported after McRae had kicked him in the +groin until a serious injury resulted. Owing to the fact that the jury +was a mixed one Berg was not permitted to exhibit the rupture. This +witness also told his experience on the "Wanderer" and his treatment in +the jail upon his arrest.</p> + +<p>Oscar Lindstrom then took the stand and corroborated the stories of the +witnesses who had testified about the shooting up of the "Wanderer" and +the beating and jailing of its passengers. H. Sokol,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> better known as +"Happy," also told of his experience on the "Wanderer" and gave the +facts of the deportation that had taken place on August 23rd.</p> + +<p>Irving W. Ziegaus, secretary to Governor Lister, testified that the +letter concerning Everett sent from the Seattle I. W. W. had been +received; Steven M. Fowler identified certain telegrams sent from +Everett to Seattle officials by David Clough on November 5th; after +which Chester Micklin, who had been jailed in Everett following the +tragedy, corroborated parts of the story of Louis Skaroff.</p> + +<p>The evidence of state's witness, Clyde Gibbons, was shattered at this +stage of the trial by the placing of Mrs. Lawrence MacArthur on the +stand. This witness, the proprietor of the Merchants Hotel in Everett, +produced the hotel register for November 4th and showed that Mrs. +Frennette had registered at that time and was in the city when Gibbons +claimed she was holding a conversation in an apartment house on Yesler Way in Seattle.</p> + +<p>The defense found it necessary to call witnesses who logically should +have been brought forward by the prosecution on their side of the case. +Among these was the famous "Governor" Clough, citizen deputy and open +shop mill owner. David Clough unwillingly testified to having been +present at the deportation of twenty-two I. W. W. members on August +23rd, having gone down to the dock at 8:30 that morning, and also to his +interest in Joseph Schofield, the deputy who had been injured by his +brother outlaws on the dock just before the Beverly Park deportations.</p> + +<p>Mahler and Micklin were recalled for some few additional questions, and +were followed on the stand by Herman Storm, who gave testimony about the +brutal treatment received by himself and his fellow passengers on the +launch "Wanderer." John Hainey and Joseph Reaume also gave details of this outrage.</p> + +<p>"Sergeant" J. J. Keenan, who had become a familiar figure because of his +"police" duty in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> outer court corridor from the inception of the +trial, then took the witness stand and recounted his experiences at +Snohomish and Maltby, his every word carrying conviction that the +sheriff and his deputies had acted with the utmost brutality in spite of +the advanced age of their victim. John Patterson and Tom Thornton +corroborated Keenan's testimony.</p> + +<p>A surprise was sprung upon the prosecution at this juncture by the +introduction on the witness stand of George Kannow, a man who had been a +deputy sheriff in Everett and who had been present when many of the +brutalities were going on. He told of the treatment of Berg after the "Wanderer" arrests.</p> + +<p>"He was struck and beaten and thrown down and knocked heavily against +the steel sides of the tank, his head striking on a large projecting +lock. He was kicked by McRae and he hollered 'My God, you are killing +me,' and McRae said he didn't give a damn whether he died or not, and +kicked him again and then shoved him into the tank."</p> + +<p>The gauntlet at the county jail was described in detail and the spirit +of the free speech fighters was shown by this testimony:</p> + +<p>"Yes, I heard some of them groan. They all took their medicine well, +tho. They didn't holler out but some of them would groan; some of them +would go down pretty near to their knees and then get up, then they +would get sapped again as they got up. But they never made any real outcries."</p> + +<p>The witness stated that "Governor" Clough was a regular attendant at the +deportation parties and so also were W. R. Booth, Ed Hawes, T. W. +Anguish, Bill Pabst, Ed Seivers, and Will Taft. He described McRae's +drunken condition and told of drunken midnight revels held in the county +jail. His testimony was unshaken on cross-examination.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fern Grant, owner of the Western Hotel and Grant's Cafe, testified +that Mrs. Frennette was in her place of business in Everett on the +morning of the tragedy, thus adding to the evidence that Clyde Gibbons +had perjured himself in testifying for the prosecution.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p><p>A party of Christian Scientists, who had attended a lecture in Everett +by Bliss Knapp, told of the frightful condition of the eight men who had +taken the interurban train to Seattle following their experience at +Beverly Park. Mrs. Lou Vee Siegfried, Christian Science practitioner, +Thorwald Siegfried, prominent Seattle lawyer, Mrs. Anna Tenelli and Miss +Dorothy Jordan were corroborated in their testimony by Ira Bellows, +conductor on the interurban car that took the wounded men to Seattle.</p> + +<p>Another break in the regular order of the trial was made at this point +by the placing on the stand of Nicholas Conaieff, member of the I. W. +W., who was to leave on the following day with a party of Russians +returning to their birthplace to take part in the revolution then in +progress. Conaieff stated that the first shot came from the dock. His +realistic story of the conditions on the Verona moved many in the +courtroom to tears. In his description Conaieff said:</p> + +<p>"I was wounded myself. But before I was wounded and as we were lying +there three or four deep I saw a wounded man at my feet in a pool of +blood. Then I saw a man with his face up, and he was badly wounded, +probably he was dead. There were three or four wounded men alongside of +me. The conditions were so terrible that it was hard to control one's +self, and a young boy who was in one pile could not control himself any +longer; he was about twenty years old and had on a brown, short, heavy +coat, and he looked terrified and jumped up and went overboard into the +water and I didn't see him any more."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Edith Frennette testified to her movements on the day of the +tragedy and denied the alleged threats to Sheriff McRae. Lengthy +cross-examination failed to shake her story.</p> + +<p>Members of the I. W. W. who had been injured at Beverly Park then +testified. They were Edward Schwartz, Harry Hubbard, Archie Collins, C. +H. Rice, John Downs, one of the defendants, Sam Rovinson and Henry +Krieg. Any doubt as to the truth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> of their story was dispelled by the +testimony of Mrs. Ruby Ketchum, her husband Roy Ketchum, and her +brother-in-law Lew Ketchum, all three of whom heard the screams of the +victims and witnessed part of the slugging near their home at Beverly +Park. Some members of the investigation committee who viewed the scene +on the morning after the outrage gave their evidence as to the finding +of bits of clothing, soles of shoes, bloodstained hats and loose +hat-bands, and blotches of blood on the paved roadway and cattle guard. +These witnesses were three ministers of the gospel of different +denominations, Elbert E. Flint, Joseph P. Marlatt, and Oscar H. McGill. +The last named witness also told of having interviewed Herbert Mahler, +secretary of the I. W. W. in Seattle, following a conference with +Everett citizens, with the object of having a large public demonstration +in Everett to expose the Beverly Park affair and to prevent its +repetition. It was after this interview that the call went out for the +I. W. W. to hold a public meeting in Everett on Sunday, November 5th. +Mahler was recalled to the stand to verify McGill's statement in the +matter of the interview.</p> + +<p>This testimony brought the case up to the events of November 5th and the +defense, having proven each illegal action of the sheriff, deputies and +mill owners, and disproven the accusations against the I. W. W., +proceeded to open to the gaze of the public and force to the attention +of the jury the actual facts concerning the massacre on the Verona.</p> + +<p>An important witness was Charles Miller, who viewed the tragedy from a +point about four hundred feet from the Verona while on the deck of his +fishing boat, the "Scout." He stated that the Verona tilted as soon as +the first shots came. Miller placed the model of the boat at the same +relative position it had occupied as the firing started on Bloody Sunday +and the prosecution could not tangle up this witness on this important +point. The "identification" witnesses of the prosecution were of +necessity liars<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> if the stern of the Verona was at the angle set by +Miller.</p> + +<p>C. M. Steele, owner of apartment houses and stores in Everett, stated +that he had been in a group who saw an automobile load of guns +transported to the dock prior to the docking of the Verona, this auto +being closely followed by a string of other machines. The witness tried +to get upon the dock but was prevented by deputies who had a rope +stretched clear across the entrance near the office of the American Tug +Boat Company. He saw the boat tilt as the firing started and noticed +that the stern swung out at the time. This testimony was demonstrated +with the model. Harry Young, chauffeur, corroborated this testimony and +told of rifle fire from the dock.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Mabel Thomas, from a position on Johnson's float quite near the +Verona, told of the boat listing until the lower deck was under water, +almost immediately after the firing started. Mrs. Thomas testified that +"one man who was facing toward the Improvement Dock, raised his hands +and fell overboard from the hurricane deck as tho he were dead. His +overcoat held him to the top of the water for a moment and then he went +down. One jumped from the stern and then there were six or seven in the +water. One got up thru the canvas and crawled back in. One man that fell +in held up his hands for a moment and sank. There were bullets hitting all around him."</p> + +<p>Mr. Carroll Thomas, husband of the preceding witness, gave the same +testimony about the men in the water and stated that he saw armed men on +the Improvement Dock.</p> + +<p>The testimony of Ayrold D. Skinner, a barber in Everett at the time of +the tragedy and who had been brought from California to testify, was +bitterly attacked by Veitch but to no avail. When the Verona landed +Skinner was so situated as to command a view of the whole proceedings. +He told of the boat listing, the men falling in the water and being +shot, and his testimony about a man on board the tug<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> "Edison" firing a +rifle directly across the open space on the dock in the direction of the +Verona was unshakeable. This witness also testified that about ten +deputies with rifles were running back and forth in a frightened manner +and were firing from behind the Klatawa slip. The witness saw Dick +Hembridge, superintendent of the Canyon Lumber Company, Carl Tyre, +timekeeper, Percy Ames, the boom man, and a Dr. Hedges. The last two +came up to where the witness was, each bearing a rifle. Skinner stated +that he said to Ames, "Percy, what is the world coming to?" and Ames +broke down as tho he felt something were wrong. Then Dr. Hedges came +running up from where the boat was, he was white in the face, and he +cried "Don't go down there, boys; they are shooting wild, you don't know +where in hell the shots are coming from."</p> + +<p>Carl Ryan, night watchman of the Everett Shingle Company, N. C. Roberts, +an Everett potter, Robert Thompson and Edward Thompson testified about +the angle of the boat, as to rifles on the dock, the shooting from the +tug "Edison" and from the Improvement Dock, in support of witnesses who +had previously testified.</p> + +<p>Alfred Freeman, I. W. W. member who was on the Verona, testified about +the movements of those who made the trip to Everett and told of the +conditions on the boat. His testimony, and that of numerous other I. W. +W. witnesses, disproved the charges of conspiracy.</p> + +<p>I. W. McDonald, barber, John Josephson, lumber piler, and T. M. Johnson, +hod carrier, all of Everett, stated that the shots from the boat did not +come until after there had been considerable firing from the dock. These +witnesses were among the thousands of citizens who overlooked the scene +from the hillside by the Great Northern depot.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i018.jpg" width='700' height='459' alt="VERONA AT EVERETT DOCK, under same tide condition as at time of Massacre." /></div> + +<h4>VERONA AT EVERETT DOCK,<br />under same tide condition as at time of Massacre.</h4> + +<p>On Wednesday, April 18th, the jury, accompanied by Judge Ronald, the +attorneys for both sides, the defendant, Thomas Tracy, and the court +stenographer, went in automobiles to Everett to inspect the various +places mentioned in the court <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>proceedings. The party stopped on the way +to Everett to look over the scene of the Beverly Park outrages of +October 30th. No one spoke to the jury but Judge Ronald, who pointed out +the various features at the request of the attorneys in the background.</p> + +<p>After visiting the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore Avenues, the party went +to the city dock. Both warehouses were carefully examined, the +bulletholes, tho badly whittled, being still in evidence. Bulletholes in +the floor, clock-case, and in the walls still showed quite plainly that +the firing from within the warehouse and waiting room had been wild. +Bullets imbedded in the Klatawa slip on the side toward the Bay also +gave evidence of blind firing on the part of the deputies. In the floor +of the dock, between the ship and the open space near the waiting room, +were several grooves made by bullets fired from the shore end of the +dock. These marks indicated that the bullets had taken a course directly +in line with the deputies who were in the front ranks as the Verona landed.</p> + +<p>The party boarded the Verona and subjected the boat to a searching +examination, discovering that the stairways, sides, and furnishings were +riddled with shot holes. The pilot house, in particular, was found to +have marks of revolver and high power rifle bullets, in addition to +being closely marked with small shot holes, some of the buck-shot still being visible.</p> + +<p>The captain swung the boat out to the same angle as it had been on +November 5th, this being done at a time when it was computed that the +tide would be relatively the same as on the date of the tragedy. Someone +assumed the precise position at the cabin window that Tracy was alleged +to have been in while firing. The jury members then took up the +positions which the "identification witnesses" had marked on a diagram +during their testimony. The man in the window was absolutely invisible!</p> + +<p>A photograph was then taken from the point where "Honest" John Hogan +claimed to have been when he saw Tracy firing and another view made by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +a second camera to show that the first photograph had been taken from +the correct position. These were later introduced as evidence.</p> + +<p>No testimony was taken in Everett but on the re-opening of court in +Seattle next morning Frank A. Brown, life insurance solicitor, testified +that McRae dropped his hand just before the first shot was fired from +somewhere to the right of the sheriff. He also identified a Mr. +Thompson, engineer of the Clark-Nickerson mill, and a Mr. Scott, as +being armed with guns having stocks. Mike Luney, shingle weaver, told of +a fear-crazed deputy running from the dock with a bullethole in his ear +and crying out that one of the deputies had shot him. Fred Bissinger, a +boy of 17, told of the deputies breaking for cover as soon as they had +fired a volley at the men on the boat. It was only after the heavy +firing that he saw a man on the boat pull a revolver from his pocket and +commence to shoot. He saw but two revolvers in action on the Verona.</p> + +<p>One of the most dramatic and clinching blows for the defense was struck +when there was introduced as a witness Fred Luke, who was a regular +deputy sheriff and McRae's right-hand man. Luke's evidence of the +various brutalities, given in a cold, matter-of-fact manner, was most +convincing. He stated that the deputies wore white handkerchiefs around +their necks so they would not be hammering each other. He contradicted +McRae's testimony about Beverly Park by stating positively that the +sheriff had gone out in a five passenger car, and not in a roadster as +was claimed, and that they had both remained there during the entire +affair. He told how he had swung at the I. W. W. men with such force +that his club had broken from its leather wrist thong and disappeared +into the woods. When questioned about the use of clubs in dispersing +street crowds at the I. W. W. meetings he said:</p> + +<p>"I used my sap as a club and struck them and drove them away with it."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you use your hands and push them out?" asked Cooley.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p><p>"I didn't think we had a right to use our hands," said the big +ex-deputy.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean by that?" said the surprised lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Well," replied the witness, "what did they give us the saps for?"</p> + +<p>Cooley also asked this witness why he had struck the men at Beverly Park.</p> + +<p>"Well," replied the ex-deputy, "if you want to know, that was the idea +of the Commercial Club. That was what they recommended."</p> + +<p>Luke, who was a guard at the approach to the dock on November 5th, told +of having explained the workings of a rifle to a deputy while the +shooting was in progress. The state at first had contended that there +were no rifles on the dock and later had made the half-hearted plea that +none of the rifles which were proven to have been there were fired.</p> + +<p>Following this important witness the defense introduced Fird Winkley, A. +E. Amiott, Dr. Guy N. Ford, Charles Leo, Ed Armstrong, mate of the +Verona and a witness for the state, and B. R. Watson, to corroborate the +already convincing evidence that the stern of the Verona was swung quite +a distance from the dock.</p> + +<p>Robert Mills, business agent of the Everett Shingle Weavers, who had +been called to the stand on several occasions to testify to minor +matters, was then recalled. He testified that it was his hand which +protruded from the Verona cabin window in the photographs, and that his +head was resting against the window jamb on the left hand side as far +out as it would be possible to get without crawling out of the window. +As Mills was a familiar figure to the entire jury and was also possessed +of a peculiarly unforgettable type of countenance, the state's +identification of Tracy was shown to have been false.</p> + +<p>The Chief of Police of Seattle, Charles Beckingham, corroborated +previous testimony by stating that the identification and selection of +I. W. W. men had been made from a dark cell by two Pinkerton<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> men, Smith +and Reese, aided by one of the defendants, I. P. McDowell, alias Charles Adams.</p> + +<p>Malcolm McLaren was then placed upon the stand and the admission secured +that he was a detective and had formerly been connected with the Burns +Agency. Objection was made to a question about the employment of McLaren +in the case, to which Vanderveer replied that it was the purpose of the +defense to prove that the case was not being prosecuted by the State of +Washington at all. In the absence of the jury Vanderveer then offered to +prove that McLaren had been brought from Los Angeles and retained in the +employ of certain mill owners, among them being "Governor" Clough and +Mr. Moody of the First National Bank, and that McLaren had charge of the +work of procuring the evidence introduced by the state. He offered to +prove that Veitch and Cooley were employed by the same people. The court +sustained the objection of the state to the three offers.</p> + +<p>Testimony on various phases of the case was then given by Mrs. Fannie +Jordan, proprietor of an apartment house in Seattle, Nick Shugar, Henry +Luce, Paul Blakenship, Charles W. Dean, and later on by Oliver Burnett.</p> + +<p>Captain Chauncey Wiman was called to the stand, but it happened that he +had gone into hiding so soon after the boat landed that he could testify +to nothing of particular importance. From his appearance on the witness +stand it seemed that he was still nearly scared to death.</p> + +<p>Another surprise for the prosecution was then sprung by placing Joseph +Schofield on the witness stand. Schofield told of having been beaten up +at the city dock by Joseph Irving, during the time they were lining up +the forty-one I. W. W. men for deportation. The witness displayed the +scar on his head that had resulted from the wound made by the gun butt, +and described the drunken condition of McRae and other deputies on the +occasion of his injury. And then he told that "Governor" Clough had gone +to his wife just a couple of days before he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> took the witness stand and +had given her $75.00. This deputy witness was on the dock November 5th, +and he described the affair. He swore that McRae had his gun drawn +before any shooting started, that there were rifles in use on the dock, +that a man was firing a Winchester rifle from the tug Edison. He was +handed a bolt action army rifle to use but made no use of it. Schofield +voluntarily came from Oregon to testify for the defense.</p> + +<p>Chief Beckingham resumed the stand and was asked further about McDowell, +alias Adams. He said:</p> + +<p>"We sent a man in with this man Adams, who was in constant fear that +somebody might see him, and he would stand way back that he might tip +this man with him and this man's fingers came out to identify the I. W. +W. men who were supposed to have guns."</p> + +<p>"What inducements were made to this man Adams?" asked Vanderveer.</p> + +<p>"In the presence of Mr. Cooley and Mr. Webb and Captain Tennant and +myself he was told that he could help the state and there would be no +punishment given him. He was taken to Everett with the impression that +he would be let out and taken care of."</p> + +<p>Another ex-deputy, Fred Plymale, confirmed the statements of Fred Luke +in regard to McRae's use of a five passenger car at Beverly Park and +showed that it was impossible for the sheriff to have attended a dance +at the hour he had claimed. The efforts of the prosecution to shake the +testimony that had been given by Fred Luke was shown by this witness who +testified that he had been approached by Mr. Clifford Newton, as agent +for Mr. Cooley, and that at an arranged conversation McRae had tried to +have him state that the runabout had been used to go to the slugging party.</p> + +<p>Walter Mulholland, an 18 year old boy, and Henry Krieg, both of whom +were members of the I. W. W. and passengers on the Verona, then +testified in detail about the shattering gun fire and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> wounding of +men on board the boat. Mulholland told of wounds received, one bullet +still being in his person at that time. Krieg, not being familiar with +military terms, stated that there were many shells on the deck of the +Verona after the trouble, and the prosecution thought they had scored +quite a point until re-direct examination brought out the fact that +Henry meant the lead bullets that had been fired from the dock.</p> + +<p>E. Carl Pearson, Snohomish County Treasurer, rather unwillingly +corroborated the testimony of ex-deputies Luke and Plymale in regard to +the actions of McRae at Beverly Park.</p> + +<p>The witness chair seemed almost to swallow the next nine witnesses who +were boys averaging about twelve years in age. These lads had picked up +shells on and beneath the dock to keep as mementos of the "Battle." +Handfuls of shells of various sizes and description, from revolver, +rifle and shotgun, intermingled with rifle clips and unfired +copper-jacketed rifle cartridges, were piled upon the clerk's desk as +exhibits by these youthful witnesses. After the various shells had been +classified by L. B. Knowlton, an expert in charge of ammunition sales +for the Whiton Hardware Company of Seattle for six years, the boys were +recalled to the stand to testify to the splintered condition of the +warehouses, their evidence proving that a large number of shots had been +fired from the interior of the warehouses directly thru the walls. The +boys who testified were Jack Warren, Palmer Strand, Rollie Jackson, +William Layton, Eugene Meives, Guy Warner, Tom Wolf, Harvey Peterson, +and Roy Jensen. Veitch, by this time thoroly disgusted with the turn +taken by the case, excused these witnesses without even a pretense of cross-examination.</p> + +<p>Completely clinching this link in the evidence against the citizen +deputies was the testimony of Miss Lillian Goldthorpe and her mother, +Hannah Goldthorpe. Miss Goldthorpe, waitress in the Commercial Club +dining room, picked up some rifle shells that had fallen from the rifles +stacked in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> office, and also from the pocket of one of the hunting +coats lying on the floor. She took these home to her mother who +afterward turned them over to Attorney Moore. She also identified +certain murderous looking blackjacks as being the same as those stored +in the Club. It is hardly necessary to state that the open-shop +advocates who continually prate about the "right of a person to work +when and where they please" were not slow about taking away Lillian's +right to work at the Commercial Club after she had given this truthful testimony!</p> + +<p>James Hadley, I. W. W. member on the Verona, told how he had dived +overboard to escape the murderous fire and had been the only man in the +water to regain a place on the boat.</p> + +<p>"I saw two go overboard and I didn't see them any more," said Hadley. +"Then I saw another man four feet from me and he seemed to be swimming +all right, and all of a sudden he went down and I never saw him any +more. I was looking right at him and he just closed his eyes and sank."</p> + +<p>Mario Marino, an 18 year old member of the I. W. W., then told of the +serious wounds he had received on the boat. He was followed by Brockman +B. Armstrong, another member of the union, who was close to the rail on +the port side of the boat. He saw a puff of smoke slightly to the rear +of McRae directly after the sound of the first shot. A rifle bullet cut +a piece out of his forehead and a second went thru his cap and creased +his scalp, felling him to his knees. Owen Genty was shot thru the kidney +on the one side of him, and Gust Turnquist was hit in the knee on the +other. As he lay in the heap of wounded men a buckshot buried itself in +the side of his head near the temple. As the Verona was pulling out he +tried to crawl to shelter and was just missed by a rifle bullet from the +dock situated to the south.</p> + +<p>Archie Collins, who had previously testified about Beverly Park, was +then called to the stand to tell of the trip to Everett and the trouble +that resulted. Prosecutor Black displayed his usual asininity by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> asking +in regard to preparations made by Verona passengers:</p> + +<p>"What were they taking or not taking?"</p> + +<p>"There might be two or three million things they were not taking," cut +in Judge Ronald chidingly.</p> + +<p>Black's examination of the various witnesses was aptly described by +Publicity Agent Charles Ashleigh in the Industrial Worker, as follows:</p> + +<p>"His examinations usually act as a soporific; heads are observed nodding +dully thruout the courtroom and one is led to wonder whether, if he were +allowed to continue, there would not be a sort of fairy-tale scene in +which the surprised visitor to the court would see audience, jury, +lawyers, judge, prisoner and functionaries buried in deep slumber +accompanied only by a species of hypnotic twittering which could be +traced eventually to a dignified youth who was lulled to sleep by his +own narcotic burblings but continued, mechanically, to utter the same +question over and over again."</p> + +<p>During this dreamy questioning Black asked about the men who were +cleaning up the boat on its return trip, with a view to having the +witness state that there were empty shells all over the deck. His question was:</p> + +<p>"Did you pick anything up from the floor?"</p> + +<p>Instantly the courtroom was galvanized into life by Collin's startling answer:</p> + +<p>"I picked up an eye, a man's eye."</p> + +<p>The witness had lifted from the blood-stained deck a long splinter of +wood on which was impaled a human eye!</p> + +<p>The story of Fred Savery was typical of the unrecognized empire builders +who make up the migratory class. Fred was born in Russia, his folks +moving to Austria and then migrating to Canada when the lad was but two +years old. At the age of nine he started at farm work and at twelve he +was big enough to handle logs and work in the woods. Savery took the +stand in his uniform of slavery, red mackinaw shirt, stagged-off pants, +caulked shoes, and a battered slouch hat in his hand. The honest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +simplicity of his halting French-Canadian speech carried more weight +than the too smooth flowing tales told by the well drilled citizen +deputies on whom the prosecution depended for conviction.</p> + +<p>Cooley dwelt at great length on the constant travel of this witness, a +feature incidental to the life of every migratory worker. Even the judge +tired of these tactics and told the prosecution that there was no way to +stop them from asking the interminable questions but it was merely a +waste of time. But all of Cooley's dilatory tactics could not erase from +the minds of the listeners the simple, earnest, sincere story Fred +Savery told of the death of his fellow worker, Hugo Gerlot.</p> + +<p>Charles Ashleigh was then placed upon the witness stand to testify to +having been selected as one of the speakers to go to Everett on November +5th. He stated that he had gone over on the Interurban and had returned +that afternoon at four o'clock. After the prosecution had interrogated +him about certain articles published subsequent to the tragedy Ashleigh was excused.</p> + +<p>To impeach the testimony of William Kenneth, wharfinger at the City +Dock, the defense then introduced Peter Aikken of Everett. Following +this witness Owen Genty, one of the I. W. W. men wounded on the Verona, +gave an account of the affair and stated that the first shot came from a +point just to the rear of the sheriff.</p> + +<p>Raymond Lee, a youth of 19 years, told of having gone to Everett on the +day of the Beverly Park affair in order to mail free speech pamphlets +directly to a number of Everett citizens. He went to the dock at the +time of the deportation, getting past the deputies on a plea of wanting +to see his uncle, his youth and neat appearance not being at all in +accord with the current idea of what an I. W. W. member looked like. Lee +was cross-questioned at great length by Veitch. This witness told the +story of the death of Abraham Rabinowitz on the Verona in these few, simple words:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i019.jpg" width='700' height='527' alt="View of Beverly Park, showing County Road." /></div> + +<h4>View of Beverly Park, showing County Road.</h4> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p><p>"Rabinowitz was lying on top of me with his head on my leg. I felt my +leg getting wet and I reached back to see what it was, and when I pulled +my hand away it was covered with blood. He was shot in the back of the brain."</p> + +<p>James McRoden, I. W. W. member who was on the Verona, gave corroborative +testimony about the first shot having been from the dock.</p> + +<p>James Francis Billings, one of the free speech prisoners, testified that +he was armed with a Colts 41 revolver on the Verona, and shortly after +the shooting started he went to the engineer of the boat and ordered him +to get the Verona away from the dock. He threw the gun overboard on the +return trip to Seattle. Black tried to make light of the serious +injuries this witness had received at Beverly Park by asking him if all +that he received was not a little brush on the shin. The witness answered:</p> + +<p>"No sir. I had a black eye. I was beaten over both eyes as far as that +is concerned. My arms were held out by one big man on either side and I +was beaten on both sides. As Sheriff McRae went past me he said 'Give it +to him good,' and when I saw what was coming I dropped in order to save +my face, and the man on the left hand side kicked me from the middle of +my back clear down to my heels, and he kept kicking me until the fellow +on the right told him to kick me no more as I was all in. My back and my +hip have bothered me ever since."</p> + +<p>Black tried to interrupt the witness and also endeavored to have his +answer stricken from the testimony but the judge answered his objection by saying:</p> + +<p>"I told you to withdraw the question and you didn't do it."</p> + +<p>Vanderveer asked Billings the question:</p> + +<p>"Why did you carry a gun on the fifth of November?"</p> + +<p>"I took it for my own personal benefit," replied Billings. "I didn't +intend to let anybody beat me up like I was beaten on October 30th in +the condition I was in. I was in bad condition at the time."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p><p>Harvey E. Wood, an employe of the Jamison Mill Company, took the stand +and told of a visit made by Jefferson Beard to the bunkhouse of the mill +company on the night of November 4th and stated that at the time there +were six automatic shot guns and three pump guns in the place. These +were for the use of James B. Reed, Neal Jamison, Joe Hosh, Roy Hosh, +Walter S. Downs, and a man named McCortell. This witness had acted as a +strikebreaker up until the time he was subpoenaed.</p> + +<p>Two of the defendants, Benjamin F. Legg and Jack Leonard, fully verified +the story told by Billings.</p> + +<p>Leland Butcher, an I. W. W. member who was on the Verona, told of how he +had been shot in the leg. When asked why he had joined the I. W. W. he answered:</p> + +<p>"I joined the I. W. W. to better my own condition and to make the +conditions my father was laboring under for the last 25 years, with +barely enough to keep himself and family, a thing of the past."</p> + +<p>Another of the defendants, Ed Roth, who had been seriously wounded on +the Verona, gave an unshaken story of the outrage. Roth testified that +he had been shot in the abdomen at the very beginning of the trouble and +because of his wounded condition and the fact that there were wounded +men piled on top of him he had been unable to move until some time after +the Verona had left the dock. This testimony showed the absurdity of +McRae's pretended identification of the witness. Roth was a member of +the International Longshoremen's Association and had joined the I. W. W. +on the day before the tragedy.</p> + +<p>John Stroka, a lad of 18, victim of the deputies at Beverly Park and a +passenger on the Verona, gave testimony regarding the men wounded on the boat.</p> + +<p>The next witness was Ernest P. Marsh, president of the State Federation +of Labor, who was called for the purpose of impeaching the testimony of +Mayor Merrill and also to prove that Mrs. Frennette was a visitor at the +Everett Labor Temple on the morning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> of November 5th, this last being +added confirmation of the fact that Clyde Gibbons had committed perjury on the stand.</p> + +<p>To the ordinary mind—and certainly the minds of the prosecution lawyers +were not above the ordinary—the social idealist is an inexplicable +mystery. Small wonder then that they could not understand the causes +that impelled the next witness, Abraham Bonnet Wimborne, one of the +defendants, to answer the call for fighters to defend free speech.</p> + +<p>Wimborne, the son of a Jewish Rabbi, told from the witness stand how he +had first joined the Socialist Party, afterward coming in contact with +the I. W. W., and upon hearing of the cruel beating given to James +Rowan, had decided to leave Portland for Everett to fight for free +speech. Arriving in Seattle on November 4th, he took passage on the +steamer Verona the next day.</p> + +<p>Prosecutor Black asked the witness what were the preparations made by +the men on the boat.</p> + +<p>"Don't misunderstand my words, Mr. Black," responded Wimborne, "when I +say prepared, I mean they were armed with the spirit of determination. +Determined to uphold the right of free speech with their feeble +strength; that is, I never really believed it would be possible for the +outrages and brutalities to come under the stars and stripes, and I +didn't think it was necessary for anything else."</p> + +<p>"Then when these men left they were determined?" inquired Black.</p> + +<p>"Yes, determined that they would uphold the spirit of the Constitution; +if not, go to jail. There were men in Everett who would refuse the right +of workingmen to come and tell the workers that they had a way whereby +the little children could get sufficient clothing, sufficient food, and +the right of education, and other things which they can only gain—how? +By organizing into industrial unions, sir, that is what I meant. We do +not believe in bloodshed. Thuggery is not our method. What can a handful +of workers do against the mighty forces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> of Maxim guns and the artillery +of the capitalist class?"</p> + +<p>"Did you consider yourself a fighting member?" questioned Black.</p> + +<p>"If you mean am I a moral fighter? yes; but physically—why, look at me! +Do I look like a fighter?" said the slightly built witness.</p> + +<p>"Did you or did you not expect to go to jail when you left Portland?" +asked the prosecutor.</p> + +<p>"My dear Mr. Black, I didn't know and I didn't care!" responded Wimborne +with a shrug of his shoulders.</p> + +<p>Wimborne joined the I. W. W. while in the Everett County Jail.</p> + +<p>Michael J. Reilley, another of the defendants, testified as to the +firing of the first shot from the dock and also gave the story of the +death of Abraham Rabinowitz. Vanderveer asked him the question:</p> + +<p>"Do you know why you are a defendant?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," replied Reilley, "because I didn't talk to them in the city +jail in Seattle. I was never picked out."</p> + +<p>Attorney H. D. Cooley was recalled to the stand and was made to admit +that he was a member of the Commercial Club and a citizen deputy on the +dock November 5th. He was asked by Vanderveer:</p> + +<p>"Did you see any guns on the dock?"</p> + +<p>"Yes sir."</p> + +<p>"Did you see any guns fired on the dock?"</p> + +<p>"Yes sir."</p> + +<p>"Did you see any guns fired on the boat?"</p> + +<p>"No sir."</p> + +<p>"Did you see a gun on the boat?"</p> + +<p>"I did not."</p> + +<p>"You were in full view of the boat?"</p> + +<p>"I was."</p> + +<p>Yet the ethics of the legal profession are such that this attorney could +justify his actions in laboring for months in an endeavor to secure, by +any and all means, the conviction of the men on the boat!</p> + +<p>Defendant Charles Black testified that McRae<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> dropped his hand to his +gun and pulled it just as one of the deputies fired from a point just +behind the sheriff. Black ran down the deck and into the cabin, passing +in front of the windows from which the deputies had sworn that heavy +firing was going on.</p> + +<p>Leonard Broman, working partner with Abraham Rabinowitz, then took the +stand and told his story. When asked what were the benefits he received +from having joined the I. W. W., the witness replied:</p> + +<p>"They raised the wages and shortened the hours. Before I joined the I. +W. W. the wages I received in Ellis, Kansas, was $3.00 for twelve hours +and last fall the I. W. W. got $3.50 for nine hours on the same work."</p> + +<p>Ex-deputy Charles Lawry told of various brutalities at the jail and also +impeached McRae's testimony in many other particulars.</p> + +<p>Dr. Grant Calhoun, who had attended the more seriously injured men who +were taken from the Verona on its return to Seattle, told of the number +and nature of the wounds that had been inflicted. On eight of the men +examined he had found twenty-one serious wounds, counting the entrance +and exit of the same bullet as only one wound. Veitch conducted no +cross-examination of the witness.</p> + +<p>Joe Manning, J. H. Beyers, and Harvey Hubler, all three of them +defendants, gave their testimony. Manning told of having been seated in +the cabin with Tracy when the firing commenced, after which he sought +cover behind the smokestack and was joined by Tracy a moment later. +Beyers identified Deputy Bridge as having stood just behind McRae with +his revolver drawn as tho firing when the first shot was heard. This +witness also corroborated the story of Billings in regard to demanding +that the engineer take the boat away from the dock. Hubler verified the +statements about conditions on the Verona and also told of being taken +from his jail cell by force on an order signed by detective McLaren in +an attempt to have him discharge the defense attorneys and accept an +alleged lawyer from Los Angeles.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i020.jpg" width='459' height='700' alt="THOMAS H. TRACY" /></div> + +<h4>THOMAS H. TRACY</h4> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p><p>Harry Parker and C. C. England told of injuries sustained on the +Verona, and John Riely stated there was absolutely no shooting from the +cabin windows, that being impossible because the men on the boat had +crowded the entire rail at that side.</p> + +<p>Jerry L. Finch, former deputy prosecuting attorney of King County, gave +impeaching testimony against Wm. Kenneth and Charles Tucker. Cooley +asked this witness about his interviews with the different state's witnesses:</p> + +<p>"If you talked with all of them, you would probably have something on all of them?"</p> + +<p>The judge would not let Finch answer the question, but there is no doubt +that Cooley had the correct idea about the character of the witnesses on +his side of the case.</p> + +<p>In detailing certain arrests Sheriff McRae had claimed that men taken +from the shingleweavers' picket line were members of the I. W. W. B. +Said was one of the men so mentioned. Said took the witness stand and +testified that he was a member of the longshoremen's union and was not +and had not been a member of the I. W. W.</p> + +<p>J. G. Brown, president of the International Shingleweavers' Union, +testified that the various men arrested on the picket line in Everett +were either members of the shingle weavers' union or else were +longshoremen from Seattle, none of the men named by McRae being members +of the I. W. W. The testimony of Brown was also of such a nature as to +be impeaching of the statements of Mayor Merrill on the witness stand.</p> + +<p>Charles Gray, Robert Adams, and Joe Ghilezano, I. W. W. men on the +Verona, then testified, Adams telling of having been shot thru the +elbow, and Ghilezano giving the details of the way in which his kneecap +had been shot off and other injuries received.</p> + +<p>The murderous intentions of the deputies were further shown by the +testimony of Nels Bruseth, who ran down to the shore to launch a boat +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> rescue the men in the water. He was stopped in this errand of mercy +by the deputies.</p> + +<p>Civil Engineer F. Whitwith, Jr., of the firm of Rutherford and Whitwith, +surveyed the dock and the steamer Verona and made a report in court of +his findings. His evidence clearly showed that there was rifle, shotgun +and revolver fire of a wild character from the interior of the +warehouses and from many points on the dock. He stated that there were +one hundred and seventy-three rifle or revolver bullet marks, exclusive +of the B-B and buckshot markings which were too numerous to count, on +the Verona, these having come from the dock, the shore, and the +Improvement Dock to the south. There were sixteen marks on the boat that +appeared as tho they might have been from revolver fire proceeding from +the boat itself. There were also small triangular shaped gouges in the +planking of the dock, the apex of the triangles indicating that bullets +had struck there and proceeded onward from the Klatawa slip to the open +space on the dock where deputies had been stationed. The physical facts +thus introduced were incontrovertible.</p> + +<p>Defendant J. D. Houlihan gave positive testimony to the effect that he +had not spoken privately with "Red" Doran in the I. W. W. hall on the +morning of November 5th, that he had received no gun from Doran or +anyone else, that he did not have the conversation which Auspos imputed +to him, that he had no talk with Auspos on the return trip. All efforts +to confuse this witness failed of their purpose.</p> + +<p>In verification of the testimony about deputies firing on the Verona +from the Improvement Company Dock the defense brought Percy Walker upon +the stand. Walker had been cruising around the bay in a little gasoline +launch and saw men armed with long guns, probably rifles or shotguns, +leaning over a breastwork of steel pipes and firing in the direction of the Verona.</p> + +<p>Lawrence Manning, Harston Peters, and Ed. J. Shapeero, defendants, told +their simple straightforward stories of the "battle." Peters stated +that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> as he lay under cover and heard the shots coming from the dock he +"wished to Christ that he did have a gun." Shapeero told of the wounds +he had received and of the way the uninjured men cared for the wounded +persons on the boat.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Joyce Peters testified that she had gone to Everett on the morning +of November 5th in company with Mrs. Lorna Mahler. The reason she did +not go on the Verona was because the trip by water had made Mrs. Mahler +ill on previous occasions. She saw Mrs. Frennette in Everett only when +they were on the same interurban car leaving for Seattle after the tragedy.</p> + +<p>Albert Doninger, W. B. Montgomery and Japheth Banfield, I. W. W. men who +were on the Verona, all placed the first shot as having come from the +dock immediately after the sheriff had cried out "You can't land here."</p> + +<p>N. Inscho, Chief of Police of Wenatchee, testified that during the time +the I. W. W. carried on their successful fight for free speech in his +city there were no incendiary fires, no property destroyed, no assaults +or acts of violence committed, and no resistance to arrest.</p> + +<p>H. W. Mullinger, lodging house proprietor, John M. Hogan, road +construction contractor, Edward Case, railroad grading contractor, +William Kincaid, alfalfa farmer, and John Egan, teamster, all of North +Yakima and vicinity, were called as character witnesses for Tracy, the +defendant having worked with or for them for a number of years.</p> + +<p>The defense followed these witnesses with Oscar Carlson, the passenger +on the Verona who had been fairly riddled with bullets. Carlson +testified that he was not and never had been a member of the I. W. W., +that he had gone to Everett with his working partner, Nordstrom, as a +sort of an excursion trip, that he had purchased a one way ticket which +was taken up by the captain after the boat had left Seattle, that he +intended returning by way of the Interurban, and that the men on the +boat were orderly and well behaved. He told of having gone to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> very +front of the boat as it pulled into Everett from which point he heard +the first shot, which was fired from the dock. He fell immediately and +while prostrate was struck with bullet after bullet. He then told of +having entered suit against the Vashon Navigation Company for $50,000.00 +on account of injuries received. Robert C. Saunders, of the law firm of +Saunders and Nelson, then testified that he was handling the case for +Carlson and had made out the affidavit of complaint himself and was +responsible for the portion that alleged that a lawless mob were on the +boat, Carlson having made no such statement to him at any time.</p> + +<p>Charles Ashleigh was recalled to the stand to testify to having +telephoned to the Seattle newspapers on November 4th, requesting them to +send reporters to Everett the next day. He was followed on the stand by +John T. Doran, familiarly known as "Red" on account of the color of his +hair. Doran stated that he was the author of the handbill distributed in +Everett prior to the attempted meeting of November 5th. He positively +denied having given a gun to Houlihan or anyone else on November 5th. +Upon cross-examination he said that he was in charge of the work of +checking the number of men who went on the Verona to Everett, and had +paid the transportation of the men in a lump sum.</p> + +<p>As the next to the last witness on its side of the long-drawn out case +the defense placed on the stand the defendant, Thomas H. Tracy. The +witness told of having been one of a working class family, too large to +be properly cared for and having to leave home and make his own way in +the world before he was eleven years old. From that time on he had +followed farming, teaming and construction work in all parts of the +west, his bronzed appearance above the prison pallor giving evidence of +his outdoor life.</p> + +<p>Tracy told of having been secretary of the I. W. W. in Everett for a +short time, that being the only official position he had ever held in +the organization. He explained his position on the boat at the time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> it +docked, stating that the first shot apparently came from the dock and +struck close to where he was sitting. Immediately the boat listed and +threw him away from the window, after which he sought a place of safety +behind the smokestack. He denied having been in any way a party to a +conspiracy to commit an act of violence, or to kill anyone.</p> + +<p>"You are charged here, Mr. Tracy," said Vanderveer, "with having aided +and abetted an unknown man in killing Jefferson Beard. Are you guilty or not guilty?"</p> + +<p>"I am not guilty," replied Tracy without a trace of emotion.</p> + +<p>The cross-questioning of the defendant in this momentous case was +conducted by citizen-deputy Cooley. His questions to the man whom he and +his fellow conspirators on the dock had not succeeded in murdering were +of the most trivial nature, clearly proving that arch-sleuth McLaren had +been unable to discover or to manufacture anything that would make +Tracy's record other than that of a plain, unassuming, migratory worker.</p> + +<p>"Where did you vote last?" asked Cooley.</p> + +<p>"I never voted," responded Tracy.</p> + +<p>"Never voted in your life?" queried Cooley.</p> + +<p>"No!" replied the defendant who for the time represented the entire +migratory class. "I was never in one place long enough!"</p> + +<p>Then, acting on the class theory that it is an honor to be a +"globe-trotter" but a disgrace to be a "blanket-stiff," the prosecutor +brought out Tracy's travels in minute detail. This examination of the +railroad construction worker brought home to the listeners the truth of +the little verse:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>"He built the road;</div> +<div>With others of his class he built the road;</div> +<div>Now o'er its weary length he packs his load,</div> +<div>Chasing a Job, spurred on by Hunger's goad,</div> +<div>He walks and walks and walks and walks,</div> +<div>And wonders why in Hell he built the road!"</div> +</div></div> + +<p>Then there hobbled into the court room on crutches a stripling with an +empty trouser leg, his face<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> drawn with suffering, and who was able to +get into the witness chair only by obviously painful efforts with the +assistance of Vanderveer and Judge Ronald. This was Harry Golden, whose +entire left leg had been amputated after having been shattered by a +high-power rifle bullet fired by a "law and order" deputy.</p> + +<p>Golden stated that he had been born in Poland twenty-two years before, +and had come to the United States at the age of sixteen. He was asked:</p> + +<p>"Why did you come to this country?"</p> + +<p>"I came to the United States," said the witness, "because it is supposed +to be a free country."</p> + +<p>"We object to that as immaterial!" cried prosecutor Veitch.</p> + +<p>The witness described the firing of the first shot and told of his +attempts to find a place of safety. He said he was wounded in the hand +as he attempted to climb into a life boat. He remained on the starboard +side of the starboard life boat until the Verona had backed out into the +bay. Then just as he was starting to raise up a rifle bullet struck his +leg, taking a course thru the limb and emerging at the knee.</p> + +<p>"That is on your left—?"</p> + +<p>"On my left, yes, which I ain't got; I lost it!" said the witness.</p> + +<p>"Did I understand you to say you stood up to see something before you +were shot?" asked Veitch.</p> + +<p>"Why, sure!" replied Golden contemptuously. "I had my two legs then."</p> + +<p>Veitch wished to learn the exact location of the witness at the time he +was shot and to that end referred to the model with the remark:</p> + +<p>"Look here. Here is the boat as it was at the dock."</p> + +<p>"I don't like to look at it!" said Golden heatedly. "I lost my leg on that boat!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i021.jpg" width='700' height='454' alt="Everett from the water. To the left G. N. Depot from +where bystanders viewed battle." /></div> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Everett</span> from the water. To the<br />left G. N. Depot from +where by-<br />standers viewed battle.</h4> + +<p>The witness was in evident pain during the examination, having just had +a hospital treatment applied to his raw stump, and was rather irritable +as a consequence. He answered several questions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> rather sharply and +proceeded to explain his answers. At one of these interruptions Judge +Ronald exclaimed to the witness angrily:</p> + +<p>"When he asks you a question answer yes or no! If you want to live in +this country try and live like an American!"</p> + +<p>"I take an exception to Your Honor's remarks!" said Moore emphatically.</p> + +<p>The judge grudgingly allowed an exception to his uncalled for statement.</p> + +<p>In concluding his examination Veitch asked the witness:</p> + +<p>"What is your name in Polish?"</p> + +<p>"I am not Polish; I am a Jew," replied Golden. "Well, what is your +family name in Poland?" asked the prosecutor.</p> + +<p>"Goldenhaul, or something like that. Now I call myself Golden. When we +come to this country—."</p> + +<p>"Never mind," interposed Veitch hurriedly.</p> + +<p>"When we come to this country for good luck we always change the name, +you know," finished Golden, and added bitterly, "I sure did have good luck!"</p> + +<p>This ended the case in chief for the defense, the marshalling of such a +mass of testimony from a host of disinterested witnesses, men, women and +children, putting it on an entirely different footing from the +prejudiced testimony brought forward by the prosecution.</p> + +<p>In rebuttal of testimony produced by the defense the prosecution +introduced a series of witnesses. As in their case in chief every one of +the parties who testified were in some way concerned in the case as +deputies, jailers, police officers, dance hall habitues, detectives, and +the like. The witnesses were W. P. Bell, Dr. F. R. Hedges, E. E. Murphy, +Charles Hall, Rudolph Weidaur, W. J. Britt, Percy Ames, Harry Blackburn, +Reuben Westover, Harry Groger, W. M. Maloney, Albert Burke, W. R. +Conner, A. E. Andrews, David D. Young, Howard Hathaway, George Leonard +Mickel, Paul Hill, E. C. Mony, B. H. Bryan, all of whom were deputies, +D. C. Pearson, W. H.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> Bridge, and "Honest" John Hogan, all three jailers +and deputies, Robert C. Hickey, city jailer, David Daniels and Adolph +Miller, police officers, Charles Manning and J. T. Rogers, personal +friends of McRae, Oscar Moline, dance hall musician, Albert McKay, of +the Ocean Food Products Company located on the Everett Improvement Dock, +T. J. McKinnon, employe of McKay, R. B. Williams, contractor, John +Flynn, agent Everett Improvement Dock, W. W. Blain and F. S. Ruble, +secretary and bookkeeper respectively of the Commercial Club and also +deputies, A. E. Ballew, Great Northern depot agent, H. G. Keith, Great +Northern detective, Charles Auspos, who was shown to be in receipt of +favors as state's witness, and George Reese, Pinkerton informer and "stool pigeon."</p> + +<p>One deputy, H. S. Groger, stated on cross-examination that he +continuously fired at a man on the boat who appeared to be trying to +untie the spring line. Outside of this evidence of a desire for +wholesale slaughter nothing developed of sufficient importance to +warrant the production of sur-rebuttal witnesses, except in the +testimony of Auspos and Reese.</p> + +<p>Auspos testified that defendant Billings in the presence of John +Rawlings had stated in the Everett County jail that he had a gun that +made a noise like a cannon. This was intended to controvert the +testimony of Billings.</p> + +<p>Reese related a conversation that Tracy was alleged to have carried on +in his presence on the Verona as it was bound for Everett. He stated +that a launch was seen approaching and someone remarked that it was +probably coming to head them off, to which Tracy replied "Let them come; +they will find we are ready for them, and we will give them something +they are not looking for." This was intended as impeachment of Tracy.</p> + +<p>Cross-examination of this informer brought out the fact that he was a +Pinkerton agent at the time he was holding the office of delegate to the +Central Labor Council of the American Federation of Labor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> Reese stated +that he was employed on the waterfront during the longshoremen's strike +with instructions to "look for everybody who was pulling the rough +stuff, such as threatening to burn or attempting to burn warehouses, and +shooting up non-union workers, and beating them up and so forth." He had +been in the employ of the Pinkerton Agency for six weeks this last time +before he was ordered to go down and join the I. W. W. He stated in +answer to a question by Vanderveer:</p> + +<p>"I was instructed to go down there and find out who these fellows were +that was handling this phosphorus and pulling off this sabotage and the +only way I could find out was to get a card and get in and get +acquainted with them."</p> + +<p>Attorney Moore in the absence of the jury offered to prove that Reese +had practically manufactured this job for himself by promoting the very +things he was supposed to discover. Moore stated some of the things he +would prove if permitted by the court:</p> + +<p>"That on or about August 1st Reese went to one J. M. Wilson, an official +of the longshoremen's union, and endeavored to get $10.00 with which to +buy dynamite to blow up a certain city dock; that on September 20th the +witness gave Percy May, a member of the longshoremen's union, a bottle +of phosphorus with instructions to start a fire at Pier 5; that in the +month of July the witness opposed a settlement of the longshoremen's +strike and when members of the union argued that they could remain out +no longer as they had no money, Reese clapped his pockets and said, 'you +fellows wouldn't be starving if you had the nerve that I have got. Why +don't you go out and get it, take it off the scabs the way I do;' that +in September Feinberg had to make Reese leave the speaker's stand in +Everett because he was talking on matters harmful to industrial union +propaganda; that on November 4th the witness went to the place where +Feinberg was employed and left a suit of clothes to be pressed, saying +to Feinberg, after he had ascertained that Feinberg was thinking of +going to Everett on the following day,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> "mark the bill 'paid' so I will +have a receipt if you don't come back;" that on August 16th, the day +before the big dock fire in Seattle, Reese went to the down-town office +of the same dye works in which Walker C. Smith was manager and in charge +of the purchase of chemicals and tried to get Smith to purchase for him +some carbon disulphide to be used in connection with phosphorus; that in +the month of November in the Labor Temple, in the presence of Sam +Sadler, Reese had said to Albert Brilliant that if the longshoremen had +any guts they would go out with guns and clean up the scabs on the +waterfront; and that Reese tried to get other men to co-operate with him +in a scheme to capture a Government boat lying in the Sound during the +progress of the longshoremen's strike."</p> + +<p>The court refused to allow the defense to go into these matters so the +only showing of the true character of Reese was confined to examination +as to the perjury he had committed in his initial sworn statement to the defense.</p> + +<p>The sur-rebuttal of the defense occupied but a few minutes. It was +admitted that Mr. Garver, the court reporter, would swear that Reese had +made an initial statement to the defense counsel and that the same had +been taken down stenographically and sworn to. Charles Tennant, captain +of the detective force of the Seattle police department, testified to +having telephoned to the sheriff's office in Everett on November 5th to +give the information that a boatload of I. W. W. men had left for +Everett. He did not describe the body of men in any way and had not said +that they were armed. This was for the purpose of showing that somewhere +between the time that Jefferson Beard received the message and the time +it was transmitted to the deputies some one had inserted the statement +that the men on the boat were heavily armed. John Rawlings, defendant, +testified that no such conversation as that related by Auspos had +occurred in the presence of defendant Billings. Thomas H. Tracy denied +making the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> threats ascribed to him by Reese, and this closed the +hearing of evidence in the case.</p> + +<p>Outside the courtroom on the day the last of the evidence was introduced +there was in progress one of the largest demonstrations of Labor ever +held in the Pacific Northwest. The date was May first, and International +Labor Day was celebrated by the united radicals of the entire city and +surrounding district. Meeting at the I. W. W. hall at 10:30 in the +morning, thousands of men and women fell into a marching line of fours, +a committee pinning a red rose or carnation on each marcher. Fifteen +solid blocks of these marchers, headed by Wagner's Band, then wended +their way thru the streets to Mount Pleasant Cemetery and grouped +themselves around the graves of Baran, Gerlot and Looney—Labor's martyred dead.</p> + +<p>There, upon the hillside, in accordance with his final wishes, the ashes +of Joe Hill were scattered to the breeze, and with them were cast upon +the air and on the graves beneath, the ashes of Jessie Lloyd and Patrick +Brennan, two loyal fighters in the class struggle who had died during +the year just passed.</p> + +<p>A fitting song service, with a few simple words by speakers in English, +Russian, Swedish, Hungarian and Italian, in commemoration of those who +had passed away, completed the tribute to the dead.</p> + +<p>Nor were the living forgotten! The great crowd drifted from the +graveside, but hundreds of them reassembled almost automatically and +marched to the King County jail. Standing there, just outside of the +very heart of the great city, the crowd, led by the I. W. W. choir, sang +song after song from the revolutionary hymnal—the little red song book, +each song being answered by one from the free speech prisoners confined +in the jail. The service lasted until late in the day and, to complete +the one labor day that is as broad as the world itself, a meeting was +held in one of the largest halls of the city. At this meeting the final +collection for the Everett Prisoners' Defense was taken and at the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>request of the imprisoned men one half of the proceeds was sent to aid +in the liberation of Tom Mooney and his fellow victims of the Merchants' +and Manufacturers' Association in San Francisco.</p> + +<p>There remained but the reading of the instructions of the court and the +addresses by the counsel for either side to complete this epoch making +case and place it in the hands of the jury for their final verdict.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>PLEADINGS AND THE VERDICT</h3> + +<p>The instructions of the court, carefully prepared by Judge J. T. Ronald, +required sixty-five minutes in the reading. These instructions were +divided into twenty-three sections, each section representing a +different phase of the case. Herewith is presented the first section in +its entirety and a summary of the remaining portion:</p> + +<p>"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury:</p> + +<p>"My responsibility is to decide all questions of law in this case; yours +to decide one question of fact. With these instructions my +responsibility practically ends, your commences. You have taken a solemn +oath that 'you will well and truly try and true delivery make between +the State of Washington and the prisoner at the bar, whom you have in +charge, according to the evidence.'</p> + +<p>"There is no escape from the responsibility which has come to you, save +in the faithful effort to render a true verdict. Any verdict other than +one based upon pure conscience will be an injustice. An honest juror +yields to no friendship, nor bears any enmity. He is moved by no +sympathy, nor influenced by any prejudice. He seeks the approval of no +one, nor fears the condemnation of anyone—save that one unerring, +silent monitor, his own conscience. Disregard this whispering voice in +yourself and you may fool the public, you may fool the defendant, you +may, hereafter, with some effort, even close your own soul to her +whispering reproaches and enjoy the ill-earned plaudits of the selfish +or biased friend or interest whom you sought to please, but be assured +you will not change the truth, you will not deceive justice which, at +some time, and in some way, will collect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> from you the penalty which is +always sooner or later exacted from those who betray the truth.</p> + +<p>"So let me urge that in deciding the issue of facts which is now your +responsibility you be guided by these instructions which you have sworn +to follow, and by their conscientious application to the evidence in this case.</p> + +<p>"Do not permit yourselves to be swayed by sympathy, influenced by +prejudice, or moved in the least by a consideration of what might or +might not meet the approval or the condemnation of any person or class +of persons, or of interest whatever. To do so will be an act alike +dishonest, violative of your oath, substituting for a fair and impartial +trial an unfair and a partial one. This is an epoch in your lives to +which you will ever look back. Be sure that when you do you may face the +smiling approval of your conscience rather than its stinging reproach.</p> + +<p>"The guilt or innocence of this defendant is a single question of fact +to be determined by the evidence alone. If this evidence shows defendant +to be guilty, then no sympathy, no desire for approval, no fear of +condemnation, can make him innocent; if the evidence fails to show him +guilty, then no prejudice, no desire for approval, no fear of +condemnation, can make him guilty. The issue is a momentous one, not +only to the defendant, who, if innocent, deserves the deepest sympathy, +for the accusation made against him is a serious one; but likewise to +the public and to society at large, and the tranquility and security of +our different communities.</p> + +<p>"A false verdict against the defendant conflicts with the purpose and +the laws of the State as effectively as a false verdict in his favor. +The State has no higher duty or interest than to preserve all its +citizens from suffering under unfounded accusations. If, on the other +hand, the guilt of the defendant has been shown, a false verdict of +acquittal would not only be a breach of your oaths, but it would inflict +a grievous wrong upon the State. If a true verdict calls for conviction, +the misfortune to the defendant is not in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> the verdict, nor in the +penalty, but in the fact it was his conduct which makes the verdict +true. You alone of all the world, and who now possess all the facts, are +therefore responsible for the verdict in this case. The law is not +concerned about conviction merely—but it is concerned, deeply +concerned, that juries shall conscientiously and fearlessly declare the +truth. Whether it be conviction, or whether it be acquittal, a true +verdict is justice—a false is injustice."</p> + +<p>Judge Ronald followed this lecture on civic righteousness and personal +duty with more specific instructions to the jury, of which the following are excerpts.</p> + +<p>"In this case you must answer the question—Is this defendant guilty or +innocent? * * * Keep constantly in mind this issue and do not go astray +to discuss any other of the many issues that may be suggested by or may +lay hidden among the great mass of evidence in this case. Whether the +Industrial Workers of the World shall or shall not speak at a certain +place in the City of Everett is not an issue here. * * * Whether the +open or the closed shop shall prevail is not a subject for your consideration.</p> + +<p>"Every defendant in a criminal case is presumed to be innocent. * * * +You must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of the facts necessary +to show guilt before you can convict. * * * You should give the phrase +'proof beyond a reasonable doubt' its full meaning and weight as +explained and defined to you in these instructions. On the other hand, +you should not magnify nor exaggerate its force and fail to return a +verdict of guilty simply because the evidence does not satisfy you of +guilt to an absolute certainty. No crime can be proved to an absolute certainty.</p> + +<p>"It does not follow because every one of the facts which are disputed +between the parties may not be established beyond a reasonable doubt, +that there cannot be a conviction. At the same time you will bear +carefully in mind that all facts which are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>necessary to establish the +conclusion of guilt must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.</p> + +<p>"There are two facts necessary to convict this defendant:</p> + +<p>(1) That some person on the boat unlawfully killed Jefferson Beard.</p> + +<p>(2) That this defendant aided, incited or encouraged such shooting.</p> + +<p>"If you are satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of these two facts, then +you must convict, no matter what may be your belief concerning any other +question in dispute in this case; if you have a reasonable doubt as to +either of these two facts, then you must acquit."</p> + +<p>The instructions then went into detail as to the rights of the workers +to organize, to bargain in regard to compensation, hours of labor and +conditions of work generally, to go on strike, to persuade or entice +their fellow workers by peaceful means from taking the positions which +they have left, to assemble at public places where such meetings are not +prohibited by law and ordinance, and "no person, either private citizen +or public official, has any right to deny, abridge or in any manner +interfere with the full and free enjoyment of those privileges and any +person who attempts to do so is himself guilty of an unlawful act."</p> + +<p>After reciting such acts attributed to the workers in this case as were +in violation of law, the instructions went on to state that "a sheriff +has no authority to arrest any person without a warrant except upon +probable cause for believing such person has violated a law of the +state; nor has he authority after making such arrest to hold his +prisoner in custody for a longer time than is reasonably necessary to +cause proper complaint to be filed, and an opportunity given for bail. * +* * A sheriff has no right or authority to interfere with or prevent any +person from violating a city ordinance, nor has he the right or +authority to arrest for violations of city ordinances" unless "the act +threatened, or the act done,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> in violation of such ordinance be at the +same time violation of a state law."</p> + +<p>The instructions then outlined the scope of criminal conspiracy, stating +that it was unnecessary for one conspirator to know all of the other +conspirators but that common design is the essence of the charge of +conspiracy. The acts of one conspirator become the acts of any and all +conspirators. In the eyes of the law the sheriff and the deputies also +constituted in this case but one personality, the sheriff being bound by +the acts of his deputies and the deputies being authorized by the powers +of the sheriff. Also the ordinance dated September 21st, 1916, was held +to be a valid one.</p> + +<p>"Now whether any of the Industrial Workers of the World have been, prior +to November 5, 1916, guilty of encouraging disrespect for law, or of +unlawful assemblage, or of riot, is not the question on trial here. They +could all be guilty of all the acts or offenses heretofore mentioned, +and still this defendant be innocent of this particular crime charged on +November 5th, or they could all be innocent of all the acts mentioned, +and defendant still be guilty of the main charge here.</p> + +<p>"Again, whether the sheriff or any of his assistants have been guilty of +any of the acts charged against them is not on trial here. They could +all be guilty of all the acts charged and still be the victims of +unjustifiable shooting from that boat, or they could all be innocent of +any offense, and still be the aggressors and cause of that shooting on +the dock wherein Jefferson Beard lost his life.</p> + +<p>"One of the questions in this case is the question—Which side was the +aggressor on that occasion?</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p> + +<h4>Victims at Morgue.</h4> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i022.jpg" width='700' height='488' alt="Victims at Morgue. +John Looney Hugo Gerlot, Felix Baran Abe Rabinowitz" /></div> + +<h4>John Looney Hugo Gerlot, Felix Baran Abe Rabinowitz</h4> + +<p>"In determining who was the aggressor it is your duty to consider all +the facts and circumstances surrounding the situation, the relations of +the parties to each other, their intentions toward each other, and all +the things they did. You will also consider the past conduct of all the +parties, any acts of violence or other assaults that may have been +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>committed, and any threats that may have been made, and the character +as known and understood by each other.</p> + +<p>"Therefore, simplify your deliberations and determine first the +question: Did somebody on the boat unlawfully kill Jefferson Beard? If +somebody on the boat did not kill Beard, then of course Tracy could not +be guilty of aiding John Doe to do something which John Doe did not do. +But if the State has satisfied you beyond a reasonable doubt that Beard +was killed by a shot fired by somebody on the boat, then such killing is +either unlawful, in which case John Doe would be guilty of one of three +degrees of unlawful or felonious homicide, viz., murder in the first +degree, murder in the second degree, or manslaughter; or it is +justifiable in which case John Doe would not be guilty. Hence you will +render one of four verdicts in this case—</p> + +<p>1. Guilty of murder in the first degree, or</p> + +<p>2. Guilty of murder in the second degree, or</p> + +<p>3. Guilty of manslaughter, or</p> + +<p>4. Not guilty.</p> + +<p>"It is very desirable that you reach a verdict in this case. The law +requires that your conclusion shall be unanimous. It is not required +that any one of you should surrender his individual freedom of +judgement, but it is well that each of you should have in mind that your +true verdict cannot ordinarily be reached except by mutual consideration +and discussion of all the different views that may suggest themselves to +any of your number. The jury room is no place for pride of opinion. A +verdict which is the result of real harmony, or that growing out of +open-minded discussion between jurors, and a willingness to be +convinced, with a proper regard for the opinions of others, and with a +reasonable distrust of individual views not shared by their fellows, is +a fair yielding of one reason to a stronger one; such, having in mind +the great desirability of unanimity, is not open to criticism. The law +contemplates that jurors shall, by their discussions, harmonize their +views if possible, but not that they shall compromise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> and yield for the +mere purpose of agreement. One should not surrender his conscientious convictions.</p> + +<p>"And now, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I commit the case to your +hands. Listen to the arguments. Regardless of what may be counsel's +recollection of testimony, you must take and follow your own +recollection. You are not required to adopt any view which counsel may +suggest in argument, but you should give close attention to all they +say. Take up your task fearlessly, with but one single aim—to discharge +the obligations of your oaths. You have no class to satisfy—simply the +dictates of your own conscience."</p> + +<p>Taken as a whole the instructions were distinctly unfavorable to the +defendant, not because of any particular bias of the judge whose +political ambitions might have made him desirous of establishing a +record for fairness, but by reason of the fact that the law itself on +the question of criminal conspiracy is archaic and absurd, being based +upon precedents established when the use of electricity and steam power +were unknown, when the stage coach was the fastest means of locomotion +and the tallow dip the principal form of illumination. This law, like +all other statute law, was created thru the desire of the ruling class +to protect property, therefore it contained no element of justice when +applied to the modern proletariat, the twentieth century worker stripped +of everything but his power to labor.</p> + +<p>Following the reading of the court's instructions prosecutor Black made +his argument, Vanderveer and Moore for the defense addressing the jury +in turn, and Cooley making the concluding plea for the state. This +arrangement gave Veitch no chance to turn loose his oratorical +fireworks, much to the chagrin of the gentleman who had been so kindly +loaned to the prosecution by the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association.</p> + +<p>Black's lengthy address was a whine for pity because of his youth and a +prayer for relief from the dire straits and legal bankruptcy into which +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>Snohomish County had fallen. It is summarized in the following:</p> + +<p>"We are at the close of a great trial. A great deal of evidence has been +introduced; practically two million five hundred words. From the +standpoint of the attorneys who have tried this case the evidence has +been very complicated because it had in it a great mass of evidence that +was only remotely connected with the real issue at bar. You as jurors +have a very simple question to decide in this case.</p> + +<p>"Thomas H. Tracy is charged with the crime of murder in the first +degree, not that he himself killed Jefferson Beard, but that he, Thomas +H. Tracy, aided, incited and encouraged some unknown one to kill +Jefferson Beard of Everett, on last November 5th.</p> + +<p>"I repeat first that some person on the boat unlawfully killed Jefferson +Beard; secondly that this defendant, aided, incited and encouraged such shooting.</p> + +<p>"I come before you as the prosecuting attorney of Snohomish County. +Owing to the exigencies of politics I was elected to office a few days +after November 5th, the time of this catastrophe. Two months and a few +days after, I took office and found a man charged with a crime that I +did not have the power of prosecution over up to that time. Mr. Webb, +then prosecuting attorney, who had started the action and initiated and +seen fit to collect some of the evidence, was not able to complete the +prosecution on account of the size of the trial.</p> + +<p>"I am a young man without the experience that any man ought to have in +the prosecuting of a case like this, a case the size of which has never +been experienced in the State of Washington, and in many ways an +absolutely pioneer case in criminal trials the world over.</p> + +<p>"So the State has been hampered in that at the outset a young man, a new +prosecuting attorney, has come into office and to him there has come a +case that no man could read up concerning, and a large piece of +battle—it is the State's contention, a battle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> between hundreds of men +on the boat and a large number of deputies on the dock, a battle +absolutely and surely initiated by firing from the boat, but still a +battle;—a case without parallel in the criminal history of this State +or of the United States.</p> + +<p>"It happens that fortunately the State has had assistance in this case. +The State of Washington, thru its county commissioners, requested the +assistance in this case of Mr. Cooley, whom you have all grown to know, +a man who formerly for four years was prosecuting attorney of Snohomish +County, and who since that time has been associated as assistant counsel +in practically all the criminal prosecutions of Snohomish County that +have required assistance.</p> + +<p>"And in addition to this the State has been fortunate in having, at the +request of the county commissioners, the assistance of Mr. Veitch, a +young man it is true, but one who thru years of service in the district +attorney's office in Los Angeles County had experience in criminal +trials, and especially because of his connection with what are known as +the conspiracy murder trials in Los Angeles County, and also in +assisting the federal prosecution at Indianapolis. It has been necessary +in this kind of a case for the State to have assistance.</p> + +<p>"Now I told you my friends that I came here as prosecuting attorney of +Snohomish County. I am also a deputy prosecuting attorney of King County +under Mr. Lundin. After I was appointed I was very unpleasantly +surprised by one statement. A little phrase, 'without pay,' so that I +don't know whether really I am a deputy prosecuting attorney or not, +because I found that in public office a man always likes to see the +warrant come at the end of the month!</p> + +<p>"You are a jury in this case from King County because the defendant and +the other defendants filed an affidavit to the effect that they didn't +expect that a jury selected in Snohomish County would give the defendant +a fair trial. The State is happy in your selection and knows that you +will follow the dictates of your conscience and is likewise confident +that you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> cannot help but believe that Jefferson Beard was killed by +someone shooting from the Verona, and that Thomas H. Tracy, alias George +Martin, incited, aided and encouraged in that shooting.</p> + +<p>"Now, the witnesses on the dock are men of Everett, men of family, men +who are laborers, but with families; men who are clerks, with interests +in Snohomish County; men who hold some important positions, as lawyers; +people with families, people who by residence have established +reputation for truth and veracity; men who have established themselves, +have made themselves successful, sometimes in merely that they have +established a small home, or who have lived in Everett and have made +friends and acquaintances. That is the class of men that were on the dock.</p> + +<p>"There are only two classes of people who know anything about the +shooting. The people on the dock are one set, and the people on the boat are the other.</p> + +<p>"The people on the boat, with but one or two exceptions, are men who have +established no reputation for truth and veracity, have been successful +in the world in no way, even from the standpoint of stable friends, +living here and there, unfortunately; perchance, with some of them it is +due to unfortunate circumstances and environments, and they have been +unlucky, but still they haven't established stable friends in any community.</p> + +<p>"Then there are the three boatmen on the boat—and those three men, +unprejudiced, unbiased, not deputies and not Commercial Club members, +but merely laborers, they know where the first shot came from, and they +tell, and their testimony absolutely and entirely contradicts the +testimony of the defense in this case from start to finish.</p> + +<p>"And when you look at that red face and red hair and that honest +expression of big Jack Hogan John Hogan here, and his honest blue eyes, +it doesn't seem to me that you can have any more doubt than I have that +Jack Hogan saw Tracy.</p> + +<p>"Now, these men that come on the stand all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>confess they had a common +design. Their common design they say, was that about two o'clock in +Everett they were going to speak at the corner of Wetmore and Hewitt +Avenues, that is their common design.</p> + +<p>"The court tells you that the purpose that they admit was unlawful, so +Tracy, by the testimony adduced in his favor, was one of the men having +a common design for an unlawful purpose. Tracy, regardless of his +location, regardless of whether he fired or not, is guilty.</p> + +<p>"The sheriff and his deputies could have been guilty of everything +claimed against them previous to this and the defendant still be guilty +of helping and encouraging someone else to unjustifiably kill Jefferson Beard.</p> + +<p>"Under the Court's instructions there were acts done at Beverly Park +that were unlawful. There is no question about that. Instead of this +being a weakness on the State's part, it seems to me that it is an added +strength. Because the I. W. W. used Beverly Park for what purpose? They +jumped on it with desire, deeming it a fortunate circumstance because +they wanted to inflame men to invade Everett. They jumped on this, the +men at the head of the conspiracy, they jumped on Beverly Park because +they could use it to inflame their members. How do we know? Their own +statements! Their telegrams! 'Advertise conditions and send volunteers.' +Volunteers for what? Volunteers for what? When a man represents things +and so helps to make men mad he wants these men up there as volunteers +for retaliation. And the Court has instructed you that if these men went +up there with the purpose of retaliating, they are guilty. Tracy having +been one of a common design makes it central, vital, in good conscience +as citizens, that you return your verdict asked by the state.</p> + +<p>"Any time a murder is committed it is important that prosecution be had +and conviction secured. That is always vital from the standpoint of +protection to society. The police, the sheriff's office, and the +officials of all cities and states of the United<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> States sometimes +forget themselves, I take it, sometimes do things they shouldn't do, +sometimes do things they should be censured for, but the fact that they +had is no reason that murder is to be excused or justified, because if +you did, we would have no society. That is true in an ordinary murder +case. That is overwhelmingly true in this case.</p> + +<p>"The I. W. W. is an organization that realizes the great truth in +combating government. They have stumbled upon an overwhelmingly +successful instrument in fighting society. What is that? To commit a +violation of the law in numbers, to violate the law by so many people +that only a few can be prosecuted and even if they are convicted, the +great majority go scott free. They built better than they knew when they +stumbled upon the great secret that the violation of a law in great +numbers would protect practically all of the violators. And this trial +itself is proof of that.</p> + +<p>"Snohomish County can ill afford the expense of this one trial; can ill +afford the expense of two or three trials after this; would be +overwhelmed with debt to convict all the men who are in this conspiracy, +if there were a conspiracy it can't do it; most of them are safe from +prosecution and they know it; and the only protection that Snohomish +County has, and King County has, and the State of Washington has, and +the United States has, is that when something happens like this a +conviction be secured against a man who is guilty, not because you are +convicting all, because you can't, you are helpless—but because that at +least is the voice of warning to the men that if you lead an attempt you +may be the one of the great number that will be caught. It is important +from the standpoint of citizens of the State of Washington to establish +the principle that crimes cannot be committed by numbers with impunity, +that while it is fairly safe, it won't be absolutely safe. We have no +protection. That is the vital part of this case. We have no protection.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i023.jpg" width='700' height='484' alt="JOHN LOONEY" /></div> + +<h4>JOHN LOONEY</h4> + +<p>"If this case were just that of murder committed by one man acting +alone, the importance of your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> verdict would be of small significance, +compared with the importance of your verdict in a criminal case where +the members are part of an organization. True, the society has no doubt +a great many aims that are desirable to improve the welfare of the +workingman. But it has one aim, one vital aim, in its platform to bring +upon it the condemnation of thinking, sober men and women residing +permanently in the State of Washington, and that is sabotage.</p> + +<p>"We are not claiming that the killing of Jefferson Beard was in the +exercise of sabotage. We are saying that sabotage along with the +conscious withdrawal of efficiency, sabotage along with the destruction +of property, may also mean crime.</p> + +<p>"The I. W. W. members did not come to Everett for the purpose of +employment; they were men who were wanderers upon the face of the earth, +who desired to establish themselves nowhere, and none of them, as far as +this witness stand is concerned, expected to work in Everett or to put +sabotage in effect in Everett by working slow. The only way they could +use sabotage in Everett was by the destruction of property. The mayor +became alarmed, and the sheriff, after their repeated threats in their +papers. But whether you believe sabotage to be good, bad, or +indifferent, really is not vital in this case except as a circumstance.</p> + +<p>"Now, the Wanderer. The Wanderer did not happen the way they said it +happened. The sheriff did shoot after they refused to stop. The sheriff +did hit some of them with the butt of his gun. The sheriff brought them +into Everett because they constituted an unlawful assemblage. The +sheriff did the only thing he could do. He filed charges against them +and they were arraigned in court. Twenty-three men cannot be tried +quickly when each one demands a separate trial by jury. Twenty-three +trials would stop the judicial machinery for three months. They could +not be tried and so the sheriff turned them loose. Maybe he did hit them +harder than he should have. Policemen do that! Sheriff do that! Lots of +time they hit men when it is not necessary. Hit them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> too hard, +sometimes. They don't always understand exactly what they are supposed +to do. But the I. W. W. exaggerated the matter and used it to incite +retaliation on the fifth. So the Beverly Park incident, and all other +incidents, if true to the last syllable of the defense testimony, merely +in this case extenuated the motive on November 5th.</p> + +<p>"Now then, why did the State select Tracy? The State's evidence was to +the effect that Tracy was not only a member of the conspiracy, but was +firing. Several State's witnesses recognized Tracy. There was another +reason. What was that? Some of these men, some of these boys, flitting +here and there from job to job, with never more than a dollar or two in +their pockets, were inflamed intentionally by people who misrepresented +conditions. They did not have any right to be inflamed; they did not +have any right to go to Everett and they are guilty of murder if they +went up there to retaliate for any wrong, actual or conceived. But the +State has preferred to put on first a man who was in the forefront of +the conspiracy; the man that appeared to be an important cog of that +conspiracy, and that man is Tracy.</p> + +<p>"Tracy knew that a great many people of Everett were alarmed and +disturbed. Tracy knew that the I. W. W. did not want anything in +Everett, had no interests there, no friends there except as they were +disturbing conditions. Tracy knew the purposes and Tracy went back to +Seattle so he could lead this excursion to Everett. Tracy is a man of +determination. He knew the situation and he was prominent enough to be +selected by the organization as a stationary delegate. And if any man +knew what they intended to do in Everett, it undoubtedly was Tracy. So, +regardless of whether he fired or not, Tracy was one of the men who were +on the inside. Tracy is a part of the conspiracy that happened. But no +man, my friends, on that boat, that went up there with a common design +to break the ordinance has been sinned against because he is in jail.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p><p>"Now, my friends, you want in good faith to follow the instructions of +the court. It seems to me that the only question you have to decide is +the one the court told you to decide—Was Beard killed unlawfully by a +shot from the boat, and did Tracy aid, encourage or incite that killing?</p> + +<p>"The murder of Jefferson Beard was a premeditated murder. Following the +instructions of the court, separating the wheat from the chaff, and +deciding that one question, we of the State are confident that you as +jurors and good citizens, as honest, sincere and conscientious citizens, +will protect Snohomish County—we believe that your verdict will say 'We +are convinced, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Tracy is guilty, and, +being so convinced, we are going to protect Snohomish County as we would +our own.' I thank you!"</p> + +<p>Vanderveer handled the case from two different viewpoints—that of a +first degree murder trial and also as a section of the class struggle. +His address was a masterly array of invincible logic and satire. +Omitting his readings from the transcript of evidence, his speech was +substantially as follows:</p> + +<p>"This cause is, as the counsel for the state has told you, one of +momentous importance not only to the defendant but to a class—a large +class of people of whom today he stands merely as an unfortunate single +member, fighting their battle.</p> + +<p>"We do not ask in this case for mercy, we do not ask for sympathy, but +it is essential, absolutely essential that we should have cold, stern +justice; justice for the defendant, justice for those who have oppressed +him, those who have denied him his rights. We hope this case is the +beginning of a line of prosecution which will see that justice is done +in the Everett situation.</p> + +<p>"It is not the defense who outlined the issues in this case, it was the +State who determined that. They have chosen their fighting ground, and +we had to meet them on that battle. In the beginning of this case the +State, thru Mr. Black, told you that it would prove a conspiracy of very +formidable proportions,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> a conspiracy in the first place to commit acts +of violence and to incite acts of violence, a conspiracy to commit +arson, a conspiracy to overrun all law and order in Everett and bring on +a condition of chaos. The claim was a very formidable one. The evidence +has been very silly. The State ought to apologize, in common decency, +for ever having suggested these things.</p> + +<p>"What is the evidence about the fires? The fire marshall's report, made +by a man who would naturally try to enlarge the performance of his +duties and impress upon the public the manner in which he discharged +them, reports only four fires of incendiary origin for the entire year. +Every one of these were discovered before they did five cents worth of +damage. Who had notice of them? Was it the I. W. W. who set them or was +it Reese or some paid employe of the Pinkerton Agency? Can you conceive +that an organization embracing as many members as this does, bent upon +the destruction of Everett, could not set one fire at least that would +do some damage. It is nothing but a hoax!</p> + +<p>"As to force and violence, who did they put on to prove it? Young Howard +Hathaway, a mere boy, whose father represents some mill companies in +Everett. Then Sheriff McRae, and McRae couldn't tell you one thing that +he heard at the street meetings. Then they put on Ed Hawes, the big +brute that out at Beverly called the little boy a coward, a baby, +because he wouldn't stand there and be slugged with guns and clubs. And +what did Hawes say? That he looked up sabotage in the International +Dictionary! And you can search that book until you are black in the face +and you won't find a word in there about sabotage. Why, if sabotage is +such a terrible thing, did Hawes, having heard all about it at the +street meeting, have to go home to look it up at all?</p> + +<p>"At these meetings there was not one thing said that could invite +criticism, there was not one thing said that could justify or invite +censure or abuse; there was not one disorderly thing done but was done +by the officers of the law themselves, and they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> went in recklessly, +without excuse, without right, they clubbed Henig, they clubbed Carr, a +former member of the council, and they roughed women around and knocked +them down. Why? Because these people were mill owners, their hirelings +and their representatives, who had been instructed in the propaganda of +the open shop by employes, aides and emissaries of the Merchants' and +Manufacturers' Association.</p> + +<p>"A lot of people went to the jail one night, a thousand, maybe. They +hooted, they cat-called, and they hissed. Is it any wonder they did? +Ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you there is no surer verdict on +earth than the verdict of a crowd; and the verdict of that crowd +condemned what the deputies had done.</p> + +<p>"Finally they say there was a conspiracy on the 5th of November to go to +Everett and to hold their meeting at all hazard, to brook no opposition, +to ride rough-shod over it, to oppose everyone and anything that stood +in the way of accomplishing their purpose. I ask you to think just for a +moment how foreign that is to everything you know about the I. W. W. and +their operations and behavior in Everett. Not one witness for the state +could tell you an incident where one of them resisted arrest, could tell +you an occasion where one of them had advocated violence, could tell you +one occasion where any one of them had committed any acts of violence.</p> + +<p>"These people wrote to Governor Lister calling his attention to the +violations of the law on the part of the officers of Everett; they wrote +to Mayor Merrill, enclosing a copy of that letter and calling on him to +restore the order that had been violated by the officers of the law; +they scattered handbills all over Everett, among its best homes and in +its business streets, calling upon the good citizens to come to their +meeting on November 5th at Wetmore and Hewitt, to come and help maintain +your own and our constitutional privileges; they mailed to the citizens +of Everett on October 30th, seven or eight hundred copies of a little +pamphlet calling upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> them to intervene and stop the brutality of +officers of the law; they questioned Governor Lister at a public meeting +and again called his attention to the conditions in Everett; they called +in the reporters, called the newspapers and notified the editors that +they were going to Everett and asked them to have representatives +present: Are these the acts of conspirators?</p> + +<p>"You know how that meeting was called and why it was called. You know it +from ministers of the gospel, you know it from the lips of those whom +you cannot help but believe. And it was called for Sunday, the day when +people ordinarily resent disorders of the kind that had occurred there. +It was called for the daytime, when ordinarily abuse and violence are +not attempted. And this big crowd went up there on this fine Sunday +afternoon because in number there is strength and in numbers there is +protection against brutality.</p> + +<p>"At first the deputies had taken out one or two and abused and beaten +them; then they had taken five or six; they had taken eighteen; finally +they had taken forty-one. But I ask you, would you believe it possible +that they could take two hundred or three hundred people in broad +daylight and do to them what had been done to the others? Yet the +evidence in this case shows convincingly and conclusively they intended +to do substantially that thing. They intended to run those men into a +warehouse; they didn't intend to let one of them get away. And had they +gotten them into that warehouse you don't know, I don't know, nobody +knows what would have happened!</p> + +<p>"That is the evidence of conspiracy in this case. They have claimed no +other conspiracy; they have offered no other evidence of conspiracy, +either to set fires or to incite violence, or to override all opposition +on November 5th. Their evidence doesn't stand even if unanswered—and no +evidence could be more successfully answered.</p> + +<p>"What evidence is there that Tom Tracy had anything to do with such a +conspiracy, if there were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> one? Their most willing tools, Auspos and +Reese, don't say a word about Tracy.</p> + +<p>"What does the identification by McRae amount to? He identifies Tracy as +the man who leaned out of the window and shot at him. Now at the time +this shot was fired McRae had his back turned to the man who shot it. He +says himself he did, and he was shot thru the heel, which seems to prove +it. That, by the way, suggests to me that it was not an I. W. W. who +shot McRae. The man who shot him must have thought McRae a hero, like +the gentleman of mythological fame who was killed by an arrow thru the +heel which no I. W. W. does, I assure you. Or else he thought that McRae +wore his brains there.</p> + +<p>"But I am not going to discuss McRae at great length either now or at +any other stage of this case, because the greatest kindness I can do him +is to forget him. The man is a perjurer! He lied! He was not mistaken. +He deliberately, cold-bloodedly lied about almost everything in this +case wherein his conduct as an officer was questioned. He lied about +'Sergeant' Keenan! He lied about shooting at the "Wanderer," and you saw +the bullet holes. He lied about Berg and about Mitten, and finally, and +last of all lied, and we have proven it conclusively, about being out to Beverly Park.</p> + +<p>"Bridge's identification of Tracy does not agree with that of Smith, and +Bridge does not even agree with his own testimony given at the coroner's +inquest. Smith picked out a photograph and said it was Tracy and that +picture resembles Tracy about as much as I do some of you jurors. Bridge +and Smith say that Tracy fired three shots, and Hogan says he fired only +one. And you know, ladies and gentlemen, that Hogan did not see this man +at all. You know that he did not even see the window at which he +pretends this man was sitting when the shot was fired. You know it +because you went there to the dock and you saw the boat lined up to a +mathematical certainty by the shot marks, and you saw a photograph taken +with the camera placed by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> John Hogan exactly where he said he was +standing himself. And there wasn't a one of you who could identify Bob +Mills, with his long nose and angular features, with everything that +makes identification easy, when he was in the position attributed to +Tracy. And when you came around from there to where you could look +directly at the place, the reflected glare of the sunshine left nothing +but a blank background.</p> + +<p>"There were one hundred and forty deputies looking toward the place +where the first shot was supposed to have been fired. They have produced +on the witness stand only about one in ten. We challenged them to bring +them all on, we dared them to do it, and Mr. Cooley said 'I accept that +dare!'—look it up Mr. Cooley on page 1802 of the transcript—but he did +not dare accept that dare. Mr. Cooley knows what those nine-tenths would +testify to. Twelve out of their sixteen witnesses who testified about +the first shots said that their brother deputies were mistaken as to +even the place on the boat where the first three shots came from.</p> + +<p>"I venture, ladies and gentlemen, that with a bit of the kind of work +the State has employed in this case, a little bit of the same zeal that +was employed on Auspos, a little bit of the same zeal that was employed +with Reese, a little bit of the help of McLaren of Los Angeles, I can +take these one hundred and forty-five men and pick out four men who will +honestly and truthfully testify that they saw anything, and I say that +with no reflection on their honesty either, because the power of +suggestion is enormous. It is not surprising that four people have come +here to say they saw Tracy. It is not surprising that three out of the +four should have been proven, conclusively, convincingly and absolutely, +not to know what they were talking about.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p> + +<h4>FELIX BARAN</h4> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i024.jpg" width='700' height='480' alt="FELIX BARAN" /></div> + +<h4>Dark lines on body caused by internal hemorrhage; Portland<br />doctor said +life might have been saved by operation.</h4> + +<p>"The court has told you that in this case it is not a question of who +shot first, not a question of which side shot first, it is a question of +who was the aggressor, who made the first aggressive movement,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> who did +the first hostile thing. The man who did a thing to excite fear was the +aggressor, and that man was McRae when he pulled his gun. McRae clearly +did that before there was any shooting.</p> + +<p>"In determining who the aggressor was, you are entitled—not only +entitled but must take into account the past behavior of all parties. +And what does that show you? Was it the I. W. W.'s who had never offered +violence, who had never done an act of violence, who had decried and +deplored violence, as members of their audiences told you, and advised +caution against it? Or was it McRae and his deputies?</p> + +<p>"It is only formally correct to refer to these as deputies. They had +commissions, but in nothing else in the world did they bear the remotest +resemblance to officers of the law, not in their conduct, not in their +training, not in their purposes, not in anything. They were the +hirelings of either the mill owners of Everett or the Commercial Club. +Did you ever in your life before hear of officials taking their +instructions from representatives of an industrial movement? Did you +ever before hear of deputy sheriffs being instructed in the propaganda +of the open shop, being instructed in the methods employed at Minot +unlawfully to prevent street speaking? That is where the first mistake +in this case was made. First in the selection of that kind of men; +second in the deliberate attempts which were made to color their +actions, to pervert them, to make them the tools of the employers.</p> + +<p>"That is the reason Henig and Carr were beaten, that is the reason +Feinberg and Roberts were beaten, that is the reason men and women were +knocked down in the crowds, that is the reason that this boy, Schwartz, +was taken out by McRae and chased zigzag down the road in mortal terror +of being run down by the sheriff's automobile, that is the reason +'Sergeant' Keenan was hit over the head with a gun, that is the reason +James Rowan was taken out and beaten black and blue. How do you suppose +Rowan got those marks on his back? Did he put<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> them there for fun, or +were they put there by somebody else's rotten, dirty brutality? If you +didn't know a thing about him except what you know about Beverly and +these other incidents, and it was deep darkness where this happened, I +venture you would all say off-hand, 'It must have happened at Everett, +anyway. There is no place else that I know of where they do such things.'</p> + +<p>"Black says the "Wanderer" has been greatly misrepresented to you, that +the things we claim happened did not happen there at all. Well, there is +a lot of evidence that they did happen. There are a lot of people who +could have denied it. There are a whole crew of deputies who could have +come up here and denied it. Why didn't they? Because they were ashamed +of it and they knew they could not stand the grilling that was awaiting +them in the court room. It is true, certainly! And I say here that +nothing but providential intervention prevented McRae on that day from +being a cold-blooded murderer! That is the manner of man you are +considering. You are considering whether he was the aggressor, he or the +people he shot at.</p> + +<p>"Counsel says that Louis Skaroff lied. Now I am very frank to confess +that when we produced that story on the witness stand I feared you would +not believe it, not because I doubted the truthfulness of his statement +but because the story itself is so brutal and inhuman that I questioned +whether there could be found anywhere in the county twelve persons who +would think such things could possibly happen just thirty miles away. +But when one of their own witnesses went on the stand here, in rebuttal, +and told you that Louis Skaroff came out of that room with his arms +above his head, crying, with the blood running from his finger tips, I +knew that you knew that Louis Skaroff had told the truth.</p> + +<p>"The state has been very reluctant in this case to admit that there were +rifles on the dock, because if the deputies went there with rifles there +was a reason for it. You could not find a rifle on that dock until we +proved—what? That rifle shells were around<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> the dock in great numbers; +we proved it by innocent, clean little boys who picked up the shells; +until we proved by witnesses that the rifles were there and were being +shot; until we proved by a rifle bullet with human blood and a man's +hair on it that the use made of the rifles was a deadly one.</p> + +<p>"Who was the aggressor? Even now the State doesn't like to admit, +because the State knows it is fatal to their case to admit, and +notwithstanding hopeless to deny, that there were helpless men in the +water being shot at. They do not like to admit that a man was so +impressed with the inhumanity of the thing that he ran from the depot to +the boat house hoping to effect a rescue of the men and was stopped by +the armed deputies. The State does not like to admit the evidence of +their own deputy witness, Groger,—whose actions I want the counsel for +the state to explain and justify if he can—who repeatedly fired at a +man who was trying to untie the boat so the unarmed men could escape.</p> + +<p>"Counsel said that if there was any intention to start trouble men would +not have lined up as they were on the dock in an exposed position. And I +ask you, if there was not an intention to start trouble why were they +kept in the warehouse until the boat had almost tied up? If that was not +an ambuscade, what on earth was it? If they did not intend to start +trouble why was it McRae waited until the line was out and made fast. +Why was it, then, he did not say to the captain, 'Take your boat out?' +He said he was afraid they would go somewhere else. Well, when he told +those boys they could not land he expected them to go away. Or did he +expect them to go away? Which was it?</p> + +<p>"The manner in which McRae handled this thing indicates nothing so much +as that he intended to get them there and administer to them another of +the things that he calls a lesson, another of the things that other +people call infamous, damnable brutality.</p> + +<p>"Counsel says there have been mistakes made. He doesn't want to +apologize for them, but clearly he doesn't want to be held responsible +for them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> There were mistakes made. Beverly was one! The "Wanderer" was +one! From the beginning to the end of all their operations in Everett +everything has been a mistake—a mistake because the ordinary processes +of law and the rights of other people were ignored. There was no +ordinance prohibiting speaking. The boys were yielding implicit, careful +obedience to such law as there was. McRae unblushingly tells you that +the reason he made arrests was because there were labor troubles in +Everett and the shingle mill owners didn't want things embarrassed by +the truth, by the disclosures contained in this little report of the +Industrial Relations Commission.</p> + +<p>"They were not afraid of the I. W. W.'s going up there to incite +violence, to advise disorder, to invoke a reign of terror. Reigns of +terror are the employers' specialty! They were afraid of cold fact. +Never a man went up there to speak on the street and used that little +Industrial Relations report but was thrown in jail for it—Thompson, +Rowan, Feinberg, Roberts, all.</p> + +<p>"It's nice to enjoy the powers, the position and authority of a dictator +who can repeal, amend and modify, ignore, disregard laws when it suits +his fancy, but it's kind of tough on other people. That's what McRae did!</p> + +<p>"On the 5th of March, nearly nine weeks ago, His Honor called this case +from his bench 'State versus Thomas H. Tracy,' and my friend Mr. Cooley +rose from his chair and said 'Your Honor, the State is ready.' I say to +you, Mr. Cooley, you slandered the fair name of your state! What has the +State of Washington to do with this thing? The name of the State of +Washington in such a case as this should stand for law and order and +decency. The State is supposed to protect the innocent against abuse and +injustice and you who are now running this case do not now maintain +these things, or if you do, you protect them only when convenience requires it.</p> + +<p>"It is not the State of Washington versus Thomas H. Tracy at all, and if +the decent people of Everett who know the facts could decide what course +this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> action should take it would never be here. Even the title of the +case is a mistake. It is the case of the Commercial Club of Everett, the +mill owners of Everett, against Labor. This is an attempt, just as all +the actions for months have been an attempt, to keep Labor out of its +rights in Everett. The same people who took possession of the machinery +of law in Everett, who took possession of the sheriff and furnished him +with guns and clubs and murderous things like that and instructed him +how to act, the same people who employed detectives to set fires in +order that they might manufacture evidence and public sentiment against +these boys, those same people are today prosecuting this case.</p> + +<p>"I don't know where Governor Clough was on November 5th. I suspect he +was not anywhere where there was any danger, but I know the smoke had +not left the decks of the Verona before he was hot-footing it to the +telegraph office,—Governor Clough, not the prosecuting attorney, not +the sheriff, nobody but Clough and Joe Irving, the man who was so drunk +that he beat up Schofield,—to send a telegram to Judge Burke of the +Chamber of Commerce of Seattle, to the Mayor of this City and to the +Chief of Police of this City to arrest the whole bunch of them.</p> + +<p>"Then right away they got their other emissaries at work, Reese and +Smith, down here with two fingers out of the door of a darkened cell, +deciding for the State of Washington who should be prosecuted in this +case, and H. D. Cooley, who surely then was not a prosecuting attorney, +giving them legal counsel and directing their energy, taking out the +men, preparing statements, and getting ready for the work he was going +to do in this case, because his employers wanted it.</p> + +<p>"There is a conspiracy in this case, a conspiracy supported by evidence, +a conspiracy of men in the Commercial Club to take over the machinery of +government, and by it club these fellows out of their rights, club them +out of Everett, club them out of all contact with the workers in order +that they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> might not bring to them the gospel of their organization.</p> + +<p>"But I say to you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, that this struggle, +the struggle of Capital against Labor, the struggle of the Commercial +Club against the I. W. W., which is just one phase of the bigger one, +this struggle is going on in spite of Cooley, this struggle is going on +in spite of McLaren, this struggle is going on in spite of Arthur L. +Veitch of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association, this struggle +is going on in spite of McRae, this struggle is going on in spite of the +Commercial Club, because it is founded on a principle so big, so +wholesome, and so decent, so righteous, that it must live. And it will +go on until in this country we have industrially that which we have +struggled so long and hard for and finally won politically; until we have democracy.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing in revolution, gentlemen, that is wrong. We came to +the condition in which we now find ourselves by revolution; first the +grand American revolution and then the revolution against chattel +slavery. It was nothing more nor less than revolution, because slavery +was then entrenched under the highest law of the land, the decision of +the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case. We took it out of the courts +and slavery was wiped out. Slavery again will be wiped out!</p> + +<p>"The thing about this case which makes it of most serious importance, +the thing about this case which makes it of public interest, the thing +about this case which has so enlisted the sympathy of every one +connected with it, which makes us feel the importance of a just verdict, +is that it is not merely the liberty of a man that is at stake, but in a +larger measure than you know there is at stake in your verdict in this +case the rights of the working people, their right to organize, their +right to protect themselves, their right to receive and enjoy the fruits +of their labor.</p> + +<p>"There is involved the question of whether or not the working people +shall receive justice or forever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> must be victimized by organized +capitalists. There is involved the question of whether or not such +things as have gone on in Everett for the last six months may continue +forever with the endorsement of the jury or whether the working people +on the other hand may go and discuss their wrongs and grievances and +strive for their rights.</p> + +<p>"As I have confidence in the righteousness of this cause and the +integrity of this purpose, so I have confidence that your verdict will be not guilty."</p> + +<p>Attorney Fred Moore closed the case for the defense with one of the +greatest speeches ever delivered in a court room, a speech that seered +its way to the minds and hearts of the jurors. Far more than a defense +of Thomas H. Tracy it was an explanation of the industrial problems +underlying society, the class warfare rooted in industry and manifesting +itself on November 5th. It was a sustained and definite statement of the +aims and objects of the I. W. W. and Moore showed, not only a great +knowledge of the problems of the working class, but a wonderful command +of satire and irony. Following is an abridgement of Moore's speech to the jury:</p> + +<p>"May it please the court, and ladies and gentlemen of the jury; For a +period of something like five hundred years the Anglo-Saxon has seen fit +to place the final adjustment of the question of justice in the hands of +twelve men. In the evolution of the law, that number has been increased +until now in this state we have fourteen. Likewise, in the evolution of +the law and in the face of the vast amount of public protest, and in the +face of the most reluctant world, we have enlarged the term jurors to +include women jurors. This is the first time that I personally have ever +tried a lawsuit in which ladies sat in the jury.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i025.jpg" width='700' height='481' alt="HUGO GERLOT" /></div> + +<h4>HUGO GERLOT</h4> + +<p>"The state has told you why this case is one of grave responsibility for +them. Allow me to tell you why this is one of grave responsibility for +you. One hundred and ninety-six witnesses have appeared for the +defendant in this case. Yesterday, counsel brought home the fact that +many of these witnesses<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> were not residents of this community, were +without homes, without any permanent places of abode. All true. The +responsibility that you have in this case is commensurate with the fact +that the case reveals to you, as it were, a cross-section of our lives. +You who are property-qualified have a responsibility to pass upon the +liberties and the lives of a body of men who are propertyless. If there +is any change in men's thoughts and views as they acquire a home, as +they settle down, as they marry, as they bring into the world children, +then I ask you in all fairness to attempt to put yourselves in the +places of this defendant and of this defendant's witnesses who have +taken the stand, and to realize that your responsibility here is +commensurate with the fact that the testimony reveals, as it were, a +most deplorable condition of modern life. In other words, your +responsibility here is that of measuring out absolute and complete +justice between warring elements in our modern life, not for one moment +allowing your judgment to be swerved by the fact that one class of +witnesses here are witnesses of social position, are witnesses of +property qualifications, are witnesses with homes, while, on the other +hand, the witnesses called by the defense were witnesses from the four +parts of the earth, witnesses whose only claim to your consideration is +that they have built the railroads, that they have laid the ties, that +they have dug the tunnels, that they have harvested the crops, that they +have worked from one end of the country to the other, in season and out, +floating from job to job.</p> + +<p>"In most jurisdictions, the defendant has the opportunity of either a +grand jury investigation or of a preliminary; in other words, he is in +some degree advised of what evidence he is going to be called upon to +meet. In this case, we came in here on the 5th day of March with no +information whatsoever relative to the State's case other than that +given us from the four corners of the instrument on file here, known as +the information, together with the fact that on that information there +were the names of some three hundred or more witnesses. That was all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> we +had. We were further handicapped in view of the fact that we did not +have behind us all the resources of the State of Washington and the +county of Snohomish, neither did we have behind us all of the resources +of various business interests, neither did we have behind us all the +resources of allied business on this west coast, as represented by Mr. Veitch."</p> + +<p>Mr. Veitch: To which I take an exception, if the court please.</p> + +<p>The Court: Exception allowed.</p> + +<p>Mr. Veitch: On a matter of personal privilege, I have a right to +characterize that statement as a deliberate misstatement of the fact.</p> + +<p>Mr. Moore: Mr. Veitch has not seen fit to explain why he was here.</p> + +<p>Mr. Veitch: I am employed by friends of Mr. Jefferson Beard. If that is +not enough—</p> + +<p>Mr. Moore: That is outside of the record.</p> + +<p>The Court: Both of you are outside of the record. Proceed Mr. Moore.</p> + +<p>"Suffice it to say that we are here as the frank and honest +representatives of the defendant and of the defendant's organization. We +do not have behind us the power of the State, or the power of any +interest other than the defendant himself and of his organization.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Black complained that the State had been hampered in this cause. Is +it fair to say that the state has been hampered when on the fatal +November the 5th. Judge Bell and Mr. Cooley were both on the dock? Judge +Bell would have us believe that he was unarmed, and so far as we know +Mr. Cooley was unarmed. Then why were they on the dock? Judge Bell was +there as the representative, as he himself has testified, of a number of +lumber mills, and Mr. Cooley was there likewise; both citizen deputies; +both there; both unarmed if their testimony is to be believed. Again Mr. +Cooley was, in the matter of a few hours, down here at the Seattle jail. +Certainly he was not there to represent the defendant Tracy. Who was he +there to represent? He was either there in a private capacity, +representing private clients,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> or he was there in a public capacity +representing a public client, namely, Snohomish County. Wherein do you +find the evidence of the State being hampered, sir? From the beginning +to the end the State has moved majestically, exercising all the power +that it had. Mr. Black has had able assistance in this cause, the able +assistance of Mr. Cooley, the able assistance of Mr. Veitch, the able +assistance of the man behind Mr. Cooley and Mr. Veitch, Mr. McLaren. +Yet, all the resources of the State have failed to produce one scintilla +of evidence against the defendant Tracy here so far as tending to +indicate that he did counsel, aid, incite, abet, or encourage anyone to +fire any shot, except the testimony of George Reese produced at the +eleventh hour on rebuttal. I intend to treat of our friend Mr. Reese later.</p> + +<p>"It is significant that out of all that mass of testimony that has been +introduced in this case up to this time not one single bit of testimony +has been introduced or any argument had upon that testimony dealing with +the object and principles and purpose of the Industrial Workers of the +World. Mr. Black did not refer to it. Mr. Cooley has the final say. I +anticipate his argument for the State. They have that old reliance, that +old faith, if you will, in the trial of a case of this character, namely +conspiracy; hallowed by age.</p> + +<p>"Way back in the sixteenth century the tub women on the banks of the +river Thames were indicted for conspiracy in attempting to raise wages. +The chandlers in London were likewise later indicted. The stonebreakers +in New York, the carpenters in Boston. From time immemorial the charge +of conspiracy has been leveled against the ranks of labor. Indeed, it +was only in the reign of Queen Victoria that labor unions became other +than simple conspiracies. Up to that time labor unions were within a +classification themselves of criminal conspiracy.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i026.jpg" width='700' height='481' alt="Dead body of Abraham Rabinowitz." /></div> + +<h4>Dead body of Abraham Rabinowitz.</h4> + +<p>"Knowing that under the charge contained in the information we might be +called upon to meet evidence of conspiracy, we then commenced a careful +survey of all the facts in connection with the Everett<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> tragedy. And +what did we find? We found not a hint of conspiracy!</p> + +<p>"James Rowan had come into Everett without knowledge at the time that +there was any trouble there. He had not been advised that there was any +possibility of trouble. From all the prior history of Everett he had no +reason to anticipate trouble. Thompson had spoken there and many others +had spoken there. Rowan was charged with a violation of the peddling +ordinance. He had been given an arbitrary floater out of town and had +exercised his right to come back, was seized again and taken to the city +jail; the sheriff goes there and arbitrarily demands Rowan from the +Chief of Police. These things happened prior to any acts that by any +remote possibility could be charged to us. There was no literature in +the town at that time other than the Industrial Relations report. What +at that time did we have to conspire about? We had no object.</p> + +<p>"And as with Rowan so it was with Thompson, Remick and others. If there +was a conspiracy to violate a city ordinance why did not the city +officials make arrests and charge the men with such violations? The +record is silent. Why wait until Tom Tracy is on trial for murder, and +then at the eleventh hour spring this delightfully specious argument?</p> + +<p>"I can almost hear ringing in my ears the impassioned plea of Mr. Cooley +in closing this case. He is going to read this, 'The question of 'right' +and 'wrong' does not concern us.' He is going to say that is the I. W. +W. philosophy. My God, did it ever concern the sheriff of Snohomish +County? Does it seem very much to concern others who are attempting this prosecution?</p> + +<p>"We were told in connection with the argument of counsel that Hickey was +not on trial. They might have said that sheriff McRae was not on trial; +they might have said that Bill Pabst was not on trial; they might have +said that Joe Irving was not on trial; they might have said that the +Commercial Club was not on trial; they might have said that all the men +that have been guilty of all the brutality in that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> County during the +months of August, September and October were not on trial. We know it! +Why are they not on trail?</p> + +<p>"Deprivation of due process of law and confiscation of property! And yet +Mr. Cooley is going to urge that the I. W. W. does not believe in +government; he is going to urge that the I. W. W. does not respect the +law. That kind of law never gets the respect of anyone. I hang my head +in shame before such a history of usurpation and seizure of public +authority as has been shown in this case.</p> + +<p>"Are you going to give the stamp of your approval to this sort of thing? +When you bring in a verdict in this case for the State you give your +approval to Donald McRae. I beg of you to not put the seal of your +approval upon lawlessness, official lawlessness, the kind of lawlessness +that is worse, tenfold worse, than any private lawlessness.</p> + +<p>"You are asked to stamp with your endorsement, to give your approval, to +a man; a public official, the chief executive officer of a municipality, +Mayor Merrill, who admits on the witness stand that he allowed a little +group of members of the Commercial Club to take the power of the police +department out of his office and turn it over to the sheriff of the county.</p> + +<p>"Had the State put on Governor Clough and others on their side of the +case we might have wrung from their reluctant lips the evidence of what +occurred at the meeting on August 30th at the Commercial Club. But the +State was careful not to put him on. Indeed, the most significant and +outstanding thing in all this case is not who they put on, but who they +did not put on. Neil Jamison did not testify in this case for the State; +Governor Clough did not testify in this case for the State; Joe Irving +did not testify in this case; Colonel Hartley did not testify in this +case; Captain Ramwell did not testify. Why didn't Kelly, Chief of +Police, take the stand? You might go down the line and you will find +that the assets of all the witnesses for the State combined would total +but a few thousand dollars, while you could take the remaining witnesses +for the State who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> did not testify and you could build up an enormous +fortune, running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. We didn't +call them because we cannot cross-examine our own witnesses.</p> + +<p>"Is the administration of the law to be made a farce? Shall the State be +allowed to blow hot and cold; one minute hot on the enforcement of the +law, the next minute cold when the shoe pinches, and then hot again when +they can use the law for the advancement of the interests of their +prosecution? They say McRae and Hickey are not on trial; there is no +promise that they shall ever be on trial!</p> + +<p>"Let me say to you that no one violates the law, I care not who it is, +just for the fun of violating the law. Jails are not pleasant places to +abide in. People who violate the law and go to jail do so either because +they are deliberately criminal or because they want to focus attention +on some public issue. However, Mr. Black is too kind and considerate +when he gives all this credit to the I. W. W.</p> + +<p>"The facts are, if you go back into the history of the Revolutionary +Days, that our forefathers urged and banded together and combined and +federated, and if you will, conspired to violate the Stamp Act of the +British Government, and were willing to go to jail if necessary. They +went even further! They threw the British tea into Boston Harbor. +Violation of the law? Yes, if you want to call it such, but the +indignant protest of a people as against the enforcement of an unjust law.</p> + +<p>"I might urge upon you that the State at that time wanted to absolutely +suppress any speech whatsoever, because they had constituted the chief +of police, the sheriff, the arresting officer, as the executive, the +legislative and the judicial department of our government. The sheriff +executed the law in person, the sheriff declared the question of guilt +himself, the sheriff ordered deportations, and the sheriff took physical +charge of the deportations. Isn't it impossible to avoid a fight when +someone usurps unlawfully and illegally the legislative and judicial +functions of government? Isn't it time to fight? If it isn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> then we +may as well cease any attempt to administrate the law!</p> + +<p>"In the phraseology of these boys 'Fight' means a moral adherence to +principle, a firm determination to face the authorities in the +administration of the law, and if necessary to be arrested. But the +State would have you put into it now a more sinister meaning, entirely +new and foreign to its former use.</p> + +<p>"The State brought in the death of Sullivan of Spokane in their opening +and abandoned it in their close. One of the exploded hopes of the State! +They counted on North Yakima and Wenatchee to show violence and arson, +and they failed most miserably. They have failed in their identification +of the defendant. Now, their forlorn and bankrupt plea here is the +charge of conspiracy.</p> + +<p>"The court has told you that this is a murder case. Why then has the +State cumbered the record with the I. W. W. preamble and constitution? +Why with two pamphlets on sabotage? Why with an I. W. W. song book and such matters? Why?</p> + +<p>"Because out of some of the phraseology here, phraseology far removed +from you and me, they may build up a condition of prejudice which may +result in your returning a conviction on a smaller degree of evidence +than you would otherwise require. Mr. Cooley is going to stand here and +read little, short, listed extracts from the context of the whole. The +pamphlets he has introduced on the question of patriotism and the worker +is the foundation from which Mr. Cooley will appeal to your prejudices and passions.</p> + +<p>"We are not afraid of the evidence. We are afraid of this deep-grained +interest that goes down into men's conscience and that reached back a thousand years.</p> + +<p>"Remember that behind this case are many women and children whose cause +these boys represent; whose cause these boys are attempting to fight +for. They fight because they must! They fight because to do anything +else is suicide. You could not have stopped the American Revolution with +all the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>powers of the British government. Since this jury was empaneled +you have had the collapse of one of the greatest powers of modern times. +I refer to Russia. It has passed from an absolute monarchy to a stage of a republic.</p> + +<p>"The trial of this cause is the presentation of a great social issue, +the greatest issue of modern times, namely, what are we going to do +today with the migratory and occasional workers? These migratories, they +are the boys who have told their story on the stand.</p> + +<p>"If there is one principle that is ground into Anglo-Saxon thought it is +that of liberty of the press and freedom of speech. Those two things +stand as the bulwark of our liberty. They are the things for which the +Anglo-Saxon has fought from time immemorial. Away back in the eighteenth +century Charles Erskine, a member of the British bar, defended Thomas +Paine for having written the 'Rights of Man'. Case after case was fought +out during that period when English thought was budding into fruition; +when English thought was being tremendously influenced by the French +Revolution and when those thoughts were bearing fruit in England. Time +and time again the British crown attempted to throttle freedom of speech +and liberty of the press. Time and time again Charles Erskine's voice +was raised in the House of Lords in protest. Time and time again the +British courts and finally the British jurors, gave voice to the +doctrine that freedom of speech and liberty of the press may not be +invaded except insofar as that subject, that document, is accompanied +with acts; that you may not convict men for what they think; you may +convict men only for what they do. Freedom of discussion thru the press +and thru the public forum are the mainstay and the backbone of social +development and social evolution. Only in that way, thru freedom of +thought and freedom of discussion, may you fan the wheat from the chaff.</p> + +<p>"Why, if this I. W. W. literature is all the State claims it is, why +doesn't the State act in the way the law says they should act, prefer +charges, arrest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> someone, bring the literature before a duly qualified +body, a court with jurisdiction, and try the matter out? The State has +not done that; the State will not do that; and we are in the position of +a man fighting in the dark, without knowledge of what character of +argument the State proposes to make.</p> + +<p>"I do know that the name of Joe Hill is going to be paraded in front of +this jury. The I. W. W. song book dedicated to Joe Hill, with the +inscription 'Murdered by the authorities of the State of Utah, November +19th, 1915.' I cannot go into the conditions that surround that tragedy, +but I can call your attention to one or two things that bear upon the +question of the type of the man. Before he died, written in his cell on +the eve of the execution, was Joe Hill's last will:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>My will is easy to decide,</div> +<div>For there is nothing to divide.</div> +<div>My kin don't need to fuss and moan—</div> +<div>Moss does not cling to a rolling stone.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>My body? Ah, if I could choose,</div> +<div>I would to ashes it reduce,</div> +<div>And let the merry breezes blow</div> +<div>My dust to where some flowers grow.</div> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<div>Perhaps some fading flower then</div> +<div>Would come to life and bloom again.</div> +<div>This is my last and final will.</div> +<div>Good luck to all of you,<span class="s3"> </span>JOE HILL.</div> +</div></div> + +<p>"This is the type of man you are asked, because he was honored, because +some odd hundred thousand workers who suffer and who wander and who live +in the jungles of labor as he did, and because he wrote songs that they +understood, songs that because their songs, to judge as the author of +the songs and bring in a verdict against Tom Tracy. Mr. Cooley will +parade the songs one by one. Remember that behind any words he voices, +any thought he expresses, behind it all was a human soul, a human soul +passed, a human soul that lived as you and I, a human soul<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> that had +rights that had been trampled upon, and who attempted to voice those things.</p> + +<p>"With all the oratory he can display Mr. Cooley will read the song, +'Christians at War.' A song that Mr. Thompson designated as a satire. +You recollect that when the European war broke out both parties in that +conflict called to their aid and said they were acting under divine +guidance; that the Kaiser was fighting under the name of God, and that +the British and French governments were allied with the Almighty. It is +not for me to attempt a settlement of that dispute. History will say +that of all the tragedies of the Twentieth Century, the most tragic +thing of our modern life is that we of different nationalities, but +bound together by all other ties, should be engaged in a death grapple. +But that is not the issue here. But I cannot at this time anticipate +wherein and how this literature presented by the State helps you to +decide the question of who was the aggressor on November 5th.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i027.jpg" width='700' height='426' alt="Part of 78 prisoners of +County Jail Everett Wn. Released May 8, 1917." /></div> + +<h4>Part of 78 prisoners of<br />County Jail Everett Wn.<br />Released May 8, 1917.</h4> + +<p>"Who was the aggressor on July 31st when James Rowan was arrested and +brought into the city court? McRae comes in and tells him to get out of +town. An intervening series of events and Levi Remick is run out of +town. Who was the aggressor? Sheriff McRae! On August 22nd Rowan and +Remick were both in the union hall. McRae comes in and orders them out +of town. Who was the aggressor? That night Thompson and others came up +to Everett—who was the aggressor then? Next morning, with Kelly +treating them half way white, along comes McRae and takes away one of +the boy's money. Who was the aggressor? We come now to the deputies +meeting at the Commercial Club on August 30th. Who was the aggressor? +Had any of their members been beaten up? Had anything happened to their +members whatsoever? Not at all! Yet murderous blackjacks were put into +the hands of the membership of the club. Was James Rowan the aggressor +when he was railroaded out of town and beaten? Who was the aggressor at +the time of the 'Wanderer' outrage? Old Capt. Mitten, old John Berg, +Edith<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> Frenette? Who was the aggressor with Henig? With Feinberg? With +Roberts? You have the testimony of Cannow, you have the testimony of +Schofield, you have testimony showing the instructions given to the +deputies. No one denies it. Here is a series of acts leading up to +October 30th, in which on each and every occasion McRae and his +deputies, either regular or citizen deputies, were the aggressors. I +said, who were the aggressors? Is there any question in your mind who +was the aggressor up to Beverly Park? Any question in God's world who +had done the dirty work up to that time? The State would have you +believe that the I. W. W., with its membership coming from the four +corners of the country, changed complexion practically over night, +changed their whole ideas and their methods. I do not believe it and you do not believe it.</p> + +<p>"The excuse the State gives for the actions of the deputies is that in +the case of large numbers they could not give due process of law. +Gentlemen, I refuse to believe that the Government is bankrupt in its +capacity to protect itself thru legal and lawful measures of law +enforcement. I have yet to sit in a court room and hear a plea on social +and governmental bankruptcy such as is the plea of counsel for the State.</p> + +<p>"The machinery of the government was there but it was not the kind of +machinery that McRae wanted to use. It was not the kind Clough wanted to +use. It was not the kind of machinery the executive committee, whoever +they were, sitting behind the closed doors of the Commercial Club, wanted to use.</p> + +<p>"And these members and leaders of the Commercial Club passed resolutions +stigmatizing their own citizens, member of their own community, property +owners in their own town, as well as the I. W. W., when they declared +for an open shop. How do they stigmatize them? 'Professional agitators!' +Yes. Lloyd Garrison was a professional agitator. Wendell Phillips was a +professional agitator. The men who fought the battle that lay the ground +work that made Abraham Lincoln possible, the men who are at work<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> to +better American politics, those men have all been professional agitators.</p> + +<p>"Now on the boat they were ninety-nine percent I. W. W.'s, just a few +passengers had bought their passage before. On the dock they were all +citizen deputies, persons interested therein, and persons satisfactory +to the men who had been stationed there to see that nobody but the right +ones got on the dock. That means that as far as the first shot was +concerned the two classes of witnesses are in some degree interested +parties. The State put on a total of twenty-two witnesses, one of them +not a deputy, all of whom testified that the shot came, or they thought +it came from the dock, and of that number thirty-seven were I. W. W.'s, +and twenty-four were not members at all but were Everett people from all walks of life.</p> + +<p>"Now counsel is going to discount the value of the testimony of these +citizens. Well, Mr. Cooley, we used the only kind of witnesses that you, +in all of your care exercised in advance on November 5th, left for us. +In the exercise of the highest degree of judicial advance knowledge they +saw to it that nobody got any closer to the end of the dock than the +landing. We could not help that. You barred us from the dock; you barred +us from access to the facts. We did all we could to get the facts, and +if we couldn't get any closer it was not our fault. And the man who +barred us from access to the facts is the man who is least qualified to +come into court now and urge that our witnesses are disqualified in the +face of the evidence that they disqualified them. But those witnesses +could testify, and they did testify, to the very definite and specific +facts—the first tipping of the boat, the rushing of the men, the volley +firing, all of those matters.</p> + +<p>"At the eleventh hour there came into this case a man by the name of +Reese, a member, if you will, of the I. W. W. Back in the Chicago +stockyards they have a large pen where they keep the cattle which are to +be driven to slaughter. In that place they have had for years a steer +that has performed the function<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> of going into the big pen where all the +cattle are, and, after mingling with them, then walking out thru a gate. +He is trained to do it, he is skilled at it, this steer—and after +walking around with the poor peaceful cattle that don't know they are +about to be killed, this steer then goes up an incline, the gate is +opened and the other cattle follow, and when he gets to the top of the +incline there is a door and he turns to the right thru this door to +safety and his followers turn to the left to death. That's George Reese! +Proud of him? George Reese, the man who reported day by day with his +confederates! To whom? During one period to the Pinkerton agency in +regard to the longshoremen's union; during another period on behalf of +the Pinkerton Agency to the Commercial Club in Everett. George Reese! A +man who doesn't even come under the approximately dignified title of a +detective; a man whom Ahern, of his own agency says, 'Well, he wasn't a +detective, we used him as an informer.' Informer! A human being that has +lost its human color.</p> + +<p>"In connection with the testimony of Reese let me call your attention to +the Industrial Relations Commission Report, a report that our friends of +the Commercial Club had read and knew all about:</p> + +<p>"'Spies in the Union: If the secret agents of employers, working as +members of labor unions, do not always instigate acts of violence, they +frequently encourage them. If they did not they would not be performing +the duties for which they are paid. If they find that labor unions never +discuss acts of violence they have nothing to report to those employing +them. If they do not report matters which the detective agencies +employing them can use to frighten the corporation to cause their +employment, they cannot continue long as spies. Either they must make +reports that are false, in which case discovery would be inevitable, or +they must create a basis on which to make a truthful report. The union +spy is not in business to protect the community. He has little respect +for the law, civil or moral. Men of character do not engage in such +work, and it follows that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> men who do are, as a rule, devoid of +principle and ready to go to almost any extreme to please those who employ them.'</p> + +<p>"That is the descriptive adjective, definition and analysis of the +character of union informants made by the National Industrial +Commission, appointed by President Wilson, and composed of nine men, all +men of national standing, three representatives of labor, three +representatives of capital and three representatives of the general +public. That is their definition, description and classification of that +character of testimony.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Vanderveer closed yesterday by saying that this struggle, whatever +your verdict is, will win. If yours is a verdict of 'not guilty,' Tom +Tracy must take up again the job of finding a job, the endless tragedy +of marching from job to job, without home, wife or kindred. His offense +consists of being a migratory worker. I beg of you to render a verdict +that has due regard and consideration for the tragedy of our twentieth +century civilization that does not as yet measure out economic justice.</p> + +<p>"Your verdict means much. The wires tonight will carry the word all over +this land, into Australia, New Zealand and thruout the world. Your +verdict means much to the workers, their mothers, their children, who +are interested in this great struggle. We are not in this courtroom as +the representatives of one person, two persons or three persons; our +clients run into five or six hundred thousand. We are here as the +mouthpiece of the workers of America, organized and unorganized, and +they are all behind our voices.</p> + +<p>"Tom Tracy stands here in your control. You are the ones to determine +whether or not he shall walk out free, whether or not he shall be +branded for all times with the most serious felony known to the law, +namely, that of a murderer. Can you find it in the evidence to bring in +a verdict of guilty in this case?</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i028.jpg" width='700' height='479' alt="Singing to the Prisoners." /></div> + +<h4>Singing to the Prisoners.</h4> + +<p>"In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, we want no compromise here. When +you retire to your jury room I beg of you not to compromise with any +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>verdict other than not guilty. We don't want manslaughter in this case, +we don't want second degree murder in this case; it is either first +degree murder or an acquittal, one or the other. Allow none of those +arguments that we, as lawyers, know are made in the juryroom to +influence your honest verdict in this case. We ask at your hands, and we +believe with all the sincerity of our souls, that the evidence warrants +it, we ask a verdict of not guilty for the defendant, Thomas H. Tracy!"</p> + +<p>If the speech of prosecutor Black was a whine, that of prosecutor Cooley +was a yelp and a snarl. Apologies, stale jokes, and sneers at the +propertyless workers followed one another in close succession. The gist +of his harangue was as follows:</p> + +<p>"In this case I am going to try simply in the closing argument to select +a few of the monuments that it seems to me stand out in this case and +that point a way to a proper verdict.</p> + +<p>"Now, in the first place, a whole lot has been said here as to the +nature of the controversy that existed for a number of months before +November the 5th, 1916, between two classes of individuals there at +Everett. Upon the one side were the people who were living in the city +of Everett, who had made their homes there, who had come there for the +purpose of carrying out their future destiny in that city. It was their +home. Their interests were there. Their families were there. And upon +the other side were a class of people who did not claim Everett as their +home, who did not come there for the purpose of amalgamating with the +citizenship of the city of Everett. They were not coming there because +they had work there, nor because they were seeking work there; they were +not citizens of Everett, nor were they seeking to become citizens of +Everett, and there arose a controversy between the citizens of Everett +on the one hand and these people from the four corners of the earth upon +the other. The first thing we want to inquire into to find out if we can +from the testimony in this case exactly what was the nature of that +trouble that existed between them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> Why was it that upon the one hand +there was a band of people congregated down here in the city of Seattle +from all over the land and making one excursion after another, +attempting to break into the city of Everett? Why was it that there were +citizens of Everett up there seeking to do only one thing, asking only +one thing, that these people keep away from Everett?</p> + +<p>"Was it a fight to win the right of free speech on the one hand? Was it +a fight on the other hand of a group of individuals who were simply +seeking to force the open shop? Or was it a fight of a more serious +nature on either hand?</p> + +<p>"I grant you that the origin of the trouble arose because a man was +seeking to speak upon the streets of Everett and he was stopped. But +long before November 5th that original incident was lost sight of and +forgotten. The controversy had grown to a magnitude that overshadowed +the original incident. It was necessary in order that you might +understand the situation with which the people of Everett were +confronted that you should be apprised of the nature of the organization +to which those people belong, that you should be apprised of the nature +of the place in the world that they had attained, and that you should be +apprised of the nature of their propaganda that they were seeking to +inject into the city of Everett and that locality.</p> + +<p>"I want to say right here and now that I have the highest regard for +organized labor. Labor has the right to organize. There is not any +question about it; there is not any dispute about it. Labor has +organized and it has made a manful fight, and all down the pages of +history you will find that labor, thru its organization and thru its +lawful methods pursued under its organization, has gradually bettered its condition.</p> + +<p>"It is not a question, and never has been in this case, as to the right +of the labor men to organize; the right of the laboring man to use all +of the lawful methods for the purpose of bettering his condition. The +question in this case is as to whether any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> organization, whether it be +a labor organization or any other, has the right to use unlawful +methods; whether it has the right, because it may have the power, to use unlawful methods.</p> + +<p>"Now there were coming into the city of Everett people representing this +organization known as the Industrial Workers of the World. What was the +propaganda that they were seeking to introduce there? They put upon the +stand their chief exponent in this part of the country, to tell you what +their purpose was in coming to the city of Everett, and what the +doctrines were that they were teaching to the people that congregated +there in the city of Everett. Mr. Thompson was upon the stand for about +two days, and he delivered to this jury a lecture, which he says was a +resume of three lectures that he gave up there in the city of Everett. +He was asked whether or not he talked on sabotage and he told you what +he had to say about it. He said sabotage was 'a conscious withdrawal of +efficiency, a folding of the arms.' But Thompson says it is never the +destruction of property, and yet the organization that sends him out to +talk on sabotage puts out right along with him the literature that has +been adopted by the I. W. W. as a part of their propaganda, defining +what sabotage really is and it gives the lie to Mr. Thompson. It may +mean working slow; it may mean poor work; it may mean folding of arms; +it may mean conscious withdrawal of efficiency. So far sabotage is legal +and anyone has a right to use it. But it may mean the spoiling of a +finished product, it may mean the destruction of parts of machinery, it +is the destruction of property. 'Sabotage is a direct application of the +idea that property has no rights that its creators are bound to +respect.' It does not say that certain kinds of property has no rights, +but that there is no property that has any rights that are bound to be +respected. But Thompson says that is not sabotage.</p> + +<p>"Sabotage is what? Where is that old song book? Let us see whether it +means simply the folding of the arms. (Cooley dived into a mass of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>pamphlets, but being unable to locate the song book he came up with +Elizabeth Gurley Flynn's pamphlet on Sabotage, reading from it as +follows:) 'Sabotage itself is not clearly defined. Sabotage is as broad +and changing as industry, as flexible as the imagination and passions of +humanity.' Why, if it consisted simply of a folding of the arms, if it +consisted simply of the withdrawal of efficiency, there would not be +much flexibility to it, would there, and the passions of humanity would +have nothing to do with it? That language means that sabotage means +anything that the imagination can devise and the passions of men adopt, +if they had the power to use it and get away with it. Oh, it is not +wrong! No matter what form it takes it is not wrong, because they say so +in their official publication. 'The tactics used are determined solely +by the power of the organization to make good in their use. The question +of 'right' and 'wrong' does not concern us.' Put the two together. +Legality and illegality, those terms have no meaning to a man of the +Industrial Workers of the World. Why? Because there is no law that they +are bound to respect except the law that is made by them in their own +union hall. It is in the song book, 'Make your laws in the union hall, +the rest can go to hell.' That is the class of people that we had to +deal with, who were coming there to Everett.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i029.jpg" width='700' height='460' alt="Charles Ashleigh speaking at the funeral, of Looney, Baran and Gerlot." /></div> + +<h4>Charles Ashleigh speaking at the funeral, of Looney, Baran and Gerlot.</h4> + +<p>"In Spokane there were twelve hundred convictions upon a valid +ordinance, and yet, after they had convicted a hundred of them they +didn't stop coming, and two hundred, and two hundred and fifty, and five +hundred, and they continued coming there until the city jail of the city +of Spokane was filled, until the county jail of Spokane county was +filled, until an old deserted school house was filled, and then until an +army post jail was filled. A species of sabotage! They weren't willing +to accept the verdict of one jury, or ten juries, or of a hundred +juries, that they were violating the law. They had made their laws in +their union halls and they were going to speak at a certain place, upon +a certain street of Spokane; and they were going to compel the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>citizens +of Spokane to let them speak when they pleased, where they pleased, and +say what they pleased; and they kept it up until after Spokane had the +expense of a thousand trials and had upon its hands a thousand +defendants it began to think it had better yield and let them speak when +they pleased, where they pleased and say what they pleased. And Spokane was licked!</p> + +<p>"Is it any wonder that the citizens of Everett said 'If you have no +regard for law we will meet you on your own ground; we are not going to +be bankrupted; we are not going to be hammered into defeat as they were +in Spokane; we are not going to have you sabotage us in that manner by +your numbers; we are not going to have your people coming from the +Dakotas, from Montana, from Oregon, and from all over the various parts +of the state of Washington, and camping down on us until we surrender to +you. We are going to keep you out of here.' Now, that may not have been +strictly legal, but it was human nature.</p> + +<p>"There is not hint anywhere in the argument of either counsel for the +defense in this case as to what was ever done in the city of Everett by +the I. W. W. that would constitute new methods and new tactics. Do you +remember the testimony over a period of time there before Labor Day that +they allowed them to speak without interference and a meeting was held +there and every time they went up with a chip on their shoulder and were +not satisfied when no one interfered with them. When they were there +speaking on the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore somebody was going around +the city of Everett distributing a nasty stinking chemical in the +theater building, into the store buildings, into the business houses, +into the automobiles. And the paper in the next issue gloats over it and +intimates that the reason the officers did not arrest Feinberg was +because they were evidently too busy chasing a cat of malodorous +tendencies. When Thompson was upon the stand and was being questioned +about sabotage and about cats; he could tell you what a cat was, he got +a bit halting in his speech when he was asked what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> it meant when they +said that the claws of the cat had been sharpened, when he was asked +what a 'sabcat' meant, but when he was asked as to what a cat of +'malodorous tendencies' was he said he didn't know unless it was a +skunk. But by that was meant that the skunk accomplishes sabotage. You +never heard of a skunk that did sabotage by simply a withdrawal of efficiency, never!</p> + +<p>"Now as to incendiary and phosphorous fires. Fire Chief Terrell tells +you that up to the date of September 28th, the date of the first known +phosphorous fire in Everett, that up to that time, in all of his +experience upon the fire force of the city of Everett, it never had come +to his knowledge or observation in any way that a phosphorous fire had +ever occurred in the city. It occurred there, known to be a phosphorous +fire, and within a period of two months at least two other fires +occurred, mysterious, the origin unknown because the fire had progressed +to such an extent that no one could tell how it did start."</p> + +<p>Mr. Vanderveer: Didn't your detective go to work September 21st?</p> + +<p>Mr. Cooley: Yes sir, he did.</p> + +<p>"And they would have you believe that the detective was up there setting +those fires. That, I know, is an insinuation not supported by any +evidence in this case, and the detective wasn't working up there, he was +operating down here in the city of Seattle. He was sending his reports +to Blain before the Wanderer started out, before the men started out on +October 30th, and that goes a good way to explain how it happened how +these people were met on these different excursions and were not +permitted to come within the city of Everett. They were trying to get +into the city of Everett, to use their own judgment, to act on their own +initiative, according to instructions that had gone out. And the +officers stopped the thing before it started.</p> + +<p>"What were they coming to Everett for, these forty-one men who were met? +Were they coming to hold a street meeting? Forty-one men, enthused<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> with +the enthusiasm of the belief in their grand and glorious doctrine that +they are teaching, forty-one men starting out as crusaders to carry the +gospel of their organization to the benighted of Everett, forty-one +going up there to be martyrs, to be beaten for the cause, and nothing else!</p> + +<p>"I have told of the tactics and methods advocated, used and encouraged, +by this peculiar, particular organization, so you can judge the +character, purpose and intentions of the individuals that were seeking +from time to time to force themselves into the city of Everett, in order +that you may judge the two hundred and sixty that left on the Verona on November the 5th.</p> + +<p>"But there is another matter you should likewise take into consideration +in determining the character of the individuals of that crowd. +Regardless of all environment, regardless of the effect of all +legislation, regardless of all social conditions, men are born—not all +with the same propensities, not all with the same natural ambitions, not +all with the same qualifications, and out of the entire mass of humanity +there is a certain percentage that were born without any ambition, born +without any incentive; they go thru life without any incentive, +constantly tired. Now I am not here to say that all the I. W. W.'s are +that kind of people. I am not here to say that because a man is a member +of the I. W. W. he is a tramp or a hobo. But there is a class that has +been recognized in this country ever since the country existed, a class +that don't want to work, that would not work if you gave them an +opportunity. These are a percentage, I don't know how large, and I say +that every one of these people are members of the I. W. W. organization +or should be. Why? Well, in the first place, you don't have to show any +qualification for any line of work. You don't have to make proof of +anything whatever to become a member of that organization. And is there +any inducement for a man who has been drifting here and there, walking +the ties, counting the mile posts as he walks from one place to another, +to join<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> that organization? It gives him a pass upon every freight train +that travels the length and breadth of the land. One of the best +inducements in the world.</p> + +<p>"There is another class of people in this country that are born with +criminal instincts implanted in their very natures; they are scattered +all over this land and we have them with us and we will always have them +with us. There are men who are driven to crime thru misfortune; there +are men who commit crime under the influence of environment; but there +is a percentage of men who are habitual, natural and instinctive +criminals. Now I don't say that because a man is a member of the I. W. +W. he is necessarily and instinctively a criminal, but I do say that +every habitual, instinctive criminal, who knows that he intends to +violate the law upon every opportunity to satisfy his own criminal +desire, has every inducement to become a member of that organization.</p> + +<p>"There are a few uncontested and undisputed facts in connection with the +occurrence at the dock. Jefferson Beard was killed on that dock. No +doubt about that! The defendant was on the boat. No question about that! +There is no question that the conversation between McRae and the people +on the boat occurred substantially in the language that you have heard +repeated here by witnesses for the State and for the defense, all +agreeing that the conversation preceded the shooting. There is no +dispute that McRae turned partially away from the boat and that one of +the first three shots fired hit McRae while he was turning. The burden +of the whole argument of the defense was that when somebody on the boat +saw McRae put his hand on his gun he was justified in shooting. It is +not material whether Tracy shot Jefferson Beard or somebody else. It is +not material whether Tracy fired a gun or not, provided the evidence in +this case satisfies you beyond a reasonable doubt that Tracy was a party +to the conspiracy to go up to the city of Everett to violate an +ordinance of the city of Everett.</p> + +<p>"But have you any doubt that Tracy was seen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> on the boat? Hogan saw the +window and he saw a man with his face at the window shooting in his +direction. Hogan wasn't thinking of the exact angle at which the boat +was standing to the dock, but he knows he was standing at such an angle +to the boat that he could see a man in a certain place on the boat. And +he testified he did see him.</p> + +<p>"It wasn't Thomas Tracy that was looking out of that window, it was +Martin. It wasn't Thomas Tracy dressed for the occasion, it wasn't +Thomas Tracy shaven for a picnic, it wasn't Thomas Tracy wearing a +Sunday countenance, it wasn't Thomas Tracy gazing placidly out of a mild +blue eye! It was Thomas Tracy, alias Martin, with his face drawn down +into a scowl of hatred, with his eyebrows lowering over his eyes, gazing +at John Hogan, not only gazing at him thru a window, but gazing at him +over a gun! And if there is anything that would impress itself into the +memory and recollection of a man it is the remembrance of a face filled +with venomous hatred, the eyes shooting daggers at you while he is +gazing at you over the muzzle of a gun—and you are not going to forget that!</p> + +<p>"Counsel for the defense says this is an important trial, that important +questions are involved, that the verdict in this case will have a great +deal to do with the ultimate future of the working man and organized +labor. I don't think that matters of that kind should enter the minds of +the jurors in arriving at a verdict, but if it does, I want to +supplement what counsel for the defense has said. I want to say that in +my mind a verdict in this case will have much to do with the future +success and the future advancement of honest labor in every line and in +all organizations. It will have much to do with clarifying the situation +insofar as this one organization is concerned. Every organization don't +preach the doctrines that are preached by this organization, and if this +jury by its verdict does not support that kind of method and that kind +of procedure it will aid in purifying an organization that otherwise +might do a world of good, but as it stands today, uttering the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> +propaganda that it does, pursuing the tactics that it does it, is a +menace not only to society, but is a menace to the welfare of the other +labor organizations that believe in pursuing lawful methods, in a lawful +manner. This is an important case in that regard.</p> + +<p>"I believe that it is a fortunate thing that a jury of King County and a +jury from the city of Seattle should have been called to try this case. +The seed was not planted in Snohomish County! The plot was not hatched +in Snohomish County! It was hatched down here in Seattle. The expedition +started out from Seattle, not this one alone but many of them. Seattle +was the base, the enemy's base, and it was from here that they started. +Just down here almost in sight of this court house is the place where we +claim the plot was formed, and it has come back here, and we come into +court and lay it at your feet. They returned here, they have brought the +case here for trial, and we are satisfied. Now we lay it before you and +say,—'As citizens of Seattle do justice to the city of Everett and Snohomish County.'"</p> + +<p>With these words ringing in their ears the twelve jurors retired for +their deliberations, the court having entered an order discharging from +further service the two alternate jurors, Efaw and Williams.</p> + +<p>Retiring shortly before noon, the jury consulted for nearly twenty-two +hours, taking ballot after ballot only to find that there were some who +steadfastly refused to agree to any compromise verdict. Then, shortly +after nine o'clock on May 5th, two full calendar months after the start +of the trial and just six months to the day from the time of the tragedy +of the Verona, Foreman James R. Williams announced the result of their +deliberations, and the word sped out to the many hundred thousands who +had spent an anxious and sleepless night;</p> + +<p>"We, the jury, find the defendant, Thomas H. Tracy, NOT GUILTY!"</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>SOLIDARITY SCORES A SUCCESS</h3> + +<p>"I. W. W. Not Guilty!"</p> + +<p>In this headline the daily papers of Seattle, Washington, gave the +findings of the jury. With an unbroken series of successful prosecutions +of Labor to the credit of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association +this, the first great victory for the working class on the Pacific +Coast, was a bitter pill for the allied employers and open shop +interests to swallow.</p> + +<p>With Tracy freed and the I. W. W. exonerated, there was nothing for the +Snohomish County officials to do but to release the rest of the free +speech prisoners. Yet the same contemptible spirit that had marked their +actions from the very start of the trouble led them to hold the +prisoners for several days and to try to make a few of the men think +that there would be a trial of a second prisoner.</p> + +<p>Part of the men were released in Seattle and part in Everett. All went +at once to the I. W. W. hall upon gaining their freedom, and from there +nearly the whole body of released men went to Mount Pleasant cemetery to +visit the graves of their dead fellow workers.</p> + +<p>Returning to the hall, those who had previously been delegates, or who +had fitted themselves for the work while in jail, immediately took out +credentials and started on an organizing campaign of the Northwest, with +the uniting of the workers in the lumber industry as their main object.</p> + +<p>The dearth of workers due to the war, the tremendous advertisement the +I. W. W. had received because of the tragedy and the trial, and the +spirit of mingled determination and resentment that had grown up in the +jail, made the work easy for these volunteer organizers. Members joined +by the dozen, then by the score, and finally by the hundreds.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i030.jpg" width='700' height='367' alt="Gus Johnson Felix Baran John Looney" /></div> + +<h4>Gus Johnson<span class="s3"> </span>Felix Baran<span class="s3"> </span>John Looney</h4> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i031.jpg" width='700' height='329' alt="Hugo Gerlot Abraham Rabinowitz" /></div> + +<h4>Hugo Gerlot<span class="s3"> </span>Abraham Rabinowitz</h4> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p><p>Seattle had but two officials under pay on November 5th—Herbert +Mahler, secretary of the I. W. W., and J. A. MacDonald, editor of the +Industrial Worker. By July 4th, 1917, one year from the time of the +loggers' convention at which there were only half a hundred paid up +members, the I. W. W. in Seattle had thirty people under pay, working at +top speed to take care of the constantly increasing membership, and +preparations were under way to launch the greatest lumber strike ever +pulled in the history of the industry with the eight hour day as the +main demand. That strike in which thousands of men stood out for week +after week in the face of persecution of every character, in the face of +raids upon their halls and the illegal detention of hundreds of members +by city, county, state and federal agents, and in the face of +deportations by mobs of lumber trust hirelings, deserves a volume to itself.</p> + +<p>This activity in the lumber industry reflected itself in all other +lines, particularly so in construction projects all over the Northwest. +Demands for literature, for speakers, for organizers, flooded the +offices of the organization and many opportunities to organize had to be +passed by simply because there were not enough men capable of taking up the work.</p> + +<p>Part of this growth was of those who had interested themselves in the +trial. Many of those who had gone on the witness stand for the defense +afterwards took out membership cards in the I. W. W. The women of +Everett,—considerably more inclined toward revolutionary ideas than the +men there, by the way,—were among the first to ask for a "red card."</p> + +<p>Too great praise cannot be given to those who voluntarily gave their +services to the defense and thus helped to bring about a verdict of +acquittal. Thru the work of Mr. A. L. Carpenter a great deal of valuable +information was secured and it was thru his efforts that Deputy Joseph +Schofield was brought from Oregon to testify for the defense. For his +activity on behalf of organized labor Mr. Carpenter received the rebel's +reward—he was discharged from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> his position as district manager of a +large corporation. Scores of Everett citizens gave splendid assistance +to the defense, asking only that their names be withheld on account of +the Commercial Club blacklist.</p> + +<p>All persons directly in the employ of the defense proved their worth. +Deserving special mention in their work of investigation were Rev. T. T. +Edmunds, W. A. Loomis and John M. Foss. The Reverend Edmunds, being no +follower of a "cold statistical Christ" and having more of +humanitarianism than theology or current religion in his makeup, was +able to gain information where many another investigator might have +failed. The expert services of Loomis were of no less value, while the +particular merit of the work of John Foss was that he went to Everett +immediately after the catastrophe, at a time when chaos still reigned +and when the blood-lust of the deputies had not yet completely given way +to craven fear, and worked there night and day until a verdict of +acquittal for his fellow workers was practically assured. Both as an +investigator and as correspondent to the I. W. W. press, C. E. Payne, +familiarly known as "Stumpy," proved himself invaluable. Charles +Ashleigh handled the publicity for the Everett Prisoners' Defense +Committee in an able and efficient manner, while to Herbert Mahler +credit is due for the careful and painstaking handling of the large fund +raised to fight the case thru the courts.</p> + +<p>"Justice" is an expensive luxury in the lumber kingdom. Independent of +the large amount of money spent directly by individuals and by branches +of the I. W. W. the cost of the verdict of acquittal was $37,835.84. +Nearly thirty-eight thousand dollars! Thirty-eight thousand dollars to +free innocent workers from the clutches of the law! The victims in jail +and the murderers at liberty! But then, the last thing expected of +"Justice" is that it be just.</p> + +<p>Whence came the fund that, as a token of solidarity, set the free speech +prisoners at liberty? In the financial statement of the Everett +Prisoners Defense Committee it is set forth in full. Summarized, this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> +report shows that Labor united in the defense of the prisoners, that, +while this case was more largely financed directly thru the I. W. W. +than any other trial of the organization, there were many and generous +contributions from local unions of the American Federation of Labor, +from the Workers' Sick and Death Benefit Fund, from various other +working class societies and from sources so numerous as to make special +mention impossible. But these receipts varied from a dollar bill sent by +"A poor Working Stiff" from North Bend, Oregon, to a donation of $3.75 +from the Benevolent Society for the Propagating of Cremation at Yonkers, New York.</p> + +<p>Hundreds of dollars were raised in Seattle by the I. W. W. thru smokers, +dances, theatrical benefits, entertainments and collections by speakers +who told the story of Bloody Sunday before societies of every kind and +character. The Dreamland Rink meetings, attended in every instance by +thousands of people, were the means of bringing hundreds of dollars to +the defense. A considerable fund was raised directly within the +organization by the sale of embossed leatherette membership card cases +issued in memoriam to the martyred dead. In Seattle notable service was +rendered by the International Workers' Defense League.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i032.jpg" width='700' height='501' alt="May First at Graveside of Gerlot, Baran and Looney." /></div> + +<h4>May First at Graveside of Gerlot, Baran and Looney.</h4> + +<p>The nature of the case demanded heavy expenditures unlike those required +in any of the previous trials in which I. W. W. members were involved. +Many of the witnesses were men who had beaten their way from long +distances thru storms and snow to be in readiness to testify in behalf +of their imprisoned fellow workers, and most of these had to be +maintained at a relief station until called upon the stand. The care of +the wounded was an added item, and there were many necessary +expenditures for the big body of prisoners held as defendants. To each +of the men who was released at the end of the six months imprisonment +there was given a sum of $10. Owing to the sweeping nature of the +conspiracy charges and because of the large number of witnesses endorsed +by the State, all of whom <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>required investigation, there was a large sum +required for use in taking these necessary legal precautions. Heavy +charges were also made for the work of the stenographers who recorded +the evidence, this being an item borne by the State in most parts of the +country. The totals of these expenditures were as follows:</p> + +<table summary="expenditures"> + <tr> + <td class="left">Counsel fees in full</td> + <td>$8,470.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Legal investigation</td> + <td>8,955.36</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Court stenographers</td> + <td>3,354.30</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Miscellaneous legal expense</td> + <td>1,304.20</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Office expense</td> + <td>1,942.53</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Publicity work</td> + <td>4,830.44</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Miscellaneous accounts</td> + <td>8,457.37</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td>—————</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Total expenditures</td> + <td>$37,314.20</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>A balance of $521.64 was sent to the General Headquarters of the I. W. +W. and this, with $581.36 which remained in the General Office from the +sale of voluntary assessment stamps, was set aside as a fund to be used +for the maintenance of Harry Golden, Joseph Ghilezano and Albert +Scribner, three of the boys who were seriously injured on the Verona.</p> + +<p>The financial report was audited by E. G. Shorrock and Co., certified +accountants, and by a committee composed of Harry Feinberg and J. H. +Beyer, representing the prisoners, C. H. Rice, representing the Seattle +unions of the I. W. W., and General Executive Board member, Richard +Brazier, representing the General Headquarters of the I. W. W. The +statement made to contributors to the fund concluded with these +expressive words:</p> + +<p>"On behalf of the defendants, and the Industrial Workers of the World, +we take this opportunity to express our grateful appreciation to all +contributors, and to all the brave men and women who assisted us so +nobly in this great struggle to save seventy-three workingmen from a +living death at the hands of the Lumber Trust and the allied commercial +bodies of the Pacific Coast.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span></p><p>"It was the solidarity of the working class, and that alone, which +brought about this great victory for labor, so let us turn fresh from +victory, with determined hearts and unquellable spirit to unflinchingly +continue the struggle for the liberation of all prisoners of the class +war, remembering always that greatest expression of solidarity, 'An +injury to one, is an injury to all.'</p> + +<div class="block"><p class="center">"THE EVERETT PRISONERS DEFENSE<br />COMMITTEE.</p> + +<p class="center">THOMAS MURPHY,<br />CHARLES ASHLEIGH,<br />WM. J. HOUSER,<br /> +RICHARD SMITH,<br />HERBERT MAHLER, Sec'y-Treas."</p> + +<p>Seattle, Wash.,<br />June 12th, 1917.</p></div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>THE BANKRUPTCY OF "LAW AND ORDER"</h3> + +<p>The facts in this case speak pretty well for themselves. To draw +conclusions at length would be an impertinence. He who runs may read the +signs of decay of Capitalism, the crumbling of a social system based +upon the slavery and degradation of the vast majority of mankind. And +from the lips of the prosecution counsel—the Voice of the State—we +have the open and frank acknowledgement of the bankruptcy of law and +order, the failure of government as it is now administered.</p> + +<p>It is no part of this work to attack The Law. The Law is august, +majestic in its impartial findings and the equality of its judgements, +always however with due allowance for those subtle distinctions so +incomprehensible to the masses which exist between high finance, +kleptomania and theft. The Law strips no one of his possessions; under +its beneficent reign the rich retain their wealth and the poor keep +their poverty. Founded on dogma and moulded by tradition, The Law stands +as a mighty monument to Justice. It is ever in this way that we show our +respect and reverence for the dead. Being an outgrowth of precedent it +gains added sanctity with each fresh proof of antiquity, differing in +this regard from automobiles, eggs, women, hats, the six best sellers, +and the commoner things of life. Surrounded by mysticism, surcharged +with the language of the dead, and sustained by force, who is there +would have the temerity to question the sanctity of The Law?</p> + +<p>It remained for Attorneys Black and Cooley—and not for the outcast +industrial unionists, socialists or anarchists—to charge that The Law +is a bankrupt institution, and it was for the citizen-deputies—and not +for the despised workers—to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> prove the truth of the indictment. Truly +Society moves in a mysterious way its blunders to reform!</p> + +<p>With the true logic of the counting-house Cooley admitted that the mill +owners had formed a mob to protect themselves from the rabble, they had +pursued illegal methods to prevent the breaking of The Law, they had +jailed men in order to preserve Liberty, they had even blacklisted union +men in order to give to every man the right to work where, when and for +whom he pleased. There is no escaping such logic if one owns property. +Of course those who possess no property are the natural enemies of +property, and law being based upon property, they are defiers of The +Law, and Society being upheld only by observance of The Law, they are +the foes of Society. It is not best to kill them in too large numbers +for they are useful in doing the work of the world, but they must be +kept in fear and trembling of The Law and made to respect it as sacred +and inviolable, even if we do not. So argued Black and Cooley.</p> + +<p>But the whine of Black, the snarl of Cooley, the moody silence of +Veitch, alike served as a confession that "law and order" was a failure. +The plea of the State was that all law is the creature of property and +when the power of the law proves inadequate in its function of +protecting the accumulations of wealth the possessors of property are +justified in supplementing The Law with such additional physical or +brute force as they can muster, or in casting aside The Law altogether, +as it suits their convenience. To the workers The Law must remain sacred +while to the leisure class Property is the thing to worship, for however +much robbery is to be condemned, the proceeds of robbery are always to be respected.</p> + +<p>Their further contention was that the streets are for traffic, for +maintaining commerce, in other words to aid in the gathering of property +and to enhance the property values already cleared. Out of the +graciousness of their hearts the business men and employers allow the +pedestrians to use the streets incidental to the purchase of goods or to +journey to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> and from their tasks in the factories, mines, mills and +workshops. That the streets might be used for social, religious, +political or educational purposes does not enter their calculations, +their ledgers carry no place for such entries on the profit side. Free +speech is tolerated at times provided nothing of importance is said.</p> + +<p>Two trials were going on in the court room at the same time; that of +Thomas H. Tracy and the I. W. W. before a property-qualified jury, and +that of the existing system of law enforcement before the great jury of +the working class. And just as surely as was the verdict that of +acquittal for Tracy and his union, was there a most decided judgment of +Guilty upon "law and order." For Tracy was not freed by the law but by +the common sense of the jury who refused to consider him guilty and +viewed him as a class rather than as an individual. Under the existing +conspiracy laws he might well have been considered technically guilty. +But "law and order" technically and otherwise was proven guilty, and the +charge that Capitalism is guilty of first degree murder, and a host of +other crimes, was clearly proven.</p> + +<p>Why? Why all the brutality depicted herein? Why?</p> + +<p>The answer is that we are living in an insane social system in which +money ranks higher than manhood.</p> + +<p>To be more specific the outrages at Everett had their roots in the +belief that the men who labor, and especially the migratory and the +unskilled element, form an inferior caste or class to those who exploit +them. The dominant class viewed any attempt to claim even the same civil +rights as an assault upon their supremacy and integrity,—this to them +being synonymous with social order and civilization. This is always more +evident where a single industry dominates, as evidenced by the +occurrences at Ludlow, in the coal district, Mesaba in the iron ore +section, and Bisbee where copper is the main product. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>Everett +controlled by the lumber interests clinches the argument.</p> + +<p>A community dominated by an industry, impelled by a desire for high +profits; or under the spell of fear or passion, whether justified or +not, cannot be restrained by law from a summary satisfaction of its +desires or a quieting of its apprehensions. Before such a condition the +fabric of local government crumbles and lynch law is substituted for the +more orderly processes designed to attain the same end. The Everett +outrages were no example of the rough and ready justice of primitive +communities. The outlaws were in full possession of local government, +legislative, judicial, and executive, yet they fell back upon brute +force and personal violence and attempted to protect the lumber trust +profits by tactics of terrorism.</p> + +<p>Insofar as the law can be wielded for their immediate purpose a +capitalistic mob, such as these at Everett, will clothe their violence +in the form of ostensible legal process, yet often the letter and the +spirit of their own class-influenced laws will be ruthlessly thrust +aside. They want law and order, efficacious, impartial, august, in the +eyes of the general citizenry, but they want exemption of their class +from the rule of the law on certain occasions. Strongly would they deny +that all law is class law, made, interpreted and administered in behalf +of a privileged property-owning class, yet the facts bear out this contention.</p> + +<p>The conception of impersonal and impartial legalism has been generally +accepted along with traditional moral opinion and the naive belief in +the excellence of competitive, individualistic, and unrestrained +business. But this historical case has proven,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> as nothing else could +prove, that these bonds are relaxing and the faith and formulas +underlying the whole legal establishment are the subject of attack by an +increasingly large and uncompromising army of dissenters.</p> + +<p>From the developments of the Everett situation one can sense the rising +tide of industrial solidarity. It was the unity of the workers that won +the great case. It will be the unity of Labor that will win the world +for the workers, just as the embryonic democracy of the toilers in its +blind groupings has already cracked the shell of the industrial +autocracy of the present day.</p> + +<p>At present we are at the parting of the ways. There is not sufficient +faith in the Law to hold the dying wage system together and there is not +a sufficiently clear conception of the solidaric ideal of a new society +to bind the rebellious elements to a definite program. So chaos reigns +in society and events like those at Everett may be expected to arise +until the struggle of the exploited takes on a more constructive form +and develops the necessary power to overthrow capitalism and all its +attendant institutions.</p> + +<p>Industrial unionism is the only hope of the disinherited and +dispossessed proletariat. It is the voice of the future. It spells at +once Evolution and Revolution. Its assured success means an end to +classes and class rule and the rearing of a race of free individuals.</p> + +<p>The strength of the workers is in industry. Every worker, man, woman or +child, has economic power. The control of industry means the control of the world.</p> + +<p>He who strives to bring the workers closer <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>together so that their +allied forces in an industrial organization may overthrow the wage +system and rear in its place an Industrial Republic in which slavery +will be unknown and where joy will form the mainspring of human +activity, pays the highest homage to those who, in order that the spirit +of Liberty might not perish from the land, gave their lives at Everett, +Washington, on Sunday, November 5th, 1917:</p> + +<div class="block"><p>FELIX BARAN,<br /> +HUGO GERLOT,<br /> +GUSTAV JOHNSON,<br /> +JOHN LOONEY,<br /> +ABRAHAM RABINOWITZ.</p></div> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h2>FINISH</h2> + +<hr /> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h1>SONGS</h1> + +<h3>Of The Workers</h3> + +<p class="center">The Latest</p> + +<h2>I. W. W. SONG BOOK</h2> + +<p class="center">General Defense Edition</p> + +<div class="block"><p>Contains sixty-four pages of satirical, humorous and inspiring songs of +labor. Parodies on the well known popular airs. Wherever the English +language is spoken, there will be found countless numbers of workers +singing these real rebel songs.</p></div> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i033.jpg" width='150' height='148' alt="logo" /></div> + +<h3>PRICES</h3> + +<p class="center">Single Copies Ten Cents<br />$5.00 a Hundred</p> + +<p class="center">Address</p> + +<h3>I. W. W. Publishing Bureau</h3> + +<h4>1001 W. Madison St., Chicago, Ill.</h4> + +<hr /> + +<h1>I. W. W. LITERATURE</h1> + +<h3>I. W. W. Publishing Bureau</h3> + +<h3>1001 W. Madison St., Chicago</h3> + +<div class="block"><h4>Pamphlets at 10c Each, or 3.50 Per Hundred</h4> + +<p>I. W. W. History, Structure & Methods (St. John), revised<br /> +Industrial Unionism, the Road to Freedom (Ettor)<br /> +The Evolution of Industrial Democracy (Woodruff)<br /> +One Big Union, The Greatest Thing on Earth<br /> +Advancing Proletariat (Woodruff)<br />Patriotism and the Worker (Hervé)<br /> +Onward Sweep of the Machine Process (Hanson)<br /> +Red Down (Harrison George)<br />Is Freedom Dead?</p> + +<h4>Pamphlets at 10c Each, or $5.00 Per Hundred</h4> + +<p>The I. W. W. Song Book.<br /> +The General Strike (Haywood); also containing "The Last War."<br /> +Proletarian and Petit Bourgeois (Lewis)<br /> +The General Secretary's Report of the Tenth Convention<br /> +Hotel, Restaurant and Domestic Workers (L. S. Chumley)<br /> +Revolutionary Writings (Kelly Cole)</p> + +<h4>Books at Various Prices</h4> + +<table summary="Books at Various Prices"> + <tr> + <td class="left">The New Unionism (Tridon), 35c per copy</td> + <td class="mono">100—$25.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Opening Statement of G. F. Vanderveer, 25c</td> + <td class="mono">100— 20.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left"> Cloath Bound, 50c per copy</td> + <td class="mono">100— 35.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Testimony of William D. Haywood Before<br /> + the Industrial Relations Commission, 15c</td> + <td style="vertical-align: bottom" class="mono">100— 10.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Trial of New Society (Ebert), 50c per copy</td> + <td class="mono">100— 35.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Proceedings 10th Convention, 50c per copy</td> + <td class="mono">100— 35.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">The Everett Massacre, Cloath Bound, $1.00</td> + <td class="mono">100— 75.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Indictment, 25c per copy</td> + <td class="mono">100— 20.00</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<h4>I. W. W. Leaflets</h4> + +<table summary="I. W. W. Leaflets"> + <tr> + <td class="left">I. W. W. Industrial Unionism (St. John), 5c per copy</td> + <td class="mono">100— $1.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">High Cost of Living (Dougherty), 5c per copy</td> + <td class="mono">100— 1.00</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">Metal and Machinery Workers (leaflet)</td> + <td class="mono">100— .25</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left">To Colored Working Men and Women</td> + <td class="mono">100— .30</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<h4>Songs and Music by Joe Hill</h4> + +<p>25c copy; 5 for $1.00; 10 or more, 15c each.<br /> +Workers of the World, Awaken!<br /> +The Rebel Girl.<br />Don't Take My Papa Away from Me.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Everett massacre, by Walker C. 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b/31810-h/images/i033.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b3660f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/31810-h/images/i033.jpg diff --git a/31810-h/images/i034.jpg b/31810-h/images/i034.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c0f0b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/31810-h/images/i034.jpg diff --git a/31810-h/images/iww.jpg b/31810-h/images/iww.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..35869e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/31810-h/images/iww.jpg diff --git a/31810-h/images/tpage.jpg b/31810-h/images/tpage.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e460e71 --- /dev/null +++ b/31810-h/images/tpage.jpg diff --git a/31810.txt b/31810.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a321df2 --- /dev/null +++ b/31810.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9955 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Everett massacre, by Walker C. Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Everett massacre + A history of the class struggle in the lumber industry + +Author: Walker C. Smith + +Release Date: March 28, 2010 [EBook #31810] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EVERETT MASSACRE *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Martin Pettit and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + +The Everett Massacre + +By Walker C. Smith + +A History of the Class Struggle in the Lumber Industry + +[Illustration: Decoration] + +I. W. W. Publishing Bureau +Chicago, Ill. + + +This book is dedicated to those loyal soldiers of the great class war +who were murdered on the steamer Verona at Everett, Washington, in the +struggle for free speech and free assembly and the right to organize: + + FELIX BARAN, + HUGO GERLOT, + GUSTAV JOHNSON, + JOHN LOONEY, + ABRAHAM RABINOWITZ, + +and those unknown martyrs whose bodies were swept out to unmarked ocean +graves on Sunday, November Fifth, 1916. + + +PRINTED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL RECRUITING UNION I. W. W. + + + + +PREFACE + + +In ten minutes of seething, roaring hell at the Everett dock on the +afternoon of Sunday, November 5, 1916, there was more of the age-old +superstition regarding the identity of interests between capital and +labor torn from the minds of the working people of the Pacific Northwest +than could have been cleared away by a thousand lecturers in a year. It +is with regret that we view the untimely passing of the seven or more +Fellow Workers who were foully murdered on that fateful day, but if the +working class of the world can view beyond their mangled forms the +hideous brutality that was the cause of their deaths, they will not have +died in vain. + +This book is published with the hope that the tragedy at Everett may +serve to set before the working class so clear a view of capitalism in +all its ruthless greed that another such affair will be impossible. + +C. E. PAYNE. + + +With grateful acknowledgments to C. E. Payne for valuable assistance in +preparing the subject matter, to Harry Feinberg in consultation, to +Marie B. Smith in revising manuscript, and to J. J. Kneisle for +photographs. + + + + +EVERETT, NOVEMBER FIFTH + +By Charles Ashleigh + +["* * * and then the Fellow Worker died, singing 'Hold the Fort' * * +*"--From the report of a witness.] + + + Song on his lips, he came; + Song on his lips, he went;-- + This be the token we bear of him,-- + Soldier of Discontent! + + Out of the dark they came; out of the night + Of poverty and injury and woe,-- + With flaming hope, their vision thrilled to light,-- + Song on their lips, and every heart aglow; + + They came, that none should trample Labor's right + To speak, and voice her centuries of pain. + Bare hands against the master's armored might!-- + A dream to match the tools of sordid gain! + + And then the decks went red; and the grey sea + Was written crimsonly with ebbing life. + The barricade spewed shots and mockery + And curses, and the drunken lust of strife. + + Yet, the mad chorus from that devil's host,-- + Yea, all the tumult of that butcher throng,-- + Compound of bullets, booze and coward boast,-- + Could not out-shriek one dying worker's song! + + Song on his lips, he came; + Song on his lips, he went;-- + This be the token we bear of him,-- + Soldier of Discontent! + + +[Illustration: Released Free Speech prisoners who visited the graves of +their murdered Fellow Workers at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, May 12, 1917.] + + + + +The Everett Massacre + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE LUMBER KINGDOM + + +Perhaps the real history of the rise of the lumber industry in the +Pacific Northwest will never be written. It will not be set down in +these pages. A fragment--vividly illustrative of the whole, yet only a +fragment--is all that is reproduced herein. But if that true history be +written, it will tell no tales of "self-made men" who toiled in the +woods and mills amid poverty and privation and finally rose to fame and +affluence by their own unaided effort. No Abraham Lincoln will be there +to brighten its tarnished pages. The story is a more sordid one and it +has to do with the theft of public lands; with the bribery and +corruption of public officials; with the destruction and "sabotage," if +the term may be so misused, of the property of competitors; with base +treachery and double-dealing among associated employers; and with +extortion and coercion of the actual workers in the lumber industry by +any and every means from the "robbersary" company stores to the +commission of deliberate murder. + +No sooner had the larger battles among the lumber barons ended in the +birth of the lumber trust than there arose a still greater contest for +control of the industry. Lumberjack engaged lumber baron in a struggle +for industrial supremacy; on the part of the former a semi-blind groping +toward the light of freedom and for the latter a conscious striving to +retain a seat of privilege. Nor can the full history of that struggle be +written here, for the end is not yet, but no one who has read the past +rightly can doubt the ultimate outcome. That history, when finally +written, will recite tales of heroism and deeds of daring and unassuming +acts of bravery on the part of obscure toilers beside which the vaunted +prowess of famous men will seem tawdry by comparison. Today the +perspective is lacking. Time alone will vindicate the rebellious workers +in their fight for freedom. From all this travail and pain is to be born +an Industrial Democracy. + +The lumber industry dominated the whole life of the Northwest. The +lumber trust had absolute sway in entire sections of the country and +held the balance of power in many other places. It controlled Governors, +Legislatures and Courts; directed Mayors and City Councils; completely +owned Sheriffs and Deputies; and thru threats of foreclosure, blackmail, +the blacklist and the use of armed force it dominated the press and +pulpit and terrorized many other elements in each community. The sworn +testimony in the greatest case in labor history bears out these +statements. Out of their own mouths were the lumber barons and their +tools condemned. For, let it be known, the great trial in Seattle, +Wash., in the year 1917, was not a trial of Thomas H. Tracy and his +co-defendants. It was a trial of the lumber trust, a trial of so-called +"law and order," a trial of the existing method of production and +exchange and the social relations that spring from it,--and the verdict +was that Capitalism is guilty of Murder in the First Degree. + +To get even a glimpse into the deeper meaning of the case that developed +from the conflict at Everett, Wash., it is necessary to know something +of the lives of the migratory workers, something of the vital necessity +of free speech to the working class and to all society for that matter, +and also something about the basis of the lumber industry and the +foundation of the city of Everett. The first two items very completely +reveal themselves thru the medium of the testimony given by the +witnesses for the defense, while the other matters are covered briefly +here. + +The plundering of public lands was a part of the policy of the lumber +trust. Large holdings were gathered together thru colonization schemes, +whereby tracts of 160 acres were homesteaded by individuals with money +furnished by the lumber operators. Often this meant the mere loaning of +the individual's name, and in many instances the building of a home was +nothing more than the nailing together of three planks. Other rich +timber lands were taken up as mineral claims altho no trace of valuable +ore existed within their confines. All this timber fell into the hands +of the lumber trust. In addition to this there were large companies who +logged for years on forty acre strips. This theft of timber on either +side of a small holding is the basis of many a fortune and the +possessors of this stolen wealth can be distinguished today by their +extra loud cries for "law and order" when their employes in the woods +and mills go on strike to add a few more pennies a day to their beggarly +pittance. + +Altho cheaper than outright purchase from actual settlers, these methods +of timber theft proved themselves quite costly and the public outcry +they occasioned was not to the liking of the lumber barons. To +facilitate the work of the lumber trust and at the same time placate the +public, nothing better than the Forest Reserve could possibly have been +devised. The establishment of the National Forest Reserves was one of +the long steps taken in the United States in monopolizing both the land +and the timber of the country. + +The first forest reserves were established February 22, 1898, when +22,000,000 acres were set aside as National Forests. Within the next +eight years practically all the public forest lands in the United +States that were of any considerable extent had been set off into these +reserves, and by 1913 there had been over 291,000 square miles included +within their confines.[1] This immense tract of country was withdrawn +from the possibility of homestead entry at approximately the time that +the Mississippi Valley and the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains had +been settled and brought under private ownership. Whether the purpose +was to put the small sawmills out of business can not be definitely +stated, but the lumber trust has profited largely from the establishment +of the forest reserves. + +So long as there was in the United States a large and open frontier to +be had for the taking there could be no very prolonged struggle against +an owning class. It has been easier for those having nothing to go but a +little further and acquire property for themselves. But on coming to +what had been the frontier and finding a forest reserve with range +riders and guards on its boundaries to prevent trespassing; on looking +back and seeing all land and opportunities taken; on turning again to +the forest reserve and finding a foreman of the lumber trust within its +borders offering wages in lieu of a home, it was inevitable that a +conflict should occur. + +With the capitalistic system of industry in operation, the conflict +between the landless homeseekers and the owners of the vast +accumulations of capital would inevitably have taken place, but this +clash has come at least a generation earlier because of the +establishment of the National Forests than it otherwise would. The land +now in reserves would furnish homes and comfortable livings for ten +million people, and have absorbed the surplus population for another +generation. It is also true that the establishment of the National +Forests has been one of the vital factors that made the continued +existence of the lumber trust possible. + +Prior to 1895 the shipments of lumber to the prairie states from west of +the Rocky Mountains were very small, and of no effect on the domination +of the lumber industry by the trust. Also, prior to that date but a +small part of the valuable timber west of the Rocky Mountains had been +brought under private ownership. But about this time the pioneer +settlers began swarming over the Pacific Slope and taking the free +government land as homesteads. As the timber land was taken up, floods +of lumber from the Pacific Coast met the lumber of the trust on the +great prairies. The lumber trust had looted the government land and the +Indian reservations in the middle states of their timber, and had almost +full control of the prairie markets until the lumber of the Pacific +Slope began to arrive. In 1896 lumber from the Puget Sound was sold in +Dakota for $16.00 per thousand feet, and it kept coming in a constantly +increasing volume and of a better quality than the trust was shipping +from the East. It was but natural that the trust should seek a means to +stifle the constantly increasing competition from the homesteads of the +West, and the means was found in the establishment of the National +Forest Reserves. + +While the greater portion of North America was yet a wilderness, the +giving of vast tracts of valuable land on the remote frontier to private +individuals and companies could be accomplished. But at this time such a +procedure would have been impossible, tho it was imperative for the life +of the trust that the timber of the Pacific Slope should be withdrawn +from the possibility of homestead entry. In order to carry out this +scheme it was necessary to raise a cry of "Benefit to the Public" and +make it appear that this new public policy was in the interest of future +generations. The cry was raised that the public domain was being used +for private gain, that the timber was being wastefully handled, that +unnecessary amounts were being cut, that the future generations would +find themselves without timber, that the watersheds were being denuded +and that drought and floods would be the certain result, that the nation +should receive a return for the timber that was taken, together with +many other specious pleas. + +That the public domain was being used for private gain was in some +instances true, but the vast majority of the timber land was being taken +as homesteads, and thus taking the timber outside the control of the +trust. That the timber was being wastefully handled was to some extent +true, but this was inevitable in the development of a new industry in a +new country, and so far as the Pacific Slope is concerned there is but +little change from the methods of twenty years ago. That unnecessary +amounts were being cut was sometimes true, but this served only to keep +prices down, and from the standpoint of the trust was unpardonable on +that account alone. The market is being supplied now as formerly, and +with as much as it will take. The only means that has been used to +restrict the amount cut has been to raise the price to about double what +it was in 1896. The denuding of the watersheds of the continent goes on +today the same as it did twenty-five years ago, the only consideration +being whether there is a market for the timber. Some reforesting has +been done, and some protection has been established for the prevention +of fires, but these things have been much in the nature of an +advertisement since the government has taken charge of the forests, and +was done automatically by the homesteaders before the Reserves were +established. There has never been any restriction in the amount of +timber that any company could buy, and the more it wanted, the better +chance it had of getting it. The nation is receiving some return from +the sale of timber from the government land, but it is in the nature of +a division of the spoils from a raid on the homes of the landless. + +When the Reserve were established, the Secretary of the Interior was +empowered to "make rules and regulations for the occupancy and the use +of the forests and preserve them from destruction." No attempt was made +in the General Land Office to develop a technical forestry service. The +purpose of the administration was mainly protection against trespass and +fire. The methods of the administration were to see to it first that +there were no trespassers. Fire protection came later. When the Reserves +were established, people who were at the time living within their +boundaries were compelled to submit the titles of their homesteads to +the most rigid scrutiny, and many people who had complied with the +spirit of the law were dispossessed on mere technicalities, while before +the establishment of the Reserve system the spirit of the compliance +with the homestead law was mainly considered, and very seldom the +technicality. And while the Forestry Service was examining all titles to +homesteads within the boundaries of the Reserve with the utmost care, +the large lumbering companies were given the best of consideration, and +were allowed all the timber they requested and a practically unlimited +time to remove it. + +The system of dealing with the lumber trust has been most liberal on the +part of the government. A company wanting several million feet of timber +makes a request to the district office to have the timber of a certain +amount and on a certain tract offered for sale. The Forestry Service +makes an estimate of the minimum value of the timber as it stands in the +tree and the amount of timber requested within that tract is then +offered for sale at a given time, the bids to be sent in by mail and +accompanied by certified checks. The bids must be at least as large as +the minimum price set by the Forestry Service, and highest bidder is +awarded the timber, on condition that he satisfies the Forestry Service +that he is responsible and will conduct the logging according to rules +and regulations. The system seems fair, and open to all, until the +conditions are known. + +But among the large lumber companies there has never been any real +competition for the possession of any certain tract of timber that was +listed for sale by request. When one company has decided on asking for +the allotment of any certain tract of timber, other companies operating +within that forest seldom make bids on that tract. Any small company +that is doing business in opposition to the trust companies, and may +desire to bid on an advertised tract, even tho its bid may be greater +than the bid of the trust company, will find its offer thrown out as +being "not according to the Government specifications," or the company +is "not financially responsible," or some other suave explanation for +refusing to award the tract to the competing company. On the other hand, +when a small company requests that some certain tract shall be listed +for sale, it very frequently happens that one of the large companies +that is commonly understood to be affiliated with the lumber trust will +have a bid in for that tract that is slightly above that of the +non-trust company, and the timber is solemnly awarded to "the highest +bidder." + +When a company is awarded a tract of timber, the payment that is +required is ten per cent of the purchase price at the time of making the +award, and the balance is to be paid when the logs are on the landing, +or practically when they can be turned into ready cash, thus requiring +but a comparatively small outlay of money to obtain the timber. When the +award is made, it is the policy of the Forestry Service to be on +friendly terms with the customers, and the men who scale the logs and +supervise the cutting are the ones who come into direct contact with the +companies, and it is inevitable that to be on good terms with the +foreman the supervision and scaling must be "satisfactory." Forestry +Service men who have not been congenial with the foremen of the logging +companies have been transferred to other places, and it is almost +axiomatic that three transfers is the same as a discharge. The little +work that is required of the companies in preventing fires is much more +than offset by the fact that no homesteaders have small holdings within +the area of their operations, either to interfere with logging or to +compete with their small mills for the control of the lumber market. + +That the forest lands of the nation were being denuded, and that this +would cause droughts and floods was a fact before the establishment of +the Reserves, and the fact is still true. Where a logging company +operates, the rule is that it shall take all the timber on the tract +where it works, and then the forest guards are to burn the brush and +refuse. A cleaner sweep of the timber could not have been made under the +old methods. The only difference in methods is that where the forest +guards now do the fire protecting for the lumber trust, the homesteaders +formerly did it for their own protection. In January, 1914, the Forestry +Service issued a statement that the policy of the Service for the +Kaniksu Forest in Northern Idaho and Northeastern Washington would be to +have all that particular reserve logged off and then have the land +thrown open to settlement as homesteads. As the timber in that part of +the country will but little more than pay for the work of clearing the +land ready for the plow, but is very profitable where no clearing is +required, it can be readily seen that the Forestry Service was being +used as a means of dividing the fruit--the apples to the lumber trust, +the cores to the landless homeseekers. + +One particular manner in which the Government protects the large lumber +companies is in the insurance against fire loss. When a tract has been +awarded to a bidder it is understood that he shall have all the timber +allotted to him, and that he shall stand no loss by fire. Should a tract +of timber be burned before it can be logged, the government allots to +the bidder another tract of timber "of equal value and of equal +accessibility," or an adjustment is made according to the ease of +logging and value of the timber. In this way the company has no expense +for insurance to bear, which even now with the fire protection that is +given by the Forestry Service is rated by insurance companies at about +ten per cent. of the value of the timber for each year. + +No taxes or interest are required on the timber that is purchased from +the government. Another feature that makes this timber cheaper than that +of private holdings, is that to buy outright would entail the expense of +the first cost of the land and timber, the protection from fire, the +taxes and the interest on the investment. In addition to this there is +always the possibility that some homesteader would refuse to sell some +valuable tract that was in a vital situation, as holding the key to a +large tract of timber that had no other outlet than across that tract. +There has been as yet no dispute with the government about an outlet for +any timber purchased on the Reserves; the contract for the timber always +including the proviso that the logging company shall have the right to +make and use such roads as are "necessary," and the company is the judge +of what is necessary in that line. + +The counties in which Reserves are situated receive no taxes from the +government timber, or from the timber that is cut from the Reserves +until it is cut into lumber, but in lieu of this they receive a sop in +the form of "aid" in the construction of roads. In the aggregate this +aid looks large, but when compared with the amount of road work that the +people who could make their homes within what is now the Forest Reserves +could do, it is pitifully small and very much in the nature of the +"charity" that is handed out to the poor of the cities. It is the +inevitable result of a system of government that finds itself compelled +to keep watch and ward over its imbecile children. + +So in devious ways of fraud, graft, coercion, and outright theft, the +bulk of the timber of the Northwest has been acquired by the lumber +trust at an average cost of less than twelve cents a thousand feet. In +the states of Washington and Oregon alone, the Northern Pacific and the +Southern Pacific railways, as allies of the Weyerhouser interests of St. +Paul, own nearly nine million acres of timber; the Weyerhouser group by +itself dominating altogether more than thirty million acres, or an area +almost equal to that of the state of Wisconsin. The timber owned by a +relatively small group of individuals is sufficient to yield enough +lumber to build a six-room house for every one of the twenty million +families in the United States. + +Why then should conservation, or the threat of it, disturb the serenity +of the lumber trust? If the government permits the cutting of public +timber it increases the value of the trust holdings in multiplied ratio, +and if the government withdraws from public entry any portion of the +public lands, creating Forest Reserves, it adds marvelously to the value +of the trust logs in the water booms. Even forest fires in one portion +of these vast holdings serve but to send skyward the values in the +remaining parts, and by some strange freak of nature the timber of trust +competitors, like the "independent" and co-operative mills, seems to be +more inflammable than that of the "law-abiding" lumber trust. And so it +happens that the government's forest policy has added fabulous wealth +and prestige and power to the rulers of the lumber kingdom. + +But whether the timber lands were stolen illegally or acquired by +methods entirely within the law of the land, the exploitation of labor +was, and is, none the less severe. The withholding from Labor of any +portion of its product in the form of profits--unpaid wages--and the +private ownership by individuals or small groups of persons, of timber +lands and other forms of property necessary to society as a whole, are +principles utterly indefensible by any argument save that of force. Such +legally ordained robbery can be upheld only by armies, navies, militia, +sheriffs and deputies, police and detectives, private gunmen, and +illegal mobs formed of, or created by, the propertied classes. Alike in +the stolen timber, the legally acquired timber, and in the Government +Forest Reserves, the propertyless lumberjacks are unmercifully +exploited, and any difference in the degree of exploitation does not +arise because of the "humanity" of any certain set of employers but +simply because the cutting of timber in large quantities brings about a +greater productivity from each worker, generally accompanied with a +decrease in wages due to the displacement of men. + +With the development of large scale logging operations there naturally +came a development of machinery in the industry. The use of water power, +the horse, and sometimes the ox, gave way to the use of the donkey +engine. This grew from a crude affair, resembling an over-sized coffee +mill, to a machine with a hauling power equal to that of a small sized +locomotive. Later on came "high lead" logging and the Flying Machine, +besides which the wonderful exploits of "Paul Bunyan's old blue ox" are +as nothing. + +The overhead system was created as a result of the additional cost of +hauling when the increased demand for a larger output of logs forced the +erection of more and more camps, each new camp being further removed +from the cities and towns. Today its use is almost universal as there +remains no timber close to the large cities, even the stumps having been +removed to make room for farming operations. + +Roughly the method of operation is to leave a straight tall tree +standing near the logging track in felling timber. The machine proper is +set right at the base of this tree, and about ninety feet up its trunk a +large chain is wrapped to allow the hanging of a block. From this spar +tree a cable, two inches in diameter, is stretched to another tree some +distance in the woods. On this cable is placed what is known as a +bicycle or trolley. Various other lines run back and forth thru this +trolley to the engine. At the end of one of these lines an enormous pair +of hooks is suspended. These grasp the timber and convey it to the cars. + +[Illustration: The Flying Machine as now used in Western logging.] + +Ten to twenty thousand feet of logs a day was the output of the old +bull or horse teams. The donkey engine brought it to a point where from +seventy-five to one hundred thousand could be turned out, and the steam +skidder doubled the output of the donkey. Ordinarily the crew for one +donkey engine consists of from thirteen to fifteen men, sometimes even +as high as twenty-five, but this number is reduced to nine or even lower +with the introduction of the steam skidder. Loggers claim that the high +lead system kills and maims more men than the methods formerly in vogue, +but be that as it may, the fact stands out quite plainly that as +compared with a line horse donkey, operated with a crew of twenty-five +men, the flying machine will produce enough lumber to mean the +displacement of one hundred men. + +At the same time the sawmills of the old type have disappeared with +their rotary or circular saws, dead rollers, and obsolete methods of +handling lumber, and in their place is the modern mill with its band +saw, shot-gun feed, steam nigger, live rollers, and resaw. Nor do the +mills longer turn out rough lumber to be re-handled by trained +specialists and highly skilled carpenters with large and costly kits of +intricate hand tools. Relatively unskilled workers send forth the +finished products, window sashes, doors, siding, etc., carpenters armed +only with square, hammer and saw, and classed with unskilled labor, put +these in place, and a complete house can be ordered by parcel post. + +As is usual with the introduction of new machinery and methods where the +workers are not in control, the actual producers find that all these +innovations force them to work at a higher rate of speed under more +hazardous conditions for a lower rate of pay. It is true of all industry +in the main, particularly true of the lumber industry, and the mills of +Everett and camps of Snohomish county have no exceptions to test this +rule. + +The story of Everett has no hint of romance. Some time in the late +seventies the representatives of John D. Rockefeller gained possession +of a tract of land in Western Washington, on Puget Sound, about thirty +miles north of Seattle. The land was heavily timbered and water +facilities made it a perfect site for mill and shipping purposes. The +Everett Land Company was organized, the tract was plotted, and the city +of Everett laid out. The leading streets, Rockefeller, Colby, Hoyt, +etc., were named for these early promoters. Hewitt Avenue was given the +name of a man who is today recognized as the leading capitalist of the +state of Washington. Even the building of those streets reflected no +credit upon the city. The work was done by what amounted to convict +labor. Unemployed workers, even tho they were plentifully supplied with +money, were arrested and without being allowed the alternative of a fine +were set to work clearing, grading, planking and, later on, paving the +streets. Perhaps it is too much to expect freedom of speech to be +allowed on slave-built streets. + +In their articles of incorporation the promoters reserved to themselves +all right to the ownership and control of public utilities, such as +water, light and power and street railway systems. A mortgage of +$1,500,000 was placed upon the property. After a time the company +failed, the mortgage was foreclosed and the property purchased by Rucker +Brothers. The Everett Improvement Company was then organized with J. T. +McChesney as president. It held all rights to dispose of public utility +franchises. The firm of Stone & Webster, the construction, light, heat, +power and traction trust, secured franchises granting them the right to +furnish light and power for the city of Everett and also to operate the +street railway system for 99 years. The Everett Improvement Company owns +a dock lying to the south of the municipally owned City Dock where the +Everett tragedy was staged. Thru its alliances the shipping of Everett +is in the hands of the same group of capitalists that control all other +public utilities. The waterworks was sold to the city but has remained +in the hands of the same officials who were in charge when its title +was a private one. Everett operates under the commission form of +government. + +The American National Bank was organized with McChesney as president. +The only other bank of importance in Everett was the First National. +These two institutions consolidated with Wm. C. Butler as president and +McChesney as one of the directors. The Everett Savings and Trust Company +was later organized, with the same stockholders and under the same +management as the First National Bank. The control of every public +service corporation in Everett is directly in the hands of these two +banks, and, indirectly, thru loans to industrial corporations, they +control both the lumber and the shingle mills of Snohomish County in +which Everett is situated. + +Everett, the "City of Smokestacks," as its promoters have named it, is +an industrial community of approximately 35,000 people. Its main +activities are the production of lumber and shingles, and shipping. The +practically undiversified nature of its economic life binds all those +engaged in the employment of labor into a common body. The owners of the +lumber and shingle mills, the owners and officials of the banks where +the lumber men do business, the lawyers representing the mills and the +banks, the employers engaged in shipping lumber and supplies for the +lumber industry, their lawyers and their bank connections, the owners of +hardware stores that supply equipment for the mills and allied +industries, all are united by common ties and common interests and they +all support one policy. Not only are they banded together against the +wage workers but they also oppose the entrance of any kind of business +that will in any way menace their rule. They arose almost as one in +opposition to the entrance of the ship building industry into Everett, +despite the fact that it would add measurably to the general prosperity +of the city, and with a full knowledge that their harbor offered +wonderful natural facilities for that line of endeavor. In the face of +an action that threatened their autocratic power their alleged +"patriotism" vanished. + +In 1912 the Everett Commercial Club was organized. In the month of +December, 1915, following a visit from a San Francisco representative of +the Merchants and Manufacturers' Association, it was re-organized on the +Bureau plan as a stock concern. Stock memberships were issued to +employers and business houses and were subsequently distributed among +the employers and their employes. Memberships were doled out to persons +who would be subservient to the wishes of the small group of capitalists +representing the great corporate interests. W. W. Blain, secretary of +the Commercial Club, testified, under oath, that the Everett Improvement +Company took 25 memberships, the First National Bank took 10, the +Weyerhouser Lumber Company 10, the Clough-Hartley Mill Company 5, the +Jamison Mill Company 5, and other mills and allied industries also +purchased memberships in bulk. Organized labor, however, had no +representation at the Commercial Club. + +There is nothing in the history of Everett to suggest the usual +spontaneous outgrowth of the honest endeavors of hardy pioneer settlers. +From the first day the Rockefeller interests set foot in the virgin +forests of Snohomish County up to the present time, the spirit of +democracy has been crushed by the greed and cupidity of this small and +powerful group. + +The struggle at Everett was but one of the inevitable phases of the +larger struggle that takes place when a class or group that has no +property comes in contact with those who have monopolized the earth and +its resources. It was no new, marvelous, isolated case of violence. It +was the normal accompaniment of industry based upon the exploitation of +wage workers, and was of one piece with the outbreak on the Mesaba +Range, in Bayonne, Ludlow, Paint Creek, Paterson, Lawrence, San Diego, +Fresno, Spokane, Homestead and in countless other places. All these +apparently disconnected and sporadic uprisings of labor and the +accompanying capitalist violence are joined together in a whole that +spells wage slavery. As one of the manifestations of the class conflict, +the Everett tragedy cannot be considered apart from that age-long and +world-wide struggle between the takers of profits and the makers of +values. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] Data on Forest Reserve taken from 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica +articles by Gifford Pinchot. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +CLASS WAR SKIRMISHES + + +"Shingle-weaving is not a trade; it is a battle. For ten hours a day the +sawyer faces two teethed steel discs whirling around two hundred times a +minute. To the one on the left he feeds heavy blocks of cedar, reaching +over with his left hand to remove the rough shingles it rips off. He +does not, he cannot stop to see what his left hand is doing. His eyes +are too busy examining the shingles for knot holes to be cut out by the +second saw whirling in front of him. + +"The saw on his left sets the pace. If the singing blade rips fifty +rough shingles off the block every minute, the sawyer must reach over to +its teeth fifty times in sixty seconds; if the automatic carriage feeds +the odorous wood sixty times into the hungry teeth, sixty times he must +reach over, turn the shingle, trim its edge on the gleaming saw in front +of him, cut out the narrow strip containing the knot hole with two quick +movements of his right hand and toss the completed board down the chute +to the packers, meanwhile keeping eyes and ears open for the sound that +asks him to feed a new block into the untiring teeth. Hour after hour +the shingle weaver's hands and arms, plain, unarmored flesh and blood, +are staked against the screeching steel that cares not what it severs. +Hour after hour the steel sings its crescendo note as it bites into the +wood, the sawdust cloud thickens, the wet sponge under the sawyer's +nose, fills with fine particles. If 'cedar asthma,' the shingle weaver's +occupational disease, does not get him, the steel will. Sooner or later +he reaches over a little too far, the whirling blade tosses drops of +deep red into the air, and a finger, a hand or part of an arm comes +sliding down the slick chute."[2] + +This description of shingle weaving was given by Walter V. Woehlke, +managing editor of the Sunset Magazine, in an article which had as its +purpose the justification of the murders committed by the Everett mob, +and it contains no over-statement. Shingle weavers are set apart from +the rest of the workers by their mutilated hands and the dead grey +pallor of their cheeks. + +"The nature of a man's occupation, his daily working environment, marks +in a large degree the nature of the man himself, and cannot help but +mold the early years, at least, or his economic organization. Men who +flirt with death in their daily calling become inured to physical +danger, they become contemptuous of the man whose calling fails to bring +forth physical prowess. So do they in their organizations become +irritated and contemptuous at the long-drawn-out process of bargaining, +the duel of wits and brain power engaged in by the more conservative +organizations to win working concessions. Their motto becomes 'Strike +quick and strike hard,'* * *" So says E. P. Marsh, President of the +Washington State Federation of Labor, in speaking of the shingle +weavers.[3] + +Logging, no less than shingle weaving, is a dangerous occupation. The +countless articles of wood in every-day use have claimed their toll of +human blood. A falling tree or limb, a mis-step on the river, a faulty +cable, a weakened trestle; each may mean a still and mangled form. Time +and again the loggers have organized to improve their working conditions +only to find themselves beaten or betrayed. Playing upon the natural +desire of the woodsmen for organization, shrewd swindlers have formed +unions which were nothing more than dues collection agencies. +Politicians have fathered organizations for their own purposes. Unions +built by the men themselves have fallen into the hands of officials who +used them for selfish personal gain. Over and over the employers have +crushed the embryonic unions only to see them rise again with added +strength. Forced by the very necessities of their daily lives, the +workers always returned to the fight with a new and better form of +unionism. + +Like the loggers, the shingle weavers were routed time and again, but +their spirit never died. The Everett shingle weavers formed their union +as a result of a successful strike in 1901. In 1905 they were strong +enough to resist a proposed reduction of wages. In 1906 they struck in +sympathy with the Ballard weavers, and lost. Within a year the defeated +union was back as strong as before. By 1911 the International Shingle +Weavers Union had attained a membership of nearly 2,000, the majority of +whom were in accord with the Industrial Workers of the World. The +question of affiliation with the I. W. W. was widely discussed and was +only prevented from going to a referendum vote by the efforts of a few +officials. Further discussion of the question was excluded from the +columns of their official organ, "The Shingle Weaver," by the Ninth +Annual Convention.[4] + +Following this slap in the face, the progressive members quit the union +in large numbers, leaving affairs in the hands of conservative and +reactionary elements. Endeavors were made to negotiate contracts with +the employers; and in 1913 the officials secured $30,000 from the +American Federation of Labor and made a pretense at the organization of +all workers in the woods and mills into one body. This was a move aimed +at the Forest and Lumber Workers of the I. W. W., which was feared +alike by the employers and the craft union officials because of its new +strength gained thru the affiliation of the Brotherhood of Timber +Workers in the southern states. Instead of gaining ground by the move, +the shingle weavers union lost in membership and subsequently claimed +that industrial unionism was a failure in the lumber industry. + +The industrial depression of 1914-15 found all unions in bad shape. +Employers used the army of unemployed as an axe to cut wages. In the +spring of 1915 notice of a wage reduction was posted in the Everett +shingle mills. The weavers promptly struck. Scabs, gunmen, injunctions, +and violence followed. The strike failed, the wage reduction was made, +but the men returned to work relying upon a "gentlemen's agreement" that +the employers would voluntarily raise the wages of the shingle weavers +when shingles again sold for what they were bringing before the +depression. Faith in agreements had gotten in its deadly work; the +shingle weavers believed that the employers meant to keep their word. + +In the spring of 1916 shingles soared to a price higher than had +prevailed for years, but the promised raise failed to materialize. With +but a skeleton of an organization to back them, a handful of determined +delegates met in Seattle in April and decided to demand the restoration +of the 1915 scale thruout the entire jurisdiction of the Shingle +Weavers' Union, setting May 1st as the date when the raise should take +effect. + +At the time set, or shortly thereafter, most of the mills in the +Northwest paid the scale. Everett, where the employers had given their +"word of honor," refused the strikers' demand. The fight was on! The +Seaside Shingle Company, which held no membership in the Commercial +Club, soon granted the raise. Many of the other companies, notably the +Jamison Mill, began the importation of scabs within the month. The cry +of "outside agitators" was forgotten long enough to go outside in search +of notorious gunmen and scab-herders. The slums, the hells of +Capitalism, were raked with a fine-toothed comb for degenerates with a +record for lawless deviltry. The strikers threw out their picket line +and the ever-present class war began to show itself in other than +peaceful ways. + +During May, June and July the picket line had to be maintained in the +face of strong opposition by the local authorities who were the pliant +tools of the lumber trust. The ranks of the pickets were constantly +being thinned by false arrest and imprisonment on every charge and no +charge, until on August 19th there were but eighteen men on the picket +line. + +On that particular morning the Everett police searched the little +handful of pickets in front of the Jamison Mill to make sure that they +were unarmed, and when that fact was determined, they started the men +across the narrow trestle bridge that extended over an arm of the bay. +When the pickets were well out on the bridge, the imported thugs, some +seventy in number, personally directed and urged on by their employer, +Neil Jamison, poured in from either side, leaving no means of escape +save that of making a thirty foot leap into the deep waters of the bay, +and with brass knuckles and blackjacks made an attack upon the +defenseless weavers. The pickets were unmercifully beaten. Robert H. +Mills, business agent of the Shingle Weavers' Union, was knocked down by +one of the open-shop thugs and kicked in the ribs and face as he lay +senseless in the roadway. From a vantage point, thoughtfully removed +from the danger zone, the police calmly surveyed the scene. + +When darkness fell that night, the pickets, aided by irate citizens, +returned to the attack with clubs and fists. The tables were turned. The +"moral heroes" had their heads cracked. Seeing that the scabs were +thoroly whipped, the "guardians of the peace" rushed to the rescue with +drawn revolvers. In the melee one union picket was shot thru the leg. + +About ten nights later, Mr. Jamison herded his scabs into military +formation and after a short parade thru the main streets led them to the +Everett Theater; the party being in appreciation of their "efficiency." +This arrogant display incensed the strikers and citizens, and when the +scabs emerged from the show a near-riot occurred. Mills was present and +altho too weak from his recent injuries to have taken any active part in +the fray, he was arrested and thrown in jail in default of bail. The man +who had murderously assaulted him at the mill swore out the complaint. +Mills was subsequently tried and acquitted on a charge of inciting to +riot. Nothing was done to his assailant. And in none of these acts of +violence was the I. W. W. in any way a participant. + +During this period there existed a strike of longshoremen on the entire +Pacific Coast, including the port of Everett. The wrath of the employers +fell heavily upon the Riggers and Stevedores because that body was not +in sympathy with the idea of craft contracts or agreements, and because +of the adoption by a large majority of a proposal to "amalgamate all the +unions of the Maritime Transportation Industry, between the Warehouse at +the Shipping Point and Warehouse at the Receiving Point into one big +powerful organization, meeting, thinking, and acting together at all +times."[5] The industrially united employers of the Pacific Coast did +not relish the idea of the workers grouping themselves together along +lines similar to those on which the owners were associated. The +longshoremen's strike started on June 1st and was marked by more or less +serious disorders at various points, most of the violence being +precipitated by detectives placed in the unions by the employers. The +tug boat men were also on strike in Everett, particularly against the +American Tug Boat Company owned by Captain Harry Ramwell. All of the +unions on strike in Everett were affiliated with the A. F. of L. +Striking longshoremen from Seattle aided the shingle weavers on their +picket line from time to time, and individual members of the I. W. W., +holding duplicate cards in the A. F. of L. stood shoulder to shoulder +with the strikers, but officially the I. W. W. had no part in any of the +strikes. + +[Illustration: One of the thousands who donate their fingers to the +Lumber Trust. The Trust compensated all with poverty and some with +bullets on November 5, 1916.] + +Meanwhile in Seattle the I. W. W. had planned to organize the forest and +lumber workers on a scale never before attempted. Calls for organizers +had been coming in from the surrounding district and there were demands +for a mass convention to discuss conditions in the industry. Yet, +strange as it may seem to those who do not know of the ebb and flow of +labor unions, there were at that time less than half a hundred paid-up +members in the Seattle loggers branch, so great had been the depression +from 1914 to 1916. The conference was set for July 4th and five hundred +logger delegates responded, representing nearly as many camps in the +district. Enthusiasm ran high! The assembled workers suggested the +adoption of a plan of district organization along lines more in keeping +with the modern trend of the lumber industry. The loggers' union, then +known as Local 432, ratified the actions of the conference. As a +preliminary move it was decided that an organizer be secured to make a +survey of the lumber situation in the surrounding territory. General +Headquarters in Chicago was communicated with, James Rowan was found to +be available, and on July 31st he was sent to Everett to find out the +sentiment for industrial unionism at that point. + +That night Rowan spoke on Wetmore Avenue fifty feet back from Hewitt +Avenue, in compliance with the street regulations. No mention was made +of local conditions as Rowan had just come from another part of the +country and was unaware that a shingle weavers strike was in progress. +His speech consisted mainly of references to the Industrial Relations +Commission Report, a pamphlet summarizing that report being the only +literature offered for sale at the meeting. Toward the end of his speech +Rowan declared: + +"The A. F. of L. believes in signing agreements with the employers. The +craft unions regard these contracts as sacred. When one craft goes on +strike the others are forced to remain at work. This makes the craft +unions scab on each other." + +"You are a liar!" cried Jake Michel, an A. F. of L. representative, +staunchly defending his organization. + +From an automobile near the edge of the crowd, Donald McRae, Sheriff of +Snohomish County, called to Michel: + +"Jake, I will run that guy in if you say so." + +"I don't see any need to run him in;" remonstrated Michel. "He hasn't +said anything yet to run him in for." + +Nevertheless McRae, usurping the powers of the local police department, +made Rowan leave the platform and go with him to the county jail. McRae +was drunk. + +Rowan was held for an hour. Immediately upon his release he returned to +the corner to resume his speech. Police Officer Fox thereupon arrested +him and took him to the city jail. He was thrown into a dark cell for +refusing to do jail work, was taken into court next morning and absurdly +charged with peddling without a license, was denied a jury trial, +refused a postponement, not allowed a chance to secure counsel, and was +sentenced to thirty days imprisonment with an alternative of leaving +town. No ordinance against street speaking at Wetmore and Hewitt then +existed. Rowan chose to leave town. No time was set as to how long he +was to remain away. He then left for Bellingham and from there went to +Sedro-Woolley. Using an assumed name to avoid the blacklist he worked at +the latter place for a short time to familiarize himself with job +conditions, subsequently returning to Everett. + +Levi Remick, a one-armed veteran of the industrial war, was next sent to +Everett on August 4th to act as temporary delegate. He interviewed a +number of people and sold some literature. Receiving orders to stop +selling the pamphlets and papers, he inquired the price of a peddler's +license and finding it prohibitive he returned to Seattle to secure +funds to open an office. A small hall was found at 12191/2 Hewitt Avenue, +a month's rent was paid, and on August 9th Remick placed a sign in the +window and started to sell literature and transact business for the I. +W. W. + +The little hall remained open until late in August. Migratory workers, +strikers, and citizens generally, dropped in from time to time to ask +about the organization or to purchase papers. Solidarity and the +Industrial Worker were particularly in demand, the latter paper having +commenced publication in Seattle on April 1st, 1916. A number of Everett +citizens, desiring to hear a lecture by James P. Thompson, who had +spoken in Everett without molestation in 1915 and in March and April of +1916, made donations to Remick sufficient to cover all expenses, and it +was arranged that Thompson speak on August 22nd. Attempts to secure a +hall met with failure; the halls of Everett were closed to the I. W. W. +The conspiracy against free speech and free assembly was on in earnest! +No other course was left but to hold the proposed meeting on the street, +so Hewitt and Wetmore, the spot where the Salvation Army and various +religious and political bodies spoke almost nightly, was selected and +the meeting advertised. + +Early in the morning on the day before the scheduled meeting, Sheriff +McRae, commanding a body of police officers over whom he had no official +control, stormed into the I. W. W. hall and tore from the wall all bills +advertising Thompson's meeting, saying with an oath: + +"That man won't be allowed to speak in Everett!" + +Turning to Remick and throwing back his coat to display the badge, he +yelled: + +"I order you out of this town! Get out by afternoon or you go to jail!" + +McRae was drunk. Stalking out as rapidly as his condition would permit +he staggered down the street to a near-by pool hall where the order was +repeated to the men assembled therein. These, with other workingmen, 25 +in all were rounded up, seized, roughly questioned, searched, and all +those who had no families or property in Everett were forcibly deported. +That night ten more were taken from the shingle weaver's picket line and +sent out of town without due process of law. Treatment of this kind +became general. + +"Not a man in overalls is safe!" declared the secretary of the Everett +Building Trades Council. "Men just off the job with their pay checks in +their pocket have been unceremoniously thrown out of town just because +they were workingmen."[6] + +Remick closed the little hall and left for Seattle the next morning to +place the question of the Thompson meeting before the Seattle +membership. Shortly before noon Rowan, who had just returned to Everett, +went to the hall and finding it closed and locked he proceeded to open +it up. Within a few minutes Sheriff McRae, in company with police +officer Fox, entered the place and ordered Rowan to leave town by two +o'clock. He then tore up the balance of the advertising matter for the +Thompson meeting. McRae was drunk. Rowan went to Seattle, where the +report of this occurrence made the members more determined than ever to +hold the meeting that night. + +With about twenty other members of the I. W. W., Thompson went to +Everett. The Salvation Army was holding services on the corner. Placing +his platform even further back from the street intersection Thompson +waited until the Army had concluded and then commenced his lecture. +Using the Industrial Relations Commission Report as the basis of his +talk, he spoke for about twenty minutes without interruption. Then a +body of fifteen policemen marched down the street and swung into the +crowd. The officer in charge stepped up to Thompson and requested him to +go to see the chief of police at the police station. After addressing a +few remarks to the crowd Thompson withdrew from the platform. His place +was taken at once by Rowan, who was immediately dragged from the stand +and turned over to the same officer who had charge of Thompson and his +wife. Mrs. Edith Frennette then spoke briefly and called for a song. The +audience responded with "The Red Flag," but meanwhile Mrs. Frennette and +Mrs. Lorna Mahler had been placed under arrest. In succession several +others attempted to speak but were pulled or pushed off the stand. The +police then formed a circle by holding hands around those who were close +to the platform. One by one the citizens were allowed to slip outside +the "ring-around-a-rosy" until only "desperadoes" were left. These made +no effort to resist arrest, and were started toward the city jail. The +officer entrusted with Thompson was so interested in his captive that +Rowan was able to quietly remove himself from the scene, returning to +the street corner where he spoke for more than half an hour before being +rearrested. + +Aroused by this invasion of liberty, Mrs. Letelsia Fye, an Everett +citizen, arose to recite the Declaration of Independence, but even that +proved too revolutionary for the tools of the lumber trust. A +threatening move on the part of the police brought back the thought of +her two unprotected children and caused her to cease her efforts to +declare independence in Everett. + +"Is there a red-blooded man in the audience who will take the stand?" +called out the gallant little woman as she stepped from the platform. +Jake Michel promptly accepted the challenge and was as promptly +suppressed by the police at the first mention of free speech. + +In the jail the arrested persons were searched one by one and thrown +into the "receiving tank." When Thompson's turn came, Commissioner of +Public Safety, as Chief of Police Kelly was known under Everett's form +or government, said to him: + +"Mr. Thompson, I don't want to lock you up." + +"That's interesting," replied Thompson. "Why have you got me down here?" + +"We don't want you to speak on the street at this time." + +"Have you any ordinance against it, that is, have I broken any law?" +enquired Thompson. + +"Oh no, no. That isn't the idea," rejoined Kelly. "We have strikes on, +labor troubles here, and we don't want you to speak here at all. You are +welcome at any other time, but not now." + +"Well," said Thompson, "as a representative of labor, when labor is in +trouble is the time I would like to speak, but I am not going to +advocate anything that I think you could object to." + +"Now, Thompson," said Kelly, "if you will agree to get right out of town +I will let you go. I don't want to lock you up." + +"Do you believe in free speech?" asked Thompson. + +"Yes." + +"And I am not arrested?" + +"No, you are not arrested." + +"Come up to the meeting then," Thompson said with a smile, "for I am +going back and speak." + +"Oh no, you are not!"--and Kelly kind of laughed. "No, you are not!" + +"If you let me go I will go right up to the corner and speak, and if you +send me out of town I will come back," said Thompson emphatically. "I +don't know what you are going to do, but that's how I stand." + +"Lock him up with the rest!" was the abrupt reply of the "Commissioner +of Public Safety." + +At this juncture James Rowan was brought in from the patrol wagon, and +searched. As the officers were about to put him in the cell with the +others, Sheriff McRae called out: + +"Don't put him in there, he is instigator of the whole damn business. +Turn him over to me." He then took Rowan in his automobile to the county +jail and threw him in a cell, along with B. E. Peck, who had previously +been given a "floater" out of town for having spoken on the street on or +about August 15th. McRae was drunk. + +More than half a thousand indignant citizens followed the twenty-one +arrested persons to the jail, loudly condemning the outrage against +their constitutional rights. Editor H. W. Watts, of the Northwest +Worker, a union and socialist paper published in Everett, forcibly +expressed his opinion of the suppression of free speech and was +thereupon thrown into jail. Fearing a serious outbreak, Michel secured +permission to address the people surrounding the jail. The crowd, upon +receiving assurances from Michel that the men would be well treated and +could be seen in the morning, quietly dispersed and returned to their +homes. + +The free speech prisoners were charged with vagrancy on the police +blotter, but no formal charge was ever made, nor were they brought to +trial. Next morning, Thompson and his wife, who had return tickets on +the Interurban, were deported by rail, together with Herbert Mahler, +secretary of the Seattle I. W. W. Mrs. Mahler, Mrs. Frennette and the +balance of the prisoners were taken to the City Dock and deported by +boat. At the instigation of McRae, and without a court order, the sum of +$13. was seized from the personal funds of James Orr and turned over to +the purser of the boat to pay the fares of the deportees to Seattle. +Protests against this legalized robbery were of no avail; the amount of +the fares was never repaid. Mayor Merrill of Everett, replying to a +letter from Mahler, promised that this money would be refunded to Orr. +His word proved to be as good as that of the Everett shingle mill +owners. Prominent members of the Commercial Club lent civic dignity to +the deportation by their profane threats to use physical force in the +event that any of the deported prisoners dared to return. + +Upon their arrival in Seattle the deported men conferred with other +members of the union, telling of the beating some of them had received +while in jail, and as a result there was organized a free speech +committee composed of Sam Dixon, Dan Emmett and A. E. Soper. Telegrams +were then sent to General Headquarters, to Solidarity and to various +branches of the organization, notifying them of what had happened. At a +street meeting that night, Mrs. Frennette, Mrs. Mahler and James P. +Thompson, gave the workers the facts and collected over $50.00 for the +committee to use in its work. In Everett the Labor Council passed a +resolution stating that the unions there were back of the battle for +free speech and condemning McRae and the authorities for their illegal +actions. The Free Speech Fight was on! + +Remick, in the meantime, had returned to Everett and found that all the +literature had been confiscated from the hall. The day following his +return, August 24th, Sheriff McRae blustered into the hall with a police +officer in his train. Leering at Remick he exclaimed: + +"You God damn son of a b----, are you back here again? Get on your coat +and get into that auto!" + +Seizing an I. W. W. stencil that was lying on the table he tore it to +shreds. + +"If anybody asks who tore that up,"--bombastically--"tell them Sheriff +McRae tore it!" + +Shoving Remick into the automobile with the remark that jail was too +easy for him and they would therefore take him to the Interurban and +deport him, the sheriff drove off to make good his threat. McRae was +drunk. + +On the corner that night, Harry Feinberg spoke to a large audience and +was not molested. That this was due to no change of policy on the part +of the lumber trust tools was shown when secretary Herbert Mahler went +to Everett the following day in reference to the situation. He was met +at the depot by Sheriff McRae who asked him what he had come to Everett +for. "To see the Mayor," answered Mahler. "Anything you have to say to +the Mayor, you can say to me," was McRae's rejoinder. After a brief +conversation Mahler was deported to Seattle by the same car on which he +had made the trip over. McRae was drunk. + +F. W. Stead reopened the hall on the 26th and managed to hold it down +for a couple of days. Three speakers appeared and spoke that night. J. +A. MacDonald, editor of the Industrial Worker, opened the meeting. +George Reese spoke next, but upon commencing to advocate the use of +violence he was pulled from the platform by Harry Feinberg, who +concluded the meeting. No arrests were made. + +It was during this period that Secretary Herbert Mahler addressed a +letter to Governor Ernest Lister, informing him of the state of +lawlessness existing in Everett. A second letter was sent to Mayor +Merrill and in it was enclosed a copy of the letter to Lister. No reply +was received to the communication. + +For a time following this there was no interference with street +meetings. Feinberg spoke without molestation on Monday night and Dan +Emmett opened up the hall once more. On Tuesday evening, the same night +as the theater riot, Thompson addressed an audience of thousands of +Everett citizens, giving them the facts of the arrests made the previous +week, and advising the workers against the use of violence in any +disputes with employers. + +After having been held by McRae for eight days without any commitment +papers, Rowan was turned over to the city police and released on +September 1st. He returned to the street corner and spoke for several +succeeding nights including "Labor Day" which fell on the 4th. +Incidentally he paid a visit to the home of Jake Michel and, after +industrial unionism was more fully explained, Michel agreed that the +craft union contract system forced scabbery upon the workers. Rowan left +shortly thereafter for Anacortes to find out the sentiment for +organization in that section. + +This period of comparative peace was due to the fact that the lumber +barons realized that their actions reflected no credit upon themselves +or their city and they wished to create a favorable impression upon +Federal Mediator Blackman who was in Everett at the request of U. S. +Commissioner of Labor Wilson. It was during this time, too, that the +protagonists of the open shop were secretly marshalling their forces for +a still more lawless and brutal campaign. + +Affairs gradually slipped from the hands of the Everett authorities into +the grasp of those Snohomish County officials who were more completely +dominated by the lumber interests. + +"Tom," remarked Jake Michel one day to Chief of Police Kelley, "it seems +funny that you can't handle the situation." + +"I can handle it all right," replied Kelley, bitterly, "but McRae has +been drunk around here for the last two or three weeks and he has butted +into my business." + +It was on August 30th that the lumber trust definitely stripped the city +officials of all power and turned affairs over to the sheriff. On this +point a quotation from the Industrial Relations Commission Report is +particularly illuminating in showing a common industrial condition: + +"Free speech in informal and personal intercourse was denied the +inhabitants of the coal camps. It was also denied public speakers. Union +organizers would not be permitted to address meetings. Periodicals +permitted in the camps were censored in the same fashion. The operators +were able to use their power of summary discharge to deny free press, +free speech, and free assembly, to prevent political activities for the +suppression of popular government and the winning of political control. ++I find that the head of the political machinery is the sheriff.+" + +In Everett the sheriff's office was controlled by the Commercial Club +and the Commercial Club in turn was dominated, thru an inner circle, by +the lumber trust. Acting for the trust a small committee meeting was +held on the morning of the 30th with the editor of a trust-controlled +newspaper, the secretary of the Commercial Club, two city officials, a +banker and a lumber trust magnate in attendance. A larger meeting of +those in control met in the afternoon and, pursuant to a call already +published in the Everett Herald, several hundred scabs, gunmen, and +other open shop advocates were brought together that night at the +Commercial Club. + +Commissioner of Finance, W. H. Clay, suggested that as Federal Mediator +Blackman, an authority on labor questions, was in the city it might be +well to confer with him regarding a settlement. Banker Moody said he did +not think a conference would be advisable as Mr. Blackman might be +inclined to lean toward the side of the laboring men, and at a remark by +"Governor" Clough, formerly Governor of Minnesota and spokesman for the +mill owners, to the effect that there was nothing to be settled the +suggestion was not considered further. + +H. D. Cooley, special counsel for a number of the mills, Governor +Clough, a prominent mill owner, and others then addressed the meeting in +furtherance of the plans already laid. Clough asked McRae if he could +handle the situation. McRae said he did not have enough deputies. + +"Swear in the members of the Commercial Club, then!" demanded Clough. +This was done. Nearly two hundred of the men whose membership had been +paid for by the mill owners "volunteered" their services. McRae swore in +a few and then, for the first time in his life, found swearing a +difficulty, so W. W. Blain, secretary of the Commercial Club, who was +neither a city nor a county official, administered the remainder of such +oaths as were taken by the deputies. The whole meeting was illegal. + +From time to time the deputy force was added to until it ran way up in +the hundreds. It was divided into sections A, B, C, etc. Each division +was assigned to a special duty, one to watch incoming trains for free +speech advocates, another to watch the boats for I. W. W. members, and +others for various duties such as deporting and beating up workers. +This marked the beginning of a reign of terror during which no +propertyless worker or union sympathizer was safe from attack. + +About this same time the Commercial Club made a pretense of +investigating the shingle weavers' strike. Not one of the strikers was +called to give their side of the controversy, and J. G. Brown, +international president of the Shingle Weavers' Union, was refused +permission to testify. The committee claimed that the employers could +not pay the wages asked. An adverse report was returned and was adopted +by the club. + +Attorneys E. C. Dailey, Robert Fassett, and George Loutitt, along with a +number of other fair minded members who did not favor the open shop +program, withdrew from membership on account of these various actions. +Their names were placed on the bulletin board and a boycott advised. +Feeling against the organization responsible for the chaotic conditions +in Everett finally became so strong that practically all of the +merchants whose places were not mortgaged or who were not otherwise +dependent upon the whims of the lumber barons, posted notices in their +windows, + + + "WE ARE NOT MEMBERS OF THE COMMERCIAL CLUB." + + +Their names, too, were placed on the bulletin board, and the boycott and +other devices used in an endeavor to force them into bankruptcy. + +Prior to these occurrences and for some time thereafter, the club was +addressed by emissaries of the open shop interests. A. L. Veitch, +special counsel for the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association, on +one occasion addressed the deputies on labor troubles in San Francisco +and the methods used to handle them. Veitch was later one of the +attorneys in the case against Thomas H. Tracy, and he was employed by +the state, it being stipulated that he receive no state compensation. H. +D. Cooley, lumber mill lawyer and former prosecuting attorney, also +spoke at different times on the open shop questions. Cooley was likewise +an attorney for the prosecution in the Tracy case and he, like Veitch, +was retained by "interested parties." Cooley was one of the anti-union +speakers at a meeting of the deputies which was also addressed by F. C. +Beach, of San Francisco, president of the M. & M., Robert Moody, +president of the First National Bank of Everett, Governor Clough, mill +magnate, F. K. Baker, president of the Commercial Club, and Col. Roland +H. Hartley, open shop candidate for the nomination as governor of +Washington at the pending election. Leigh Irvine, of Seattle, secretary +of the Employers' Association, and Murray, president of the National +Association of Manufacturers, were also active in directing the +destinies of the Commercial Club. + +A special open shop committee was formed, the nature of its operations +being apparent when the following two quotations from its minutes, taken +from among others of similar purport, are considered: + +"Decided to go after advertisements in labor journals and the +Northwestern Worker."[7] + +"Matter of how far to go on open shop propaganda at the deputies meeting +this morning was discussed. Also the advisability of submitting pledges. +Mr. Moody to take up matter of the legality of pledges with Mr. Coleman. +Note: At deputies meeting all speakers touched quite strongly on the +open shop, and as far as it was possible to see all in attendance seemed +favorable."[8] + +Just how far they finally did go is a matter of history. At the time, +however, there were appropriations made for the purchase of blackjacks, +leaded clubs, guns and ammunition, and for the employment of +detectives, labor spies, and "agents provocateur."[9] + +[Illustration: Joe (Red) Doran Capt. Jack Mitten The Launch Wanderer.] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[2] Sunset Magazine, February 1917. "The I. W. W. and the Golden Rule." + +[3] Supplemental report on "Everett's Industrial Warfare," by President +Ernest P. Marsh to State Federation of Labor convention held at Everett, +Wash., from January 22 to 26, 1917. + +[4] Vol. 9, No. 2, The Shingle Weaver, Special Convention Number, +February, 1911. + +[5] Proposition No. 5, submitted to referendum of membership of Pacific +Coast District I. L. A., Riggers and Stevedores Local 38, at their +annual election on Jan. 6, 1916. + +[6] Dreamland Rink Meeting, Seattle, Nov. 19th, over 5,000 in +attendance. + +[7] Minutes of Open Shop Committee, Sept. 27th. + +[8] Minutes of Open Shop Committee, October 29. + +[9] The incidents of the foregoing chapter are corroborated by the sworn +testimony of prosecution witnesses Donald McRae, sheriff of Snohomish +County; and D. D. Merrill, Mayor of Everett; and by witnesses called by +the Defense, W. W. Blain, secretary of the Commercial Club: J. G. Brown, +International president of the Shingle Weavers' Union; W. H. Clay, +Commissioner of Finance in Everett; Robert Faussett, Everett attorney; +Harry Feinberg, one of the defendants; Mrs. Letelsia Fye, Everett +citizen; Jake Michel, Secretary Everett Building Trades Council; Herbert +Mahler, Secretary Seattle I. W. W. and subsequently secretary of the +Everett Prisoners' Defense Committee; Robert Mills, business agent +Everett Shingle Weavers' Union; James Orr, and Levi Remick, I. W. W. +members; James Rowan, I. W. W. organizer; and James P. Thompson, +National Organizer for the I. W. W. and a speaker of international +reputation. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A REIGN OF TERROR + + +No sooner had Mediator Blackman left Everett than the "law and order" +forces resumed their hostilities with a bitterness and brutality that +seems almost incredible. On September 7th Mrs. Frennette, H. Shebeck, +Bob Adams, J. Johnson, J. Fred, and Dan Emmett were dragged from the +platform at Hewitt and Wetmore Avenues and were literally thrown into +their cells. Next morning Mrs. Frenette was released but the men were +"kangarood" for 30 days each. Petty abuses were heaped upon them and +Johnson was cast into the "black hole" by the sheriff. Some of the men +were severely beaten just before their release a few days afterward. + +When Fred Reed and James Dwyer were arrested the next night for street +speaking, the crowd of Everett citizens, in company with the few I. W. +W. members present, followed the deputies to the county jail, demanding +the release of Reed, Dwyer and Peck, and those who had been arrested the +night before. In its surging to and from the crowd pushed over a +post-rotted picket fence that had been erected in the early days of +Everett. This violence, together with cries of "You've got the wrong +bunch in jail! Let those men out and put the 'bulls' in!" was the basis +from which the trust-owned press built up a story of a riot and +attempted jail delivery. On the same flimsy basis a warrant was issued +charging Mrs. Frennette with inciting a riot. + +The free speech committee sent John Berg to Everett that same day to +retain an attorney for the men held without warrants. He secured the +services of E. C. Dailey, and, while waiting to learn the result of the +lawyer's efforts, he went to the I. W. W. hall only to find it closed. A +man was there waiting to get his blankets to go to work and Berg +volunteered to get them for him. He then went to the county jail and +asked for McRae. When McRae came in and learned that Berg wanted to see +the secretary in order to get the keys to the hall, he yelled out: + +"You are another I. W. W. Throw him in jail, the old son-of-a-b----!" + +Without having any charges placed against him, Berg was held until the +next morning, when McRae and a deputy took him out in a roadster to a +lonely spot on the county road. Forcing him to dismount, McRae ordered +Berg to walk to Seattle under threats of death if he returned, and then +knocked Berg down and kicked him in the groin as he lay prostrate. McRae +was drunk. Berg subsequently developed a severe rupture as a result of +this treatment. He managed to make his way to Seattle and in spite of +his condition returned to Everett that same night. + +Undaunted by their previous deportations, and determined to circumvent +the deputies who were seizing men from the railroad trains and regular +boats, a body of free speech fighters, on September 9th, took the train +to Mukilteo, a village about four miles from Everett, and there, by +pre-arrangement, were taken aboard the launch "Wanderer." + +The little boat would not hold the entire party and six men were towed +behind in a large dory. There were 17 first class life preservers on +board, the captain borrowing some to supplement his equipment. + +When the "Wanderer" reached a point about a mile and a half from the +Weyerhouser dock a boat was seen approaching. It was the scab tug +"Edison," belonging to the American Tugboat Company. On board was +Captain Harry Ramwell, Sheriff McRae and a body of about sixty deputies. +When the "Edison" was about 200 feet away the sheriff commenced +shooting--but let Captain Jack Mitten tell his own story. + +"The first shot went over the bow. I don't know whether there was one +or two shots fired, then there was a shot struck right over my head onto +the big cast iron muffler. The next shot came on thru the boat,--I had +my bunk strapped up against the wall,--and thru the blanket,--and the +cotton in the blanket turned the bullet,--and it struck flat on the +bottom of the bunk. + +"I shut the engine down and went out to the stern door and just as I +stepped out there was a shot went right by my head and at the same time +McRae hollered out and says 'You son-of-a-b--, you come over here!' Says +I, "If you want me, you come over here." With that they brought their +boat and my boat up together. Six shots in all were fired. + +"McRae commenced to take the people off the boat and when he had them +all off he kicked the pilot house open and says, 'Oho, there is a woman +here!' Mrs. Frennette was sitting in the pilot house. Anyhow, they took +her and he says, 'You'll get a one piece suit on McNeil's island for +this,' and then he says to Cap Ramwell--Cap Ramwell was sitting on the +side--'This is Oscar Lindstrom, drag him along too.' + +"Then they were going to make fast the line--they had made fast my stern +line--and as I bent over with the line McRae struck me with his revolver +on the back of the head, and when I straightened up he struck me in +here, a revolver about that long. (Indicating.) I said something to him +and then he ran the revolver right in here in my groin and he ruptured +me at the same time. I told him 'It's a fine way of using a citizen.' He +says, 'You're a hell of a citizen, bringing in a bunch like that,' he +says, 'to cause a riot in this town.' I says, 'Well, they are all union +men anyway.' He says, 'You shut your damn head or I will knock it clean +off!' and I guess he would, because he had whiskey enough in him at the +time to do it. + +"There was a small man, I believe they call him Miller, he saw him +standing there and he says, 'You here, too?' and he hauled off and +struck him in the temple and the blood flowed way down over his face +and shirt. He struck him again and staggered him. If he hadn't struck +him so he would have gone inboard, he would have gone over the edge, +close to the edge. + +"Then there was a man by the name of Berg, it seemed he knowed John +Berg. He said, 'You ----, I will fix you so you will never come back!' +and then he went at Berg, but Berg was foxy and kept ducking his head. +He rapped him on the shoulders two or three different times, I wouldn't +say how often, but he didn't draw blood on Berg. (An I. W. W. member +named Kurgvel was also beaten on the head and shoulders.) + +"They drove us all in alongside of the boiler between the decks, down on +the main deck of the "Edison" and kept us there till they docked and got +automobiles and the patrol wagon and filed us off into them and took us +to jail." + +The arrest of Captain Mitten and acting engineer Oscar Lindstrom made +twenty-one prisoners in all, and these were jailed without any charge +being placed against them. As Berg was taken into the jail, McRae cursed +him roundly, ordering two deputies to hold him while a beating was +administered over the shoulders and back with a leather strap loaded +with lead on the tip. + +The men were treated with great brutality within the jail. One young +fellow was asked by the deputies, "Are you an I. W. W.?" and each time +the lad answered "Yes!" he was thrown violently against the steel walls +of the cell, until his body was a mass of bruises. Mitten was denied a +chance to communicate with his Everett friends in order to get bail. The +nights were cold and the prisoners had to sleep on the bare floor +without blankets. + +At the end of nine days all the men were offered their liberty except +Mitten. They promptly refused the offer. "All or none!" was their +indignant demand, and Peck and Mitten were set at liberty with the rest +as a result of this show of solidarity. + +Upon his release Captain Mitten found that the life preservers had been +stolen from his boat, and the flattened bullet removed from his bunk. +Scotty Fife, the Port Captain of the American Tugboat Company, told +Captain Mitten that he had straightened up the things on the "Wanderer!" + +Thus to the crimes of unlawful arrest, false imprisonment, theft, +deportation, assault and physical injury, the lumber trust added that of +piracy on the high seas. And all this was but a taste of what was yet to +come! + +Organizer James Rowan returned to Everett from Anacortes on the +afternoon of September 11th and was met at the depot by three deputies +who promptly took him to the county jail. There were at that time +between thirty and forty other members of the I. W. W. being unlawfully +held. Rowan learned that these men had been taken from their cells one +at a time and beaten by the deputies, Thorne and Dunn having especially +severe cuts on the face and head. + +Rowan's story of the outrage that followed gives a glimpse of the +methods employed by the lumber trust. + +"As soon as I dropped off the train at Everett I was met by three +deputies. One of them told me the sheriff wanted to see me and I asked +if he was a deputy. He said, 'Yes,' and showed me a badge. Then I went +up with two of the deputies to the county jail. In a minute or two +Sheriff McRae came in and he was pretty drunk. He caught hold of me and +gave me a yank forward, and he says, 'So you are back, eh?' and I says +'Yes.' And he says 'We are going to fix you so you won't come back any +more.' There was some more abusive talk and then I was searched and put +in a cell. + +"Just after dark that night I was taken out of the cell, my stuff was +given back, and McRae says, 'We are going to start you on the road to +Seattle.' With a deputy he took me out to the automobile and McRae drove +the automobile, and we had some conversation. McRae seemed to feel very +sore because I told the people on the street that the jail was lousy, +and he says 'We wanted you to get out of here and you would not do it, +and now,' he says, 'Now instead of dealing with officers you have to +deal with a bunch of boob citizens, and there is no telling what these +boobs will do.' There was more talk that is not worth repeating and most +of it not fit to repeat anyhow. + +"We went out in the country until we came to where the road crosses the +interurban tracks about two miles from Silver Lake and McRae told me to +get out. He then pointed down the track and says, 'There is the road to +Seattle and you beat it!' so I started down the track. + +"I hadn't gone far, maybe 50 or 75 yards, when I met a bunch of gunmen. +They came at me with guns. They had clubs and they started to beat me up +on the head with the butts of their guns and with the clubs. They all +had handkerchiefs over their face except one. They threw a cloth over my +head and beat me some more on the head with their gun butts and then +they dragged me thru the fence at the right-of-way and went a little +ways back into the woods. Then they held me down over a log about +eighteen inches or two feet in diameter. There were about a dozen of +them I would say. Two or three held each arm and two or three each leg +and there were four or five of them holding guns around my ribs--they +had the guns close around my ribs all the time, several of them--and +they tore my clothes off, tore my shirt and coat off. Then one of them +beat me on the back, on the bare back with some kind of a sap, I don't +know just what kind it was, but I could hear him grunt every time he was +going to strike a blow. I was struck fifty times or more. + +"After he got thru beating me they went back to the fence toward the +road and I picked up my scattered belongings and went down to Silver +Lake, taking the first car to Seattle." + +[Illustration: Organizer James Rowan; + +Showing his back lacerated by Lumber Trust thugs.] + +Rowan exhibited his badly lacerated and bruised back to several +prominent Seattle citizens, and then had a photograph made, which was +widely circulated. Contrary to the expectation of the lumber barons this +treatment did not deter free speech fighters from carrying on the +struggle. Instead, it brought fresh bodies of free speech enthusiasts to +the scene within a short period. + +The personnel of the free speech committee changed continually because +of the arrest of its members. On Sunday, September 10th, at a mass +meeting in Seattle Harry Feinberg and William Roberts were elected to +serve. Roberts had just come down from Port Angeles and desired to +investigate conditions at first hand, so in company with Feinberg he +went to Everett on the 11th. They met Jake Michel, who telephoned to +Chief of Police Kelley for permission to hold a street meeting. + +"I have no objection to this meeting," replied Kelley, "but wait a +minute, you had better call up McRae and find out." + +Attempts to reach McRae at the Commercial Club and the sheriff's office +met with failure. Meanwhile Feinberg had gone ahead with the meeting, +the following being his sworn statement of what transpired: + +"I went to Everett at 7:30 Monday night. I got a box and opened a +meeting for the I. W. W. There must have been three thousand people on +the corner, against buildings and looking out of the windows. + +"I spoke about 35 minutes, with the crowd boisterous in their applause. +Three companies of deputies and vigilantes, about one hundred and fifty +thugs in all, marched down the street and divided up in three companies. +One of the deputies came up and told me he wanted me and grabbed me off +the box. + +"They took me up to the jail, took my description, and my money and +valuables, which were not returned. By that time Fellow Worker Roberts +was brought in. A drunken deputy came in and grabbed me by the coat and +dragged me out of the jail, with the evident permission of the officers. +The vigilantes proceeded to beat me up on the jail steps. There were +anyway fifty deputies waiting outside and all of them crowded to get a +chance to hit me. They gave me a chance to get away finally and shot +after me, or in the air, I could not tell which, but I was not hit by +the bullets." + +The sworn statement of William Roberts corroborated the foregoing: + +"I took the box after Fellow Worker Feinberg had been arrested. The +crowd were extreme in their hostility to the lawlessness of the +officers. I told them to keep cool, that the I. W. W. would handle the +situation, in their own time and way. They arrested me, and, right +there, they clubbed me on the head. They brought me to the jail, where +Feinberg was at the desk. They took me out of the jail and threw me into +the bunch of vigilantes with clubs. They started beating me around the +body. One of them said: 'Do anything, but don't kill him!' + +"Finally one of them hit me on the head and I came out of it and as I +was getting away they shot in the air. A bunch of them then jumped into +an automobile, came after me and again clubbed me. One of them knocked +me out for ten minutes, according to one of the women who were watching. + +"While we were in the jail, two men we did not know were brought into +the jail with their heads cut open. The vigilantes were clubbing women +right and left, and a young girl, about eight years of age, had her head +cut open by one of Sheriff McRae's Commercial Club tools." + +Roberts ran down the street to the interurban depot, where he hid behind +a freight car until just before the car left for Seattle. Feinberg, with +his face and clothing covered with blood, got on the same car about a +mile and a half from Everett and the two returned to Seattle. + +John Ovist, a resident of Mukilteo who had joined the I. W. W. in +Everett on Labor Day, got on the box and said, "Fellow comrades----" but +got no further. He was knocked from the box. Ovist states: "Mr. Henig +was standing alongside of me when Sheriff McRae came up and cracked him +over the forehead with a club. I don't know what else happened to him +for just then Sheriff McRae came in front of me and pushed the fellow +off the box. When the two fellows were arrested I started to speak and +McRae took me and turned me over to one of them--I don't know what you +call them--deputies, or whatever they are. He had a white handkerchief +around his neck and he took me toward the county jail. There was a +policeman standing in front of the jail. If I am not mistaken his name +is Ryan, a short heavy-set fellow. I walked by him. Of course, I never +thought he was going to hit me, but I felt something over behind. He hit +me with a club behind the ear and cut my head until it was bleeding +awful." + +"When we came to the county jail, Henig, he was in there already. His +face was red and he was full of blood. And they took us into the toilet +to have us wash the blood off, and when I came back I heard screams and +pounding. + +"Then the sheriff recognized me, he had been down in Mukilteo before, +and he says, 'What are you doing up here?' I said, 'Well, I didn't come +up here, they brought me up here.' He says, 'You are a member of the I. +W. W., too.' So I told him, 'I don't see why I should come and ask you +what organization I should belong to!' So he opened the gate and says, +'Here is a fellow from Mukilteo,' he says. 'Beat it!' And I seen, I +guess--a hundred and fifty or maybe two hundred, I didn't have time to +count them, right out back of the jail lined up in lines on either side. +And I had to run between them and come out the other end. They banged me +on the head with clubs, and all over. I looked bad and I felt worse. I +had blue marks on my shoulders and on my hips and under my knees. + +"I got thru them and there was a couple ran after me, but I beat it +ahead of them. I guess they intended to club me. I ran down to that +depot where the electric car goes thru to Seattle and then I turned to +look around because the car was at Hewitt and Colby, and as I went down +the walk two men stopped me and asked me if I hadn't had enough. They +told me to beat it, and as I turned around the same policeman, Ryan, I +think his name is, hit me on the forehead and then pulled his gun and +said, 'Beat it!' He was drunk and they were all swearing at me. + +"After I got a block or so, there were two or three shots. I walked two +more blocks and then was so dizzy I had to rest. Finally I walked +further and an automobile came past me and I tried to holler but they +didn't hear me. And then I walked a little further and the stage came +along and they picked me up." + +Eye witnesses declared that officer Daniels was one of those who fired +shots at the fleeing men after they had been forced to run the gauntlet. + +Frank Henig, an Everett citizen, tells what happened in these words: + +"I will start from the time I left the house. My wife and I, and the +little baby were going to the show. When we got on Wetmore there was a +big crowd standing there. I had worked the night before in the mill and +I had cedar asthma, so I said to my wife, 'I would like to stay out in +the fresh air,' And she said, 'All right, I will meet you at nine +o'clock at Wetmore and Hewitt.' + +"There was quite a crowd and I got up pretty close in front so I could +hear the speaker. I stood there a little while and finally the sheriff +came along with a bunch of deputies, and the speaker said, 'Here they +come, but now people, I will tell you, don't start anything, let them +start it.' + +"They took him off the box and arrested a couple of others with him, and +then immediately after that the Commercial Club deputies came along in a +row. They had white handkerchiefs around their necks. So I looked out +there and the crowd commenced to yell and cheer like, and McRae got +excited and started toward me, saying, 'We have been looking for you +before.' When he said that I stopped--before that I had tried to get +farther back--I stopped and he got hold of me. Meanwhile Commissioner +Kelley came up and took care of me and McRae walked away a little way. +Kelley had hold of my right arm and he pinched me a little bit, and I +said 'Let go Kelley and I will go with you.' + +"We stood there a few minutes longer and McRae came back. Kelley said +'Come along with me,' and just as I said 'All right,' McRae grabbed me +by the coat and hit me on the head with a black club fastened to his +strap with a leather thong. I was looking right at him and he knocked me +unconscious. Then Kelley picked me up and shook me and I came to again, +and I fell over the curb of the sidewalk. + +"Kelley then turned me over to Daniels, a policeman in Everett, and he +turned me over to a couple of Commercial Club deputies. Then Fred Luke +came along and said, 'I will take care of him.' So we walked a little +ways and he said, 'You better go to the doctor and have that dressed.' I +said to him, 'Oh, I guess it ain't so bad,' and so he said, 'Come along +with me and we will wash up at the jail.' I said, 'All right,' and while +I was going up the steps to the jail, why a policeman by the name of +Bryan or something like that,--a little short fellow, well anyhow he got +canned off the force for being drunk, that is how I heard of him,--when +I was kind of slow walking along because I was bleeding pretty bad, he +said, 'Hurry up and get in there, you low-down, dirty son-of-a-b----' +And I answered, 'I guess I ain't arrested, I don't have to hurry in +there.' So he cursed some more. + +"I went into the jail and washed up and came back into the office of the +county jail. The fellows that they had arrested were sitting in the +chairs and McRae came in and grabbed one of the I. W. W.'s--I guess they +were I. W. W.'s, anyway one of them that was arrested--and he says, +'What in hell are you doing up here, don't you know I told you to keep +away from here?' and while he was going in the door into the back office +I saw him haul off with his sap, but I don't see him hit him, but the +little fellow cried like a baby. + +"McRae came back and he looked at me and said, 'What in hell are you +doing up here?' I didn't know what to say for a little while and then I +said, 'I didn't do nothing, Mac, I don't see what you wanted to sap me +for.' And he said, 'I didn't sap you,' he said, 'Kelley hit you.' Then I +said to him, 'My wife says for me to meet her down at the corner of +Wetmore and Hewitt at nine o'clock and I would like to go down there and +meet her.' So he said, 'All right, you go; you hurry and go.' I was +going out the front door and he said, 'No, don't go out there. If you go +out there, they will kill you!' He led me to the back door of the jail, +I don't know where it was, I never was in jail in my life before, and he +said, 'Hurry and beat it, and pull your hat down over your head so they +wont know you.' But when I got to town everybody knew, because there was +blood still running all over my face after I washed up." + +Henig endeavored to prosecute McRae for his illegal and unwarranted +assault but all attempts to secure a warrant met with failure. Lumber +trust law operates only in one direction. + +In this raid upon the meeting McRae smashed citizens right and left, +women as well as men. He was even seen to kick a small boy who happened +to get in his path. Deputy Sam Walker beat up Harry Woods, an Everett +music teacher; another deputy was seen smashing an elderly gentleman on +the head; still another knocked Mrs. Louise McGuire, who was just +recovering from a sprained knee, into the gutter; and Ed Morton, G. W. +Carr and many other old-time residents of Everett were struck by the +drunken Commercial Club thugs. + +Mrs. Leota Carr called up Chief of Police Kelley next morning, the +following being an account of the conversation that ensued: + +"I said, 'What are you trying to kill my husband for?' and he kind of +laughed and said he didn't believe it, and I said, 'Did you know they +struck him over the head last night and he could hardly go to work +today?' He said, 'My God, they didn't strike him, did they?' and I +said, 'They surely did!' And he said 'Why there isn't a better man in +town than he is,' and I said, 'I know it.' It surprised me to think that +he thought I didn't know it myself. And then I said, 'These here +deputies are making more I. W. W.'s in town than the I. W. W.'s would in +fifty years.' And he said, 'I know it.' Then I said, 'Why do you allow +them to do it? You are the head of the police department.' He replied, +'McRae has taken it out of my hands; the sheriff is ahead of me and it +is his men who are doing it, and I am not to blame.'" + +At the city park four nights after this outrage, only one arrest for +street speaking having occurred in the meantime, the aroused citizens of +Everett met to hear Attorney E. C. Dailey, T. Webber, and various local +speakers deal with the situation, and to view at first hand the wounds +of Ovist, Henig and other towns people who had been injured. Thousands +attended the meeting, and disapproval of the actions of the Commercial +Club and its tools was vehemently expressed. + +This remonstrance from the people had some effect. The Commercial Club, +knowing that all arrests so far had been unlawful, took steps to +"legalize" any further seizing of street speakers at Hewitt and Wetmore +Avenues. The lumber interests issued an ordinance preventing street +speaking on that corner. The Mayor signed it without ever putting it to +a reading, thus invalidating the proposed measure. This made no +difference; henceforth it was a law of the city of Everett and as such +was due to be enforced by the lumber trust. + +During the whole controversy there had not been an arrest made on the +charge of violation of any street speaking ordinance. With the new +ordinance assumed to be a law, Mrs. Frennette went to Everett and +interviewed Chief Kelley. After telling him that the I. W. W. members +were being disturbed and mistreated by men who were not in uniform, she +said: + +"It seems that there is an ordinance here against street speaking and +we feel that it is unjust. We feel that we have a right to speak here. +We are not blocking traffic and we propose to make a test of the +ordinance. Will you have one of your men arrest me or any other speaker +who chooses to take the box, personally, and bring me to jail and put a +charge against me, and protect me from the vigilantes who are beating +the men on the street?" + +Kelley replied that so far as he was concerned he would do the best he +could but McRae had practically taken the authority out of his hands and +that he really could not guarantee protection. So a legal test was +practically denied. + +Quiet again reigned in Everett following the brutalities cited. A few +citizens were manhandled for too openly expressing their opinion of mob +methods and several wearers of overalls were searched and deported, but +the effects of bootleg whiskey seemed to have left the vigilantes. + +On Wednesday, Sept. 20th, a committee of 2000 citizens met at the Labor +Temple and arranged for a mass meeting to be held in the public park on +the following Friday. The meeting brought forth between ten and fifteen +thousand citizens, one-third of the total population at least, who +listened to speakers representing the I. W. W., Socialists, trades +unions and citizens generally. Testimony was given by some of the +citizens who had been clubbed by the vigilantes. Recognizing the hostile +public opinion, Sheriff McRae promised that the office of the I. W. W. +would not again be molested. As he had lied before he was not believed, +but, as a test, Earl Osborne went from Seattle to open up the hall once +more. + +For a period thereafter the energies of the deputies were given to a +course of action confined to the outskirts of the city. Migratory +workers traveling to and from various jobs were taken from the trains, +beaten, robbed and deported. As an example of McRae's methods and as +depicting a phase of the life of the migratory worker the story of +"Sergeant" John J. Keenan, sixty-five years old, and still actively at +work, is of particular interest: + +"I left Great Falls, Mont., about the 5th of September after I had been +working on a machine in the harvest about nine miles from town. The boys +gathered together--they were coming from North Dakota--and we all came +thru together. We had an organization among ourselves. We carried our +cards. There was a delegate with us, a field delegate, and I was +spokesman, elected by the rank and file of the twenty-two. There was +another division from North Dakota on the same train with us, going to +Wenatchee to pick apples. We were going to Seattle. I winter in Seattle +every year and work on the snow sheds. + +"We carried our cooking utensils with us, and when we got off at a +station we sent our committee of three and bought our provisions in the +store, and two of the cooks cooked the food, and we ate it and took the +next train and came on. This happened wherever we stopped. + +"We arrived in Snohomish, Wash., on Sept. 23rd at about 8:45 in the +morning. When the committee came down I sent out and they brought me +back the bills--I was the treasurer as well--one man carried the funds, +and they brought back $4.90 worth of food down, including two frying +pans, and when I was about cooking, a freight train from Everett pulled +in and a little boy, who was maybe about ten years old, he says, 'Dad, +are you an I. W. W.?' I says, 'I am, son.' 'Well,' he says, 'there are a +whole bunch of deputies coming out after you.' I laughed at the boy, I +thought he was joshing me. + +"About half an hour after the boy told me this the deputies appeared. In +the first bunch were forty-two, and then Sheriff McRae came with more, +making altogether, what I counted, sixty-four. The first bunch came +around the bush alongside the railroad track where I was and the sheriff +came in about twenty minutes later with his bunch from the opposite way. + +"In the first bunch was a fat, stout fellow with two guns. He had a +chief's badge--a chief of police's badge--on him. He was facing toward +the fire and he says, 'If you move a step, I will fill you full of +lead!' I laughed at him, says I, 'What does this outrage mean?' There +was another old gentleman with a chin beard, fat, middling fat, probably +my own age, and he picked up my coat which was lying alongside me and +looked at my button. He says, 'Oh, undesirable citizen!' I says, 'What +do you mean?' He says, 'Are you an I. W. W.?' I says, 'I am, and I am +more than proud of it!' 'Well,' he says, 'we don't want you in this +county.' I says, 'Sure?' He says, 'Yes.' I says, 'Well, I am not going +to stay in this county, I am going to cook breakfast and go to Seattle.' +He says, 'Do you understand what this means?' I says, 'No.' He says, +'The sheriff will be here in a few minutes and he will tell you what it +means.' I heard afterward that this man was the mayor of Snohomish. + +"I was sitting right opposite the fire with my coffee and bread and meat +in my hand when Sheriff McRae came up and says, 'Who is this bunch?' So +a tall, black deputy, a tall, dark complected fellow, says, 'They are a +bunch of harvest hands coming from North Dakota.' McRae says, 'Did you +search these men?' And he says, 'Yes.' 'Did you find any shooting arms +on them?' He says, 'No.' They had searched us and we had no guns or +clubs. + +"McRae then asked, 'Who is their leader?' and this old gentleman that +spoke to me first, he says, 'They have no leader, but that old man over +there is the spokesman.' So he came over to me and says, 'Where are you +going?' I says, 'I am going to Seattle.' Then he used an expression that +I don't think is fit for ladies to hear. I says, 'My mother was a lady +and she never raised any of us by the name you have mentioned, and,' I +says, 'I don't think I have done anything that I will have to walk out +of the county.' He says, 'Do you see that track?' I says, 'Yes.' He +says, 'Well, you will walk down that track!' I says, 'But for these +twenty-one men that are here in my hands I wouldn't walk a foot for +you.' He says, 'You get out. I am going to shoot all these things to +pieces.' I says, 'You will shoot nothing to pieces, I bought them with +my hard-earned money.' He says, 'All right, take them with you.' Then he +shot up the cans and things, and he says, 'That is the track to Seattle +and you go up it, and if I ever catch you in this county again you will +get what you are looking for.' + +"So we walked up the hill toward Seattle and there is a town, I think +they call it Maltby, and we got there between four and five o'clock in +the evening. Fellow Worker Thornton, Adams and Love were the committee +men and they asked me how I felt. I told them my feet were pretty sore. + +"I went over to the station agent and found out that there was a freight +due at 9:30 but that sometimes it didn't get in until three in the +morning. I then asked permission to light a fire and cook some coffee, +and after we were thru eating we lay down. + +"About 9:30 the train came along and I called the men. As the train was +backing up I saw some light come, and one auto throwing her searchlight, +and I counted four automobiles. That is all I could count but there were +a whole lot of them coming. I says, 'Men, we have run up against a stone +wall.' + +"Fellow Worker Love and I--he came off the machine with me in Great +Falls--we were first in line and Sheriff McRae and two other men with +white handkerchiefs around their necks came forward first and he says, +'You son-of-a-b----, I thought you were going to Seattle?' I says, +'Ain't I going to Seattle? I can't go till the train goes,' I says, +'you've had me walking now till I have no foot under me. What do you +mean by this outrage? My father fought for this country and I have a +right here. I am on railroad property and have done nothing to anybody.' +McRae then hit Fellow Worker Love on the head and I yelled 'Break and +run, men, or they will kill you!' He turned around then and he said to +me, 'You dirty old Irish bastard, now I will make you so you can't run. +I'll show you!' With that he let drive and hit me, leaving this three +cornered mark here (indicating place on head). And when the others went +up the track he says, 'Get now, God damn your old soul, or I will kill +you!' I says, 'Sheriff, look here, you are a perfect gentleman, you are, +to hit a fellow old enough to be your father.' He made as if to hit me +again and then Fellow Worker Love came back and says, 'Have a heart!' I +says 'You run,' and he says 'No, they are not going to kill you while I +am here.' And Fellow Worker Paterson came back down the track and I +says, 'What is the matter, Paterson, are you crazy? Get the men and tell +them to go over the line. Don't stay in this county or they are liable +to murder you!' Then Love and I went off the track into the thick bushes +and lay down till next morning. + +"At daylight we got up, went down to the junction and gathered up +fifteen of the men. When the train pulled in the trainman asked me where +I was going and I said I was going to Seattle. He says, 'Do you carry a +card?' 'Yes,' says I. 'Produce!' says he. That is the word the trainmen +use. So I put my hand in my pocket and pulled it out. 'You better get +back in the caboose, you are hurt,' he said. He saw the blood where +Fellow Worker Love had bandaged my head with his handkerchief. 'No,' +says I, 'Where the men are riding is good enough for me.' So we went to +where the interurban comes in and I was seven men short. I paid +two-fifty into Seattle, and we came in, and I made a report to the +Seattle locals." + +Incidents similar to this were of almost daily occurrence, scores of +deportations taking place during the month of September. Then on the +26th, despite his promises to refrain from molesting the hall, McRae +entered the premises, forcibly seized Earl Osborne, the secretary, took +him a long distance out in the country, and at the point of a gun made +him start the thirty-mile trip on foot to Seattle. On the 29th of +September the Everett authorities arrested J. Johnson and George Bradley +in Seattle. Johnson was held on an arson charge but no legal warrant for +his arrest was issued until October 17th, or until he had been in jail +for nineteen days. Then the charge against him was that he had set fire +to a box factory--but this was soon changed when it was learned by the +authorities that the box factory had not caught fire until after Johnson +was in jail, and for the first charge they substituted the claim that +Johnson had burned the garage of one Walter Smith, a scab shingle weaver +deputy. George Bradley, who had been deported from Everett after having +served one day as secretary, was accused of second degree arson as an +alleged accomplice. Each man was told that the other had confessed and +the best thing to do was to make a clean breast of matters, but this +scheme of McRae's fell thru for two reasons: the men were not guilty, +and they had never seen or heard of each other before. Johnson was in +jail fifty-eight days without a preliminary hearing. Both men were +released on property bonds, and the trials were "indefinitely +postponed," that still being their status at this writing. + +No further attempts were made to open the hall after Osborne's +deportation until October 16th when the organization in Seattle again +selected a man to act as secretary in Everett. Thomas H. Tracy took +charge on that date, remaining in Everett until a few days prior to +November 5th, at which time he resigned, his place being taken by +Chester Micklin. + +During the month of October there were between three and four hundred +deportations, the vigilantes operating mainly from the Commercial Club. +Many of these "slugging parties" were attended by Mayor D. D. Merrill, +Governor Clough, Captain Harry Ramwell, T. W. Anguish, W. R. Booth, +Edward Hawse, and other "pillars of society" in Everett. Most of the men +were deported without any formalities whatever, and the methods used in +handling the others may well be judged by frequent entries on the police +blotter to the effect that men arrested by Great Northern detective Fox +were ordered turned over to Sheriff McRae by Mayor Merrill. The railroad +company, acting in conjunction with the lumber trust, put on a private +army, and had its men roughly dressed to resemble honest workingmen. +Cases of "hi-jacking" became quite numerous about this time, but no +redress from this highway robbery could be had. + +On the question of the hiring of armed forces by the railroads the +Industrial Relations Commission Report has this to say: + + + "Under the authority granted by the several states the railroads + maintain a force of police, and some, at least, have established + large arsenals of arms and ammunition. This armed force, when + augmented by recruits from detective agencies and employment + agencies, as seems to be the general practice during industrial + disputes, constitutes a private army clothed with a degree of + authority which should be exercised only by public officials; these + armed bodies, usurping the supreme functions of the state and + oftentimes encroaching on the rights of citizens, are a distinct + menace to public welfare." + + +A number of the men deported during September and October were not +members of the I. W. W., some even being opposed at the time to the +tenet of the organization, "The working class and the employing class +have nothing in common," but almost without exception the non-members +who suffered deportation made it a point to join the union when the +nearest branch or field delegate was reached. In Everett, delegates +working quietly among the millmen, longshoremen, and other workers, were +also getting numerous recruits as the class struggle stood forth in its +naked form. All the efforts of the lumber trust to suppress the I. W. W. +were as tho they had tried to quench a forest fire with gasoline. + +[Illustration: Beverly Park] + +[Illustration: A close up view of Beverly Park showing cattle guards.] + +It was on October 30th that forty-one men left Seattle by boat in a +determined effort to reach the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore Avenues in +order to test the validity of the alleged ordinance prohibiting free +speech at that point. They were the first contingent of an army of +harvesters who were just returning from a hard season's labor in the +fields and orchards. The party was double the size of any free speech +group that had tried to enter Everett at any previous time. + +They were met at the dock by a drunken band of deputies, most of whom +wore white handkerchiefs around their necks as a means of +identification. The deputies were armed with guns and clubs, and they +outnumbered the I. W. W. body five to one. Several of the lawless crew +were so intoxicated they could scarcely stand, and one in particular had +to be forcibly restrained by his less drunken associates from attempts +to commit murder in the open. The I. W. W. men were clubbed with gun +butts and loaded clubs whenever their movements were not swift enough to +suit the fancies of the drunken mob. John Downs' face was an +indistinguishable mass of blood where Sheriff McRae had "sapped up" on +him and split open his upper lip. Boat passengers who remonstrated were +promised the same treatment unless they kept still. In its mad frenzy +the posse struck in all directions. So blindly drunk and hysterical was +deputy Joseph Irving that he swung his heavy revolver handle with full +force onto the head of deputy Joe Schofield. He continued the insane +attack, while McRae, awry-eyed and lusting for blood, assisted in the +brutal task until warning cried from the other vigilantes showed them +their mistake. Schofield was carried to an automobile and hastened to +the nearest drug store, where it was found necessary to call a physician +to take three stitches to bind together the edges of the most severe +wound. + +The prisoners were loaded into large auto trucks and passenger cars, +more than twenty of which were lined up in waiting, and were taken out +to a lonely wooded spot near Beverly Park on the road to Seattle. McRae, +with deputies Fred Luke, William Pabst and Fred Plymale, took one I. W. +W. out in their five-passenger Reo, McRae afterward endeavored +unsuccessfully to prove an alibi because his own car was in a garage. +Deputy Sheriff Jefferson Beard also took out a prisoner. + +Upon their arrival at Beverly the prisoners were made to dismount at +the point of guns and stand in the cold drizzling rain until their +captors had formed two lines reaching from the roadway to the interurban +tracks. There in the darkness the men were forced to run stumbling over +the uneven ground down a gauntlet that ended only with the cruel sharp +blades of a cattle guard, while on their unprotected heads and shoulders +the drunken outlaws rained blow after blow with gun-butts, black-jacks, +loaded saps and pick-handles. In the confusion one boy escaped from Ed +Hawse, but before he could get away into the brush this bully, weighing +about 260 pounds, bore down upon him, and with a couple of other +deputies proceeded to beat him well-nigh into insensibility. Deputies +who lost their clubs in the scramble aimed kicks at the privates of the +men as they passed down the line. Deputy Fred Luke swung at one man with +such force that the leather wrist thong parted and the club disappeared +into the woods. With drunken deliberation Joseph Irving cracked the head +of man after man, informing each one that they were getting an extra +dose because of his mistake in beating up a brother deputy. In the thick +of it all, smashing, kicking, and screaming obscene curses at the +helpless men and boys who dared demand free speech within the territory +sacred to the lumber trust, was the deputy-sheriff of Snohomish County, +Jefferson E. Beard! + +A few of the men broke the lines and ran into the woods, a bullet past +their heads warning others from a like attempt. Across the cattle guard, +often sprawling on hands and knees from the force of the last blows +received, went the men who had cleared the gauntlet. Legs sank between +the blades of the guard and strained ligaments and sprained ankles were +the result. One man suffered a dislocated shoulder at the hands of a +Doctor Allison, another had the bridge of his nose broken by a blow from +McRae, and dangerously severe wounds and bruises were sustained by +nearly all of the forty-one. + +So horrible were the moans and outcries of the stricken men, so bestial +were the actions of the infuriated deputies, that one of their own +number, W. R. Booth, sickened at the sight and sound, went reeling up +the roadway retching as he left the brutal scene. + +Attracted by the curses of the deputies, the sound of the blows, and the +moans and cries of the wounded men, Mrs. Ruby Ketchum came to the door +of her house nearly a quarter of a mile away, and remained there +listening to the hideous din, while her husband, Roy Ketchum, and his +brother, Lew, went down to the scene of the outrage to investigate. The +Ketchum brothers reported that the deputies were formed in two lines +ending in six men, three on each side of the cattle guard. A man would +be taken out of the car and two deputies would join his arms up behind +him meanwhile hammering his unprotected face from both sides as hard as +they could strike with their fists. Then the man was started down the +line, one deputy following to club him on the back to make him hurry, +and the other deputies striking with clubs and other weapons and kicking +the prisoner as he progressed. Just before reaching the cattle guard he +was made to run, and, in crossing the blades, the three men on the east +side of the track would swing their clubs upon his back while the men on +the west clubbed him across the face and stomach. This was repeated with +the men as fast as they were dragged from the autos. They also heard the +sound of blows and then cries of "Oh my God! Doc, don't hit me again, +doc, you're killing me!" Lew Ketchum took deputy Fred Luke by the coat +tails and pulled him back from the cattle guard, asking, "What are you +doing, what is going on here?" and Luke replied, "We are beating up +forty-one I. W. W.'s." + +Harry Hubbard tells the story in these words from the time the autos +arrived at Beverly: + +"I got out of the car with another fellow, Rice, and I says, 'We had +better stay together, it looks to me like we were going to get tamped +up,' and somebody grabbed hold of him, and I stood a minute, and then I +ran by one fellow up into the woods. Just as I got out of the radius of +the automobile lights I fell over a stump on the edge of the embankment. +I was in kind of a peculiar predicament and I had to get hold of the +stump to pull myself up, and just as I did that some fellow behind me +swung with a blackjack and grazed my temple, knocking me to my knees. I +got up and he grabbed hold of me and we both fell down the bank +together. Then two or three others grabbed me, and this Hawse had me by +the collar, and Sheriff McRae walked up and said 'You are the +son-of-a---- that was over here last week,' and I answered, 'I was +working here last week.' Then he said, 'Are you an I. W. W.?' I said, +'Yes,' and he hit me an upward swing on the nose. He repeated, 'You are +an I. W. W., are you?' and again I said, 'Yes.' He then swore at me and +said, 'Say that you ain't!' and I replied, 'No, I won't say that I +ain't,' and he hit me three more times on the nose. + +"Then the man who was holding my left wrist with one hand and my +shoulder with the other, said, 'Wait a minute until I get a poke at +him,' and McRae said, 'All right, doc,' and then someone else said 'All +right Allison, hit him for me!' This fellow they called Doc Allison hit +me and blackened my eye. McRae swore at me, he seemed to be intoxicated +and he looked and acted like a maniac, he said 'If you fellows ever come +back some of you will die, that's all there is to it.' I said, 'I don't +think there is any necessity for killing anybody,' and he answered 'I +will kill you if you come back,' and he raised his blackjack and said +'Run!' I said 'I wont run,' and he hit me again and I dropped to the +ground. He raised his foot over my face, and used some pretty raw +language, and as he stood there with his heel over my face I grabbed +hold of a fellow's leg and pulled myself along so instead of hitting my +face his heel scraped my side. Then I got some kicks, three of them in +the small of the back around my kidneys. + +"When I got up I walked thru the line, there were twenty or thirty +different ones hollered for me to run, but I was stubborn and wouldn't +do it. And when I got to the cattle guard and stood at the other side +kind of wiping the blood off my face I heard some one coming and I said, +'Four Hundred," and he said 'Yes,' and he was crying. It was a young boy +and I walked down the track with him afterward. + +"At the City Hospital in Seattle next day the doctor told me my nose was +badly fractured and that I had internal injuries. A few days later my +back pained me severely and I passed blood for a time after that." + +C. H. Rice, whose shoulder was dislocated, gives about the same version. + +"Two big fellows would hold a man until they were thru beating him and +then turn him loose. I was turned loose and ran probably six or eight +feet, something like that, and I was hit and knocked down. As I +scrambled to my feet and ran a few feet again I was hit on the shoulder +with a slingshot. This time I went down and I was dazed, I think I must +have been unconscious for a moment because when I came to they were +kicking me, and some of them said, 'He is faking,' and others said, 'No, +he is knocked out.' I remember seeing some of the boys during that time +running by me, and when they got me up I started to run a bit farther +and was knocked down again. + +"Then they called for somebody there, addressing him as Dr. Allison, and +he grabbed my arm and pulled me up, and he raised my arm up and said, +'Aw, there is nothing the matter with you,' and jerked it down again. My +arm was out of place, it seemed way over to one side, and I couldn't +straighten it up. + +"As I was going over the cattle guard several of them hit me and some +one hollered 'Bring him back here, don't let him go over there.' They +brought me back and this doctor said 'You touch your shoulder with your +hand,' and I couldn't. He says 'There is nothing the matter with you.' + +"Then the fellow who was on the dock, and who had been drinking pretty +heavily, because they would have to shove him back every once in a +while, he shouted out 'Let's burn him!' About that time Sheriff McRae +came over and got hold of my throat and said, 'Now, damn you, I will +tell you I can kill you right here and there never would be nothing +known about it, and you know it.' And some one said, 'Let's hang him!' +and this other fellow kept hollering 'Burn him! Burn him!' McRae kept +hitting me, first on one side and then the other, smacking me that way, +and then he turned me loose again and hit me with one of those +slingshots, and finally he said 'Oh, let him go,' and he started me +along, following behind and hitting me until I got over the cattleguard. + +"I went down to the interurban track until I caught up with some of the +boys. They tried to pull my shoulder back into place and then they took +handkerchiefs and neckties, and one thing and another, and made a kind +of a sling to hold it up. We then went down to the first station and the +boys took up a collection and the eight of us who were hurt the worst +got on the train and went to Seattle. The others had to walk the +twenty-five miles into Seattle. Most of us had to go to the hospital +next day." + +Sam Rovinson was beaten with a piece of gaspipe, but taking advantage of +the fact that the shooting when Archie Collins made his escape had +attracted the attention of the deputies he got thru the gauntlet with +only minor injuries. Rovinson testifies that McRae said to him: + +"This time we will let you off with this, but next time you come up here +we will pop you full of holes." + +"I just came up here to exercise my constitutional right of free +speech," expostulated Rovinson. + +"To hell with free speech and the Constitution!" shouted McRae, "You are +now in Snohomish county, and we are running the county!" + +After the deputies had returned to town the two Ketchum brothers took +their lanterns and went out to the scene thinking they might find some +of the men out there hurt, with a broken leg, or arm or something, and +that they could be taken to their house to be cared for. No men were +seen, but three covered with blood were found and after examination were +returned to where they had been picked up. + +Early next morning some of the deputies, frightened at their cowardly +actions of the previous night, were seen at Beverly Park making an +examination of the ground. Two of them approached the Ketchum residence +and asked if any I. W. W.'s had been found lying around there. After +being assured that they had stopped short of murder, the deputies +departed. + +A little later an investigation committee composed of Rev. Oscar McGill +of Seattle, and Rev. Elbert E. Flint, Rev. Jos. P. Marlatt, Jake Michel, +Robert Mills, Ernest Marsh, E. C. Dailey, Commissioner W. H. Clay, +Messrs. Fawcett, Hedge, Ballou, Houghton and others from Everett, made a +close examination of the grounds. In spite of the heavy rain and +notwithstanding the fact that deputies had preceded them, the committee +found blood-soaked hats and hat bands and big brown spots of blood +soaked into the cement roadway. In the cattle guard was the sole of a +shoe, evidently torn off as one of the fleeing men escaped his +assailants. + +"Hearing of the occurrence I accompanied several gentlemen, including a +prominent minister of the gospel of Everett, next morning to the scene. +The tale of that struggle was plainly written. The roadway was stained +with blood. The blades of the cattle guard were so stained, and between +the blades was a fresh imprint of a shoe where plainly one man in his +hurry to escape the shower of blows, missed his footing in the dark and +went down between the blades. Early that morning workmen going into the +city to work, picked up three hats from the ground, still damp with +blood. There can be no excuse for nor extenuation of such an inhuman +method of punishment," reported President E. P. Marsh to the State +Federation of Labor. + +J. M. Norland stated that "there were big brown blotches on the pavement +which we took to be blood. They were perhaps two feet in diameter, and +there were a number of smaller blotches for a distance of twenty-five +feet. In the vicinity of the cattle guard the soil was disarranged and +there were shoe marks near the cattle guard. You could also notice +where, in their hurry to get across, they would go in between, and there +would be little parts or shreds of clothing there, and on one there was +a little hair." + +All that day the talk in Everett centered around the crime of the +preceding night. Little groups of citizens gathered here and there to +discuss the matter. The deputies went about strenuously denying that +they had a hand in the infamous affair, and friends of long standing +refused to speak to those who were known positively to have been +concerned in the outrage. A number of the ministers of the city +conferred regarding a course of action, but finding the problem too deep +for them to solve they left it to up to the individual. Various Everett +citizens, representing a large degree of public sentiment, felt that the +thing to do was to hold an immense mass meeting in order to present the +facts of the hideous crime to the whole public. This plan met with +immediate approval from many quarters, and the I. W. W. in Seattle was +notified of this desire by mail, by telephone, and by means of citizens' +delegations. Rev. Oscar McGill conferred with secretary Herbert Mahler +and was quite insistent upon the necessity for such a meeting, as the +Everett papers had carried no real information about the affair in +Beverly. He brought out the fact that there had been thousands in +attendance at the mass meeting in the Everett city park a month or so +previous to this occurrence, and the speakers were then escorted by a +large body of citizens from the interurban depot to the meeting place, +and the feelings of the people were such that similar or even more +adequate protection would be given were another meeting held. He +suggested that the meeting be held in broad daylight and on a Sunday. +That the plan met with the approval of the I. W. W. membership was shown +by its adoption at a meeting the night following the trouble at Beverly +Park. And the date selected was Sunday, November 5th. + +Immediately steps were taken to inform the various I. W. W. branches in +the Northwest of the proposed action. Telegrams were sent to Solidarity, +and a ringing call for two thousand men to help in the fight for free +speech was published in the Industrial Worker. In addition to +telegraphing the story and its attendant call for action to the unions +of the Pacific Coast there were various members selected from among the +forty-one who had been beaten, and these were dispatched to different +points to spread the tale of Everett's atrocities, and to gain new +recruits for the "invading army" of free speech fighters. + +Seeking the widest possible publicity the free speech committee had +printed and circulated thousands of handbills in Everett to call +attention to the proposed meeting. + + + CITIZENS OF EVERETT + ATTENTION! + + A meeting will be held at the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore Aves., + on Sunday, Nov. 5th, 2 p. m. Come and help maintain your and our + constitutional right. +Committee.+ + + +The authorities in Everett were notified, the editors of all the Seattle +daily papers were requested to have representatives present at the +meeting, and reporters were called in and told of the intentions of the +organization. During the week frequent meetings were held in the hall in +Seattle to arrange for the incoming free speech fighters, and without an +exception all these meetings were held with no examination of +membership books and were open to the public. With their cards laid upon +the table the members of the Industrial Workers of the World were +preparing to call the hand of the semi-legalized outlaws of Snohomish +county who had cast aside the law, abrogated the Constitution of the +United States, and denied the right of free speech and free assembly. + +Following the Beverly affair the Commercial Club redoubled its +activities. Blackjacks and "Robinson-clubs," so called because they were +manufactured especially for the deputies by the Robinson Mill, were set +aside for revolvers and high power rifles, and the ranks of the deputies +were enlarged by the off-scouring and scum of the open shop persuasion. + +McRae entered the I. W. W. hall on Friday, Nov. 3rd, the day Thomas H. +Tracy turned the office over to Chester Micklin, and abruptly said "By +God, I will introduce myself. I am Sheriff McRae! I won't have a lot of +sons-of-bitches hanging around this place like in Seattle." + +Micklin looked at the drunken sheriff a moment and replied, "The +constitution guarantees us free speech, free assembly, and free----" + +"To hell with the Constitution," broke in McRae. "We have a constitution +here that we will enforce." + +"You believe in unions, you believe in organized labor, don't you?" +asked Micklin. + +"Yes, I belonged to the shingle weavers at one time," returned McRae, +"but when the shingle weavers went out on strike I donated $25.00 to +their strike fund and they gave me a rotten deal and sent the check back +to me, and to hell with the shingle weavers and the rest of the unions!" + +Then, as he was leaving the hall, McRae pulled from his pocket a letter; +took from it a black cat cut from pasteboard and stuck it in the +secretary's face, saying "That's the kind of ----s that is in your +organization!" + +Next morning the sheriff raided the hall and seized the men who were +found there, with the exception of the secretary. Turning to Micklin he +said boastfully "I'll bet you a hundred dollars you ----s won't hold +that meeting tomorrow!" McRae was drunk. + +The arrested men were searched and deported and, as was the case in +every previous arrest and deportation, there was no resistance offered, +no physical violence threatened, and no weapons of any character found +upon any of the I. W. W. men. + +That night the deputies were secretly assembled at the Commercial Club +where they were given their final instructions by the lumber trust and +ordered to report fully armed and ready for action at the blowing of the +mill whistles. With these preparations the open shop forces were ready +to go to still greater lengths to uphold "law and order!" + +The answer of the I. W. W. to this damnable act of violence at Beverly +Park and to the four months of terrorism that had preceded it was a call +for two thousand men to enter Everett, there to gain by sheer force of +numbers that right of free speech and peaceable assembly supposed to +have been guaranteed them by the Constitution of the United States.[10] + +[Illustration: The Ketchum Home near Beverly Park] + +FOOTNOTE: + +[10] (The incidents in the foregoing chapter are corroborated by the +sworn testimony of I. W. W. men who were shot at, beaten, robbed, and +abused; by citizens of Everett and Seattle who were also beaten and +mistreated or who witnessed the scenes; by physicians, attorneys, public +officials, members of craft unions, and by deputies who hoped to make +amends by testifying to the truth for the defense.) + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +BLOODY SUNDAY + + +How shall we enter the kingdom of Everett? was the question that +confronted the committee in charge of affairs in Seattle on the morning +of November 5th. Inquiries at the Interurban office developed the fact +that sufficient cars could not be had to accommodate the crowd. The cost +of making the trip by auto truck was found to be prohibitive. At the +eleventh hour the committee, taking the money pooled by the members, +secured the regular passenger steamship Verona, and an orderly and +determined body of men filed down the steps leading from the I. W. W. +headquarters and marched by fours to the Colman Dock. + +Their mission was an open and peaceable one. Cheerful, optimistic, +enthusiastic, the band of social crusaders felt that the conquest of +free speech was assured. Not for a moment did they think that the +Everett Klu-Klux-Klan would dare resort to violent and criminal tactics +in the broad daylight of that beautiful sunny day and in plain view of a +host of conscientious Everett citizens. + +Assisted by Harry Feinberg and John T. (Red) Doran, Captain Chauncey +Wiman checked the number of men who went on board, stopping further +entry when the legal limit of two hundred and fifty persons was reached, +Feinberg joining the men on board in order to serve as the main speaker +at the proposed meeting. Among those who secured passage were several +who were not members of the free speech party, but in the work of +checking, the tickets of these persons were not collected, their fares +being paid in the lump sum that was handed to the captain. Regular +passengers of the Verona were informed that their tickets would be good +for the steamer Calista, lying at Pier 3. Thirty-eight additional +members of the free speech band joined the regular patrons who took +passage on the Calista. + +Laughter and jest were on the lips of the men who crowded the Verona, +and songs of the One Big Union rang out over the sparkling waters of +Puget Sound. Loyal soldiers were these in the great class war, +enlightened workers who were willing to give their all in the battle for +bread, happiness and liberty. Men of all callings these--logger, +carpenter, laborer, railroad clerk, painter, miner, printer, seaman and +farmhand, all united with one common aim--the desire to gain for Labor +the right of free expression. + +Among their number, however, were two individuals of a breed reckoned +among the lowest order of the human species; two "stool pigeons," low +informers upon whom even a regular detective looks down with contempt. +One of these, carrying an I. W. W. card and in the employ of Snohomish +county and the Everett Commercial Club under the direction of the +Pinkerton Detective Agency, had sneaked out of the I. W. W. headquarters +long enough to telephone Lieutenant Hedges of the Seattle Police force +that there was a boatload of I. W. W. men leaving for Everett. There was +no secret in connection with the trip, but that there exist such class +traitors, relatively few as they are, to whom the enemies of the workers +can look for information is one of the sad features of the class +struggle. The "stool's" message was relayed to the Everett authorities +and, after being revised by the advocates of the open shop, it finally +reached the deputies in the form of a report that a boatload of I. W. +W.'s, armed to the teeth, were about to invade, pillage, and burn the +city. + +At one o'clock the mill whistles blew, the mill deputies armed with +their mill clubs, mill revolvers, rifles and shotguns, assembled at the +mill headquarters--the Commercial Club--and from there were transported +in mill automobiles down the alleys and back streets to the City Dock. + +Citizens were driven from the dock and a rope, guarded by armed +deputies, was stretched across the land end to prevent access by any +save men with guns. Part of the equipment of the Naval Militia was +stored in readiness at the Commercial Club--a stubborn fact for those +who deny that government is a class institution. At the Pacific Hardware +Company, deputy Dave Oswald had an auto load of rifles and ammunition +prepared for immediate transportation and use. In Captain Ramwell's +office, at the point where the rope was stretched, there were stacked a +number of high-power rifles, brought there from the same source. It is +even rumored that there was a machine gun on the dock. On the scab +tugboat Edison, moored at the north side of the dock, men armed with +rifles lay in waiting. The Everett Improvement Dock to the south was +also prepared for action. Hundreds of deputies were admitted to the City +Dock and were lined up under the direction of Sheriff McRae, +Deputy-Sheriff Jefferson Beard, and Lieutenant Charles O. Curtis, of the +Officers' Reserve Corps of the National Guard of Washington. Boards were +removed from the sides of the warehouses so as to command a view of the +landing place, and sacks of potatoes and lumber were used as partial +barricades. A few of the deputies were in the west warehouse at the +extreme end of the dock, but the majority of them were in the larger +warehouse to the east of the open docking space. Plentifully supplied +with ammunition and "booze," the cowardly deputies lay hidden in this +ambush. The scene was set and the tragedy of November Fifth about to be +staged. + +As the Verona cleaved the placid, sunlit waters of the Bay and swung up +to the City Dock at Everett, shortly before two o'clock, the men were +merrily singing the English Transport Workers' strike song, + + + "HOLD THE FORT!" + + We meet today in Freedom's cause, + And raise our voices high; + We'll join our hands in union strong, + To battle or to die. + + CHORUS + + Hold the fort for we are coming, + Union men be strong. + Side by side we battle onward, + Victory will come! + + Look, my comrades, see the union, + Banners waving high. + Reinforcements now appearing, + Victory is nigh. + + See our numbers still increasing; + Hear the bugle blow: + By our union we shall triumph + Over every foe. + + Fierce and long the battle rages, + But we will not fear. + Help will come whene'er it's needed, + Cheer, my comrades, cheer! + + +From a hillside overlooking the scene thousands upon thousands of +Everett citizens sent forth cheer after cheer as a hearty welcome to the +"invading army." High up on the flag-pole of the Verona clambered Hugo +Gerlot, a youthful free speech enthusiast, to wave a greeting to the +throng that lined the shore. Passenger Oscar Carlson and his friend +Ernest Nordstrom, from their position on the very bow of the boat, +caught the spirit of the party and endeavored to join in the song that +resounded louder and clearer as many of the men left the cabins to go +out upon the deck. + +Completely filling the bow of the boat and blocking the passageway on +either side, the singers crowded to the rail in the usual joyously +impatient manner of holiday excursionists, and then for the first time +observed a body of deputies march from the large warehouse and settle +into lines across the back and sides of the open landing space on the +dock, where Curtis, McRae, and Beard were stationed. + +Waiting until Captain Ramwell's wharfinger, William Kenneth, had made +fast the bowline to prevent the boat from backing out, Sheriff Donald +McRae gave his belt holster a hitch to bring his gun directly across his +middle and then lurched forward to the face of the dock. Holding up his +left hand to check the singing, he yelled to the men on board: + +"Who is your leader?" + +Immediate and unmistakable was the answer from practically every member +of the Industrial Workers of the World: + +"We are all leaders!" + +Angrily jerking his gun from its holster and flourishing it in a +threatening manner, McRae cried: + +"You can't land here!" + +"The hell we can't!" came the reply as the men stepped toward the partly +thrown-off gang plank. + +A shot rang out from the immediate vicinity of deputy W. A. Bridges, +then another, closely followed by a volley that sent them staggering +backward. Many fell to the deck. Evidently the waving of McRae's +revolver was the prearranged signal for the carnage to commence. The +long months of lumber trust lawlessness had culminated in cowardly, +deliberate, premeditated and foul murder! + +Young Gerlot crumpled up and slid part way down the flag pole, then +suddenly threw out both arms and crashed lifeless to the deck, his +bullet-torn and bleeding body acting as a shield for several who had +thrown themselves prostrate. Passenger Oscar Carlson threw himself flat +upon the forward deck and while in that position seven bullets found +their way into his quivering flesh, life clinging to the shattered form +by a strange vagary of fate. With a severe bullet wound in his abdomen, +Ed Roth swayed back and forth for a moment and then toppled forward on +his face. + +When a bullet whistled past the head of Captain Chauncey Wiman, and +another tore a spoke as thick as a man's wrist from the pilot wheel +beneath his hand, he deserted his post to barricade himself behind the +safe with a mattress, remaining in that position until the close of the +hostilities. + +At the first shot and during the first volley the unarmed men wildly +sought cover from the deadly leaden hail. Those who had not dropped to +the deck, wounded or seeking shelter, surged to the starboard side of +the boat, causing it to list to an alarming degree, the fastened bowline +alone preventing it from capsizing. Several men lost their footing on +the blood-slimed decks and were pitched headlong overboard. There, +struggling frantically in the water,--by no possible chance +combatants--a storm of rifle bullets churning little whirlpools around +their heads, one by one they were made the victims of lumber trust greed +by the Hessianized deputies stationed at the shore end of the City Dock +and upon the dock to the south. The bay was reddened with their blood. +Of all who went overboard, James Hadley alone regained the deck, the +rest disappearing beneath the silent waters to be dragged by the +undertow out to an unknown and nameless ocean grave. + +Young Joe Ghilezano seized the rail preparatory to jumping overboard, +but seeing two men shot dead while they were in the water he lay down on +the deck instead. While there a bullet pierced his hip, another went +thru his back close to the spine, and a third completely tore off his +left knee cap. Harry Parker slipped over the starboard side in order to +gain the lower deck, and a rifle bullet from the vicinity of the tug +Goldfinch, along the Everett Improvement Company Dock, ranged thru his +back from left to right, just as his friend, Walter Mulholland, also +wounded, pulled him in thru a hole torn in the canvas wind shield. An +abdominal wound laid Felix Baran low. The thud of bullets as they struck +the prostrate men added to the ghastly sound caused by the firing of +rifles and revolvers, the curses of the deputies and the moans of the +wounded men. + +Following the first volley the deputies who had been out in the open +scuttled into the warehouses on either side. Thru their scattering ranks +the scabs on the tug Edison poured their rifle fire toward the men on +the Verona. Lieutenant C. O. Curtis pitched forward and fell dead upon +the dock--the victim of a rifle bullet. One of the fleeing deputies +paused behind the corner of the waiting room just long enough to +flinchingly reach out his hand and, keeping his head under cover, +emptied his revolver without taking aim. Deputy Sheriff Jefferson Beard +fell mortally wounded as he turned to run, and was dragged into the +warehouse by some of the less panic stricken murderers. Sheriff McRae, +with a couple of slight wounds in his left leg and heel, was forced to +his knees by the impact of bullets against the steel jacket which he +wore, remaining in a supplicating attitude for a few seconds while he +sobbed out in a quavering tone, "O-o-oh! I'm hit! I-I'm hit!! I-I-I'm +hit!!!" + +Placed on board the Verona to serve the interests of the lumber trust, +what were the two Pinkerton operatives doing while the boat was landing +and just before the first heavy firing commenced? Their actions were +shrouded in mystery. But, as if anticipating something, one was seen +directly after the first shot scurrying into hiding where he lay +shivering until long after the firing had ceased. The other, while under +cover, was struck on the head by a glancing bullet. He became so enraged +at this lack of thoughtfulness on the part of his degenerate brothers +that he emptied his revolver at their backs as they broke for cover. +From a safe position on the dock, deputy H. D. Cooley, with a pair of +field glasses, was tremblingly trying to spy for the approach of the +Calista. + +Inside the waiting room and the warehouses the drink-crazed deputies +ran amuck, shooting wildly in all directions, often with some of their +own number directly in the line of fire--bullet holes in the floor and a +pierced clock case high up on the waiting room wall giving mute evidence +of their insane recklessness. One deputy fled from the dock in terror, +explaining to all who would listen that a bullet hole in his ear was +from the shot of one of his associates on the dock. + +"They've gone crazy in there!" he cried excitedly. "They're shootin' +every which way! They shot me in the ear!" + +Thru the loopholes already provided, and even thru the sides of the +warehouses they blazed away in the general direction of the boat, using +revolvers and high powered rifles with steel and copper-jacketed +missiles. Dum-dums sang their deadly way to the Verona and tore gaping +wounds in the breasts of mere boys--an added reward by the industrial +lords for their first season of hard labor in the scorching harvest +fields. John Looney was felled by a rifle bullet and even as he fell +shuddering to the deck another leaden missile shattered the woodwork and +impaled one of his eyeballs upon a spear of wood, gouging it from the +socket. + +At the foot of the dock, protected by the Klatawa slip, (Indian name for +runaway) C. R. Schweitzer, owner of a scab plumbing establishment, fired +time after time with a magazine shotgun, the buckshot scattering at the +long range and raking the forward deck with deadly effect. The pilot +house was riddled and the woodwork filled with hundreds of the little +leaden messengers that carried a story of "mutual interests of Capital +and Labor." Deputy Russell and about ten others assisted in the +dastardly work at that point, pouring shot after shot into the +convulsive struggling heaps of wounded men piled four and five deep on +the deck. One boy in a brown mackinaw suddenly rose upright from a +tangled mass of humanity, the blood gushing from his wounds, and with an +agonized cry of "My God! I can't stand this any longer!" leaped high in +the air over the side of the boat, sinking from sight forever, his +watery resting place marked only by a few scarlet ripples. + +Two bodies, one with the entire throat shot away, were found next +morning washed up on the beach, and that fact was reported to the +Everett police by Ed. and Rob. Thompson. That night some men fishing in +a little sailboat far out in the bay saw five weighted objects about six +feet long, and apparently wrapped in canvas, thrown overboard from a +launch, but in none of the daily papers was there any mention of bodies +having been found. Six uncalled-for membership cards, deposited by men +who took passage on the Verona, may represent as many murders by the +cowards on the dock. Those cards are made out to Fred Berger, William +Colman, Tom Ellis, Edward Raymond, Peter Viberts, and Chas. E. Taylor. +Some of the deputies gloatingly declared that the death toll of the +workers was twelve men at the lowest count. + +So wanton was the slaughter of the helpless men and boys that strong men +who witnessed the scene turned away vomiting. From the hillside the +women--those whom the deputies were pretending to protect from the +"incoming horde,"--casting aside all womanly fears, raced to the dock in +a vain endeavor to stop the commission of further crime, crying out in +their frenzy, "The curs! The curs! The dirty curs! They're nothing but +murderers!" They, as well as the men who tried to launch boats to rescue +the men in the water, were halted by the same citizen deputies whose +names head the list of Red Cross donors. + +For a short period of time, seemingly endless hours to the unarmed and +helpless men on the boat, the rain of lead continued. Tho the boat had +righted itself, the men were still unable to extricate themselves from +the positions into which they had been thrown. Near the top of one heap +lay Abraham Rabinowitz, a young Jewish college graduate, and as he +struggled to regain his footing a bullet tore off the whole back part +of his head, his blood and brains splashing down over Raymond Lee and +Michael Reilly who lay just beneath him. Rabinowitz died in the arms of +Leonard Broman, his "pal" in the harvest fields, without ever having +regained consciousness. + +"Hold me up, fellow workers!" suddenly called out Gus Johnson as he was +fatally stricken by a bullet. "I want to finish the song." Then, above +the din of the gunfire and curses of the deputies, the final verse of +"Hold the Fort" rang out in defiance of industrial tyranny, and with the +termination of the words "Cheer, my comrades, cheer!" the bright red +death-foam flecked the ever-to-be silent lips of the brave Swedish +revolutionist. + +Splintering the stairways, seats and woodwork, and wounding many of the +men crouched in hiding, thousands of rounds of ammunition found their +way into the boat during the ten long minutes of the onslaught. Finally, +with a 41 Colts revolver to enforce his demand, J. F. Billings ordered +engineer Ernest Shellgren to back the boat away from the dock. With no +pilot at the wheel the propeller churned madly backward for a moment, +the bowline drew taut and snapped, and the Verona pulled away from the +murderous crew of vigilantes. Not content with the havoc they had +wrought at close quarters some of the deputies continued to fire as long +as the boat was within range, a bullet from a high powered rifle +shattering the left leg of Harry Golden, a youth of twenty-two years, +when the boat was far out in the bay. Amputation of the limb was +necessary, a cork leg daily reminding young Golden of the majesty of the +law. + +The Verona with its grim cargo of dead and wounded steamed toward +Seattle, meeting the steamer Calista about four miles out, stopping just +long enough for Captain Wiman to shout thru his megaphone, "For God's +sake don't land! They'll kill you! We have dead and wounded on board +now." + +With unaccustomed fingers the uninjured men bathed the wounded, tearing +up shirts and underclothing in order to bind up their injuries, and +making the men as comfortable as possible during the two and one half +hour return trip. + +A few of the men on board had been armed. These voluntarily threw +overboard their revolvers, together with the few empty shells that lay +scattered upon the deck, George Reese alone having to be forced to +discard the "souvenirs" he had picked up. + +It was a quiet crowd that pulled into Seattle, not only because they +realized that the class struggle is not all jokes and songs, but also in +deference to the sufferings of their wounded comrades. This same spirit +animated the men when they were met by drawn cordons of police at the +Seattle dock, their first thought and first words being, "Get the +wounded fellows out and we will be all right." In the city jail, located +on the floor above the hospital, the same generous consideration of +their wounded fellow workers' condition led them to forego the +demonstration usually attending the arrest and jailing of any body of I. +W. W. members. + +The four dead members, their still forms covered with blankets, were +first removed from the boat and taken to the morgue. Police and hospital +ambulances were soon filled with the thirty-one wounded men, who were +taken to the city hospital. The uninjured men were then lined up and +slowly marched to the city jail. From the Calista the thirty-eight I. W. +W. members were taken and placed in the county jail. + +At the hospital, Felix Baran, shot in the abdomen, slowly and painfully +passed away from internal hemorrhage. Dr. Mary Equi, of Portland, Ore., +who examined the body, stated that with surgical attention there would +have been more than an even chance of recovery. + +No one will ever know how many brave workers were swept out to sea and +lost, but Sunday, November Fifth, of the year Nineteen-sixteen, wrote +in imperishable letters of red on the list of Labor's martyrs who gave +up their lives in Freedom's Cause the names of + + + FELIX BARAN; + HUGO GERLOT; + GUSTAV JOHNSON; + JOHN LOONEY; + ABRAHAM RABINOWITZ. + + +French, German, Swedish, Irish, and Russian Jew,--these are the true +internationalists of the world-wide brotherhood of toil who died for +free speech and the right to organize in this "land of liberty." To them +Courtenay Lemon's tribute to the I. W. W. applies with full force. + +"Again and again its foot-free members, burning with an indignation and +a militant social idealism which is ever an inscrutable puzzle to local +authorities, have hastened to towns where free speech fights were on, +defied the police, braved clubbings, and voluntarily filled the jails to +overflowing, to the rage and consternation of the police and taxpayers. +It has acted as the flying squadron of liberty, the unconquered +knight-errantry of all captive freedoms; and the migratory workers who +constitute a large part of its membership, ever on the march and +pitching their camp wherever the industrial battle is thickest, form a +guerilla army which is always eager for a fight with the powers of +tyranny. Whether they disagree with its methods and aims, all lovers of +liberty everywhere owe a debt to this organization for its defense of +free speech. Absolutely irreconcilable, absolutely fearless, and +unsuppressibly persistent, it has kept alight the fires of freedom, like +some outcast vestal of human liberty. That the defense of traditional +rights to which this government is supposed to be dedicated should +devolve upon an organization so often denounced as 'unpatriotic' and +'un-American,' is but the usual, the unfailing irony of history."[11] + +Baran, Gerlot, Johnson, Looney, Rabinowitz,--these names will be a +source of inspiration to the workers when their cowardly murderers have +long been forgotten. + +Those who survived their wounds, saving as pocket pieces the buckshot, +copper and steel jacketed and dum-dum bullets extracted from their +persons, were; mentioning their more serious wounds: + +Harry Golden, age 22, shot in left leg, making amputation necessary. + +Joseph Ghilazano, age 20, shot in shoulder and both legs, entire +knee-cap shot off and replaced with a silver substitute. + +Albert Scribner, age 32, severely wounded in hip, probably lamed for +life. + +Mario Marino, age 18, shot thru the lungs. + +Edward Roth, age 30, severely wounded in abdomen. + +Walter Mulholland, age 18, shot in buttock. + +Carl Bjork, age 25, wounded in back. + +Harry Parker, age 22, shot above abdomen, in back, and in legs. + +John Ryan, age 21, wounded in right shoulder and left leg. + +Leland E. Butcher, age 28, shot in the left leg. + +J. A. Kelly, age 31, shot in right leg. + +Hans Peterson, age 32, wounded in head. + +Fred Savery, age 25, wounded in hip. + +Steve Sabo, age 21, shot in left shoulder. + +Robert Adams, age 32, shot in left arm. + +Owen Genty, age 26, wounded in right kidney. + +C. C. England, age 27, shot in left knee. + +Nick Canaeff, age 35, shot in left arm. + +Albert Doninger, age 20, wounded in left arm. + +Brockman B. Armstrong, age 35, wounds on head. + +E. J. Shapeero, age 24, wounded in right leg. + +Carl Burke, age 25, shot in back and shoulder. + +Ira Luft, age 27, shot in right side of back. + +George Turnquist, age 26, wounded in left leg. + +George Brown, age 21, shot in back. + +D. J. McCarthy, age 37, shot in side of head and in right leg. + +John Adams, age 28, wounded in right elbow. + +Edward Truitt, age 28, shot in right elbow. + +Others on the boat who were wounded were Oscar Carlson, passenger, nine +severe bullet wounds in all parts of his body; L. S. Davis, ship +steward, wounded in the arm, and Charles Smith, Pinkerton "stool pigeon" +with a slight scalp injury. + +The wounded men were none too well treated at the city hospital, only a +part of the neglect being due to the overcrowded condition of the wards. +Wounds were hastily dressed and in some cases the injured men were +placed in jail at once where they had to care for themselves as best +they might. + +In Everett the deputies left the dock when the Verona had steamed out of +the range of their rifle fire, taking with them the corpse of gunman C. +O. Curtis, office manager of the Canyon Lumber Company, and +deputy-sheriff Jefferson Beard, whose wounds caused his death the +following morning. The injured deputies were H. B. Blackburn, James A. +Broadbent, R. E. Brown, E. P. Buehrer, Owen Clay, Louis Connor, Jr., +Fred Durr, A. J. Ettenborough, Athol Gorrell, Thomas Hedley, Joe Irving, +James Meagher; Donald McRae, J. C. Rymer, Edwin Stuchell, and Charles +Tucker. Hooted, hissed, and jeered at by the thousands of citizens on +the viaduct and hill above the dock, these self-immolated prostitutes to +the god of greater profits were taken to the hospitals for treatment. + +Among the crowd of citizens was Mrs. Edith Frennette, who had been in +Everett a couple of days in connection with a lumber trust charge +against her, and with her were Mrs. Lorna Mahler and Mrs. Joyce Peters, +who had come from Seattle to attend the proposed street meeting. Making +the claim that Mrs. Frenette had threatened the life of Sheriff McRae +with a gun and had tried to throw red pepper into his eyes as he was +being transported from the dock, the Everett authorities caused the +arrest of the three women in Seattle as they were returning in an auto +to meet the Verona at the Seattle dock. They were held several days +before being released, no charges having been placed against Mrs. Mahler +or Mrs. Peters, and the case against Mrs. Frenette was eventually +dismissed, just as had been all previous charges made by McRae. These +three arrests brought the total number of free speech prisoners up to +two hundred and ninety-four. + +What were the feelings of the Everett public directly following the +massacre can best be judged from the report of an Everett correspondent +to the Seattle Union Record, the official A. F. of L. organ. + +"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.'" + +Corroborating this is the report of President E. P. Marsh to the State +Federation of Labor. + +"A dangerous situation existed in Everett after the battle of November +5. Public feeling ran high and anything might have happened. Half a +thousand citizens were under arms enraged at the Industrial Workers of +the World and deadly determined to stamp out their organization in +Everett. It is no exaggeration to say that literally thousands of the +working people of Everett were just as enraged toward the members of the +Commercial Club who participated in the gun battle. * * * As an instance +of how high the feeling ran let me tell you that on the following +morning the mayor of the city appeared on the (shingle weavers') picket +line with a high power rifle and told the union pickets that he had +every reason to believe that an attempt might be made by snipers to pick +them off. He asked them to scatter as much as possible, make no +demonstration whatever, and declared he would defend them with his life +if necessary." + +Mayor Merrill, equally guilty with the deputies who were on the dock, +taking advantage of a means of spreading information that was denied to +the workers, directly after the massacre spoke from a soap box on the +corner of Wetmore and California Avenues, telling all who would listen +that he was not responsible for the trouble as the Commercial Club had +taken the power away from him and put it in the hands of McRae. The +insincerity of this vacillating lackey of the lumber trust was +demonstrated by his brutal treatment of young Louis Skaroff, who with +Chester Micklin and Osmond Jacobs, had been arrested and thrown into +jail when the three, bravely taking their lives in their hands, +attempted to speak on the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore two hours after +the tragedy. It was on Monday night about ten o'clock that the night +jailer took Skaroff into a room where Mayor Merrill and a man posing as +an immigration officer were seated. The fake immigration officer tried +to frighten the prisoner with threats of deportation, after which the +jailer beat Skaroff across the head. Merrill arose and took a hand in +the proceedings, buffeting the boy back and forth until he fell to the +floor. Then, with the aid of the jailer, Skaroff's fingers were placed, +one by one, beneath the legs of an iron bed in the room while the +ponderous mayor jumped up and down on the bed, mashing and tearing +flesh and knuckles. Upon regaining consciousness the mutilated boy found +himself in the jail corridor, crushed beneath Merrill's massive form, +the mayor having grasped Skaroff by the hair in order to repeatedly +hammer the lad's head against the hard cement floor. Finding that +Skaroff's spirit could not be broken the cowards finally desisted. +Skaroff was released at the end of eleven days. + +Chaos reigned in Everett following the tragedy. That night over five +hundred deputies patrolled the streets, fearing just retribution for +their criminal misdeeds. Those who had been on the dock as parties to +the massacre were overheard saying to each other, "We must stick +together on this story about the first shot coming from the boat." +Certain officials called for the state militia which was mobilized in +Seattle but not used. One militiaman, a young lad named Ted Kennedy, +refused to serve, claiming that it was the same as strike duty. The fact +that the militia was mobilized at once, and that Governor Ernest Lister +went to Everett to confer with officials and mill owners there, when he +had refused to furnish protection or even to make an investigation at +the request of the I. W. W. a short time before showed the governor's +bias in favor of the employers. In this lumber district the militia was +apparently the property of the mill owners. + +A hastily gathered coroner's jury in Everett on November 6th brought in +a verdict that C. O. Curtis and Jefferson F. Beard met death from +"gunshot wounds inflicted by a riotous mob on the Steamer Verona at the +city dock." If any of the jury dissented from its false statement they +were too spineless to express their opinion. The deliberations were +under the direction of Coroner A. R. Maulsby and the members of the jury +were Adam Hill, C. E. Anthony, O. H. King, Chris Culmback, C. Sandstein, +and Charles F. Manning. + +The inquest was a farce. Those who were outside the "deadline" and who +were willing to swear that the first shots came from the dock were not +permitted to testify, only sympathizers with the Commercial Club being +called as witnesses. No real attempt to take testimony was made. The +Seattle Central Labor Council on November 8th appropriated $100 for a +more complete investigation after branding the Everett inquest as +fraudulent in the following resolution: + + + "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 business men of that city have attempted to + ruthlessly and lawlessly suppress all street speaking and + demonstrations by labor organizations, and that unarmed men have + been brutally beaten and terrorized, and + + Whereas, This policy culminated in a bloody battle on Sunday, + November 5, resulting in the death of seven or more men and the + wounding of many more, and + + Whereas, A fair inquest should be held to fix responsibility for + this crime, and it appears that this has not been done, but that + only witnesses favorable to the bosses 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." + + +Capitalism stood forth in all its hideous nakedness on that day of red +madness, and public opinion was such that the striking shingle weavers +had but to persistently press their point in order to win. A conference +of prominent men, held in Everett on Monday, decided that the situation +could be relieved only by a settlement of the strike. The mill men, when +called in, abruptly refused to grant a single demand so long as the men +were still out, an attitude they could not have maintained for long. +Listening to the false advice of "friends of labor" and "labor leaders" +the shingle weavers, albeit grudgingly, returned to their slavery, +unconditional surrender being the price they were forced to pay for the +doubtful privilege of "relieving the social tension." But with the pay +envelopes that could not be stretched to cover the increased cost of +living, the weavers, discouraged to an extent and lacking their former +solidarity, were forced to down tools again within a few weeks by the +greatest of all strike agitators--Hunger. + +[Illustration: MAYOR GILL SAYS I. W. W. DID NOT START RIOT + +Seattle Executive Places Blame for Sunday Tragedy on Citizens of +Everett--Gives Prisoners Tobacco. + +Providing the I. W. W.'s. whose attempted armed invasion of Everett last +Sunday resulted in seven deaths and injuries to forty-nine persons, with +every comfort possible. Mayor H. C. Gill yesterday afternoon personally +directed the carrying of 300 warm blankets and an assortment of tobacco +to the 250 prisoners now held in the city jail. + +In this manner Gilt replied to criticism in Seattle and Everett for not +having stopped the I. W. W's from going to the Snohomish County city. He +supplemented this today by assailing Sheriff Donald McRae, of Snohomish +County and the posse of special deputies who met the invading I. W. W.'s +at the boat. + +"In the final analysis," the mayor declared, "it will be found these +cowards in Everett who, without right or justification, shot into the +crowd on the boat were the murderers and not the I. W. W.'s. + +Calls Them Cowards. + +"The men who met the I. W. W.'s at the boat were a bunch of cowards. +They outnumbered the I. W. W.'s five to one, and in spite of this they +stood there on the dock and fired into the boat, I. W. W.'s, innocent +passengers and all.] + +[Illustration: "McRae and his deputies had no legal right to tell the I. +W. W.'s or anyone else that they could not land there. When the sheriff +put his hand on the butt of his gun and told them they could not land, +he fired the first shot, in the eyes of the law, and the I. W. W.'s can +claim that they shot in self-defense." + +Mayor Gill asserted the Everett authorities have no intention of +removing the I. W. W.'s now in jail here to Snohomish County. + +"They are afraid to come down here and get them," he declared, "because +Everett is in a state of anarchy and the authorities don't know where +they're at." + +Asked what he would have done at Everett Sunday when the I. W. W.'s +appeared at that city, the mayor said he would have permitted them to +land. + +"After they had been allowed to come ashore," he said, "I would have had +them watched. Then if they violated the law I would have had them thrown +in jail. There would have been no trouble that way." + +No Fight in Seattle. + +"Because Everett has been reduced to a state of anarchy by their +high-handed methods of dealing with this situation it is no reason they +are going to attempt to bring their fight down in Seattle, at least +while I am mayor. + +"If I were one of the party of forty I. W. W.'s who was almost beaten to +death by 300 citizens of Everett without being able to defend myself, I +probably would have armed myself if I intended to visit Everett again. + +"If the Everett authorities had an ounce of sense, this tragedy would +have never happened. They have handled the situation like a bunch of +imbeciles, and they have been trying to unload these men onto Seattle. +You don't see any disturbances here, because we don't use nickel +methods." + +The mayor charged that Everett officials were inconsistent in their +handling of this situation. He said that they permit candidates for +office to violate the city ordinances by speaking on the streets and yet +run the I. W. W.'s out of town if they endeavor to mount a soap box.] + +The prisoners in Seattle were held incommunicado for several days. They +were fed upon the poorest grade of prison fare, and were made to sleep +on the winter-chilled cement floors without blankets. But Mayor Hiram +Gill, realizing that public sentiment was with the imprisoned men, +ordered that they be placed upon a proper diet, be given blankets and +be allowed to see relatives and friends. On November 8th in the Seattle +Times there appeared a statement by Gill that played a very important +part in riveting the attention of the people upon the real criminals in +the case. As the Times is a notoriously conservative and labor-hating +sheet, being largely responsible for the raid on the I. W. W. and +Socialist Halls on July 19, 1913, and for the attack by drunken sailors +and soldiers on the I. W. W. hall on June 16, 1917, it can hardly be +accused of exaggeration in favor of the workers in this interview. + +Following the publication of this interview the Seattle Chamber of +Commerce, Seattle's "Commercial Club," endeavored to father a movement +looking to the recall of Gill from office. Back of this attempt were +Judge Thomas Burke, Louis Lang, Jay Thomas, and four stall-fed +ministers, the Reverends W. A. Major, E. V. Shailer, Wood Stewart and +Carter Helm Jones. Of these, Thomas represented the liquor interests, +Lang was the former police chief who had been discharged in disgrace and +was herding scabs on the waterfront, Burke was chief spokesman for the +low-wage open-shop interests, and as to the preachers--the less said the +better. The lumber and shipping trusts had adequate representation at +the "Law and Order" meeting as the attempted recall gathering was +styled. But the whole thing fell flat when Gill himself offered to sign +the recall for the opportunity it would give him to tell the real facts +about the Everett case and the interests lined up behind the prosecution +and the recall. + +On the night of the tragedy a report was circulated in Seattle to the +effect that every known I. W. W. would be arrested on sight. The answer +to this was a street meeting at which nearly ninety dollars were +collected as the first money toward the Everett Prisoners' Defense, and +the packing of the hall for weeks thereafter by members and sympathizers +who had not attended meetings for a long time. A temporary committee was +chosen to handle the work of the defense of the imprisoned men, and this +committee acted until November 16th, at which time at a mass meeting of +I. W. W. members Herbert Mahler was elected secretary of the Everett +Prisoners' Defense Committee, Charles Ashleigh, publicity agent, and W. +J. Houser, Morris Levine and Thomas Murphy as the committee. Richard +Smith was afterward chosen to take the place vacated by Levine. This +committee functioned thruout the case and up until the final audit of +their account on June 12, 1917. + +Within the jail a process of selection had gone on. One by one the free +speech prisoners were taken from their cells and slowly led past a +silent and darkened cell into whose gloomy depths the keenest eye was +unable to penetrate. Again and again they were marched past the +peephole, first with hats on and then with them off, while two sinister +looking fingers were slid out of a narrow opening from time to time to +indicate those who should be held. + +"I'd give two of my fingers," muttered one of the prisoners bitterly, +"to know the skunk that belongs to those two fingers." + +Little did he and his fellow workers realize that they were to learn +later, thru the development of the trial, that the principal person +engaged in the despicable work was George Reese, a member of the I. W. +W. and of the I. L. A. It was on learning this that many of the actions +of Reese were made clear; his connection with dock riots during the +longshoremen's strike, his establishment of a "flying squadron" to beat +up scabs on the waterfront, his open boast on the floor of I. L. A. +meetings that his pockets were lined with money gained by robbing the +strike-breakers after they had been beaten up and his advice to other +strikers to do likewise, his activities just prior to the various dock +fires, his seemingly miraculous escape in every instance when strikers +were arrested, his election as delegate from the longshoremen to the +Seattle Central Labor Council, his requests of prominent I. W. W. +members that they purchase various chemicals for him, his giving of +phosphorus to members of the I. L. A. and the I. W. W. with instructions +as to how and where to use it, his attempts to advocate violence at an +Everett street meeting, his gathering of "souvenirs" on the Verona--all +actions designed either to aid the employers in their fights against the +workers or to furnish an excuse for his further employment as an +"informer." + +Well may the question be asked--What was Reese doing just as the Verona +docked in Everett on November 5th? Was Reese merely a "stool pigeon" or +was he an "agent provocateur?" + +Aiding Reese in the selective process was Charles Smith, the other +Pinkerton operative who had been on the boat. One of the men first +picked out was I. P. McDowell, alias Charles Adams, and this individual +was weak enough to fall for the promise of immunity offered by agents of +the lumber trust if he would point out the "leaders" and then take the +stand to swear that the men on the boat were armed and the first shot +came from one of them. McDowell pointed out some of the men, but lacking +the nerve to carry out the last part of the program he was held with the +rest for trial. The seventy-four men thus picked were formally charged +with murder in the first degree. The first charge carried the names of +C. O. Curtis as well as that of Jefferson Beard, but later the name of +Curtis was dropped from the information. The men so charged were: + +Charles Auspos, alias Austin, age 38, teamster, born in Wisconsin. + +James D. Bates, age 29, steam fitter, born in Illinois. + +E. M. Beck, age 45, laborer, born in New York. + +Charles Berg, age 22, laborer, born in Germany. + +J. H. Beyer, age 56, painter, born in Michigan. + +J. F. Billings, age 35, cook, born in Nebraska. + +Charles Black, age 23, laborer, born in Pennsylvania. + +J. J. Black, age 27, longshoreman, born in Massachusetts. + +John W. Bowdoin, age 35, laborer, born in Sweden. + +Frank Boyd, age 43, laborer, born in Illinois. + +Pete Breed, age 26, laborer, born in Holland. + +W. H. Brown, age 40, laborer, born in Maryland. + +H. T. Cheetman, age 25, carpenter, born in Florida. + +Fred Crysler, age 26, laborer, born in Canada. + +Charles H. Cody, age 46, painter, born in Montana. + +William Coffin, age 34, motorman, born in California. + +Clarence Cyphert, age 35, logger, born in Washington. + +Roy Davis, age 47, laborer, born in California. + +William Davis, age 35, cook, born in Maryland. + +Axel Downey, age 17, laborer, born in Iowa. + +John Downs, age 28, sailor, born in Colorado. + +Adolph Ersson, age 26, laborer and sailor, born in Sweden. + +Harry Feinberg, age 25, cleaner and dyer, born in Illinois. + +Charles Hawkins, age 28, laborer, born in Indiana. + +Charles Haywood, age 46, miner, born in Minnesota. + +E. F. Hollingsworth, age 29, fireman, born in North Carolina. + +J. E. Houlihan, age 36, miner, born in Ireland. + +Alfred Howard, age 28, coal packer, born in New York. + +Harvey Hubler, age 21, teamster, born in Illinois. + +Oscar Johnson, age 24, laborer, born in Sweden. + +Victor Johnson, age 37, laborer, born in Finland. + +J. A. Kelly, age 31, logger, born in Ohio. + +Theodore Lauer, age 29, laborer, born in New York. + +William Lawson, age 32, laborer, born in Washington. + +Jack Leonard, age 27, laborer, born in Kentucky. + +Pat Lyons, age 48, laborer, born in England. + +Jim Mack, age 31, laborer, born in Ireland. + +Joseph Manning, age 28, automobile repairer, born in Pennsylvania. + +Laurence Manning, age 26, laborer, born in New York. + +Ed Miller, age 48, painter, born in New York. + +Harold Miller, age 21, gas fitter, born in Kansas. + +John Mitchell, age 38, miner, born in Illinois. + +George Murphy, age 28, laborer, born in Kentucky. + +Louis McCall, age 24, laborer, born in Texas. + +I. P. McDowell, alias Charles Adams, age 28, printer, born in Illinois. + +C. D. McLennan, age 48, longshoreman, born in Georgia. + +Carl Newman, age 30, laborer, born in Sweden. + +John Nugent, age 38, laborer, born in New York. + +Malachi O'Neill, age 34, blacksmith, born in Ireland. + +Earl Osborne, age 33, logger, born in North Carolina. + +Jack Paterson, age 24, laborer, born in Illinois. + +Harston Peters, age 32, laborer, born in Virginia. + +James Powers, age 47, sheet metal worker, born in Massachusetts. + +John Rawlings, age 26, laborer, born in Wisconsin. + +Michael J. Reilly, age 23, laborer, born in New York. + +John Ross, age 36, laborer, born in Massachusetts. + +Ed. Roth, age 31, longshoreman, born in New York. + +Thomas Savage, age 50, machinist, born in New York. + +E. J. Shapeero, age 23, timekeeper, born in Pennsylvania. + +William Shay, age 28, laborer, born in Massachusetts. + +H. Shebeck, age 24, laborer, born in Wisconsin. + +Albert Shreve, age 40, laborer, born in Illinois. + +H. Sokol, age 26, laborer, born in Russia. + +D. Stevens, age, 21, longshoreman, born in Canada + +Robert Struick, age 24, farmer, born in Michigan. + +Frank Stewart, age 35, logger, born in Canada. + +Tom Tracy, age 30, crane driver, born in Pennsylvania. + +Thomas H. Tracy, age 36, teamster, born in Nebraska. + +Edwart Truitt, age 28, longshoreman, born in Pennsylvania. + +F. O. Watson, age 35, blacksmith, born in Louisiana. + +James Whiteford (Kelly), age 36, cook, born in New York. + +Abraham B. Wimborne, age 22, buss-boy, born in England. + +William Winn, age 44, miner, born in Maryland. + +All of these men, with the exception of J. H. Beyer, were heavily +handcuffed and secretly transferred to Everett, forty-one being taken in +the first contingent and the balance later. + +Meanwhile the I. W. W. branches in Seattle had communicated with the +General Headquarters of the organization and steps had been taken to +secure legal aid. Attempts to enlist the services of Frank P. Walsh, +former chairman of the Industrial Relations Commission, were +unsuccessful. For various reasons other well known attorneys refused to +ally themselves with the defense. + +Attorney Fred H. Moore of Los Angeles, responding to the call from +Seattle, reached Seattle just one week after the tragedy, on Sunday, +November, 12th. Moore acted as chief counsel for the defense. He had +first come into prominence thru his connection with the great free +speech fight waged in Spokane, Wash., during the fall of 1909 and the +spring of 1910. During that fight he handled the legal end of the cases +of many hundreds of free speech fighters whose arrests ran into the +thousands. He was also connected with various other cases in connection +with the Industrial Workers of the World, notably that of Jack Whyte and +others arrested in the contest for free speech in San Diego, Cal. and +the famous Ettor-Giovannitti case that developed from the great strike +of textile workers in Lawrence, Mass., in 1912. His sympathy with the +workers and his understanding of the class struggle made him invaluable +to the defense. + +Of equal importance was attorney George F. Vanderveer, who was called +into the case a little later than Moore. Vanderveer was formerly the +prosecuting attorney for King county, in which position he won a +reputation for clever and merciless cross-examination. One of Seattle's +most prominent and brilliant lawyers, his wide acquaintance with all +classes of people and his comprehensive knowledge of conditions in King +and Snohomish counties, coupled with his keen satire and compelling +logic, gave a force to the case that cannot be underestimated. + +Attorney E. C. Dailey of Everett, Caroline A. Lowe of Kansas City, Mo., +and Harry Sigmond and J. L. Finch, both of Seattle, completed the list +of counsel for the defense. + +After being held in the Seattle city jail for nine days without any +charge having been placed against them, one hundred twenty-eight men who +were on the Verona were released, small bodies of them being sent out at +different periods in order to avoid demonstrations from the public. +Those who were released were: + +James Agen, Frank Andrews, Brockman Armstrong, W. D. Beachy, J. H. +Beyer, John Bolan, J. Bonfield, Elmer Brisbon, Leonard Broman, George +Brown, James Burns, Martin Cable, Val Calze, A. L. Cameron, James +Carlough, J. H. Carr, Ray Clark, Joseph Cline, Archie Collins, Robert +Conning, Nick Conaieff, Joseph Costello, R. F. Dalton, Frank Dante, C. +W. Davis, Lawrence Davis, Albert Doninger, John Donohue, William Dott, +Joseph Dougherty, Ned Dustard, J. H. Elliott, C. C. England, John +Fitzpatrick, A. Fletcher, Russell Free, Alfred Freeman, Ben Freeman, +James Freeman, John Gibson, Frank Gillarkey, P. A. Gragler, Charles +Gray, James Gray, Paul Grossman, Ed Gruberg, Raymond Gurber, Robert +Hansen, Joe Harris, L. W. Harris, Arnold Hensel, Roy Howell, G. H. +Isenberg, Carl Jacobson, George Johnson, Ray Johnson, John Karne, Henry +Krieg, Fred Laveny, Henry Lea, Raymond Lee, William Ledingham, Charles +Leider, Ira Luft, Ed Lynn, George Maguire, William Micklenburg, August +Miller, Dennis Miller, Frank C. Miller, John Miller, Frank Millet, Roy +Mitchell, William Montgomery, William Moore, James Murray, Leo McCabe, +J. McCoy, Bernard Narvis, Al. Nickerson, Ben Noll, Tom Norton, Tom +O'Connor, Jack Osborne, E. Peckman, Hans Peterson, A. Pilon, Ira Porter, +Max Ramsey, Edward Rays, Herman Rechlenberg, Frank Reiner, Ernest Rich, +John J. Riley, C. H. Ross, M. Rountell, Steve Sabo, J. L. Samuel, Joe +Sarracco, Ed Schwartz, Carl Schultz, H. Stredwick, Arthur Shumek, +Charles Smith, Harry Smith, E. J. Smith, Cecil Snedegar, Frank Sofer, +Stanley Stafl, Raymond St. Clair, John Stroka, Mike Stysco, C. Thomas, +Richard Tibbs, John Utne, Joseph Vito, John Walker, Benny Warshawsky, F. +Westwood, Ben Whitehead, Arley Whiteside, William Wilke, H. Wilson, +Frank Wise, and Charles Wolskie. + +Most of these were mere boys. Mere boys--but undaunted by their recent +terrible experience on the Verona where the open shop fiends had fired +upon them without warning. Mere boys--and yet they loyally marched +straight to the I. W. W. hall as soon as they were released, there to +inquire about the condition of their wounded fellow workers and to gain +news of those who had been taken to Everett to answer charges of first +degree murder. Mere boys--youthful enthusiasm shining on their beardless +faces. Scattered among them were a few men of middle years, and here and +there a grey head stood out in bold relief--but the majority of them +were mere boys, youthful soldiers in the Social Revolution, fine and +clean and loyal material called together by the compelling ideal of a +New Society. + +The predominance of young blood in the organization was noted in the +report of the 1912 convention, where it was shown that ninety per cent +of the membership were under thirty years of age, due of course to the +fact that the modern tendency is to displace the older men in industry. +As one wit has put it "If a man works as hard as the employers want him +to he is worn out at forty-five; if he isn't worn out at forty-five he +is not the kind of worker the employers want." Others have noted the +percentage of the very young. John Graham Brooks, for instance, in +"American Syndicalism--The I. W. W." has this to say: + +"Of the same nature as a characteristic is the +youth+ of the membership. +The groups I saw in the West bore this stamp so unmistakably as to +suggest bodies of students at the end of a rather jolly picnic. The +word 'bum' usually applied to them in that region does not fit them. +There are plenty of older men, as there are men with every appearance of +being 'down and out'--with trousers chewed off at the heels, after the +manner of tramps, but in face and bearing they are far from 'bums.' In +one of the speeches the young were addressed as 'best material;' because +they could stand the wear and tear of racking journeys. They were free +from family responsibilities, and could at any moment respond to the +call of duty." + +Bearing out this idea, tho along a somewhat different line, is an +excerpt from an article by Anna Louise Strong which appeared in the +Survey magazine just prior to the trial. This and other articles, +together with the personal efforts of Miss Strong, whose official +standing as a member of the Seattle School Board and as Executive +Secretary of the Seattle Council of Social Agencies gave weight to her +opinion, did much toward creating a favorable public sentiment during +the trial. Says Miss Strong: + +"The boys in jail are a cheerful lot. The 'tanks' which contain them are +the tanks of the usual county jail, much overcrowded now by the unusual +number. Bunks crowded above each other, in full sight thru the bars; a +few feet away, all the processes of life open to the casual beholder. +But they sit in groups playing cards or dominoes; they listen to tunes +played on the mouth-organ; most of all they sing. They sing whenever +visitors come, and smile thru the bars in cheerful welcome. Theirs is +the spirit of the crusader of all ages, and all causes, won or lost, +sane or insane. Theirs is the irresponsibility and audacious valor of +youth. When they disliked their food, says a conservative newspaper, +they went on strike and 'sang all night.' Sang all night! What sane +adults in our drab, business-as-usual world would think of doing that? +Who, in fact, could think of doing it but college boys or Industrial +Workers of the World, cheerfully defying authority?" + +Thru an absurd and laughable error J. H. Beyer, one of the seventy-four +men charged with first degree murder, was among those who were released. +Beyer immediately sought out and told attorney Moore his story. Then +this "hardened criminal" walked the street of Seattle after public +announcement had been made that he was willing to be taken to Everett to +be incarcerated with the rest of his fellow workers, and that he awaited +rearrest. The prosecution made no move to apprehend him, so on December +14th Beyer went to Everett and asked the authorities to lock him up. The +Snohomish officials shamefacedly granted this unique request but they +absolutely refused to refund the money Beyer had paid to deliver himself +up to "Justice." + +Before leaving Seattle Beyer made this statement: "I have waited here +nearly a month since my release from the Seattle jail, yet no officer +from Everett has come for me. In justice to the other boys accused I +feel that I should share their lot as well as the accusation. I do not +fear returning to Everett and giving myself up for I am confident that +we shall be all exculpated. I am fifty-three years of age and have had +many and varied experiences in my career, but I never expected to be +accused of crime because I endeavored to assert my constitutional right +of Free Speech." + +The same day that Beyer surrendered himself, bonds of $50 each were +secured for thirty-eight men who had been selected from the Verona and +Calista and held on charges of unlawful assembly. Bail was given by +James Duncan, Secretary of the Central Labor Council, and E. B. Ault, +editor of the Union Record, both of Seattle. The released men were Dewey +Ashmore, E. Belmat, C. Burke, L. E. Butcher, James Callahan, Harry +Chase, Charles Day, A. J. Deach, Charles Ellis, J. Ford, Owen Genty, Hy +Gluckstad, Frank Goff, James C. Hadley, Steve Heletour, A. O. Hooper, C. +C. Hulbert, H. P. Hunsberger, C. L. Johnson, R. W. Jones, Joe Kelley, F. +Lansing, W. O. Lily, E. McBride, William McGregor, R. Nicholson, David +O'Hern, Harry Parker, J. Ryan, Sam Scott, Mark Skomo, Thomas Smye, and +F. Thorpe. + +Altho an inquest had been held over the dead gunmen at such an early +date after the tragedy and with such haste as to seem suspicious, +repeated demands for an inquest over Labor's dead were of no avail. No +such inquest was ever held. Only by strong protest were the bodies kept +from the potter's field. + +Thirty-eight charged with unlawful assembly, seventy-four in jail +accused of first degree murder, thirty-two severely wounded and at least +two of these crippled for life, six unaccounted for and probably shot +and drowned, and five known dead in the city morgue,--this was the +answer of the tyrannical timber barons to Labor's demand for free speech +and the right to organize within the confines of the Lumber Kingdom. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[11] Courtenay Lemon, "Free Speech in the United States." Pearson's +Magazine, December 1916. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +BEHIND PRISON BARS + + +"One of the greatest sources of social unrest and bitterness has been +the attitude of the police toward public speaking. On numerous occasions +in every part of the country the police of cities and towns have, either +arbitrarily or under the cloak of a traffic ordinance, interfered with +or prohibited public speaking, both in the open and in halls, by persons +connected with organizations of which the police or those from whom they +receive their orders did not approve. In many instances such +interference has been carried out with a degree of brutality which would +be incredible if it were not vouched for by reliable witnesses. Bloody +riots frequently have accompanied such interference, and large numbers +of persons have been arrested for acts of which they were innocent or +which were committed under the extreme provocation of brutal treatment +by police or private citizens. + +"In some cases this suppression of free speech seems to have been the +result of sheer brutality and wanton mischief, but in the majority of +cases it undoubtedly is the result of a belief by the police or their +superiors that they were 'supporting and defending the Government' by +such invasion of personal rights. There could be no greater error. Such +action strikes at the very foundation of government. It is axiomatic +that a government which can be maintained only by the suppression of +criticism should not be maintained. Furthermore, it is the lesson of +history that attempts to suppress ideas result only in their more rapid +propagation." + +The foregoing is the view of the Industrial Relations Commission as it +appears on page 98 and 99 of Volume One of their official report to the +United States Government. + +[Illustration: Jail at EVERETT] + +The growth of a public sentiment favorable to the Industrial Workers of +the World was clearly shown on November 18th, at which time the bodies +of Felix Baran, Hugo Gerlot and John Looney were turned over to the +organization for burial. Gustav Johnson had already been claimed by +relatives and a private funeral held, and the body of Abraham Rabinowitz +sent to New York at the request of his sister. + +Thousands of workers, each wearing a red rose or carnation, formed in +line at the undertaking parlors and then silently marched four abreast +behind the three hearses and the automobiles containing the eighteen +women pall bearers and the floral tributes to the martyred dead. + +To the strains of the "Red Flag" and the "Marseillaise" the grim and +imposing cortege wended its way thru the crowded city streets, meeting +with expressions of sorrow and sympathy from those who lined the +sidewalk. Delegations of workers from Everett, Tacoma, and other +Washington cities and towns were in line, and a committee from Portland, +Ore., brought appropriate floral offerings. The solidarity of labor was +shown in this great funeral procession, by all odds the largest ever +held in the Northwest. + +Arriving at the graveside in Mount Pleasant cemetery the rebel women +reverently bore the coffins from the hearses to the supporting frame, +surrounded by boughs of fragrant pine, above the yawning pit. A special +chorus of one hundred voices led the singing of "Workers of the World, +Awaken," and as the song died away Charles Ashleigh began the funeral +oration. + +Standing on the great hill that overlooks the whole city of Seattle, the +speaker pointed out the various industries with their toiling thousands +and referred to the smoke that shadowed large portions of the view as +the black fog of oppression and ignorance which it was the duty of the +workers to dispel in order to create the Workers' Commonwealth. The +entire address was marked by a simple note of resolution to continue +the work of education until the workers have come into their own, not a +trace of bitterness evincing itself in the remarks. Ashleigh called upon +those present never to falter until the enemy had been vanquished. +"Today," he said, "we pay tribute to the dead. Tomorrow we turn, with +spirit unquellable, to give battle to the foe!" + +As the notes of "Hold the Fort!" broke a moment of dead silence, a +shower of crimson flowers, torn from the coats of the assembled +mourners, covered the coffins and there was a tear in every eye as the +bodies slowly descended into their final resting place. As tho loath to +leave, the crowd lingered to sing the "Red Flag" and "Solidarity +Forever." Those present during the simple but stirring service were +struck with the thought that the class struggle could never again be +looked upon as a mere bookish theory, the example of those who gave +their lives in the cause of freedom was too compelling a call to action. + +But the imperious exactions of the class war left no time for mourning, +and ere the last man had left the graveside the first to go was busily +spreading the news of an immense mass meeting to be held in Dreamland +Rink on the next afternoon. At this meeting five thousand persons from +all walks of life gathered to voice their protest against the Everett +outrage and to demand a federal investigation. The labor unions, the +clergy, public officials and the general citizenry, were represented by +the speakers. This was the first of many mass meetings held by the +aroused and indignant people of Seattle until the termination of the +case. + +[Illustration: Funeral of GERLOT, LOONEY and BARAN] + +The "kept" press carried on a very bitter campaign against the I. W. W. +for some few days after the dock tragedy, but dropped that line of +action when the public let them understand that they were striking a +wrong note. Thereafter their policy was to ignore, as far as possible, +the entire affair. Practically the only time this rule was broken was in +the printing of the song "Christians At War" by John F. Kendrick, taken +from the I. W. W. song book. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer gave a +photographic reproduction of the cover page of the book and of the page +containing the song. The obvious intent was to have people think that +this cutting satire was an urge for the members of the I. W. W. to do in +times of peace those inglorious things that are eminently respectable in +times of war. Later the Times, and several other papers, reproduced the +same cover and song, the only change being that certain words were inked +out to make it appear that the song was obscene. And tho the P.--I. had +published the song in full the Times placed beneath their garbled +version these words, "The portions blotted out are words and phrases +such as never appear in The Times or in any other decent newspaper." The +simultaneous appearance of this song in a number of papers was merely a +coincidence, no doubt; there is no reason to believe that the lumber +trust inspired the attack! + +Allied as usual with the capitalist press and "stool pigeons" and +employers' associations in a campaign to discredit the workers involved +in the case, was the moribund Socialist Labor Party thru its organ, the +Weekly People. + +The entire I. W. W. press came to the support of the imprisoned men as a +matter of course. The Seattle Union Record and many other craft union +papers, realizing that an open shop fight lay back of the suppression of +free speech, also did great publicity work. But no particular credit is +due to those "labor leaders" who, like J. G. Brown, president of the +Shingle Weavers' Union, grudgingly gave a modicum of assistance under +pressure from radicals in their respective organizations. + +The Northwest Worker of Everett deserves especial praise for its +fearless and uncompromising stand in the face of the bitterest of +opposition. This paper had practically to suspend publication because of +pressure the lumber trust brought to bear on the firm doing their +printing. This, with the action recorded in the minutes of the +Commercial Club, "decided to go after advertisements in labor journals +and the Northwest Worker," shows that a free press is as obnoxious to +the lumber lords as are free speech and free assembly. + +It scarcely needs noting that the International Socialist Review +rendered yeoman service, as that has been its record in all labor cases +since the inception of the magazine. Several other Socialist +publications, to whom the class struggle does not appear merely as a +momentary quadrennial event, also did their bit. Diverse foreign +language publications, representing varying shades of radical thought, +gave to the trial all the publicity their columns could carry. + +Just why seventy-four men were picked as prisoners is a matter of +conjecture. Probably it was because the stuffy little Snohomish county +jail could conveniently, to the authorities, hold just about that +number. The men were placed four in a cell with ten cells to each tank, +there being two tanks of steel resting one above the other. Even with +all the windows thrown open the ventilation was so poor that the men +were made ill by the foul air. + +For almost two full months after being transported to Everett the men +were held incommunicado; were not allowed to see papers or magazines or +to have reading matter of any description; were subjected to the +brutalities of Sheriff McRae and other jail officials who had been +prominent in previous outrage and participants in the massacre at the +dock; and were fed on the vilest prison fare. Mush was the principal +article of diet; mush semi-cooked and cold; mush full of mold and +maggots; mush that was mainly husks and lumps that could not be washed +down with the pale blue prison milk; mush--until the prisoners fitfully +dreamed of mush and gagged at the mere mention of the word. Finding +themselves slowly starving the men decided that it were better to +complete the job at once rather than to linger in misery. A hunger +strike was declared! Meal after meal--or mush after mush--passed and +the men refused to eat. Those who were thought to be leaders in the +miniature revolt were thrown in the blackhole where there was neither +light nor fresh air. Still the men refused to eat, so the authorities +were forced to surrender and the men had something to eat besides mush. + +Great discomfort was experienced by the prisoners from having to sleep +on the cold steel floors of the unheated cells during the chill November +nights. Deciding to remedy the condition they made a demand for +mattresses and blankets from the authorities, not a man of them being +willing to have the Defense Committee purchase such supplies. The needed +articles were refused and the men resorted to a means of enforcing their +demands known as "building a battleship." + +With buckets and tins, and such strips of metal as could be wrenched +loose, the men beat upon the walls, ceilings, and floors of the steel +tanks. Those who found no other method either stamped on the steel +floors in unison with their fellows, or else removed their shoes to use +the heels to beat out a tattoo. To add to the unearthly noise they +yelled concertedly with the full power of their lungs. Three score and +ten men have a noise-making power that words cannot describe. The +townspeople turned out in numbers, thinking that the deputies were +murdering the men within the jail. The battleship construction workers +redoubled their efforts. Acknowledging defeat, the jail officials +furnished the blankets and mattresses that had been demanded. + +A few days later the men started their morning meal only to find that +the mush was strongly "doped" with saltpeter and contained bits of human +manure and other refuse--the spite work, no doubt, of the enraged +deputies. Another battleship was started. This time the jailers closed +all the windows in an effort to suffocate the men, but they broke the +glass with mop-handles and continued the din. As before, the deputies +were defeated and the men received better food for a time. + +On November 24th an official of the State Board of Prisoners took the +finger prints and photographs of the seventy-four men who were innocent +until proven guilty under the "theory" of law in this country, and, +marking these Bertillion records with prison serial numbers, sent copies +to every prison in the United States. In taking the prints of the first +few men brute force was used. Lured from their cells the men were +seized, their hands screwed in a vise, and an imprint taken by forcibly +covering their hands with lampblack and holding them down on the paper. +When the others learned that some had thus been selected they voted that +all should submit to having their prints taken so the whole body of +prisoners would stand on the same footing. Attorney Moore was denied all +access to the prisoners during the consummation of this outrage. + +After obtaining permission of the jail officials a committee of Everett +citizens, with the voluntary assistance of the Cooks' and Waiters' +Union, prepared a feast for the free speech prisoners on Thanksgiving +Day. When the women arrived at the jail they were met by Sheriff McRae +who refused to allow the dinner to be served to the men. McRae was +drunk. In place of this dinner the sheriff set forth a meal of moldy +mush so strongly doped with chemicals as to be unfit for human +consumption. This petty spite work by the moon-struck tool of the lumber +trust was in thoro keeping with the cowardly characteristics he +displayed on the dock on November 5th. And the extent to which the daily +press in Everett was also under the control of the lumber interests was +shown by the publication of a faked interview with attorney Fred Moore +published in the Everett Herald under date of November 29th, Moore +having been credited with the statement that the prison food deserved +praise and the prisoners were "given as good food and as much of it as +they could wish." + +During the whole of McRae's term as sheriff there was no time that +decent food was given voluntarily to the prisoners as a whole. At times, +with low cunning, McRae gave the men in the upper tank better food than +those confined below, and also tried to show favoritism to certain +prisoners, in order to create distrust and suspicion among the men. All +these attempts to break the solidarity of the prisoners failed of their +purpose. + +On one occasion McRae called "Paddy" Cyphert, one of the prisoners whom +he had known as a boy, from his cell and offered to place him in another +part of the jail in order that he might escape injury in a "clubbing +party" the deputies had planned. Cyphert told McRae to put him back with +the rest for he wanted the same treatment as the others and would like +to be with them in order to resist the assault. In the face of this +determination, which was typical of all the prisoners, the contemplated +beating was never administered. + +McRae would oftentimes stand outside the tanks at a safe distance and +drunkenly curse the prisoners and refer to them as cowards, to which the +men would reply by repeating the words of the sheriff on the dock, +"O-oh, I'm hit! I-I'm h-hit!! I-I-I'm h-h-hit!!!" Then they would burst +forth with a song written by William Whalen in commemoration of the +exploits of the doughty sheriff, a song which since has become a +favorite of the migratory workers as they travel from job to job, and +which will serve to keep the deeds of McRae fresh in the minds of the +workers for many years to come. + + + TO SHERIFF McRAE + + Call out your Fire Department, go deputize your bums; + Gather in your gunmen and stool pigeons from the slums; + You may resolute till doomsday, you ill-begotten knave; + We'll still be winning Free Speech Fights when you are in your + grave! + + You reprobate, you imp of hate, you're a traitor to the mind + That brought you forth in human shape to prey upon mankind. + You are lower than the snakes that crawl or the scavengers that + fly; + You're the living, walking image of a damn black-hearted lie! + + We'll still be here in Everett when your career is ended, + And back among the dregs of life your dirty hide has blended; + When you shun the path of honest wrath and fear the days to come, + And bow your head to the flag of red, you poor white-livered bum! + + For the part you played in Everett's raid that fateful Sunday morn, + May your kith and kindred live to curse the day that you were born; + May the memory of your victims haunt your conscience night and day, + Until your feeble, insect mind beneath the strain gives way! + + Oh, Don McRae, you've had your day; make way for Freedom's host: + For Labor's sun is rising, soon 'twill shine from coast to coast! + The shot you fired at Everett re-echoes thru the night + As a message to the working class to organize and fight! + + Those graves upon the hillside as monuments will stand + To point the way to Freedom's goal to slaves thruout the land; + And when at last the working class have made the masters yield, + May your portion of the victory be a grave in the Potter's Field! + + +The end of the first week in January brought about the change in the +administrative force of Snohomish county that had been voted at the +November election. A new set of lumber trust lackeys were placed in +office. James McCullogh succeeded Donald McRae as sheriff, and Lloyd +Black occupied the office vacated by Prosecuting Attorney O. T. Webb. + +The advent of a new sheriff made some slight difference in the jail +conditions, but this was more than offset by the underhanded methods +used from that time on with the idea of breaking the solidarity of the +free speech fighters. Liquor was placed in the bathrooms where the men +could easily get hold of it, but even among those who had been hard +drinkers on the outside there were none who would touch it. Firearms +were cunningly left exposed in hopes that the men might take them and +attempt a jail break, thus giving the jailers a chance to shoot them +down or else causing the whole case to be discredited. The men saw thru +the ruse and passed by the firearms without touching them. + +Working in conjunction with the prosecuting attorney was H. D. Cooley. +This gentleman was one of the deputies on the dock, having displayed +there his manly qualities by hiding behind a pile of wood at first, and +later by telling others to go with rifles to head off the Calista which +he had spied approaching from the direction of Mukilteo. Cooley had a +practice among the big lumbermen, and in the case against the I. W. W. +he was hired by the state with no stipulation as to pay. The general +excuse given for his activities in the case, which dated from November +6th, was that he was retained by "friends of Jefferson Beard" and other +"interested parties." + +Attorney A. L. Veitch was also lined up with the prosecution. He was the +same gentleman who had lectured to the deputies during the preceding +fall as a representative of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' +Association, and had told the deputies how to handle "outside +agitators." Veitch was also employed by the state as a matter of +record, but there was a direct stipulation that he receive no pay from +state funds. He also was employed by "friends of Jefferson Beard" and +other "interested parties." + +With Veitch there was imported from Los Angeles one Malcolm McLaren, an +M. and M. detective and office partner with Veitch, to act as "fix-it" +man for the lumber trust. McLaren was at one time an operative for the +infamous Wm. J. Burns, and Burns has well said "Private detectives, +ninety per cent of them, as a class, are the worst of crooks, +blackmailers and scoundrels." Under McCullogh's regime this open-shop +gumshoe artist had free access to the jail with instructions to go as +far as he liked. + +Just what the prisoners thought about jail conditions during the time +they were incarcerated is given in the following report which was +smuggled out to the Industrial Worker and published on March 3rd: + +"'Everything is fine and dandy on the outside, don't worry, boys.'" + +"This is the first thing we heard from visitors ever since we +seventy-four have been incarcerated in the Snohomish County Jail at +Everett. + +"While 'everything is fine and dandy on the outside' there are, no +doubt, hundreds who would like to hear how things are on the inside. Let +us assure everyone on the outside that 'everything is fine and dandy' on +the inside. We are not worrying as it is but a short time till the +beginning of the trials, the outcome of which we are certain will be one +of the greatest victories Labor has ever known, if there exists a shadow +of justice in the courts of America. + +"One hundred days in jail so far--and for nothing! Stop and think what +one hundred days in jail means to seventy-four men! It means that in the +aggregate the Master Class have deprived us of more than twenty years of +liberty. Twenty years! Think of it, and a prospect of twenty more before +all are at liberty. + +"And why? + +"There can be but one reason, one answer: We are spending this time in +jail and will go thru the mockery of a trial because the masters of +Everett are trying to shield themselves from the atrocious murders of +Bloody November Fifth. + +"After being held in Seattle, convicted without a trial, except such as +was given us by the press carrying the advertising of the boss and +dependent on him for support, on November 10th forty-one of us were +brought to Everett. A few days later thirty more were brought here. + +"We found the jail conditions barbarous. There were no mattresses and +only one blanket to keep off the chill of a Puget Sound night in the +cold, unheated steel cells. There were no towels. We were supplied with +laundry soap for toilet purposes, when we could get even that. Workers +confined in lower cells were forced to sleep on the floors. There were +five of them in each cell and in order to keep any semblance of heat in +their bodies they had to sleep all huddled together in all their +clothing. + +"The first few days we were in the jail we spent in cleaning it, as it +was reeking with filth and probably had never been cleaned out since it +was built. It was alive with vermin. There were armies of bedbugs and +body lice. We boiled up everything in the jail and it is safe to say +that it is now cleaner than it had ever been before, or ever will be +after the Wobblies are gone. + +"When we first came here the lower floor was covered with barrels, boxes +and cases of whiskey and beer. This was moved in a few days, but +evidently not so far but McRae and his deputies had access to it, as +their breath was always charged with the odor of whiskey. It was an +everyday occurrence to have several of the deputies, emboldened by +liquid courage and our defenseless condition--walk around the cell +blocks and indulge in the pastime of calling us vulgar and profane +names. Threats were also very common, but we held our peace and were +content with the thought that 'a barking dog seldom bites.' + +"The worst of these deputies are gone since the advent of sheriff +McCullogh, but there are some on the job yet who like their 'tea.' About +two weeks ago every deputy that came into the jail was drunk; some of +them to the extent of staggering. + +"When we first entered the jail, true to the principles of the I. W. W., +we proceeded to organize ourselves for the betterment of our condition. +A 'grub' committee, a sanitary committee and a floor committee were +appointed. Certain rules and regulations were adopted. By the end of the +week, instead of a growling, fighting crowd of men, such as one would +expect to find where seventy-four men were thrown together, there was an +orderly bunch of real I. W. W.'s, who got up at a certain hour every +morning, and all of whose actions were part of a prearranged routine. +Even tho every man of the seventy-four was talking as loudly as he could +a few seconds before ten p. m., the instant the town clock struck ten +all was hushed. If a sentence was unfinished, it remained unfinished +until the following day. + +"When the jailer came to the door, instead of seventy-four men crowding +up and all trying to talk at once, three men stepped forward and +conversed with him. Our conduct was astonishing to the jail officials. +One of the jailers remarked that he had certainly been given a wrong +impression of the I. W. W. by McRae. He said, 'this bunch is sure +different from what I heard they were. You fellows are all right.' The +answer was simply: 'Organization.' Instead of a cursing, swearing, +fighting mob of seventy-four men, such as sheriff McRae would like to +have had us, we were entirely the opposite. + +"Time has not hung heavy on our hands. One scarcely notices the length +of the days. Educational meetings are frequent and discussions are +constantly in order. Our imprisonment has been a matter of experience. +We will all be better able to talk Industrial Unionism than when we +entered the jail. + +"The meals! Did we say 'meals?' A thousand pardons! Next time we meet a +meal we will apologize to it. Up to the time we asserted our displeasure +at the stinking, indigestible messes thrown up to us by a drunken brute +who could not qualify as head waiter in a 'nickel plate' restaurant, we +had garbage, pure and simple. Think of it! Mush, bread and coffee at +7:30 a. m., and not another bite until 4 p. m. Then they handed us a +mess which some of us called 'slumgullion,' composed of diseased beef. +Is it any wonder that four of the boys were taken to the hospital? But +we will not dwell on the grub. Suffice it to say we were all more or +less sick from the junk dished out to us. We were all hungry from +November 10th until January 22nd. One day in November we had beans. +Little did we surmise the pains, the agony contained in that dish of +innocent looking nutriment, beans. At two in the morning every man in +the jail was taken violently ill. We aroused the guards and they sent +for a doctor. He came about eight hours later and looked disappointed +upon learning that we were not dead. This doctor always had the same +remedy in all cases. His prescription was, 'Stop smoking and you will be +all right.' This is the same quack who helped beat up the forty-one +members of the I. W. W. at Beverly Park on October 30th, 1916. His nerve +must have failed him or his pills would have finished what his +pickhandle had started. + +"During the entire time of our confinement under McRae, drunken deputies +came into the jail and did everything in their power to make conditions +as miserable as possible for us. McRae was usually the leader in +villification of the I. W. W. + +"When on January 8th a change of administration took place, we called a +meeting which resulted in an interview with Sheriff McCullogh. Among +other things we demanded a cook. For days the sheriff stalled us off. He +professed that he wanted to do things for our comfort. We gave him ample +time--but there was no change in the conditions. On January 15th the +matter came to a climax. For five days prior to this we had been served +with what some called 'mulligan.' In reality it was nothing more or less +than water slightly colored with the juice of carrots. If there had ever +been any meat in it that meat was taken out before the mulligan was +served. We called for the sheriff and were informed that he had gone +away. We called for one of our attorneys who was in one of the outer +offices at the time, but Jailer Bridges refused to let us see him. +Having tried peaceful methods without success, we decided to forcibly +bring the matter to the attention of the authorities. We poured the +contents of the container out thru the bars and onto the floor. The boys +in the upper tank did the same thing. For doing this we were given a +terrible cursing by Jailer Bridges and the drunken cook, the latter +throwing a piece of iron thru the bars, striking one of the boys on the +head, and inflicting a long, ugly wound. The cook also threatened to +poison us. + +"That night when we were to be locked in, one of our jailers, decidedly +under the influence of liquor, was in such a condition that he was +unable to handle the levers properly and in some manner put the locking +system out of commission. After probably three quarters of an hour, +during which all of us and every I. W. W. in the world were consigned to +hell many times, the doors were finally locked. + +"'By God, you s--s-of-b----s will wish you ate that stew,' was the way +in which the jailer said 'good night' to us. The significance of his +words was brought back to us next morning when the time came for us to +be unlocked. We were left in our cells without food and with the water +turned off so we could not even have a drink. We might have remained +there for hours without toilet facilities had we not taken matters into +our hands. With one accord we decided to get out of the cells. There was +only one way to do this--'battleship!' + +[Illustration: An all-I. W. W. crew raising a spar tree 160 ft. long, +221/2 inches at top and 541/2 inches at butt, at Index, Wash.] + +[Illustration: Another view of the same operation.] + +"Battleship we did! Such a din had never before been heard in Everett. +Strong hands and shoulders were placed to the doors which gave up their +hold on the locks as if they had been made of pasteboard, and we emerged +into the recreation corridors. The lumber trust papers of Everett, which +thought the events of November 5th and the murder of five workers but a +picnic, next day reported that we had wrecked the jail and attempted to +escape. We did do a little wrecking, but as far as trying to escape is +concerned that is a huge joke. The jail has not been built that can hold +seventy-four I. W. W. members if they want to escape. We had but decided +to forcibly bring the jail conditions to the attention of the +authorities and the citizens. We were not willing to die of hunger and +thirst. We told Sheriff McCullogh we were not attempting to escape; he +knew we were not. Yet the papers came out with an alleged interview in +which the sheriff was made to say that we were. It was also said that +tomato skins had been thrown against the walls of the jail. There were +none to throw! + +"Summing up this matter: we are here, and here we are determined to +remain until we are freed. Not a man in this jail would accept his +liberty if the doors were opened. This is proven by the fact that one +man voluntarily came to the jail here and gave himself up, while still +another was allowed his liberty but sent for the Everett authorities to +come and get him while he was in Seattle. This last man was taken out of +jail illegally while still under the charge of first degree murder, but +he preferred to stand trial rather than to be made a party to schemes of +framing up to perjure away the liberties of his fellow workers. + +"Signed by the workers in the Snohomish County Jail." + +If the authorities hoped to save money by their niggardly feeding policy +the battleship of January 19th, mentioned in the foregoing account, +convinced them of their error. With blankets tied to the cell doors they +first tore them open and then twisted them out of shape. Taking a small +piece of gaspipe they disarranged the little doors that controlled the +locking system above each cell, and then demolished the entire system of +locks. Every bolt, screw and split pin was taken out and made useless. +While some were thus engaged others were busy getting the food supplies +which were stacked up in a corner just outside the tanks. When Sheriff +McCullogh finally arrived at the jail, some three hours later, he found +the prisoners calmly seated amid the wreckage eating some three hundred +pounds of corned beef they had obtained and cooked with live steam in +one of the bath tubs. Shaking his head sadly the sheriff remarked, "You +fellows don't go to the same church that I do." The deputy force worked +for hours in cleaning up the jail, and it took a gang of ironworkers +nine working days, at a cost of over $800.00, to repair the damage done +in twenty minutes. Twenty of the "hard-boiled Wobblies" were removed to +Seattle shortly after this, but it was no trouble for the men to gain +their demands from that time on. They had but to whisper the magic word +"battleship" to remind the jailers that the I. W. W. policy, as +expressed in a line in Virgil, was about to be invoked: + + + "If I cannot bend the powers above, + I will rouse Hell." + + +Lloyd Black, prosecuting attorney only by a political accident, soon +dropped his ideals and filled the position of prosecutor as well as his +limited abilities allowed, and it was apparent that he felt the hands of +the lumber trust tugging on the strings attached to his job and that he +had succumbed to the insidious influence of his associates. He called +various prisoners from their cells and by pleading, cajoling and +threatening in turn, tried to induce them to make statements injurious +to their case. + +Fraudulently using the name of John M. Foss, a former member of the +General Executive Board of the I. W. W. and then actively engaged in +working for the defense, Black called out Axel Downey, a boy of +seventeen and the youngest of the free speech prisoners, and used all +the resources of his department to get the lad to make a statement. +Downey refused to talk to any of the prosecution lawyers or detectives +and demanded that he be returned to his cell. From that time on he +refused to answer any calls from the office unless the jail committee +was present. Nevertheless the name of Axel Downey was endorsed, with +several others, as a witness for the prosecution in order to create +distrust and suspicion among the prisoners. + +About this time the efforts of Detective McLaren and his associates were +successful in "influencing" one of the prisoners, and Charles Auspos, +alias Charles Austin, agreed to become a state's witness. Contrary to +the expectation of the prosecution, the announcement of this +"confession" created no sensation and was not taken seriously on the +outside, while the prisoners, knowing there was nothing to confess, were +concerned only in the fact that there had been a break in their +solidarity. "We wanted to come out of this case one hundred per cent +clean," was the sorrowful way in which they took the news. + +Auspos had joined the I. W. W. in Rugby, North Dakota, on August 10th, +1916, and whether he was at that time an agent for the employers is not +known, but it is evident that he was not sufficiently interested in +industrial unionism to study its rudimentary principles. It may be that +the previous record of Auspos had given an opportunity for McLaren to +work upon that weak character, for Auspos started his boyhood life in +Hudson, Wisconsin, with a term in the reformatory, and his checkered +career included two years in a military guard house for carrying +side-arms and fighting in a gambling den, a dishonorable discharge from +the United States Army, under the assumed name of Ed. Gibson, and +various arrests up until he joined the I. W. W. + +This Auspos was about 33 years of age, five foot eleven inches tall, +weight about 175 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes, medium complexion but +face inclined to be reddish, slight scar on side of face, and was a +teamster and general laborer by occupation, his parents living in Elk +River, Minn. + +And while Auspos had by his actions descended to the lowest depths of +shame, there were those among the prisoners who had scaled the heights +of self-sacrifice. There were some few among them whose record would +look none too well in the light of day, but the spirit of class +solidarity within them led them to say, "Do with me as you will, I shall +never betray the working class." James Whiteford, arrested under the +name of James Kelly, deserves the highest praise that can be given for +he was taken back to Pennsylvania, which state he had left in violation +of a parole; to serve out a long penitentiary sentence which he could +have avoided by a few easily told lies implicating his fellow workers in +a conspiracy to do murder on November 5th. + +Shortly after the attempted "frame-up" with Axel Downey there was a +strong effort made to bring pressure upon Harvey Hubler. A "lawyer" who +called himself Minor Blythe, bearing letters obtained by +misrepresentation from Hubler's father and sister, attempted to get +Hubler from his cell on an order signed by Malcolm McLaren, the +detective. With the experience of Downey fresh in mind, Hubler refused +to go out of the tank, even tho the "lawyer" stated that he had been +sent by Hubler's father and could surely get him out of jail. + +The next day twelve armed deputies came into the jail to force Hubler to +accompany them to the office. The prisoners as a whole refused to enter +their cells, and armed themselves with such rude weapons as they could +find in order to repulse the deputies. The concerted resistance had its +effect and a committee of three, Feinberg, Peters and Watson, +accompanied Hubler to the office. Hubler there refused to read the +letter, asking that it be read aloud in the presence of the other men. +The detectives refused to do this and the men were put back in the tank. + +That afternoon, with two other prisoners, Hubler went out of the tank +to wash his clothes. The jailers had been awaiting this opportunity and +immediately locked the men out. The gunmen then overpowered Hubler and +dragged him struggling to the office. The letter was then read to +Hubler, who made no comment further than to say that the I. W. W. had +engaged attorneys to defend him and he wished to be taken back where the +rest of the men were. + +Meanwhile the men in the tanks had started another battleship. A hose +had been installed in the jail since the previous battleship and the +deputies turned this upon the men as soon as the protest started. The +prisoners retaliated by taking all mattresses, blankets, clothing and +supplies belonging to the county and throwing them where they would be +ruined by the water, and not knowing what was happening to Hubler they +shouted "Murder" at the top of their voices. While the trouble was going +on several members of the I. W. W., many Everett citizens, and one +attorney tried to gain admittance to the jail office to learn the cause +of the disturbance, but this was denied for more than an hour. Hubler +was finally brought back and the battleship ceased. The county had to +furnish new bedding and clothing for the prisoners. + +After this occurrence the prisoners were allowed the run of the +corridors and were often let out to play ball upon the jail lawn, with +only two guards to watch them. There were no disorders in the jail from +that time on. + +A committee of Everett women asked permission to serve a dinner to the +imprisoned men and when this was granted they fairly outdid themselves +in fixing up what the boys termed a "swell feed." This was served to the +men thru the bars but tasted none the less good on that account. + +[Illustration: Judge J. T. Ronald] + +The Seattle women, not to be outdone, gave a banquet to the prisoners +who had been transported to the Seattle county jail. The banquet was +spread on tables set the full length of the jail corridor, and the menu +ran from soup to nuts. An after dinner cigar, and a little boutonniere +of fragrant flowers furnished by a gray-haired old lady, completed the +program. + +These banquets and the jail visitors, together with numerous books, +magazines and papers--and a phonograph that was in almost constant +operation--made the latter part of the long jail days endurable. + +The defense was making strong efforts, during this time, to secure some +judge other than Bell or Alston, the two superior court judges of +Snohomish County, finally winning a victory in forcing the appointment +of an outside judge by the governor of the state. + +Judge J. T. Ronald, of King County, was selected by Governor Lister, and +after the men had pleaded "Not Guilty" on January 26th, a change of +venue on account of the prejudice existing in Everett's official circles +was asked and granted, Seattle being selected as the place where the +trial would take place. + +Eleven of the prisoners were named on the first information, the men +thus arraigned being F. O. Watson, John Black, Frank Stuart, Charles +Adams, Harston Peters, Thomas H. Tracy, Harry Feinberg, John Downs, +Harold Miller, Ed Roth and Thomas Tracy. The title of the case was +"State vs. F. O. Watson et al.," but the first man to come to trial was +Thomas H. Tracy. The date of the trial was set for March 5th. + +On November 5th, when he was taken from the Verona to jail, Thomas H. +Tracy gave his name at the booking window as George Martin, in order to +spare the feelings of relatives to whom the news of his arrest would +have proven a severe shock. When the officers were checking the names +later he was surprised to hear them call out "Tracy, Thomas Tracy." +Thinking that his identity was known because of his having been +secretary in Everett for a time, he stepped forward. An instant later a +little fellow half his size also marched to the front. There were two +Tom Tracys among the arrested men! Neither of them knew the other! Tracy +then gave his correct name and both he and "Little Tom Tracy" were later +held among the seventy-four charged with murder in the first degree. + +During all the time the free speech fighters were awaiting trial the +lumber trust exerted its potent influence at the national capital to the +end of preventing any congressional investigation of the tragedy of +November 5th and the circumstances surrounding it. The petitions of +thousands of citizens of the state of Washington were ignored. All too +well the employers knew what a putrid state of affairs would be +uncovered were the lumber trust methods exposed to the pitiless light of +publicity. That the trial itself would force them into the open +evidently did not enter into their calculations. + +In changing the information charging the murder of C. O. Curtis to the +charge of murdering Jefferson Beard the prosecution thought to cover one +point beyond the possibility of discovery, which change seems to have +been made as a result of the exhuming of the body of C. O. Curtis in +February. Curtis had been buried in a block of solid concrete and this +had to be broken apart in order to remove the body. Just who performed +the autopsy cannot be ascertained as the work was covered in the very +comprehensive bill of $50.50 for "Exhuming the body of C. O. Curtis, and +autopsy thereon," this bill being made out in the name of the +superintendent of the graveyard and was allowed and paid by Snohomish +County. This, together with the fact that at no time during the trial +did the prosecution speak of C. O. Curtis as having met his death at the +hands of the men on the Verona, seems to bear out the contention of the +defense that Curtis was the victim of the rifle fire of one of his +associates. + +So on March 5th, after holding the free speech prisoners for four months +to the day, the lumber trust, in the name of the State of Washington, +brought the first of them, Thomas H. Tracy, to trial, on a charge of +first degree murder, in the King County Court House at Seattle, +Washington. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE PROSECUTION + + +The King County Court House is an imposing, five story, white structure, +covering an entire block in the business section of the city of Seattle. +Its offices for the conduct of the county and city business are spacious +and well appointed. Its corridors are ample, and marble. The elevator +service is of the best. But the courtrooms are stuffy little dens, illy +ventilated, awkwardly placed, and with the poorest of acoustics. They +seem especially designed to add to the depressing effect that invariably +attends the administration of "law and order." The court of Judge +Ronald, like many other courts in the land, is admirably designed for +the bungling inefficiencies of "justice." Yet it was in this theater, +thru the medium of the Everett trial, that the class struggle was +reproduced, sometimes in tragedy and sometimes in comedy. + +To reach the greatest trial in the history of labor unionism, perhaps +the greatest also in the number of defendants involved and the number of +witnesses called, one had to ascend to the fourth floor of the court +house and line up in the corridor under the watchful eyes of the I. W. +W. "police," C. R. Griffin and J. J. Keenan, appointed by the +organization at the request of the court. There, unless one were a +lawyer or a newspaper representative, it was necessary to wait in line +for hours until the tiny courtroom was opened and the lucky hundred odd +persons were admitted to the church-like benches of J. T. Ronald's +sanctum, where the case of State versus Tracy was on trial. + +Directly in front of the benches, at the specially constructed press +table, were seats provided for the representatives of daily, weekly and +monthly publications whose policies ranged from the ultra conservative +to the extreme radical. Here the various reporters were seen writing +madly as some important point came up, then subsiding into temporary +indifference, passing notes, joking in whispers, drawing personal +cartoons of the judge, jury, counsel, court functionaries and +out-of-the-ordinary spectators,--the only officially recognized persons +in the courtroom showing no signs of reverence for the legal priesthood +and their mystic sacerdotalism. + +Just ahead of the press table were the attorneys for the prosecution: +Lloyd Black, a commonplace, uninspired, beardless youth as chief +prosecutor; H. D. Cooley, a sleek, pusillanimous recipient of favors +from the lumber barons, a fixture at the Commercial Club, and an +also-ran deputy at the dock on November 5th, as next counsel in line; +and A. L. Veitch, handsome in a gross sort of a way, full faced, sensual +lipped, with heavy pouches beneath the eyes, a self-satisfied favorite +of the M. & M., and withal the most able of the three who by virtue of +polite fiction represented the state of Washington. From time to time in +whispered conference with these worthy gentlemen was a tall, lean, grey, +furtive-eyed individual who was none other than the redoubtable +Californian detective, Malcolm McLaren. + +At right angles to this array of prosecutors the counsel for the defense +were seated, where they remained until the positions were reversed at +the close of the prosecution's case. Chief counsel Fred H. Moore, +serious, yet with a winning smile occasionally chasing itself across his +face and adding many humorous wrinkles to the tired-looking crow-feet at +the corners of his eyes; next to him George F. Vanderveer, a strong +personality whose lightning flashes of wit and sarcasm, marshalled to +the aid of a merciless drive of questions, were augmented by a smile +second only to Moore's in its captivating quality; then E. C. Dailey, +invaluable because of his knowledge of local conditions in Everett and +personages connected with the case; and by his side, at times during +the trial, was H. Sigmund, special counsel for Harry Feinberg. + +Seated a little back, but in the same group, was a man of medium height, +stocky built, slightly ruddy complexion, black hair, and twinkling blue +eyes. He was to all appearances the most composed man in the courtroom. +A slight smile crept over his face, at times almost broadened into a +laugh, and then died away. This was Thomas H. Tracy, on trial for murder +in the first degree. + +To the rear of the defendant and forming a deep contrast to the +determined, square-jawed prisoner was the guard, a lean, hungry-looking +deputy with high cheek bones, unusually sharp and long nose and a pair +of moustachios that drooped down upon his chest, a wholly useless and +most uncomfortable functionary who could scarce seat himself because of +the heavy artillery scattered over his anatomy. + +The court clerk, an absurdly dignified court bailiff, a special +stenographer, and Sheriff McCullogh of Snohomish county, occupied the +intervening space to the pulpit from which Judge J. T. Ronald delivered +his legal invocations. + +The judge, a striking figure, over six feet in height and well +proportioned, of rather friendly countenance and bearing in street +dress, resembled nothing so much as a huge black owl when arrayed in his +sacred "Mother Hubbard" gown, with tortoise-shell rimmed smoked glasses +resting on his slightly aquiline nose and surmounting the heavy, closely +trimmed, dark Vandyke beard. + +To the right of the judge as he faced the audience was the witness +chair, and across the whole of the corner of the room was a plat of the +Everett City Dock and the adjacent waterfront, together with a smaller +map showing part of the streets of the city. The plat was state's +exhibit "A." Below these maps on a tilted platform was a model of the +same dock, with the two warehouses, waiting room, Klatawa Slip, and the +steamer Verona, all built to scale. This was defendant's exhibit "1." + +Extending from these exhibits down the side of the railed enclosure, +were seats for two extra jurors. The filling of this jury box from a +long list of talesmen was the preliminary move to a trial in which the +defendant was barely mentioned, and which involved the question of +Labor's right to organize, to assemble peaceably, to speak freely, and +to advocate a change in existing social arrangements. Capital was lined +up in a fight against Labor. There was a direct reflection in the courts +of the masters of the age-long, world-wide class struggle. + +The examination of talesmen occupied considerable time. Each individual +was asked whether he had read any of the following papers: The +Industrial Worker, The Socialist World, or the Pacific Coast +Longshoreman. The prosecution also inquired as to the prospective +juror's familiarity with the I. W. W. Song Book and the various works on +Sabotage. Union affiliations were closely inquired into, and favorable +mention of the right to organize brought a challenge from the state. The +testing of the talesmen was no less severe on the part of the defense. + +Fifty-one talesmen were disqualified, after long and severe legal +battles, before a jury was finally secured from among the voters and +property owners who alone were qualified to serve. The jury, as +selected, was rather more intelligent than was to be expected when +consideration is taken of the fact that any person who acknowledged +having an impression, an opinion, or a conclusion regarding the merits +of the case was automatically excused from service. Those who were +chosen to sit on the case were: + +Mrs. Mattie Fordran, wife of a steamfitter; Robert Harris, a rancher; +Fred Corbs, bricklayer, once a member of the union, then working for +himself; Mrs. Louise Raynor, wife of a master mariner; A. Peplan, +farmer; Mrs. Clara Uhlman, wife of a harnessmaker in business for +himself; Mrs. Alice Freeborn, widow of a druggist; F. M. Christian, tent +and awning maker; Mrs. Sarah F. Brown, widow, working class family; +James R. Williams, machinist's helper, member of union; Mrs. Sarah J. +Timmer, wife of a union lineman, and T. J. Byrne, contractor. The two +alternate jurors, provided for under the "Extra Juror" law of +Washington, passed just prior to this trial, were: J. W. Efaw, furniture +manufacturer, president of Seattle Library Board and Henry B. Williams, +carpenter and member of a union. + +Judge Ronald realized the importance of the case as was shown in his +admonition to the jury, a portion of which follows: + +"It is plain, from both sides here, that we are making history. Let us +see that the record that we make in this case,--you and I, as a +court,--be a landmark based upon nothing in the world but the truth. We +may deceive some people and we may, a little, deceive ourselves; but we +cannot deceive eternal truth." + +On the morning of March 9th Judge Ronald, the tail of his black gown +firmly in hand, swept into the courtroom from his private chambers, the +assembled congregation arose and stood in deep obeisance before His +Majesty The Law, the pompous bailiff rapped for order and delivered an +incantation, the Judge seated himself on the throne of "Justice," the +assemblage subsided into their seats--and the trial was opened in +earnest. Prosecuting Attorney Lloyd Black then gave his opening +statement, the gist of which is contained in the following quotations: + +"You are at the outset of a murder trial, murder in the first degree. +The defendant, Thomas H. Tracy, alias George Martin, is charged with +murder in the first degree, in having assisted, counselled, aided, +abetted and encouraged some unknown person to kill Jefferson Beard on +the 5th of November, 1916. + +"* * * As far as the state is concerned, no one knows or can know or +could follow the course of the particular bullet that struck and +mortally wounded and killed Jefferson Beard. + +"* * * The evidence further will show that the first, or one of the +first, shots fired was from the steamer Verona and was from a revolver +held in the hand of Thomas H. Tracy. + +"* * * As to the killing of Jefferson Beard itself the probabilities +are, as the evidence of the state will indicate, that he was killed by +someone on the hurricane deck of the Verona because the evidence will +show that the revolver shots went thru his overcoat, missing his coat, +and thru his vest, and had a downward course, so that it must have come +from the upper deck. The evidence will show that Thomas H. Tracy was on +the main deck firing thru an open cabin window. + +"* * * Of the approximately 140 special and regular deputies of +Snohomish County about one-half were armed, some with revolvers, some +with rifles and some with clubs. + +"* * * When the fusilade had come from the I. W. W.'s on the Verona, a +portion of the deputies ran thru a door into this warehouse, +(indicating): a portion of them went into that warehouse, and used some +of the knotholes there, and some shot holes thru which they could see, * +* *" + +Black then gave a recital of the lumber trust version of the events +leading up to November 5th, bringing in the threats of an alleged +committee who were said to have declared "that they would call thousands +of their members to the city of Everett, flood the jails, demand +separate trials, and tie up and overwhelm the court machinery, and that +the mayor should consider that they had beaten Spokane and killed its +chief, killed Chief Sullivan of that city, that they had defeated +Wenatchee and North Yakima, and now it was Everett's turn." + +"* * * That in furtherance of their threats that they would burn the +city of Everett, that a number of mysterious fires took place, fires +connected with some person who was opposed to the I. W. W. * * * And in +addition, the I. W. W. members were arrested at different times +preceding this trouble on the 5th of November and phosphorus was found +upon their person either in cans or wrapped up. + +"* * * At different times, the evidence will show, Sheriff Donald McRae +and other peace officers of the city of Everett, including Mayor +Merrill, received anonymous letters, and also received direct statements +from the I. W. W. that they would get them; and, as one speaker put it, +he says 'Sheriff McRae will wake up some day and say '"Good morning, +Jesus!"' + +Black continued his recital of events, admitting the "Wanderer" +incident, but he tried to sidestep the criminal actions at Beverly Park. + +"Now, there happened at Beverly Park an incident that the State in this +action doesn't feel that it has anything to do with this particular +cause." + +Ironical laughter at this juncture caused the removal of several +spectators from the courtroom. So disconcerted was Black that he +proceeded to give away the real cause of action against the I. W. W. + +"The I. W. W. organization itself is an unlawful conspiracy, an unlawful +conspiracy in that it was designed for the purpose of effecting an +absolute revolution in society and in government, effecting it not by +the procedure of law thru the ballot, but for effecting it by direct +action. The I. W. W. meant to accomplish the change in society, not by +organization as the labor unions hope to get higher wages, not to get +into effect their theory of society by the ballot, as the Socialists +hope, but that they expressly state that the election of a Socialist +president will accomplish no good, and that sabotage should be employed +against government ownership as well as against private production, so +that directly they might put into effect their theories of government +and society." + +The defense reserved the right to make their opening statement at the +close of the prosecution's case, thus leaving the state in the dark as +to the line of defense, and forcing them to open their case at once. + +Lester L. Beard and Chester L. Beard, twin sons of the deceased deputy +sheriff, testified as to the condition of their father's clothing, +Attorney Vanderveer drawing from Lester Beard the admission that his +father was an employment agent in Seattle in 1914. + +Following them, Drs. William O'Keef Cox, H. P. Howard, and William P. +West testified to having performed an autopsy on Beard and described the +course of the bullet upon entering the body. Dr. West was an armed guard +at the land end of the City Dock on November 5th, Dr. Cox was also on +the dock as a deputy, and Dr. Howard carried a membership in the +Commercial Club. They were the physicians present when the autopsy was +performed. + +The next witness, Harry W. Shaw, a wood and coal dealer of Everett, +admitted having joined the citizen deputies because of a call issued by +the sheriff thru the Commercial Club. Shaw went to the dock on November +5th, carrying, as he claimed, a revolver with a broken firing pin which +he had hoped to have repaired on that Sunday on the way to the dock. He +was close to Beard when the latter fell and helped to carry him from the +open space on the dock into the warehouse. He afterward accompanied +Beard to the hospital in an automobile and returned to the dock with +Beard's unfired revolver in his possession. He swore that he had seen +McRae sober three times in succession! When asked by Attorney Moore he +gave an affirmative answer to this pertinent question: + +"You knew that the matter of the enforcement of the city ordinances of +Everett was peculiarly within the powers of the police department of the +city, didn't you?" + +Owen Clay was then called to the stand. Clay had been made bookkeeper of +the Weyerhouser Mill about a year and a half before this, and had been +given a membership in the Commercial Club at the time. He was injured in +the right arm in the trouble at the dock and then ran around the corner +of the ticket office, after which he emptied his revolver with his left +hand. Attorney Vanderveer questioned this witness as follows: + +"Who shot Jeff Beard in the right breast?" + +"I don't know." + +"Did you do it?" + +"I don't know." + +"Thank you! That's all," said Vanderveer with a smile. + +The next witness was C. A. Mitchell, employee of the Clark-Nickerson +Mill. He testified that he belonged to Company "B" under the command of +Carl Clapp. His testimony placed Sheriff McRae in the same position as +that given by the preceding witness, about eight to ten feet from the +face of the dock in the center of the open space between the two +warehouses, but unlike Clay, who testified that McRae had his left hand +in the air, he was positive that the sheriff had his right hand in the +air at the time the shooting started. + +W. R. Booth, engaged in real estate and insurance business, a member of +the Commercial Club, and a deputy at the dock, was next called. Attorney +Cooley asked this witness about the speech made at an unspecified street +meeting. Vanderveer immediately objected as follows: + +"We object to that as immaterial and calling for a conclusion of the +witness. He does not know who was speaking, nor whether he was +authorized to do it, or brought there by the Industrial Workers of the +World, or a hireling of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' society. It +has happened time and time again that people are employed by these +capitalists themselves to go out and make incendiary speeches and cause +trouble, and employed to go out and fire buildings and do anything to +put the opposition in wrong." + +When questioned about McRae's position on the dock, Booth stated that +the sheriff had both hands in the air. This witness admitted having been +a member of the "Flying Squadron" and being a participant in the outrage +at Beverly Park. He named others who went out with him in the same +automobile, Will Seivers and Harry Ramwell, and stated that A. P. +Bardson, clerk of the Commercial Club, was probably there as he had been +out on all the other occasions. He said that he would not participate in +the beating up of anyone, and that when the affair started he went up +the road for purposes of his own. He was asked by Vanderveer as to the +reason for continuing to associate with people who had abused the men at +Beverly Park, to which he replied: + +"Because I believe in at least trying to maintain law and order in our +city." + +During the examination of this witness, and at various times thruout the +long case, it was only with evident effort that Attorney Vanderveer kept +on the unfamiliar ground of the class struggle, his natural tendencies +being to try the case as a defense of a pure and simple murder charge. + +W. P. Bell, an Everett attorney representing a number of scab mills, a +member of the Commercial Club and a deputy on the dock, testified next, +contradicting the previous witnesses but throwing no additional light +upon the case. He was followed by Charles Tucker, a scab and gunman +employed by the Hartley Shingle Company and a deputy on the dock. Tucker +lied so outrageously that even the prosecution counsel felt ashamed of +him. He was impeached by his own testimony. + +Editor J. A. MacDonald of the Industrial Worker was called to the stand +to show the official relation of the paper to the I. W. W. and to lay a +foundation for the introduction of a file of the issues prior to +November 5th. A portion of the file was introduced as evidence and at +the same time the state put in as exhibits a copy of the I. W. W. +Constitution and By-Laws, Sabotage by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Sabotage +by Walker C. Smith, The Revolutionary I. W. W. by Grover H. Perry, The +I. W. W., Its History, Structure and Methods by Vincent St. John, and +the Joe Hill Memorial Edition of the Song Book. + +Herbert Mahler, former secretary of the Seattle I. W. W. and at the +time Secretary-Treasurer of the Everett Prisoners' Defense Committee, +was next upon the stand. He was asked to name various committees and to +identify certain telegrams. The unhesitatingly clear answers of both +MacDonald and Mahler were in vivid contrast to the mumbled and +contradictory responses of the deputies. + +William J. Smith, manager of the Western Union Telegraph Company was +then called to further corroborate certain telegrams sent and received +by the I. W. W. + +As the next step in the case prosecutor Black read portions of the +pamphlet "Sabotage" by Smith, sometimes using half a paragraph and +skipping half, sometimes using one paragraph and omitting the next, +provoking a remonstrance from Attorney Vanderveer which was upheld by +the Court in these words: + +"You have a right to do what you are doing, Mr. Black, but it don't +appeal to my sense of fairness if other omissions are as bad as the one +you left out. You are following the practice, but I don't know of an +instance where there has been such an awful juggling about, and it is +discretionary with the Court, and I want to be fair in this case. I want +to let them have a chance to take the sting out of it so as to let the +jury have both sides, because it is there. Now, Mr. Vanderveer, I am +going to leave it to you not to impose upon the Court's discretion. Any +new phases I don't think you have the right to raise, but anything that +will modify what he has read I think you have the right to." + +Thereupon Vanderveer read all the omitted portions bearing upon the +case, bringing special emphasis on these two parts: + +"Note this important point, however. Sabotage does not seek nor desire +to take human life." + +"Sabotage places human life--and especially the life of the only useful +class--higher than all else in the universe." + +With evidences of amusement, if not always approval, the jury then +listened to the reading of numerous I. W. W. songs by Attorney Cooley +for the prosecution, tho some of the jurymen shared in the bewilderment +of the audience as to the connection between the song "Overalls and +Snuff" and defendant Tracy charged with a conspiracy to commit murder in +the first degree. + +D. D. Merrill, Mayor of Everett, next took the stand. He endeavored to +give the impression that the I. W. W. was responsible for a fire loss in +Everett of $100,000.00 during the latter part of the year 1916. +Vanderveer shot the question: + +"From whom would you naturally look for information on the subject of +fires?" + +"From the Fire Chief, W. C. Carroll," replied the mayor; + +"We offer this report in evidence," said Vanderveer crisply. + +The report of the Fire Chief was admitted and read. It showed that there +were less fires in 1916 that in any previous year in the history of +Everett, and only four of incendiary origin in the entire list! + +The prosecution tried to squirm out of this ticklish position by stating +that they meant also the fires in the vicinity of Everett, but here also +they met with failure for the principal fire in the surrounding district +was in the co-operative mill, owned by a number of semi-radical +workingmen at Mukilteo. + +The mayor told of having been present at the arrest of several men taken +from a freight train at Lowell, just at the Everett city limits. Some of +these men were I. W. W.'s, and on the ground afterward there was said to +have been found some broken glass about which there was a smell of +phosphorus. The judge ruled out this evidence because there were other +than I. W. W. men present, no phosphorus was found on the men, and if +only one package were found it would not indicate a conspiracy but might +have been brought by an agent of the employers. This was the nearest +the prosecution came at any time in the trial in their attempt to +connect the I. W. W. with incendiary fires. + +A tense moment in this sensational trial came during the testimony of +Mayor Merrill, when young Louis Skaroff was suddenly produced in court +and the question flashed at the cringing witness: + +"Do you recognize this boy standing here? Do you recognize him, Louis +Skaroff?" + +"I think I have seen him," mumbled the mayor. + +"Let me ask you if on the 6th day of November at about ten o'clock at +night in a room in the City Hall at Everett where there was a bed room +having an iron bedstead in it, in the presence of the jailer, didn't you +have an interview with this man?" + +Merrill denied having mutilated Skaroff's fingers beneath the casters of +the bed, but even the capitalist press reported that his livid face and +thick voice belied his words of denial. + +And Prosecutor Lloyd Black remarked heatedly, "I don't see the +materiality of all this." + +Merrill left the stand, having presented the sorriest figure among the +number of poor witnesses produced by the prosecution. + +Carl Clapp, superintendent of the Municipal Waterworks at Everett, and +commander of one of the squads of deputies, followed with testimony to +the effect that sixty rifles from the Naval Militia were stored in the +Commercial Club on November 5th. At this juncture the hearing of further +evidence was postponed for a half day to allow Attorney Vanderveer to +testify on behalf of Mayor H. C. Gill in a case then pending in the +Federal Court. + +On several other occasions Vanderveer was called to testify in this case +and there were times when it was thought that he also would be indicted +and brought to trial, yet with this extra work and the threat of +imprisonment hanging over him, Vanderveer never flagged in his keen +attention to the work of the defense. It was commonly thought that the +case against Gill and the attempt to involve Vanderveer were moves of +the lumber trust and Chamber of Commerce directed toward the I. W. W., +for in the background were the same interested parties who had been +forced to abandon the recall against Seattle's mayor. Gill's final +acquittal in this case was hailed as an I. W. W. victory. + +Upon the resumption of the trial the prosecution temporarily withdrew +Clapp and placed Clyde Gibbons on the stand. This witness was the son of +James Gibbons, a deceased member of the I. W. W., well and favorable +known in the Northwest. James Gibbons was killed by a speeding +automobile about a year prior to the trial, and his widow and son, +Clyde, were supported by the I. W. W. and the Boiler Makers' Union for +several months thereafter. + +Clyde Gibbons, altho but seventeen years old, joined the Navy by +falsifying his age. Charity demands that the veil be drawn over the +early days of Clyde's training, yet his strong imagination and general +untruthfulness are matters of record. He was shown in court to have +stolen funds left in trust with him by Mrs. Peters, one of the persons +against whom his testimony was directed. It is quite probable that the +deceit about his age, or some other of his queer actions, were +discovered and used to force him to testify as the prosecution desired. +The following testimony bears out this idea: + +"Who was it that you met at the Naval Recruiting Station and took you to +McLaren?" + +"I don't know his name." + +"Well, how did you get to talking to this total stranger about the +Everett matter?" + +"He told me he wanted to see me in the judge's office." + +"And they took you down to the judge's office, did they?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"And when you got to the judge's office you found you were in Mr. +McLaren's and Mr. Veitch's and Mr. Black's office in the Smith +Building?" + +"Yes, sir." + +Gibbons testified as to certain alleged conversations in an apartment +house frequented by members of the I. W. W., stating that a party of +members laid plans to go to Everett and to take with them red pepper, +olive oil and bandages. Harston Peters, one of the defendants, had a gun +that wouldn't shoot and so went unarmed, according to this witness. +Gibbons also stated that Mrs. Frenette took part in the conversation in +this apartment house on the morning of the tragedy, whereupon Attorney +Moore asked him: + +"On directing your attention to it, don't you remember that you didn't +see Mrs. Frenette at all in Seattle, anywhere, at any time subsequent to +Saturday night; that she went to Everett on Saturday night?" + +"Well, I am quite sure I saw her Sunday, but maybe I am mistaken." + +The judge upheld the defense attorneys in their numerous objections to +the leading questions propounded by prosecutor Black during the +examination of this witness. + +Clapp was recalled to the stand and testified further that Scott Rainey, +head of the U. S. Naval Militia at Everett, had ordered Ensign McLean to +take rifles to the dock, and that the witness and McLean had loaded the +guns, placed them in an auto and taken them to the dock, where they were +distributed to the deputies just as the Verona started to steam away. + +Ignorance as to the meaning of simple labor terms that are in the +every-day vocabulary of the "blanketstiff" was shown by Clapp in his +answers to these queries: + +"What is direct action?" + +"Using force instead of lawful means." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Well, either physical force, or conspiracy." + +"You understand conspiracy to be some kind of force, do you?" + +"It may be force." + +When asked where he had obtained information about sabotage, this +witness said that he had looked up the word in Webster's Unabridged +Dictionary, a work in which the term is strangely absent. + +Clapp was the first witness to admit the armed character of the deputy +body and also to state that deputies with guns were stationed on all of +Everett's docks. + +After excusing this witness, Cooley brought in copies of two city +ordinances covering street speaking in Everett. One of them which +allowed the holding of meetings at the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore +Avenues was admitted without question, but the other which purported to +have been passed on September 19, 1916, was objected to on the ground +that it had not been passed, was never put upon passage and never moved +for passage in the Everett City Council. + +Richard Brennan, chauffeur of the patrol wagon, A. H. Briggs, city dog +catcher, and Floyd Wildey, police officer, all of Everett, then +testified regarding the arrest of I. W. W. members during August and +September. Wildey stated that on the night of August 30 four or five +members of the I. W. W. came away from their street meeting carrying +sections of gaspipe in their hands. This was thought to be quite a blow +against the peaceful character of the meeting until it was discovered on +cross-examination that the weapons were the removable legs of the street +speaking platform. + +David Daniels, Arthur S. Johnson, Garland Queen, J. R. Steik, M. J. Fox +and, later on, Earl Shaver, all of whom were police officers in Everett, +gave testimony along somewhat the same lines as the other witnesses from +Everett who owed their jobs to the lumber trust. They stated that the I. +W. W. men deported on August 23rd, had made threats against McRae and +several police officers. + +Ed. M. Hawes, proprietor of a scab printing and stationery company, +member of the Commercial Club and citizen deputy, gave testimony +similar to that of other vigilantes as to the trouble on November 5th. +When asked if he had ever known any I. W. W. men offering resistance, +Hawes replied that one had tried to start a fight with him at Beverly +Park. Having thus established his connection with this infamous outrage, +further questioning of this witness developed much of the story of the +brutal gauntlet and deportation. Hawes told of one of his prisoners +making an endeavor to escape, and when asked whether he blamed the man +for trying to get away, answered that he thought the prisoner was a +pretty big baby. + +"You thought he was a pretty big baby?" queried Vanderveer. + +"Yes, sir." + +"Or do you think the men were pretty big babies and cowards who were +doing the beating?" + +The witness had no answer to this question. + +"How much do you weigh?" demanded Vanderveer sharply. + +"I weigh 260 pounds," replied Hawes. + +Frank Goff and Henry Krieg, two young lads who were severely beaten at +Beverly Park, were suddenly produced in court and the big bully was made +to stand alongside of them. He outweighed the two of them. It was +plainly evident who the pretty big baby was! + +Howard Hathaway, law student and assistant to the state secretary of the +Democratic Central Committee, was forced to admit his connection with +the raid upon the launch "Wanderer" and also upon the men peacefully +camping at Maltby. His testimony was mainly for the purpose of making it +appear that James P. Thompson had advocated that the shingle weavers set +fire to the mills and win their strikes by methods of terrorism. + +Two newspaper reporters, William E. Jones of the Seattle +Post-Intelligencer, and J. J. Underwood of the Seattle Times, were +placed upon the stand in order to lay the foundation for an introduction +of an article appearing in the P-I on Sunday morning, November 5th. +Jones testified that he was present at the Seattle police station when +Philip K. Ahern, manager of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, requested +the release of Smith and Reese, two of his operatives who had been on +the Verona. Underwood stated that upon hearing of the treatment given +the I. W. W. men at Beverly Park he had exclaimed, "I would like to see +anybody do that to me and get away with it." + +"You meant that, did you?" asked Vanderveer. + +"You bet I meant it!" asserted the witness positively. + +The two reporters proved to be better witnesses for the defense than for +the prosecution. + +Sanford Asbury, T. N. Henry, Ronald Johnson, John S. Donlan, and J. E. +Gleason, then testified regarding the movements of the men who left +Seattle on the Verona and Calista on the morning of November 5th. They +uniformly agreed that the crowd was in no way disorderly, nor were their +actions at all suspicious. The defense admitted that the Verona had been +chartered but stated that there were passengers other than I. W. W. +members on board. + +The first witness from the Verona was Ernest Shellgren, the boat's +engineer, who testified that he was in the engine pit when the boat +landed and heard crackling sounds telegraphed down the smoke stack that +he knew an instant later were bullets. He was struck by a spent bullet +and ran to various places on the boat seeking shelter from the hail of +lead that appeared to come from all directions, finally returning to the +boiler as the safest place on the boat. He stated that he saw one man +firing a blue steel revolver from the boat, only the hand and revolver +being in his line of vision. The only other gun he saw was one in the +hands of the man who asked him to back the boat away from the dock +during the firing. He also stated that the I. W. W. men on the way over +to Everett comported themselves as was usual with any body of +passengers. + +Shellgren was asked if he could identify John Downs or Thomas H. Tracy +as being connected with the firing in any way and he stated that he +could not do so. The defense objected to the use of Downs' picture, as +it did on every occasion where a picture of one of the prisoners was +used, on the grounds that the photographs were obtained by force and in +defiance of the constitutional rights of the imprisoned free speech +fighters. + +Seattle police detectives, Theodore Montgomery and James O'Brien, who +made a search of the Verona upon its return to Seattle, testified to +having found a little loose red pepper, two stones the size of a goose +egg tied up in a cloth, and a few empty cartridges. These two witnesses +also developed the fact that in no case were regular bandages used on +the wounded men, thus establishing the fact that no serious trouble was +anticipated. + +James Meagher, occupation "home owner," member of the Commercial Club +and citizen deputy, testified that a hundred shots were fired from the +Verona before a gun was pulled on the dock, one of the first shots +striking him in the leg. This witness was asked: + +"Did you see a single gun on the boat?" + +"No sir," was his mumbled response. + +The prosecution witnesses disagreed as to the number of lines of +deputies stretched across the back and sides of the open space on the +dock, the statements varying from one to four files. + +Chad Ballard, Harry Gray, and J. D. Landis, of the Seattle police +detective bureau, and J. G. McConnell, Everett Interurban conductor, +testified to the return and arrest of Mrs. Frenette, Mrs. Mahler and +Mrs. Peters, after the trouble on November 5th. The police officers also +told of a further searching of the Verona on its return. The defense +admitted that some of the members had red pepper in their possession and +stated that they would ask the judge to instruct the jury that red +pepper is a weapon of defense and not of offense and that murder cannot +be committed with red pepper. + +Elmer Buehrer, engineer at the Everett High School, and citizen deputy, +gave testimony that was halting, confused and relatively unimportant. He +was prompted by the prosecution to such an extent that Attorney +Vanderveer at the close of one question said, "Look at me and not at +counsel." + +"Look where you please," cried Cooley angrily. + +"Well, look where you please," rejoined Vanderveer. "He can't help you." + +It was apparent that the only reason for putting on this witness and +former witness Meagher was because of a desire to create sympathy thru +the fact that they had been wounded on the dock. + +Edward Armstrong, master mariner on the Verona, testified that he had +thrown out the spring line and lifted out the gate when the firing +started. He fell to the deck behind a little jog, against the bulkhead, +and while in that position two bullets went thru his cap. Altho this +witness stated that he judged from the sound that the first shot came +from some place to the rear of him, his testimony as to the attitude of +McRae was as follows: + +"I seen him with his right hand hanging on the butt of the gun." + +"And that was before there was any shooting?" + +"Yes sir." + +As to the condition of the boat after the trouble he gave an affirmative +answer to the question: + +"You know that the whole front of the pilot house and the whole front of +this bulkhead front of the forward deck leading to the hurricane deck is +full of B. B. shot, don't you?" + +James Broadbent, manager of the Clark-Nickerson Mill, and a citizen +deputy, followed Armstrong with some unimportant testimony. + +L. S. Davis, steward on the Verona, also stated that McRae committed the +first overt act in taking hold of his gun. He was asked: + +"He had his hand on his gun while he was still facing you?" + +"Yes sir. I could see it plainly," answered Davis. + +[Illustration: Pilot house of the "Verona" riddled with rifle bullets +at Everett] + +"That was before he started to turn, before he was hit?" + +"Yes sir." + +Davis was wounded in the arm as he was on the pilot house steps. + +He was asked about the general disposition, manner and appearance of the +men on the Verona on the way over to Everett, and answered: + +"I thought they were pretty nicely behaved for men--for such a crowd as +that." + +"Any rough talk; any rough, ugly looks?" + +"No sir." + +"Any guns?" + +"No." + +"Any threats?" + +"I didn't hear any threats." + +"Jolly, good-natured bunch of boys?" + +"Yes." + +"Lots of young boys among them, weren't there?" + +"Yes, quite a few." + +Davis stated that three passengers got off at Edmunds on the way up to +Everett, thus establishing the fact that there were other than I. W. W. +men on board. + +R. S. "Scott" Rainey, commercial manager of the Puget Sound Telephone +Company and a citizen deputy, was called and examined at some length +before it was discovered that he was not an endorsed witness. This was +the second time that the prosecution had turned this trick. Vanderveer +objected, stating that there would be two hundred endorsed witnesses who +would not be used. + +"Oh no!" returned Mr. Veitch. + +"Well," said Vanderveer, "a hundred then. A hundred we dare you to +produce!" + +"We will take that dare," responded Veitch. But the prosecution failed +to keep their word, and deputy Dave Oswald of the Pacific Hardware +Company, who during the various deportations tried to have the I. W. W. +men stripped, covered with hot tar, rolled in feathers and ridden out +of town on a rail, and a number of his equally degenerate brother +outlaws were never produced in court. + +Rainey testified that he had seen a quantity of murderous looking +black-jacks in the Commercial Club for distribution to the deputies. He +also saw men fall overboard from the Verona and saw none of them +rescued. He thought there were twenty-five men with guns on the boat, +and he did his firing at the main deck. + +"And you didn't care whether you hit one of the twenty-five or one of +the other two hundred and twenty-five?" scornfully inquired Vanderveer. + +"No sir," said the miserable witness. + +The next witness called was William Kenneth, city dock wharfinger in the +employ of Captain Ramwell. This witness testified that there were +numerous holes in the warehouses that were smooth on the inside and +splintered on the outside, thus indicating that they were from shots +blindly fired thru the walls from within. On being recalled on the +Monday morning session of March 26th the witness said he wished to state +that he was unable to testify from which direction the holes in the +warehouses had been made. It appeared that he had discovered the bullet +marks to have been whittled with a penknife since he had last viewed +them. + +Arthur Blair Gorrell, of Spokane, student at the State University, was +on the dock during the trouble and was wounded in the left shoulder +blade. He stated that he knew that McRae had his gun drawn before he was +shot. + +Captain K. L. Forbes, of the scab tugboat Edison, next took the witness +chair. He didn't like the idea of calling his crew scabs for the +engineer carried a union card. When questioned about the actions of the +scab cook on the Edison, this witness would not state positively that +the man was not firing directly across the open space on the dock at the +Verona, and in line with Curtis and other deputies. + +Thomas E. Headlee, ex-mayor of Everett, bookkeeper at the +Clark-Nickerson mill, and a citizen deputy, said he went whenever and +wherever he was called to go by the sheriff. + +"Then it's just like this," said Vanderveer, "when you pull the string, +up jumps Headlee?" + +This witness tried to blame all the fires in Everett onto the I. W. W. +and the absurdity of his testimony brought this question from the +defense: + +"Just on general principles you blame it on the I. W. W.?" + +"Sure!" replied the witness, "I got their reputation over in Wenatchee +from my brother-in-law who runs a big orchard there." + +Lewis Connor, member of the Commercial Club, and his friend, Edwin +Stuchell, university student, both of whom were deputies on the dock on +November 5th, then testified, but developed nothing of importance. +Stuchell's father was part owner of the Eclipse mill and was said to +have been on the board of directors of the Commercial Club. These +witnesses were followed by Raymond E. Brown, owner of an Everett shoe +store, a weak-kneed witness who had been sworn in as a deputy by W. W. +Blain, secretary of the Commercial Club. + +One of the greatest sensations in this sensational trial was when former +sheriff Donald McRae took the stand on Tuesday, March 27th. + +McRae was sober! + +The sheriff was fifty years of age, of medium height, inclined to +stoutness, smooth-shaven, with swinish eyes set closely on either side +of a pink-tinted, hawk-like nose that curved just above a hard, cruel +and excessively large mouth. The sneering speech and contemptible manner +of this witness lent weight to the admissions of his brutality that had +been dragged from reluctant state's witnesses thru the clever and +cutting cross-examination conducted by Moore and Vanderveer. + +McRae told of his former union affiliations, having once been +International Secretary of the Shingle Weavers' Union, and on another +occasion the editor of their paper--but he admitted that he had never in +his life read a book on political economy. + +He detailed the story of the arrests, deportations and other similar +actions against the striking shingle weavers and the I. W. W. members, +the recital including an account of the "riot" at the jail, the +deportation of Feinberg and Roberts, the shooting at the launch +"Wanderer" and the jailing of its passengers, and the seizing of +forty-one men and their deportation at Beverly Park. McRae's callous +admissions of brutality discounted any favorable impression his +testimony might otherwise have conveyed to the jury. + +He admitted having ordered the taking of the funds of James Orr to pay +the fares of workers deported on August 23rd, but denied the truth of an +account in the Everett Herald of that date in which it was said that I. +W. W. men had made some remarks to him "whereupon Sheriff McRae and +police officer * * promptly retaliated by cracking the I. W. W.'s on the +jaw with husky fists." + +Regarding the launch "Wanderer" the sheriff was asked: + +"Did you strike Captain Mitten over the head with the butt of your gun?" + +"Certainly did!" replied McRae with brutal conciseness. + +"Did any blood flow?" + +"A little, not much." + +"Not enough to arouse any sympathy in you?" + +"No," said the sheriff unfeelingly. + +"Did you strike a little Finnish fellow over the head with a gun?" + +"I certainly did!" + +"And split his head open and the blood ran out, but not enough to move +you to any sympathy?" + +"No, not a bit!" viciously answered McRae. + +"Did you hit any others?" inquired Vanderveer. + +"No, not then." + +"Why not?" + +"They probably seen what happened to the captain and the other fellow +for getting gay." + +As to the holding of Mitten in jail for a number of days on a charge of +resisting an officer, and his final release, McRae was asked: + +"Why didn't you try him on that charge?" + +"Because when we let the I. W. W.'s go they insisted on him going, too, +and I said, 'all right, take him along.'" + +"You did whatever the I. W. W.'s wanted in that?" + +"Well, I was glad to get rid of them," remarked the sheriff. + +McRae said that none of the men taken to Beverly Park were beaten on the +dock before being placed in automobiles for deportation, but on +cross-examination he admitted that one of the deputies got in a mix-up +and was beaten by a brother deputy. The sheriff stated that he took one +man out to Beverly Park in a roadster, and had then returned to Everett +to attend a dance given by the Elks' lodge. + +In relating the events on November 5th, McRae's story did not differ +materially from that of the witnesses who had already testified. He +stated that a bullet passed thru his foot, striking the heel of his +shoe, and coming out of the side. The shoe was then offered in evidence. +He testified that another shot struck the calf of his leg and passed +completely thru the limb. Both these wounds were from the rear. His +entire suit was offered in evidence. The coat had nine bullet holes in +it, yet McRae was not injured at all in the upper portion of his body! +The sheriff stated that he fired twenty shots in all, and was then +removed to the Sister's Hospital while the shooting was still in +progress. + +McRae then identified Ed Roth, James Kelly and Thomas H. Tracy as three +of the I. W. W. men who were most active in firing from the Verona. In +his identification of Tracy, McRae stated that the defendant was in the +second or third cabin window aft the door, and was hanging out of the +window with his breast against the sill and his elbow on the ledge. +Vanderveer then placed himself in the position described by the sheriff +and requested McRae to assume the same attitude he was in at the time he +saw Tracy. Upon doing this it was apparent that the edge of the window +sill would have cut off all view of Tracy's face from the sheriff, so +McRae endeavored to alter his testimony to make it appear that Tracy's +face was a foot or more inside the cabin window. This was the first +identification of Tracy or other men on the boat that was attempted by +the prosecution. + +The sheriff stated that there were only twenty or twenty-five armed men +on the Verona, and he admitted, before he left the stand, that he had +told Attorney Vanderveer it was a pity that the spring line on the +Verona did not break when the boat tilted so as to drown all the I. W. +W.'s in the Bay. + +Charles Auspos, alias Charles Austin, followed McRae as the state's +witness second in importance only to the ex-sheriff. The testimony of +these two was relied upon for a conviction. + +Just why Auspos joined the I. W. W. will never be known, but his claim +was that he could not work in the Dakota harvest fields or ride on the +freight trains without an I. W. W. card. He was asked: + +"When you did line up, you were then willingly a member, were you?" + +"Yes sir." + +"And you did not go to Yakima and come back to Seattle to fight for free +speech because you were compelled to do so?" asked Moore. + +"No," replied Auspos, "there was no compulsion." + +[Illustration: Arrival of the VERONA at SEATTLE] + +Auspos stated that he was willing to take a chance in the fight for free +speech and that the worst he expected was something similar to the +happenings at Beverly Park. That he was not so willing in his testimony +was shown by the uneasy actions of the prosecution lawyers, who moved +from place to place around the court room during the examination of +this witness, with the view of having him look one of them in the eyes +at all times during his recital. At one time Black nearly climbed into +the jury box, while Cooley fidgeted in his chair placed directly in the +middle of the aisle, and Veitch stood back of the court clerk on the +opposite side of the court room, trying to engage the attention of the +hesitating witness. + +The testimony was to the effect that Auspos had reached Seattle on +Saturday, November 4th, and had slept in the I. W. W. hall that night. +Next morning at about eleven o'clock he returned from breakfast and was +again admitted with examination for a membership card. A meeting was in +progress in the gymnasium but was too crowded for him to be able to get +in. There was no secrecy, however, just as there was no oath of fealty +demanded of a worker upon joining the organization. The witness claimed +that he and one of the defendants, J. E. Houlihan, were standing +together in the hall when "Red" Doran called Houlihan aside into the +gymnasium. Two minutes later Houlihan returned and said, "I made it." +"What did you get?" Auspos declared he then asked his partner, receiving +the reply, "A thirty-eight." Auspos claimed he saw Earl Osborne cleaning +a gun in the gymnasium that same morning, and there was a rifle or +shotgun in a canvas case in one corner. He said that men were breaking +up chairs to obtain legs as clubs and that he, with others, was +furnished with a little package of red pepper. + +Regarding his actions upon the Verona the witness stated that he and +James Hadley came up the steps from the freight deck to the passenger +deck just as the boat was nosing against the dock and that he walked +across the deck to a point within three feet of the rail. His +description of the motion of McRae's hands differed from that given by +the deputy witnesses and was such as would indicate the drawing of a gun +from a belt holster. He testified that McRae swung around to the right +just before being shot, thus contradicting McRae, who had declared that +the turn he had made was to the left. The witness in a rather indefinite +manner stated that the first shot came from the boat. All the damaging +claims in the testimony of Auspos were severely shaken by the +cross-examination conducted by Moore, and Auspos finally admitted that +the only point on which he wished to have his evidence differ from the +statement he had made to Vanderveer prior to the trial was in the matter +of the firing of the first shot. Auspos made no attempt to identify +anyone on the boat as having a firearm. + +During the examination some reference was made to "Red" Downs, at which +Judge Ronald remarked: + +"I am a little confused. Did he say 'Red' Downs or 'Red' Doran?" + +"There are two of them," responded Moore. + +"Lots of red in this organization," cut in prosecutor Cooley, amid +laughter from the spectators. + +Attorney Moore brought from Auspos the admission that the plea of "Not +Guilty" was a true one and he still believed that he and the other +prisoners were not guilty of any crime. Yet such are the peculiarities +of the legal game that an innocent man can turn state's evidence upon +his innocent associates. + +After uncovering the previous record of Auspos, he was asked about his +"confession" as follows: + +"Mr. McLaren and you had reached an understanding in your talk before +Mr. Cooley came?" + +"Yes sir." + +"The question of what you are to get in connection with your testimony +here has not as yet been definitely decided?" + +"I am going to get out of the country." + +"You are not going to get a trip to Honolulu?" asked Moore with a smile +as he concluded the cross-examination of Auspos. + +"No sir," stammered the tool of the prosecution unconvincingly. + +It was at this point that the prosecution introduced several additional +leaflets and pamphlets issued by the I. W. W. Publishing Bureau, the +principal reason being to allow them to appeal to the patriotism of the +jury by referring to Herve's pamphlet, "Patriotism and the Worker," and +Smith's leaflet, "War and the Workers." + +The next witness after Auspos was Leo Wagner, another poor purchase on +the part of the prosecution. He merely testified that a man on the +Calista had said that the men were armed and were not going to stand for +being beaten up. Objection was made to the manner in which Cooley led +the witness with his questions, and when Cooley stated that it was +necessary to refresh the memory of the witness, Vanderveer replied that +the witness had been endorsed but a few days before and his recollection +should not be so very stale. + +When this witness was asked what he was paid for his testimony he +squirmed and hesitated until the court demanded an answer, whereupon he +said: + +"I got enough to live on for a while." + +William H. Bridge, deputy sheriff and Snohomish county jailer, was the +next witness. He stated on his direct examination that the first shot +came from the second or third window back from the door on the upper +cabin. Black asked Bridge: + +"How do you know there was a shot from that place?" + +"Because I saw a man reach out thru the window and shoot with a +revolver." + +"In what position was he when shooting?" + +"Well, I could see his hand and a part of his arm and a part of his body +and face." + +"Who was the man, if you know?" + +"Well, to the best of my judgement, it was the defendant, Thomas H. +Tracy." + +Under Vanderveer's cross-examination this witness was made to place the +model of the Verona with its stern at the same angle as it had been at +the time of the shooting. The witness was then asked to assume the same +position he had been in at the time he said he had seen Tracy. The +impossibility of having seen the face of a man firing from any of the +cabin windows was thus demonstrated to the jury. + +Then to clinch the idea that the identification was simply so much +perjury, Vanderveer introduced into evidence the stenographic report of +the coroner's inquest held over Jefferson Beard in which the witness, +Bridge, had sworn that the first shot came from an open space just +beneath the pilot house and had further testified that he could not +recognize the person who was doing the firing. + +Walter H. Smith, a scab shingle weaver, and deputy on the dock, followed +with a claim to have recognized Tracy as one of the men who was shooting +from the Verona. He also stated that he could identify another man who +was shooting from the forward deck. He was handed a number of +photographs and failed to find the man he was looking for. Instead he +indicated one of the photographs and said that it was Tracy. Vanderveer +immediately seized the picture and offered it in evidence. + +"I made a mistake there," remarked Smith. + +"I know you did," responded Vanderveer, "and I want the jury to know +it." + +The witness had picked out a photograph of John Downs and identified it +as the defendant. + +The prosecution then called S. A. Mann, who had been police judge in +Spokane, Wash., from 1908 into 1911, and questioned him in regard to the +Spokane Free Speech fight and the death of Chief of Police John +Sullivan. Here attorney Fred Moore was on familiar ground, having acted +for the I. W. W. during the time of that trouble. Moore developed the +fact that there had been several thousand arrests with not a single +instance of resistance or violence on the part of the I. W. W., not a +weapon found on any of their persons, and no incendiary fires during +the entire fight. He further confounded the prosecution by having Judge +Mann admit that in the Spokane fight a prisoner arrested on a city +charge was always lodged in the city jail and one arrested on a county +charge was always placed in the county jail--a condition not at all +observed in Everett. + +Moore also brought out the facts of the death of Chief Sullivan so far +as they are known. The witness admitted that Sullivan was charged with +abuse of an adopted daughter of Mr. Elliott, a G. A. R. veteran; that +desk officer N. V. Pitts charged Sullivan with having forced him to turn +over certain Chinese bond money and the Chief resigned his position +while under these charges; that the Spokane Press bitterly attacked +Sullivan and was sued as a consequence, the Scripps-McRae paper being +represented by the law firm of Robertson, Miller and Rosenhaupt, of +which Judge Frank C. Robertson was the head; that the Chronicle and +Spokesman-Review joined in the attack upon the Chief; and that when +Sullivan was dying from a shot in the back the following conversation +occurred between himself and the dying man: "I said to him 'John, who do +you suppose did this?' He says, 'Judge F. C. Robertson and the Press are +responsible for this.' I said, 'John, you don't mean that, you can't +mean it?' He says, 'That is the way I feel.'" + +Judge Ronald prevented the attorneys from going very deeply into the +Spokane affair, saying: + +"I am not going to wash Spokane linen here; we have some of our own to +wash!" + +C. R. Schweitzer, owner of a scab plumbing shop, aged 47, yet +grey-haired, brazenly admitted having emptied a shotgun into the unarmed +boys on the Verona. It was the missiles from the brand-new +shotgun--probably furnished by Dave Oswald--that riddled the pilot house +and wounded many of the men who fell to the deck when the Verona +tilted. Schweitzer fired from a safe position behind the Klatawa slip. +Why the prosecution used him as a witness is a mystery. + +W. A. Taro, Everett Fire Chief, testified regarding the few incendiary +fires that had occurred in Everett during the year 1916, but failed to +connect them with the I. W. W. in any way. D. Daniels, Everett police +officer, testified to a phosphorous fire which did no damage and was in +no way connected with the I. W. W. + +Mrs. Jennie B. Ames, the only woman witness called by the prosecution, +testified that Mrs. Frennette was on the inclined walk at the Great +Northern Depot, at a point overlooking the dock, and was armed with a +revolver at the time the Verona trouble was on. Police officer J. E. +Moline also swore to the same thing, but was badly tangled when +confronted with his own evidence given at the preliminary hearing of +Mrs. Frennette on December 6th, 1916. + +Never was there a cad but who wished himself proclaimed as a gentleman; +never a bedraggled and maudlin harlot but who wanted the world to know +that she was a perfect lady. The last witness to be called by the +prosecution was John Hogan--"Honest" John Hogan if prosecutor Lloyd +Black was to be credited. + +"Honest" John Hogan was a young red-headed regular deputy sheriff, who +was a participant in the outrage on the City Dock on November 5th. +"Honest" John Hogan claimed to have seen the defendant, Thomas Tracy, +firing a revolver from one of the forward cabin windows. "Honest" John +Hogan had the same difficulty as the other "identifying" witnesses when +he also was asked to state whether it was possible to see a man firing +from a cabin window when the stern of the boat was out and the witness +in his specified position on the dock. "Honest" John Hogan was sure it +was Tracy that he saw because the man had a week's growth of whiskers on +his face. + +And this ended the case for the prosecution. + +As had been predicted there were hundreds of witnesses who were endorsed +and not called, and almost without an exception those who testified were +parties who had a very direct interest in seeing that a conviction was +secured. But thru the clever work of the lawyers for the defense what +was meant to have been a prosecution of the I. W. W. was turned into an +extremely poor defense of the deputies and their program of "law and +order." From the state's witnesses the defense had developed nearly the +whole outline and many of the details of its side of the case. + +When the state rested its case, Tracy leaned over to the defense lawyers +and, with a smile on his face, said: + +"I'd be willing to let the case go to the jury right now." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE DEFENSE + + +The case for the defense opened on Monday morning of April 2nd when +Vanderveer, directly facing the judge and witness chair from the +position vacated by the prosecution counsel, moved for a directed +verdict of not guilty on the ground that there had been an absolute +failure of evidence upon the question of conspiracy, any conspiracy of +which murder was either directly or indirectly an incident, and there +was no evidence whatever to charge the defendant directly as a principal +in causing the death of Jefferson Beard. The motion was denied and an +exception taken to the ruling of the court. + +Fred Moore made the opening statement for the defense. In his speech he +briefly outlined the situation that had existed in Everett up to and +including November 5th and explained to the jury the forces lined up +against each other in Everett's industrial warfare. Not for an instant +did the attention of the jury flag during the recital. + +Herbert Mahler, secretary of the I. W. W. in Seattle during the series +of outrages in Everett, was the first witness placed upon the stand. +Mahler told of the lumber workers' convention and the sending of +organizer James Rowan to make a survey of the industrial situation in +the lumber centers, Everett being the first point because of its +proximity to Seattle and not by reason of any strikes that may have +existed there. The methods of conducting the free speech fight, the +avoidance of secrecy, the ardent desire for publicity of the methods of +the lumber trust as well as the tactics of the I. W. W., were clearly +explained. + +Cooley cross-examined Mahler regarding the song book with reference to +the advocacy and use of sabotage, asking the witness: + +"How about throwing a pitchfork into a threshing machine? Would that be +all right?" + +"There are circumstances when it would be, I suppose," replied Mahler. +"If there was a farmer deputy who had been at Beverly Park, I think they +certainly would have a right to destroy his threshing machine." + +"You think that would justify it?" inquired Cooley. + +"Yes," said the witness, "I think that if the man had abused his power +as an officer and the person he abused had no other way of getting even +with him and that justice was denied him in the courts, I fully believe +that he would be. That would not hurt anybody; it would only hurt his +pocketbook." + +"Now what is this Joe Hill Memorial Edition?" + +"Joe Hillstrom, known as Joe Hill, had written a number of songs in the +I. W. W. Song Book and he was murdered in Utah and the song book was +gotten out in memory of him," responded Mahler. + +"He was executed after having been convicted of murder in the first +degree, and sentenced to death. And you say he was murdered?" said +Cooley. + +"Yes," said Mahler with emphasis. "Our contention has been that +Hillstrom did not have a fair trial and we are quite capable of proving +it. I may say that President Wilson interceded in his behalf and was +promptly turned down by Governor Spry of Utah. Hillstrom was offered a +commutation of sentence and he refused to take it. He wanted a retrial +or an acquittal. When the President of the United States had interceded +with the Governor of Utah, when various labor organizations asked that +he be given a retrial, and a man's life is to be taken from him, and +people all over the country ask for a retrial, that certainly should be +granted to him." + +James P. Thompson was placed upon the stand to explain the principles of +the I. W. W. The courtroom was turned into a propaganda meeting during +the examination of the witness. One of the first features was the +reading and explanation of state's exhibit "K," the famous I. W. W. +preamble which has been referred to on various occasions as the most +brutally scientific exposition of the class struggle ever penned: + + + I. W. W. PREAMBLE + + The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. + There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among + millions of the working people and the few, who make up the + employing class, have all the good things of life. + + Between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers + of the world organize as a class, take possession of the earth and + the machinery of production, and abolish the wage system. + + We find that the centering of the management of industries into + fewer and fewer hands makes the trade unions unable to cope with + the ever growing power of the employing class. The trade unions + foster a state of affairs which allow one set of workers to be + pitted against another set of workers in the same industry, thereby + helping defeat one another in wage wars. Moreover, the trade unions + aid the employing class to mislead the workers into the belief that + the working class have interests in common with their employers. + + These conditions can be changed and the interests of the working + class upheld only by an organization formed in such a way that all + its members in any one industry, or in all industries, if + necessary, cease work whenever a strike or lockout is on in any + department thereof, thus making an injury to one an injury to all. + + Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair + day's work," we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary + watchword, "Abolition of the wage system." + + It is the historic mission of the working class to do away with + capitalism. The army of production must be organized, not only for + the every day struggle with capitalists, but also to carry on + production when capitalism shall have been overthrown. By + organizing industrially we are forming the structure of the new + society within the shell of the old. + + +"Men in society represent economic categories," said Thompson. "By that +I mean that in the world of shoes there are shoemakers, and in the world +of boats there are seamen, and in this society there are economic +categories called the employing class and the working class. Now, +between them as employing class and working class there is nothing in +common. Their interests are diametrically opposed as such. It is not the +same thing as saying that human beings have nothing in common. The +working class and the employing class have antagonistic interests, and +the more one gets the less remains for the other. + +"Labor produces all wealth," continued Thompson, "and the more the +workers have to give up to anyone else the less remains for themselves. +The more they get in wages the less remains for the others in the form +of profits. As long as labor produces for the other class all the good +things of life there will be no peace; we want the products of labor +ourselves and let the other class go to work also. + +"The trades unions are unable to cope with the power of the employers +because when one craft strikes the others remain at work and by so doing +help the company to fill orders, and that is helping to break the +strike. If a group of workers strike and win, other workers are +encouraged to do likewise: if they strike and lose, other workers are +discouraged and employers are encouraged to do some whipping on their +own account. + +"We believe in an industrial democracy; that the industry shall be owned +by the people and operated on a co-operative plan instead of the wage +plan; that there is no such thing as a fair day's pay; that we should +have the full product of our labor in the co-operative system as +distinguished from the wage system. + +"Furthermore," went on the witness, as the jury leaned forward to catch +his every word, "our ideas were suggested to us by conditions in modern +industry, and it is the historical mission of the workers to organize, +not only for the preliminary struggles, but to carry on production +afterward." + +"We object to this!" shouted Mr. Cooley, and the court sustained the +objection. + +Despite continual protests from the prosecution Thompson gave the ideas +of the I. W. W. on many questions. Speaking of free speech the witness +said: + +"Free speech is vital. It is a point that has been threshed out and +settled before we were born. If we do not have free speech, the children +of the race will die in the dark." + +The message of industrial unionism delivered thru the sworn testimony of +a labor organizer was indeed an amazing spectacle. Judge Ronald never +relaxed his attention during the entire examination, the jury was +spell-bound, and it was only by an obvious effort that the spectators +kept from applauding the various telling points. + +"There is overwork on one hand," said Thompson, "and out-of-work on the +other. The length of the working day should be determined by the amount +of work and the number of workers. You have no more right to do eight or +ten or twelve hours of labor when others are out of work, despondent, +committing suicide, than you have to drink all the water, if that were +possible, while others are dying of thirst. + +"Solidarity is the I. W. W. way to get their demands. We do not advocate +that the workers should organize in a military way and use guns and +dynamite. The most effective weapon of labor is economic power: the +modern wage workers are the living parts of industry and if they fold +their arms, they immediately precipitate a crisis, they paralyze the +world. No other class has that power. The other class can fold their +arms, and they do most of the time, but our class has the economic +power. The I. W. W. preaches and teaches all the time that a far more +effective weapon than brickbats or dynamite is solidarity. + +"We have developed from individual production, to social production, yet +we still have private ownership of the means of production. One class +owns the industries and doesn't operate them, another class operates the +industries and does not own them. We are going to have a revolution. No +one is more mistaken than those who believe that this system is the +final state of society. As the industrial revolution takes place, as the +labor process takes on the co-operative form, as the tool of production +becomes social, the idea of social ownership is suggested, and so the +idea that things that are used collectively should be owned +collectively, presents itself with irresistible force to the people of +the twentieth century. So there is a struggle for industrial democracy. +We are the modern abolitionists fighting against wage slavery as the +other abolitionists fought against chattel slavery. The solution for our +modern problems is this, that the industries should be owned by the +people, operated by the people for the people, and the little busy bees +who make the honey of the world should eat that honey, and there should +be no drones at all in the hives of industry. + +"When we have industrial democracy you will know that the mills, the +mines, the factories, the earth itself, will be the collective property +of the people, and if a little baby should be born that baby would be as +much an owner of the earth as any other of the children of men. Then the +war, the commercial struggles, the clashes between groups of conflicting +interests, will be a night-mare of the past. In the place of capitalism +with its one class working and its other class enjoying, in the place of +the wages system with its strife and strikes, lockouts and grinding +poverty, we will have a co-operative system where the interests of one +will be to promote the interests of all--that will be Industrial +Democracy." + +Thompson explained the meaning of the sarcastic song, "Christians at +War," to the evident amusement of the jury and spectators. The witness +was then asked about Herve's work on anti-patriotism in this question by +attorney Moore: + +"What is the attitude of your organization relative to internationalism +and national patriotism?" + +"We object to that as incompetent and immaterial," cried Veitch of the +prosecution. + +"What did you put this book in for then?" said Judge Ronald in a testy +manner as he motioned the witness to proceed with his answer. + +"In the broader sense," answered Thompson, "there is no such thing as a +foreigner. We are all native born members of this planet, and for the +members of it to be divided into groups or units and to be taught that +each nation is better than the other leads to clashes and the world war. +We ought to have in the place of national patriotism--the idea that one +people is better than another,--a broader conception, that of +international solidarity. The idea that we are better than others is +contrary to the Declaration of Independence which declares that all men +are born free and equal. The I. W. W. believes that in order to do away +with wars we should remove the cause of wars; we should establish +industrial democracy and the co-operative system instead of +commercialism and capitalism and the struggles that come from them. We +are trying to make America a better land, a land without child slaves, a +land without poverty, and so also with the world, a world without a +master and without a slave." + +When the lengthy direct examination of Thompson had been finished, the +prosecution questioned him but five minutes and united in a sigh of +relief as he left the stand. + +The next witness called was Ernest Nordstrom, companion of Oscar Carlson +who was severely wounded on the Verona. Nordstrom testified rather out +of his logical order in the trial by reason of the fact that he was +about to leave on a lengthy fishing trip to Alaska. His testimony was +that he purchased a regular ticket at the same time as his friend +Carlson, but these tickets were not taken up by the purser. The original +ticket of this passenger was then offered in evidence. The witness +stated that the first shot came from almost the same place on the dock +as did the words "You can't land here." He fell to the deck and saw +Carlson fall also. Carlson tried to rise once, but a bullet hit him and +he dropped; there were nine bullet holes in him. Nordstrom was asked: + +"Did you have a gun?" + +"No sir." + +"Did Carlson have a gun?" + +"No sir." + +"Did you see anybody with a gun on the boat?" + +"No. I didn't." + +Organizer James Rowan then gave his experiences in Everett, ending with +a vivid recital of the terrible beating he had received at the hands of +deputies near Silver Lake. Upon telling of the photograph that was taken +of his lacerated back he was asked by Veitch: + +"What was the reason you had that picture taken?" + +"Well," said Rowan, in his inimitable manner, "I thought it would be a +good thing to get that taken to show up the kind of civilization that +they had in Everett." + +Dr. E. J. Brown, a Seattle dentist, and Thomas Horner, Seattle attorney, +corroborated Rowan's testimony as to the condition of his back. They had +seen the wounds and bruises shortly after the beating had been +administered and were of the opinion that a false light was reflected on +the photograph in such a way that the severest marks did not appear as +bad as they really were. + +Otto Nelson, Everett shingle weaver, gave testimony regarding the +shingle weavers' strikes of 1915 and 1916 but was stopped from going +into detail by the rulings of the court. He told also of the peaceful +character of all the I. W. W. meetings in Everett, and stated that on +one occasion police officer Daniels had fired two shots down one of the +city streets at an I. W. W. man who had been made to run the gauntlet. + +H. P. Whartenby, owner of a five-ten-fifteen cent store in Everett, said +that the I. W. W. meetings were orderly, and further testified that he +had been ordered out of the Commercial Club on the evening of November +5th but not until he had seen that the club was a regular arsenal, with +guns stacked all over the place. + +To establish the fact that the sidewalks were kept clear, that there was +no advocacy of violence, that no resistance was offered to arrest, and +that the I. W. W. meetings were well conducted in every particular, the +defense put on in fairly rapid succession a number of Everett citizens: +Mrs. Ina M. Salter, Mrs. Elizabeth Maloney, Mrs. Letelsia Fye, Bruce J. +Hatch, Mrs. Dollie Gustaffson, Miss Avis Mathison, Mrs. Peter Aiken, +Mrs. Annie Pomeroy, Mrs. Rebecca Wade, F. G. Crosby, and Mrs. Hannah +Crosby. The fact that these citizens, and a number of other women who +were mentioned in the testimony, attended the I. W. W. meetings quite +regularly, impressed the jury favorably. Some of these women witnesses +had been roughly handled by the deputies. Mrs. Pomeroy stated that the +deputies, armed with clubs and distinguished by white handkerchiefs +around their necks, invaded one meeting and struck right and left. "And +they punched me at that!" said the indignant witness. + +"Punched you where?" inquired Vanderveer in order to locate the injury. + +"They punched me on the sidewalk!" answered the witness, and the solemn +bailiff had to rap for order in the court room. + +Cooley caught a Tartar in his cross-examination of Mrs. Crosby. He +inquired: + +"Did you hear the I. W. W.'s say that when they got a majority of the +workers into this big union they would take possession of the +industries and run them themselves?" + +"Why certainly!" + +"You did hear them say they would take possession?" + +"Why certainly!" flashed back the witness. "That's the way the North did +with the slaves, isn't it? They took possession without ever asking +them. My people came from the South and they had slaves taken away from +them and never got anything for it, and quite right, too!" + +"Then you do believe it would be all right, yourself?" said Cooley. + +"I believe that confiscation would be perfectly right in the case of +taking things that are publicly used for the public good of the +people----." + +"That's all," hastily cut in Cooley. + +"That they should be used then by the people and for the people!" +finished the witness. + +"That's all!" cried Cooley loudly and more anxiously. + +Frank Henig, the next witness, told of having been blackjacked by +Sheriff McRae and exhibited the large scar on his forehead that plainly +showed where the brutal blow had landed. He stated that he had tried to +secure the arrest of McRae for the entirely unwarranted attack but was +denied a warrant. + +Jake Michel, secretary of the Everett Building Trades Council, gave +evidence regarding a number of the I. W. W. street meetings. He was +questioned at length about what he had inferred from the speeches of +Rowan, Thompson and others. Replying to one question he said: + +"I think the American Federation of Labor uses the most direct action +that any organization could use." + +"In a strike?" + +"Yes." + +"And by that you mean a peaceful strike?" said Cooley suggestively. + +"Well, I haven't seen them carry on very many peaceful ones yet," +replied Michel. + +Cooley asked Michel whether Rowan had said that "the workers should form +one great industrial union and declare the final and universal strike; +that is, that they should remain within the industrial institutions and +lock the employers out for good as owners?" + +"I never heard him mention anything about locking anyone out; I think he +wanted to lock them in and make them do some of the work!" answered +Michel. + +"You haven't any particular interest in this case, have you?" asked +Cooley with a sneer. + +"Yes, I have!" replied Michel with emphasis. + +When asked what this particular interest was, Michel caused +consternation among the ranks of the prosecution by replying: + +"The reason I have that interest is this; I have two sons and two +daughters. I want to see the best form of organization so that the boys +can go out and make a decent living; I don't want my girls to become +prostitutes upon the streets and my boys vagabonds upon the highways!" + +Harry Feinberg, one of the free speech prisoners named on the first +information with Watson and Tracy, was then placed on the stand and +questioned as to the beating he had received at the hands of deputies, +as to the condition of Frank Henig after McRae's attack, and upon +matters connected with various street meetings at which he had been the +speaker. Mention of the name of George Reese brought forth an argument +from the prosecution that it had not been shown that Reese was a +detective. After an acrimonious discussion Vanderveer suddenly declared: + +"Just to settle this thing and settle it for now and all the time, I +will ask a subpoena forthwith for Philip K. Ahern and show who Reese is +working for." + +The subpoena was issued and a recess taken to allow it to be served. As +Vanderveer stepped into the hall, detective Malcolm McLaren said to him, +"You can't subpoenae the head of the Pinkerton Detective Agency!" + +"I have subpoenaed him," responded Vanderveer shortly as he hurried to +the witness room. + +While awaiting the arrival of this witness, Feinberg was questioned +further, and was then taken from the stand to allow the examination of +two Everett witnesses, Mrs. L. H. Johnson and P. S. Johnson, the latter +witness being withdrawn when Ahern put in an appearance. + +Vanderveer was very brief, but to the point, in the examination of the +local head of the Pinkerton Agency. + +"Mr. Ahern, on the fifth day of November you had in your employ a man +named George Reese?" + +"Yes sir." + +"For whom was he working, thru you, at that time?" + +"For Snohomish County." + +"That's all!" said Vanderveer triumphantly. + +Cooley did not seem inclined to cross-examine the witness at any length +and Vanderveer in another straightforward question brought out the fact +that Reese was a Pinkerton employe during the Longshoremen's +strike--this being the time that Reese also was seated as a delegate to +the Seattle Trades Council of the A. F. of L. + +A portion of the testimony of Mrs. L. H. Johnson was nearly as important +as that concerning Reese. She recited a conversation with Sheriff McRae +as follows: + +"McRae said he would stop the I. W. W. from coming to Everett if he had +to call out the soldiers. And I told him the soldiers wouldn't come out +on an occasion like this, they were nothing but Industrial Workers of +the World and they had a right to speak and get people to join their +union if they wanted to. And he said he had the backing of the millmen +to keep them out of the city, and he was going to do it if he had to +call the soldiers out and shoot them down when they landed there, when +they came off the dock." + +[Illustration: Cutting off top of tree to fit block for flying machine.] + +This clearly indicated the bloodthirsty designs of the millmen and the +sheriff at a time long before November 5th. + +G. W. Carr, Wilfred Des Pres, and J. M. Norland testified to the +breaking up of peaceably conducted I. W. W. meetings, Des Pres also +telling of rifles having been transported from the Pacific Hardware +Company to the dock on November 5th. All three were Everett citizens. +Black asked Norland if he knew what sabotage was, to which Norland +replied: + +"Everybody that follows the labor movement knows what sabotage is." + +There was a sensation in court at this question for it was the first and +only time that any of the prosecution counsel correctly pronounced the +word sabotage! + +W. W. Blain, secretary of the Commercial Club, altho an unwilling +witness, gave much information of value to the defense. He was forced to +produce the minutes of the "open shop committee" and give up the story +of how control of the club was purchased by the big interests, how the +boycott was invoked against certain publications, and finally to tell of +the employment of Pinkerton detectives prior to November 5th, and to +give a list of the deputies furnished by the Commercial Club. + +During the examination of this witness some telegrams, in connection +with the testimony, were handed up to the judge. While reading these +Judge Ronald was interrupted by a foolish remark from Black to +Vanderveer. Looking over his glasses the judge said: + +"Every time I start to read anything, you gentlemen get into a quarrel +among yourselves. I am inclined to think that the 'cats,' some of them, +are here in the courtroom." + +"I will plead guilty for Mr. Black, Your Honor!" said Vanderveer +quickly, laughing at the reference to sabotage. + +Testimony to further establish the peaceable character of the I. W. W. +meetings and the rowdyism of the police and deputies was given by +witnesses from Everett: Gustaf Pilz, Mrs. Leota Carr, J. E. McNair, Ed +Morton, Michael Maloney, Verne C. Henry and Morial Thornburg. The +statements of these disinterested parties regarding the clubbings given +to the speakers and to citizens of their acquaintance proved very +effective. + +Attorney H. D. Cooley for the prosecution was placed upon the witness +stand and Vanderveer shot the question at him: + +"By whom were you employed in this case, Mr. Cooley?" + +"Objected to as immaterial!" cried Veitch, instantly springing to his +feet. + +But the damage had been done! The refusal to allow an answer showed that +there were interested parties the prosecution wished to hide from the +public. + +Levi Remick related the story of the deportation from Everett, and was +followed on the witness stand by Edward Lavelly, James Dwyer, and Thomas +Smye, who testified to different atrocities committed in Everett by +McRae and the citizen deputies. Their evidence had mainly to do with the +acts of piracy committed against the launch "Wanderer" and the +subsequent abuse of the arrested men. A little later in the trial this +testimony was fully corroborated by the statements of Captain Jack +Mitten. During Mitten's examination by Black the old Captain continually +referred to the fact that the life preservers and other equipment of his +boat had been stolen while he was in jail. The discomfiture of the +youthful prosecutor was quite evident. + +J. H. Buel impeached the testimony of state's witness Judge Bell who had +made the claim that a filer at the Clark-Nickerson mill had been +assaulted by a member of the I. W. W. Vanderveer asked this witness: + +"What was the name of the man assaulted?" + +"Jimmy Cain." + +"Who did it?" + +"I did." + +"Are you an I. W. W.?" + +"No sir." + +"Were you ever?" + +"No sir." + +Louis Skaroff followed with a detailed story of the murderous attack +made upon him by Mayor Merrill in the Everett jail, his story being +unshaken when he was recalled and put thru a grilling cross-examination. + +William Roberts, who had been beaten and deported with Harry Feinberg, +related his experience. The childish questions of Black in regard to the +idea of abolishing the wages system nettled this witness and caused him +to exclaim, "the trouble is that you don't understand the labor +movement." + +James Orr then told of having his money stolen by the officials so they +might pay the fares of twenty-two deported men, and John Ovist followed +with the tale of the slugging he had received upon the same occasion +that Feinberg, Roberts and Henig were assaulted. + +Attorneys George W. Loutitt and Robert Faussett, of Everett, stated that +the reputation of McRae for sobriety was very bad. Both of these lawyers +had resigned from the Commercial Club upon its adoption of an open shop +policy. + +Thomas O'Niel testified regarding street meetings and other matters in +connection with the case. Cooley asked the witness how many people +usually attended the meetings. + +"It started in with rather small meetings," said the witness, "and then +every time, as fast as they were molested by the police, the crowd kept +growing until at last the meetings were between two and three thousand +people." + +The witness said he had read considerable about industrial unionism, and +tho he was shocked at first he had come to believe in it. + +"Until now you are satisfied that their doctrines taken as a whole are +proper and should be promulgated and adopted by the working class?" +inquired Cooley. + +"In this way," answered O'Niel, "it was not the I. W. W. literature that +convinced me so much as the actions of the side that was fighting them." + +"That is, you believe they were right because of the actions of the +people on the other side?" said Cooley. + +"Yes," responded the witness, "because I think there are only two people +interested in this movement, the people carrying on the propaganda and +the people fighting the propaganda, and I saw the people who were +fighting the propaganda use direct action, sabotage, and every power, +political and industrial, they used it all to whip this organization, +and then I asked myself why are they fighting this organization. And the +more deeply I became interested, the more clearly I saw why they were +doing it, and that made me a believer in the I. W. W." + +Mrs. Louise McGuire followed this witness with testimony about injuries +she had received thru the rough treatment accorded her by citizen +deputies engaged in breaking up a street meeting. + +W. H. Clay, Everett's Commissioner of Finance, was brought on the stand +to testify that he was present and active at the conference that +resulted in the formation of the citizen deputies. + +John Berg then related his experiences at the time he was taken to the +outskirts of Everett and deported after McRae had kicked him in the +groin until a serious injury resulted. Owing to the fact that the jury +was a mixed one Berg was not permitted to exhibit the rupture. This +witness also told his experience on the "Wanderer" and his treatment in +the jail upon his arrest. + +Oscar Lindstrom then took the stand and corroborated the stories of the +witnesses who had testified about the shooting up of the "Wanderer" and +the beating and jailing of its passengers. H. Sokol, better known as +"Happy," also told of his experience on the "Wanderer" and gave the +facts of the deportation that had taken place on August 23rd. + +Irving W. Ziegaus, secretary to Governor Lister, testified that the +letter concerning Everett sent from the Seattle I. W. W. had been +received; Steven M. Fowler identified certain telegrams sent from +Everett to Seattle officials by David Clough on November 5th; after +which Chester Micklin, who had been jailed in Everett following the +tragedy, corroborated parts of the story of Louis Skaroff. + +The evidence of state's witness, Clyde Gibbons, was shattered at this +stage of the trial by the placing of Mrs. Lawrence MacArthur on the +stand. This witness, the proprietor of the Merchants Hotel in Everett, +produced the hotel register for November 4th and showed that Mrs. +Frennette had registered at that time and was in the city when Gibbons +claimed she was holding a conversation in an apartment house on Yesler +Way in Seattle. + +The defense found it necessary to call witnesses who logically should +have been brought forward by the prosecution on their side of the case. +Among these was the famous "Governor" Clough, citizen deputy and open +shop mill owner. David Clough unwillingly testified to having been +present at the deportation of twenty-two I. W. W. members on August +23rd, having gone down to the dock at 8:30 that morning, and also to his +interest in Joseph Schofield, the deputy who had been injured by his +brother outlaws on the dock just before the Beverly Park deportations. + +Mahler and Micklin were recalled for some few additional questions, and +were followed on the stand by Herman Storm, who gave testimony about the +brutal treatment received by himself and his fellow passengers on the +launch "Wanderer." John Hainey and Joseph Reaume also gave details of +this outrage. + +"Sergeant" J. J. Keenan, who had become a familiar figure because of his +"police" duty in the outer court corridor from the inception of the +trial, then took the witness stand and recounted his experiences at +Snohomish and Maltby, his every word carrying conviction that the +sheriff and his deputies had acted with the utmost brutality in spite of +the advanced age of their victim. John Patterson and Tom Thornton +corroborated Keenan's testimony. + +A surprise was sprung upon the prosecution at this juncture by the +introduction on the witness stand of George Kannow, a man who had been a +deputy sheriff in Everett and who had been present when many of the +brutalities were going on. He told of the treatment of Berg after the +"Wanderer" arrests. + +"He was struck and beaten and thrown down and knocked heavily against +the steel sides of the tank, his head striking on a large projecting +lock. He was kicked by McRae and he hollered 'My God, you are killing +me,' and McRae said he didn't give a damn whether he died or not, and +kicked him again and then shoved him into the tank." + +The gauntlet at the county jail was described in detail and the spirit +of the free speech fighters was shown by this testimony: + +"Yes, I heard some of them groan. They all took their medicine well, +tho. They didn't holler out but some of them would groan; some of them +would go down pretty near to their knees and then get up, then they +would get sapped again as they got up. But they never made any real +outcries." + +The witness stated that "Governor" Clough was a regular attendant at the +deportation parties and so also were W. R. Booth, Ed Hawes, T. W. +Anguish, Bill Pabst, Ed Seivers, and Will Taft. He described McRae's +drunken condition and told of drunken midnight revels held in the county +jail. His testimony was unshaken on cross-examination. + +Mrs. Fern Grant, owner of the Western Hotel and Grant's Cafe, testified +that Mrs. Frennette was in her place of business in Everett on the +morning of the tragedy, thus adding to the evidence that Clyde Gibbons +had perjured himself in testifying for the prosecution. + +A party of Christian Scientists, who had attended a lecture in Everett +by Bliss Knapp, told of the frightful condition of the eight men who had +taken the interurban train to Seattle following their experience at +Beverly Park. Mrs. Lou Vee Siegfried, Christian Science practitioner, +Thorwald Siegfried, prominent Seattle lawyer, Mrs. Anna Tenelli and Miss +Dorothy Jordan were corroborated in their testimony by Ira Bellows, +conductor on the interurban car that took the wounded men to Seattle. + +Another break in the regular order of the trial was made at this point +by the placing on the stand of Nicholas Conaieff, member of the I. W. +W., who was to leave on the following day with a party of Russians +returning to their birthplace to take part in the revolution then in +progress. Conaieff stated that the first shot came from the dock. His +realistic story of the conditions on the Verona moved many in the +courtroom to tears. In his description Conaieff said: + +"I was wounded myself. But before I was wounded and as we were lying +there three or four deep I saw a wounded man at my feet in a pool of +blood. Then I saw a man with his face up, and he was badly wounded, +probably he was dead. There were three or four wounded men alongside of +me. The conditions were so terrible that it was hard to control one's +self, and a young boy who was in one pile could not control himself any +longer; he was about twenty years old and had on a brown, short, heavy +coat, and he looked terrified and jumped up and went overboard into the +water and I didn't see him any more." + +Mrs. Edith Frennette testified to her movements on the day of the +tragedy and denied the alleged threats to Sheriff McRae. Lengthy +cross-examination failed to shake her story. + +Members of the I. W. W. who had been injured at Beverly Park then +testified. They were Edward Schwartz, Harry Hubbard, Archie Collins, C. +H. Rice, John Downs, one of the defendants, Sam Rovinson and Henry +Krieg. Any doubt as to the truth of their story was dispelled by the +testimony of Mrs. Ruby Ketchum, her husband Roy Ketchum, and her +brother-in-law Lew Ketchum, all three of whom heard the screams of the +victims and witnessed part of the slugging near their home at Beverly +Park. Some members of the investigation committee who viewed the scene +on the morning after the outrage gave their evidence as to the finding +of bits of clothing, soles of shoes, bloodstained hats and loose +hat-bands, and blotches of blood on the paved roadway and cattle guard. +These witnesses were three ministers of the gospel of different +denominations, Elbert E. Flint, Joseph P. Marlatt, and Oscar H. McGill. +The last named witness also told of having interviewed Herbert Mahler, +secretary of the I. W. W. in Seattle, following a conference with +Everett citizens, with the object of having a large public demonstration +in Everett to expose the Beverly Park affair and to prevent its +repetition. It was after this interview that the call went out for the +I. W. W. to hold a public meeting in Everett on Sunday, November 5th. +Mahler was recalled to the stand to verify McGill's statement in the +matter of the interview. + +This testimony brought the case up to the events of November 5th and the +defense, having proven each illegal action of the sheriff, deputies and +mill owners, and disproven the accusations against the I. W. W., +proceeded to open to the gaze of the public and force to the attention +of the jury the actual facts concerning the massacre on the Verona. + +An important witness was Charles Miller, who viewed the tragedy from a +point about four hundred feet from the Verona while on the deck of his +fishing boat, the "Scout." He stated that the Verona tilted as soon as +the first shots came. Miller placed the model of the boat at the same +relative position it had occupied as the firing started on Bloody Sunday +and the prosecution could not tangle up this witness on this important +point. The "identification" witnesses of the prosecution were of +necessity liars if the stern of the Verona was at the angle set by +Miller. + +C. M. Steele, owner of apartment houses and stores in Everett, stated +that he had been in a group who saw an automobile load of guns +transported to the dock prior to the docking of the Verona, this auto +being closely followed by a string of other machines. The witness tried +to get upon the dock but was prevented by deputies who had a rope +stretched clear across the entrance near the office of the American Tug +Boat Company. He saw the boat tilt as the firing started and noticed +that the stern swung out at the time. This testimony was demonstrated +with the model. Harry Young, chauffeur, corroborated this testimony and +told of rifle fire from the dock. + +Mrs. Mabel Thomas, from a position on Johnson's float quite near the +Verona, told of the boat listing until the lower deck was under water, +almost immediately after the firing started. Mrs. Thomas testified that +"one man who was facing toward the Improvement Dock, raised his hands +and fell overboard from the hurricane deck as tho he were dead. His +overcoat held him to the top of the water for a moment and then he went +down. One jumped from the stern and then there were six or seven in the +water. One got up thru the canvas and crawled back in. One man that fell +in held up his hands for a moment and sank. There were bullets hitting +all around him." + +Mr. Carroll Thomas, husband of the preceding witness, gave the same +testimony about the men in the water and stated that he saw armed men on +the Improvement Dock. + +The testimony of Ayrold D. Skinner, a barber in Everett at the time of +the tragedy and who had been brought from California to testify, was +bitterly attacked by Veitch but to no avail. When the Verona landed +Skinner was so situated as to command a view of the whole proceedings. +He told of the boat listing, the men falling in the water and being +shot, and his testimony about a man on board the tug "Edison" firing a +rifle directly across the open space on the dock in the direction of the +Verona was unshakeable. This witness also testified that about ten +deputies with rifles were running back and forth in a frightened manner +and were firing from behind the Klatawa slip. The witness saw Dick +Hembridge, superintendent of the Canyon Lumber Company, Carl Tyre, +timekeeper, Percy Ames, the boom man, and a Dr. Hedges. The last two +came up to where the witness was, each bearing a rifle. Skinner stated +that he said to Ames, "Percy, what is the world coming to?" and Ames +broke down as tho he felt something were wrong. Then Dr. Hedges came +running up from where the boat was, he was white in the face, and he +cried "Don't go down there, boys; they are shooting wild, you don't know +where in hell the shots are coming from." + +Carl Ryan, night watchman of the Everett Shingle Company, N. C. Roberts, +an Everett potter, Robert Thompson and Edward Thompson testified about +the angle of the boat, as to rifles on the dock, the shooting from the +tug "Edison" and from the Improvement Dock, in support of witnesses who +had previously testified. + +Alfred Freeman, I. W. W. member who was on the Verona, testified about +the movements of those who made the trip to Everett and told of the +conditions on the boat. His testimony, and that of numerous other I. W. +W. witnesses, disproved the charges of conspiracy. + +I. W. McDonald, barber, John Josephson, lumber piler, and T. M. Johnson, +hod carrier, all of Everett, stated that the shots from the boat did not +come until after there had been considerable firing from the dock. These +witnesses were among the thousands of citizens who overlooked the scene +from the hillside by the Great Northern depot. + +[Illustration: VERONA AT EVERETT DOCK. + +under same tide condition as at time of Massacre.] + +On Wednesday, April 18th, the jury, accompanied by Judge Ronald, the +attorneys for both sides, the defendant, Thomas Tracy, and the court +stenographer, went in automobiles to Everett to inspect the various +places mentioned in the court proceedings. The party stopped on the way +to Everett to look over the scene of the Beverly Park outrages of +October 30th. No one spoke to the jury but Judge Ronald, who pointed out +the various features at the request of the attorneys in the background. + +After visiting the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore Avenues, the party went +to the city dock. Both warehouses were carefully examined, the +bulletholes, tho badly whittled, being still in evidence. Bulletholes in +the floor, clock-case, and in the walls still showed quite plainly that +the firing from within the warehouse and waiting room had been wild. +Bullets imbedded in the Klatawa slip on the side toward the Bay also +gave evidence of blind firing on the part of the deputies. In the floor +of the dock, between the ship and the open space near the waiting room, +were several grooves made by bullets fired from the shore end of the +dock. These marks indicated that the bullets had taken a course directly +in line with the deputies who were in the front ranks as the Verona +landed. + +The party boarded the Verona and subjected the boat to a searching +examination, discovering that the stairways, sides, and furnishings were +riddled with shot holes. The pilot house, in particular, was found to +have marks of revolver and high power rifle bullets, in addition to +being closely marked with small shot holes, some of the buck-shot still +being visible. + +The captain swung the boat out to the same angle as it had been on +November 5th, this being done at a time when it was computed that the +tide would be relatively the same as on the date of the tragedy. Someone +assumed the precise position at the cabin window that Tracy was alleged +to have been in while firing. The jury members then took up the +positions which the "identification witnesses" had marked on a diagram +during their testimony. The man in the window was absolutely invisible! + +A photograph was then taken from the point where "Honest" John Hogan +claimed to have been when he saw Tracy firing and another view made by +a second camera to show that the first photograph had been taken from +the correct position. These were later introduced as evidence. + +No testimony was taken in Everett but on the re-opening of court in +Seattle next morning Frank A. Brown, life insurance solicitor, testified +that McRae dropped his hand just before the first shot was fired from +somewhere to the right of the sheriff. He also identified a Mr. +Thompson, engineer of the Clark-Nickerson mill, and a Mr. Scott, as +being armed with guns having stocks. Mike Luney, shingle weaver, told of +a fear-crazed deputy running from the dock with a bullethole in his ear +and crying out that one of the deputies had shot him. Fred Bissinger, a +boy of 17, told of the deputies breaking for cover as soon as they had +fired a volley at the men on the boat. It was only after the heavy +firing that he saw a man on the boat pull a revolver from his pocket and +commence to shoot. He saw but two revolvers in action on the Verona. + +One of the most dramatic and clinching blows for the defense was struck +when there was introduced as a witness Fred Luke, who was a regular +deputy sheriff and McRae's right-hand man. Luke's evidence of the +various brutalities, given in a cold, matter-of-fact manner, was most +convincing. He stated that the deputies wore white handkerchiefs around +their necks so they would not be hammering each other. He contradicted +McRae's testimony about Beverly Park by stating positively that the +sheriff had gone out in a five passenger car, and not in a roadster as +was claimed, and that they had both remained there during the entire +affair. He told how he had swung at the I. W. W. men with such force +that his club had broken from its leather wrist thong and disappeared +into the woods. When questioned about the use of clubs in dispersing +street crowds at the I. W. W. meetings he said: + +"I used my sap as a club and struck them and drove them away with it." + +"Why didn't you use your hands and push them out?" asked Cooley. + +"I didn't think we had a right to use our hands," said the big +ex-deputy. + +"What do you mean by that?" said the surprised lawyer. + +"Well," replied the witness, "what did they give us the saps for?" + +Cooley also asked this witness why he had struck the men at Beverly +Park. + +"Well," replied the ex-deputy, "if you want to know, that was the idea +of the Commercial Club. That was what they recommended." + +Luke, who was a guard at the approach to the dock on November 5th, told +of having explained the workings of a rifle to a deputy while the +shooting was in progress. The state at first had contended that there +were no rifles on the dock and later had made the half-hearted plea that +none of the rifles which were proven to have been there were fired. + +Following this important witness the defense introduced Fird Winkley, A. +E. Amiott, Dr. Guy N. Ford, Charles Leo, Ed Armstrong, mate of the +Verona and a witness for the state, and B. R. Watson, to corroborate the +already convincing evidence that the stern of the Verona was swung quite +a distance from the dock. + +Robert Mills, business agent of the Everett Shingle Weavers, who had +been called to the stand on several occasions to testify to minor +matters, was then recalled. He testified that it was his hand which +protruded from the Verona cabin window in the photographs, and that his +head was resting against the window jamb on the left hand side as far +out as it would be possible to get without crawling out of the window. +As Mills was a familiar figure to the entire jury and was also possessed +of a peculiarly unforgettable type of countenance, the state's +identification of Tracy was shown to have been false. + +The Chief of Police of Seattle, Charles Beckingham, corroborated +previous testimony by stating that the identification and selection of +I. W. W. men had been made from a dark cell by two Pinkerton men, Smith +and Reese, aided by one of the defendants, I. P. McDowell, alias Charles +Adams. + +Malcolm McLaren was then placed upon the stand and the admission secured +that he was a detective and had formerly been connected with the Burns +Agency. Objection was made to a question about the employment of McLaren +in the case, to which Vanderveer replied that it was the purpose of the +defense to prove that the case was not being prosecuted by the State of +Washington at all. In the absence of the jury Vanderveer then offered to +prove that McLaren had been brought from Los Angeles and retained in the +employ of certain mill owners, among them being "Governor" Clough and +Mr. Moody of the First National Bank, and that McLaren had charge of the +work of procuring the evidence introduced by the state. He offered to +prove that Veitch and Cooley were employed by the same people. The court +sustained the objection of the state to the three offers. + +Testimony on various phases of the case was then given by Mrs. Fannie +Jordan, proprietor of an apartment house in Seattle, Nick Shugar, Henry +Luce, Paul Blakenship, Charles W. Dean, and later on by Oliver Burnett. + +Captain Chauncey Wiman was called to the stand, but it happened that he +had gone into hiding so soon after the boat landed that he could testify +to nothing of particular importance. From his appearance on the witness +stand it seemed that he was still nearly scared to death. + +Another surprise for the prosecution was then sprung by placing Joseph +Schofield on the witness stand. Schofield told of having been beaten up +at the city dock by Joseph Irving, during the time they were lining up +the forty-one I. W. W. men for deportation. The witness displayed the +scar on his head that had resulted from the wound made by the gun butt, +and described the drunken condition of McRae and other deputies on the +occasion of his injury. And then he told that "Governor" Clough had gone +to his wife just a couple of days before he took the witness stand and +had given her $75.00. This deputy witness was on the dock November 5th, +and he described the affair. He swore that McRae had his gun drawn +before any shooting started, that there were rifles in use on the dock, +that a man was firing a Winchester rifle from the tug Edison. He was +handed a bolt action army rifle to use but made no use of it. Schofield +voluntarily came from Oregon to testify for the defense. + +Chief Beckingham resumed the stand and was asked further about McDowell, +alias Adams. He said: + +"We sent a man in with this man Adams, who was in constant fear that +somebody might see him, and he would stand way back that he might tip +this man with him and this man's fingers came out to identify the I. W. +W. men who were supposed to have guns." + +"What inducements were made to this man Adams?" asked Vanderveer. + +"In the presence of Mr. Cooley and Mr. Webb and Captain Tennant and +myself he was told that he could help the state and there would be no +punishment given him. He was taken to Everett with the impression that +he would be let out and taken care of." + +Another ex-deputy, Fred Plymale, confirmed the statements of Fred Luke +in regard to McRae's use of a five passenger car at Beverly Park and +showed that it was impossible for the sheriff to have attended a dance +at the hour he had claimed. The efforts of the prosecution to shake the +testimony that had been given by Fred Luke was shown by this witness who +testified that he had been approached by Mr. Clifford Newton, as agent +for Mr. Cooley, and that at an arranged conversation McRae had tried to +have him state that the runabout had been used to go to the slugging +party. + +Walter Mulholland, an 18 year old boy, and Henry Krieg, both of whom +were members of the I. W. W. and passengers on the Verona, then +testified in detail about the shattering gun fire and the wounding of +men on board the boat. Mulholland told of wounds received, one bullet +still being in his person at that time. Krieg, not being familiar with +military terms, stated that there were many shells on the deck of the +Verona after the trouble, and the prosecution thought they had scored +quite a point until re-direct examination brought out the fact that +Henry meant the lead bullets that had been fired from the dock. + +E. Carl Pearson, Snohomish County Treasurer, rather unwillingly +corroborated the testimony of ex-deputies Luke and Plymale in regard to +the actions of McRae at Beverly Park. + +The witness chair seemed almost to swallow the next nine witnesses who +were boys averaging about twelve years in age. These lads had picked up +shells on and beneath the dock to keep as mementos of the "Battle." +Handfuls of shells of various sizes and description, from revolver, +rifle and shotgun, intermingled with rifle clips and unfired +copper-jacketed rifle cartridges, were piled upon the clerk's desk as +exhibits by these youthful witnesses. After the various shells had been +classified by L. B. Knowlton, an expert in charge of ammunition sales +for the Whiton Hardware Company of Seattle for six years, the boys were +recalled to the stand to testify to the splintered condition of the +warehouses, their evidence proving that a large number of shots had been +fired from the interior of the warehouses directly thru the walls. The +boys who testified were Jack Warren, Palmer Strand, Rollie Jackson, +William Layton, Eugene Meives, Guy Warner, Tom Wolf, Harvey Peterson, +and Roy Jensen. Veitch, by this time thoroly disgusted with the turn +taken by the case, excused these witnesses without even a pretense of +cross-examination. + +Completely clinching this link in the evidence against the citizen +deputies was the testimony of Miss Lillian Goldthorpe and her mother, +Hannah Goldthorpe. Miss Goldthorpe, waitress in the Commercial Club +dining room, picked up some rifle shells that had fallen from the rifles +stacked in the office, and also from the pocket of one of the hunting +coats lying on the floor. She took these home to her mother who +afterward turned them over to Attorney Moore. She also identified +certain murderous looking blackjacks as being the same as those stored +in the Club. It is hardly necessary to state that the open-shop +advocates who continually prate about the "right of a person to work +when and where they please" were not slow about taking away Lillian's +right to work at the Commercial Club after she had given this truthful +testimony! + +James Hadley, I. W. W. member on the Verona, told how he had dived +overboard to escape the murderous fire and had been the only man in the +water to regain a place on the boat. + +"I saw two go overboard and I didn't see them any more," said Hadley. +"Then I saw another man four feet from me and he seemed to be swimming +all right, and all of a sudden he went down and I never saw him any +more. I was looking right at him and he just closed his eyes and sank." + +Mario Marino, an 18 year old member of the I. W. W., then told of the +serious wounds he had received on the boat. He was followed by Brockman +B. Armstrong, another member of the union, who was close to the rail on +the port side of the boat. He saw a puff of smoke slightly to the rear +of McRae directly after the sound of the first shot. A rifle bullet cut +a piece out of his forehead and a second went thru his cap and creased +his scalp, felling him to his knees. Owen Genty was shot thru the kidney +on the one side of him, and Gust Turnquist was hit in the knee on the +other. As he lay in the heap of wounded men a buckshot buried itself in +the side of his head near the temple. As the Verona was pulling out he +tried to crawl to shelter and was just missed by a rifle bullet from the +dock situated to the south. + +Archie Collins, who had previously testified about Beverly Park, was +then called to the stand to tell of the trip to Everett and the trouble +that resulted. Prosecutor Black displayed his usual asininity by asking +in regard to preparations made by Verona passengers: + +"What were they taking or not taking?" + +"There might be two or three million things they were not taking," cut +in Judge Ronald chidingly. + +Black's examination of the various witnesses was aptly described by +Publicity Agent Charles Ashleigh in the Industrial Worker, as follows: + +"His examinations usually act as a soporific; heads are observed nodding +dully thruout the courtroom and one is led to wonder whether, if he were +allowed to continue, there would not be a sort of fairy-tale scene in +which the surprised visitor to the court would see audience, jury, +lawyers, judge, prisoner and functionaries buried in deep slumber +accompanied only by a species of hypnotic twittering which could be +traced eventually to a dignified youth who was lulled to sleep by his +own narcotic burblings but continued, mechanically, to utter the same +question over and over again." + +During this dreamy questioning Black asked about the men who were +cleaning up the boat on its return trip, with a view to having the +witness state that there were empty shells all over the deck. His +question was: + +"Did you pick anything up from the floor?" + +Instantly the courtroom was galvanized into life by Collin's startling +answer: + +"I picked up an eye, a man's eye." + +The witness had lifted from the blood-stained deck a long splinter of +wood on which was impaled a human eye! + +The story of Fred Savery was typical of the unrecognized empire builders +who make up the migratory class. Fred was born in Russia, his folks +moving to Austria and then migrating to Canada when the lad was but two +years old. At the age of nine he started at farm work and at twelve he +was big enough to handle logs and work in the woods. Savery took the +stand in his uniform of slavery, red mackinaw shirt, stagged-off pants, +caulked shoes, and a battered slouch hat in his hand. The honest +simplicity of his halting French-Canadian speech carried more weight +than the too smooth flowing tales told by the well drilled citizen +deputies on whom the prosecution depended for conviction. + +Cooley dwelt at great length on the constant travel of this witness, a +feature incidental to the life of every migratory worker. Even the judge +tired of these tactics and told the prosecution that there was no way to +stop them from asking the interminable questions but it was merely a +waste of time. But all of Cooley's dilatory tactics could not erase from +the minds of the listeners the simple, earnest, sincere story Fred +Savery told of the death of his fellow worker, Hugo Gerlot. + +Charles Ashleigh was then placed upon the witness stand to testify to +having been selected as one of the speakers to go to Everett on November +5th. He stated that he had gone over on the Interurban and had returned +that afternoon at four o'clock. After the prosecution had interrogated +him about certain articles published subsequent to the tragedy Ashleigh +was excused. + +To impeach the testimony of William Kenneth, wharfinger at the City +Dock, the defense then introduced Peter Aikken of Everett. Following +this witness Owen Genty, one of the I. W. W. men wounded on the Verona, +gave an account of the affair and stated that the first shot came from a +point just to the rear of the sheriff. + +Raymond Lee, a youth of 19 years, told of having gone to Everett on the +day of the Beverly Park affair in order to mail free speech pamphlets +directly to a number of Everett citizens. He went to the dock at the +time of the deportation, getting past the deputies on a plea of wanting +to see his uncle, his youth and neat appearance not being at all in +accord with the current idea of what an I. W. W. member looked like. Lee +was cross-questioned at great length by Veitch. This witness told the +story of the death of Abraham Rabinowitz on the Verona in these few, +simple words: + +[Illustration: View of Beverly Park, showing County Road.] + +"Rabinowitz was lying on top of me with his head on my leg. I felt my +leg getting wet and I reached back to see what it was, and when I pulled +my hand away it was covered with blood. He was shot in the back of the +brain." + +James McRoden, I. W. W. member who was on the Verona, gave corroborative +testimony about the first shot having been from the dock. + +James Francis Billings, one of the free speech prisoners, testified that +he was armed with a Colts 41 revolver on the Verona, and shortly after +the shooting started he went to the engineer of the boat and ordered him +to get the Verona away from the dock. He threw the gun overboard on the +return trip to Seattle. Black tried to make light of the serious +injuries this witness had received at Beverly Park by asking him if all +that he received was not a little brush on the shin. The witness +answered: + +"No sir. I had a black eye. I was beaten over both eyes as far as that +is concerned. My arms were held out by one big man on either side and I +was beaten on both sides. As Sheriff McRae went past me he said 'Give it +to him good,' and when I saw what was coming I dropped in order to save +my face, and the man on the left hand side kicked me from the middle of +my back clear down to my heels, and he kept kicking me until the fellow +on the right told him to kick me no more as I was all in. My back and my +hip have bothered me ever since." + +Black tried to interrupt the witness and also endeavored to have his +answer stricken from the testimony but the judge answered his objection +by saying: + +"I told you to withdraw the question and you didn't do it." + +Vanderveer asked Billings the question: + +"Why did you carry a gun on the fifth of November?" + +"I took it for my own personal benefit," replied Billings. "I didn't +intend to let anybody beat me up like I was beaten on October 30th in +the condition I was in. I was in bad condition at the time." + +Harvey E. Wood, an employe of the Jamison Mill Company, took the stand +and told of a visit made by Jefferson Beard to the bunkhouse of the mill +company on the night of November 4th and stated that at the time there +were six automatic shot guns and three pump guns in the place. These +were for the use of James B. Reed, Neal Jamison, Joe Hosh, Roy Hosh, +Walter S. Downs, and a man named McCortell. This witness had acted as a +strikebreaker up until the time he was subpoenaed. + +Two of the defendants, Benjamin F. Legg and Jack Leonard, fully verified +the story told by Billings. + +Leland Butcher, an I. W. W. member who was on the Verona, told of how he +had been shot in the leg. When asked why he had joined the I. W. W. he +answered: + +"I joined the I. W. W. to better my own condition and to make the +conditions my father was laboring under for the last 25 years, with +barely enough to keep himself and family, a thing of the past." + +Another of the defendants, Ed Roth, who had been seriously wounded on +the Verona, gave an unshaken story of the outrage. Roth testified that +he had been shot in the abdomen at the very beginning of the trouble and +because of his wounded condition and the fact that there were wounded +men piled on top of him he had been unable to move until some time after +the Verona had left the dock. This testimony showed the absurdity of +McRae's pretended identification of the witness. Roth was a member of +the International Longshoremen's Association and had joined the I. W. W. +on the day before the tragedy. + +John Stroka, a lad of 18, victim of the deputies at Beverly Park and a +passenger on the Verona, gave testimony regarding the men wounded on the +boat. + +The next witness was Ernest P. Marsh, president of the State Federation +of Labor, who was called for the purpose of impeaching the testimony of +Mayor Merrill and also to prove that Mrs. Frennette was a visitor at the +Everett Labor Temple on the morning of November 5th, this last being +added confirmation of the fact that Clyde Gibbons had committed perjury +on the stand. + +To the ordinary mind--and certainly the minds of the prosecution lawyers +were not above the ordinary--the social idealist is an inexplicable +mystery. Small wonder then that they could not understand the causes +that impelled the next witness, Abraham Bonnet Wimborne, one of the +defendants, to answer the call for fighters to defend free speech. + +Wimborne, the son of a Jewish Rabbi, told from the witness stand how he +had first joined the Socialist Party, afterward coming in contact with +the I. W. W., and upon hearing of the cruel beating given to James +Rowan, had decided to leave Portland for Everett to fight for free +speech. Arriving in Seattle on November 4th, he took passage on the +steamer Verona the next day. + +Prosecutor Black asked the witness what were the preparations made by +the men on the boat. + +"Don't misunderstand my words, Mr. Black," responded Wimborne, "when I +say prepared, I mean they were armed with the spirit of determination. +Determined to uphold the right of free speech with their feeble +strength; that is, I never really believed it would be possible for the +outrages and brutalities to come under the stars and stripes, and I +didn't think it was necessary for anything else." + +"Then when these men left they were determined?" inquired Black. + +"Yes, determined that they would uphold the spirit of the Constitution; +if not, go to jail. There were men in Everett who would refuse the right +of workingmen to come and tell the workers that they had a way whereby +the little children could get sufficient clothing, sufficient food, and +the right of education, and other things which they can only gain--how? +By organizing into industrial unions, sir, that is what I meant. We do +not believe in bloodshed. Thuggery is not our method. What can a handful +of workers do against the mighty forces of Maxim guns and the artillery +of the capitalist class?" + +"Did you consider yourself a fighting member?" questioned Black. + +"If you mean am I a moral fighter? yes; but physically--why, look at me! +Do I look like a fighter?" said the slightly built witness. + +"Did you or did you not expect to go to jail when you left Portland?" +asked the prosecutor. + +"My dear Mr. Black, I didn't know and I didn't care!" responded Wimborne +with a shrug of his shoulders. + +Wimborne joined the I. W. W. while in the Everett County Jail. + +Michael J. Reilley, another of the defendants, testified as to the +firing of the first shot from the dock and also gave the story of the +death of Abraham Rabinowitz. Vanderveer asked him the question: + +"Do you know why you are a defendant?" + +"Yes, sir," replied Reilley, "because I didn't talk to them in the city +jail in Seattle. I was never picked out." + +Attorney H. D. Cooley was recalled to the stand and was made to admit +that he was a member of the Commercial Club and a citizen deputy on the +dock November 5th. He was asked by Vanderveer: + +"Did you see any guns on the dock?" + +"Yes sir." + +"Did you see any guns fired on the dock?" + +"Yes sir." + +"Did you see any guns fired on the boat?" + +"No sir." + +"Did you see a gun on the boat?" + +"I did not." + +"You were in full view of the boat?" + +"I was." + +Yet the ethics of the legal profession are such that this attorney could +justify his actions in laboring for months in an endeavor to secure, by +any and all means, the conviction of the men on the boat! + +Defendant Charles Black testified that McRae dropped his hand to his +gun and pulled it just as one of the deputies fired from a point just +behind the sheriff. Black ran down the deck and into the cabin, passing +in front of the windows from which the deputies had sworn that heavy +firing was going on. + +Leonard Broman, working partner with Abraham Rabinowitz, then took the +stand and told his story. When asked what were the benefits he received +from having joined the I. W. W., the witness replied: + +"They raised the wages and shortened the hours. Before I joined the I. +W. W. the wages I received in Ellis, Kansas, was $3.00 for twelve hours +and last fall the I. W. W. got $3.50 for nine hours on the same work." + +Ex-deputy Charles Lawry told of various brutalities at the jail and also +impeached McRae's testimony in many other particulars. + +Dr. Grant Calhoun, who had attended the more seriously injured men who +were taken from the Verona on its return to Seattle, told of the number +and nature of the wounds that had been inflicted. On eight of the men +examined he had found twenty-one serious wounds, counting the entrance +and exit of the same bullet as only one wound. Veitch conducted no +cross-examination of the witness. + +Joe Manning, J. H. Beyers, and Harvey Hubler, all three of them +defendants, gave their testimony. Manning told of having been seated in +the cabin with Tracy when the firing commenced, after which he sought +cover behind the smokestack and was joined by Tracy a moment later. +Beyers identified Deputy Bridge as having stood just behind McRae with +his revolver drawn as tho firing when the first shot was heard. This +witness also corroborated the story of Billings in regard to demanding +that the engineer take the boat away from the dock. Hubler verified the +statements about conditions on the Verona and also told of being taken +from his jail cell by force on an order signed by detective McLaren in +an attempt to have him discharge the defense attorneys and accept an +alleged lawyer from Los Angeles. + +[Illustration: THOMAS H. TRACY] + +Harry Parker and C. C. England told of injuries sustained on the +Verona, and John Riely stated there was absolutely no shooting from the +cabin windows, that being impossible because the men on the boat had +crowded the entire rail at that side. + +Jerry L. Finch, former deputy prosecuting attorney of King County, gave +impeaching testimony against Wm. Kenneth and Charles Tucker. Cooley +asked this witness about his interviews with the different state's +witnesses: + +"If you talked with all of them, you would probably have something on +all of them?" + +The judge would not let Finch answer the question, but there is no doubt +that Cooley had the correct idea about the character of the witnesses on +his side of the case. + +In detailing certain arrests Sheriff McRae had claimed that men taken +from the shingleweavers' picket line were members of the I. W. W. B. +Said was one of the men so mentioned. Said took the witness stand and +testified that he was a member of the longshoremen's union and was not +and had not been a member of the I. W. W. + +J. G. Brown, president of the International Shingleweavers' Union, +testified that the various men arrested on the picket line in Everett +were either members of the shingle weavers' union or else were +longshoremen from Seattle, none of the men named by McRae being members +of the I. W. W. The testimony of Brown was also of such a nature as to +be impeaching of the statements of Mayor Merrill on the witness stand. + +Charles Gray, Robert Adams, and Joe Ghilezano, I. W. W. men on the +Verona, then testified, Adams telling of having been shot thru the +elbow, and Ghilezano giving the details of the way in which his kneecap +had been shot off and other injuries received. + +The murderous intentions of the deputies were further shown by the +testimony of Nels Bruseth, who ran down to the shore to launch a boat +and rescue the men in the water. He was stopped in this errand of mercy +by the deputies. + +Civil Engineer F. Whitwith, Jr., of the firm of Rutherford and Whitwith, +surveyed the dock and the steamer Verona and made a report in court of +his findings. His evidence clearly showed that there was rifle, shotgun +and revolver fire of a wild character from the interior of the +warehouses and from many points on the dock. He stated that there were +one hundred and seventy-three rifle or revolver bullet marks, exclusive +of the B-B and buckshot markings which were too numerous to count, on +the Verona, these having come from the dock, the shore, and the +Improvement Dock to the south. There were sixteen marks on the boat that +appeared as tho they might have been from revolver fire proceeding from +the boat itself. There were also small triangular shaped gouges in the +planking of the dock, the apex of the triangles indicating that bullets +had struck there and proceeded onward from the Klatawa slip to the open +space on the dock where deputies had been stationed. The physical facts +thus introduced were incontrovertible. + +Defendant J. D. Houlihan gave positive testimony to the effect that he +had not spoken privately with "Red" Doran in the I. W. W. hall on the +morning of November 5th, that he had received no gun from Doran or +anyone else, that he did not have the conversation which Auspos imputed +to him, that he had no talk with Auspos on the return trip. All efforts +to confuse this witness failed of their purpose. + +In verification of the testimony about deputies firing on the Verona +from the Improvement Company Dock the defense brought Percy Walker upon +the stand. Walker had been cruising around the bay in a little gasoline +launch and saw men armed with long guns, probably rifles or shotguns, +leaning over a breastwork of steel pipes and firing in the direction of +the Verona. + +Lawrence Manning, Harston Peters, and Ed. J. Shapeero, defendants, told +their simple straightforward stories of the "battle." Peters stated +that as he lay under cover and heard the shots coming from the dock he +"wished to Christ that he did have a gun." Shapeero told of the wounds +he had received and of the way the uninjured men cared for the wounded +persons on the boat. + +Mrs. Joyce Peters testified that she had gone to Everett on the morning +of November 5th in company with Mrs. Lorna Mahler. The reason she did +not go on the Verona was because the trip by water had made Mrs. Mahler +ill on previous occasions. She saw Mrs. Frennette in Everett only when +they were on the same interurban car leaving for Seattle after the +tragedy. + +Albert Doninger, W. B. Montgomery and Japheth Banfield, I. W. W. men who +were on the Verona, all placed the first shot as having come from the +dock immediately after the sheriff had cried out "You can't land here." + +N. Inscho, Chief of Police of Wenatchee, testified that during the time +the I. W. W. carried on their successful fight for free speech in his +city there were no incendiary fires, no property destroyed, no assaults +or acts of violence committed, and no resistance to arrest. + +H. W. Mullinger, lodging house proprietor, John M. Hogan, road +construction contractor, Edward Case, railroad grading contractor, +William Kincaid, alfalfa farmer, and John Egan, teamster, all of North +Yakima and vicinity, were called as character witnesses for Tracy, the +defendant having worked with or for them for a number of years. + +The defense followed these witnesses with Oscar Carlson, the passenger +on the Verona who had been fairly riddled with bullets. Carlson +testified that he was not and never had been a member of the I. W. W., +that he had gone to Everett with his working partner, Nordstrom, as a +sort of an excursion trip, that he had purchased a one way ticket which +was taken up by the captain after the boat had left Seattle, that he +intended returning by way of the Interurban, and that the men on the +boat were orderly and well behaved. He told of having gone to the very +front of the boat as it pulled into Everett from which point he heard +the first shot, which was fired from the dock. He fell immediately and +while prostrate was struck with bullet after bullet. He then told of +having entered suit against the Vashon Navigation Company for $50,000.00 +on account of injuries received. Robert C. Saunders, of the law firm of +Saunders and Nelson, then testified that he was handling the case for +Carlson and had made out the affidavit of complaint himself and was +responsible for the portion that alleged that a lawless mob were on the +boat, Carlson having made no such statement to him at any time. + +Charles Ashleigh was recalled to the stand to testify to having +telephoned to the Seattle newspapers on November 4th, requesting them to +send reporters to Everett the next day. He was followed on the stand by +John T. Doran, familiarly known as "Red" on account of the color of his +hair. Doran stated that he was the author of the handbill distributed in +Everett prior to the attempted meeting of November 5th. He positively +denied having given a gun to Houlihan or anyone else on November 5th. +Upon cross-examination he said that he was in charge of the work of +checking the number of men who went on the Verona to Everett, and had +paid the transportation of the men in a lump sum. + +As the next to the last witness on its side of the long-drawn out case +the defense placed on the stand the defendant, Thomas H. Tracy. The +witness told of having been one of a working class family, too large to +be properly cared for and having to leave home and make his own way in +the world before he was eleven years old. From that time on he had +followed farming, teaming and construction work in all parts of the +west, his bronzed appearance above the prison pallor giving evidence of +his outdoor life. + +Tracy told of having been secretary of the I. W. W. in Everett for a +short time, that being the only official position he had ever held in +the organization. He explained his position on the boat at the time it +docked, stating that the first shot apparently came from the dock and +struck close to where he was sitting. Immediately the boat listed and +threw him away from the window, after which he sought a place of safety +behind the smokestack. He denied having been in any way a party to a +conspiracy to commit an act of violence, or to kill anyone. + +"You are charged here, Mr. Tracy," said Vanderveer, "with having aided +and abetted an unknown man in killing Jefferson Beard. Are you guilty or +not guilty?" + +"I am not guilty," replied Tracy without a trace of emotion. + +The cross-questioning of the defendant in this momentous case was +conducted by citizen-deputy Cooley. His questions to the man whom he and +his fellow conspirators on the dock had not succeeded in murdering were +of the most trivial nature, clearly proving that arch-sleuth McLaren had +been unable to discover or to manufacture anything that would make +Tracy's record other than that of a plain, unassuming, migratory worker. + +"Where did you vote last?" asked Cooley. + +"I never voted," responded Tracy. + +"Never voted in your life?" queried Cooley. + +"No!" replied the defendant who for the time represented the entire +migratory class. "I was never in one place long enough!" + +Then, acting on the class theory that it is an honor to be a +"globe-trotter" but a disgrace to be a "blanket-stiff," the prosecutor +brought out Tracy's travels in minute detail. This examination of the +railroad construction worker brought home to the listeners the truth of +the little verse: + + + "He built the road; + With others of his class he built the road; + Now o'er its weary length he packs his load, + Chasing a Job, spurred on by Hunger's goad, + He walks and walks and walks and walks, + And wonders why in Hell he built the road!" + + +Then there hobbled into the court room on crutches a stripling with an +empty trouser leg, his face drawn with suffering, and who was able to +get into the witness chair only by obviously painful efforts with the +assistance of Vanderveer and Judge Ronald. This was Harry Golden, whose +entire left leg had been amputated after having been shattered by a +high-power rifle bullet fired by a "law and order" deputy. + +Golden stated that he had been born in Poland twenty-two years before, +and had come to the United States at the age of sixteen. He was asked: + +"Why did you come to this country?" + +"I came to the United States," said the witness, "because it is supposed +to be a free country." + +"We object to that as immaterial!" cried prosecutor Veitch. + +The witness described the firing of the first shot and told of his +attempts to find a place of safety. He said he was wounded in the hand +as he attempted to climb into a life boat. He remained on the starboard +side of the starboard life boat until the Verona had backed out into the +bay. Then just as he was starting to raise up a rifle bullet struck his +leg, taking a course thru the limb and emerging at the knee. + +"That is on your left--?" + +"On my left, yes, which I ain't got; I lost it!" said the witness. + +"Did I understand you to say you stood up to see something before you +were shot?" asked Veitch. + +"Why, sure!" replied Golden contemptuously. "I had my two legs then." + +Veitch wished to learn the exact location of the witness at the time he +was shot and to that end referred to the model with the remark: + +"Look here. Here is the boat as it was at the dock." + +"I don't like to look at it!" said Golden heatedly. "I lost my leg on +that boat!" + +[Illustration: EVERETT from the water. To the left G. N. Depot from +where bystanders viewed battle.] + +The witness was in evident pain during the examination, having just had +a hospital treatment applied to his raw stump, and was rather irritable +as a consequence. He answered several questions rather sharply and +proceeded to explain his answers. At one of these interruptions Judge +Ronald exclaimed to the witness angrily: + +"When he asks you a question answer yes or no! If you want to live in +this country try and live like an American!" + +"I take an exception to Your Honor's remarks!" said Moore emphatically. + +The judge grudgingly allowed an exception to his uncalled for statement. + +In concluding his examination Veitch asked the witness: + +"What is your name in Polish?" + +"I am not Polish; I am a Jew," replied Golden. "Well, what is your +family name in Poland?" asked the prosecutor. + +"Goldenhaul, or something like that. Now I call myself Golden. When we +come to this country--." + +"Never mind," interposed Veitch hurriedly. + +"When we come to this country for good luck we always change the name, +you know," finished Golden, and added bitterly, "I sure did have good +luck!" + +This ended the case in chief for the defense, the marshalling of such a +mass of testimony from a host of disinterested witnesses, men, women and +children, putting it on an entirely different footing from the +prejudiced testimony brought forward by the prosecution. + +In rebuttal of testimony produced by the defense the prosecution +introduced a series of witnesses. As in their case in chief every one of +the parties who testified were in some way concerned in the case as +deputies, jailers, police officers, dance hall habitues, detectives, and +the like. The witnesses were W. P. Bell, Dr. F. R. Hedges, E. E. Murphy, +Charles Hall, Rudolph Weidaur, W. J. Britt, Percy Ames, Harry Blackburn, +Reuben Westover, Harry Groger, W. M. Maloney, Albert Burke, W. R. +Conner, A. E. Andrews, David D. Young, Howard Hathaway, George Leonard +Mickel, Paul Hill, E. C. Mony, B. H. Bryan, all of whom were deputies, +D. C. Pearson, W. H. Bridge, and "Honest" John Hogan, all three jailers +and deputies, Robert C. Hickey, city jailer, David Daniels and Adolph +Miller, police officers, Charles Manning and J. T. Rogers, personal +friends of McRae, Oscar Moline, dance hall musician, Albert McKay, of +the Ocean Food Products Company located on the Everett Improvement Dock, +T. J. McKinnon, employe of McKay, R. B. Williams, contractor, John +Flynn, agent Everett Improvement Dock, W. W. Blain and F. S. Ruble, +secretary and bookkeeper respectively of the Commercial Club and also +deputies, A. E. Ballew, Great Northern depot agent, H. G. Keith, Great +Northern detective, Charles Auspos, who was shown to be in receipt of +favors as state's witness, and George Reese, Pinkerton informer and +"stool pigeon." + +One deputy, H. S. Groger, stated on cross-examination that he +continuously fired at a man on the boat who appeared to be trying to +untie the spring line. Outside of this evidence of a desire for +wholesale slaughter nothing developed of sufficient importance to +warrant the production of sur-rebuttal witnesses, except in the +testimony of Auspos and Reese. + +Auspos testified that defendant Billings in the presence of John +Rawlings had stated in the Everett County jail that he had a gun that +made a noise like a cannon. This was intended to controvert the +testimony of Billings. + +Reese related a conversation that Tracy was alleged to have carried on +in his presence on the Verona as it was bound for Everett. He stated +that a launch was seen approaching and someone remarked that it was +probably coming to head them off, to which Tracy replied "Let them come; +they will find we are ready for them, and we will give them something +they are not looking for." This was intended as impeachment of Tracy. + +Cross-examination of this informer brought out the fact that he was a +Pinkerton agent at the time he was holding the office of delegate to the +Central Labor Council of the American Federation of Labor. Reese stated +that he was employed on the waterfront during the longshoremen's strike +with instructions to "look for everybody who was pulling the rough +stuff, such as threatening to burn or attempting to burn warehouses, and +shooting up non-union workers, and beating them up and so forth." He had +been in the employ of the Pinkerton Agency for six weeks this last time +before he was ordered to go down and join the I. W. W. He stated in +answer to a question by Vanderveer: + +"I was instructed to go down there and find out who these fellows were +that was handling this phosphorus and pulling off this sabotage and the +only way I could find out was to get a card and get in and get +acquainted with them." + +Attorney Moore in the absence of the jury offered to prove that Reese +had practically manufactured this job for himself by promoting the very +things he was supposed to discover. Moore stated some of the things he +would prove if permitted by the court: + +"That on or about August 1st Reese went to one J. M. Wilson, an official +of the longshoremen's union, and endeavored to get $10.00 with which to +buy dynamite to blow up a certain city dock; that on September 20th the +witness gave Percy May, a member of the longshoremen's union, a bottle +of phosphorus with instructions to start a fire at Pier 5; that in the +month of July the witness opposed a settlement of the longshoremen's +strike and when members of the union argued that they could remain out +no longer as they had no money, Reese clapped his pockets and said, 'you +fellows wouldn't be starving if you had the nerve that I have got. Why +don't you go out and get it, take it off the scabs the way I do;' that +in September Feinberg had to make Reese leave the speaker's stand in +Everett because he was talking on matters harmful to industrial union +propaganda; that on November 4th the witness went to the place where +Feinberg was employed and left a suit of clothes to be pressed, saying +to Feinberg, after he had ascertained that Feinberg was thinking of +going to Everett on the following day, "mark the bill 'paid' so I will +have a receipt if you don't come back;" that on August 16th, the day +before the big dock fire in Seattle, Reese went to the down-town office +of the same dye works in which Walker C. Smith was manager and in charge +of the purchase of chemicals and tried to get Smith to purchase for him +some carbon disulphide to be used in connection with phosphorus; that in +the month of November in the Labor Temple, in the presence of Sam +Sadler, Reese had said to Albert Brilliant that if the longshoremen had +any guts they would go out with guns and clean up the scabs on the +waterfront; and that Reese tried to get other men to co-operate with him +in a scheme to capture a Government boat lying in the Sound during the +progress of the longshoremen's strike." + +The court refused to allow the defense to go into these matters so the +only showing of the true character of Reese was confined to examination +as to the perjury he had committed in his initial sworn statement to the +defense. + +The sur-rebuttal of the defense occupied but a few minutes. It was +admitted that Mr. Garver, the court reporter, would swear that Reese had +made an initial statement to the defense counsel and that the same had +been taken down stenographically and sworn to. Charles Tennant, captain +of the detective force of the Seattle police department, testified to +having telephoned to the sheriff's office in Everett on November 5th to +give the information that a boatload of I. W. W. men had left for +Everett. He did not describe the body of men in any way and had not said +that they were armed. This was for the purpose of showing that somewhere +between the time that Jefferson Beard received the message and the time +it was transmitted to the deputies some one had inserted the statement +that the men on the boat were heavily armed. John Rawlings, defendant, +testified that no such conversation as that related by Auspos had +occurred in the presence of defendant Billings. Thomas H. Tracy denied +making the threats ascribed to him by Reese, and this closed the +hearing of evidence in the case. + +Outside the courtroom on the day the last of the evidence was introduced +there was in progress one of the largest demonstrations of Labor ever +held in the Pacific Northwest. The date was May first, and International +Labor Day was celebrated by the united radicals of the entire city and +surrounding district. Meeting at the I. W. W. hall at 10:30 in the +morning, thousands of men and women fell into a marching line of fours, +a committee pinning a red rose or carnation on each marcher. Fifteen +solid blocks of these marchers, headed by Wagner's Band, then wended +their way thru the streets to Mount Pleasant Cemetery and grouped +themselves around the graves of Baran, Gerlot and Looney--Labor's +martyred dead. + +There, upon the hillside, in accordance with his final wishes, the ashes +of Joe Hill were scattered to the breeze, and with them were cast upon +the air and on the graves beneath, the ashes of Jessie Lloyd and Patrick +Brennan, two loyal fighters in the class struggle who had died during +the year just passed. + +A fitting song service, with a few simple words by speakers in English, +Russian, Swedish, Hungarian and Italian, in commemoration of those who +had passed away, completed the tribute to the dead. + +Nor were the living forgotten! The great crowd drifted from the +graveside, but hundreds of them reassembled almost automatically and +marched to the King County jail. Standing there, just outside of the +very heart of the great city, the crowd, led by the I. W. W. choir, sang +song after song from the revolutionary hymnal--the little red song book, +each song being answered by one from the free speech prisoners confined +in the jail. The service lasted until late in the day and, to complete +the one labor day that is as broad as the world itself, a meeting was +held in one of the largest halls of the city. At this meeting the final +collection for the Everett Prisoners' Defense was taken and at the +request of the imprisoned men one half of the proceeds was sent to aid +in the liberation of Tom Mooney and his fellow victims of the Merchants' +and Manufacturers' Association in San Francisco. + +There remained but the reading of the instructions of the court and the +addresses by the counsel for either side to complete this epoch making +case and place it in the hands of the jury for their final verdict. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +PLEADINGS AND THE VERDICT + + +The instructions of the court, carefully prepared by Judge J. T. Ronald, +required sixty-five minutes in the reading. These instructions were +divided into twenty-three sections, each section representing a +different phase of the case. Herewith is presented the first section in +its entirety and a summary of the remaining portion: + +"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury: + +"My responsibility is to decide all questions of law in this case; yours +to decide one question of fact. With these instructions my +responsibility practically ends, your commences. You have taken a solemn +oath that 'you will well and truly try and true delivery make between +the State of Washington and the prisoner at the bar, whom you have in +charge, according to the evidence.' + +"There is no escape from the responsibility which has come to you, save +in the faithful effort to render a true verdict. Any verdict other than +one based upon pure conscience will be an injustice. An honest juror +yields to no friendship, nor bears any enmity. He is moved by no +sympathy, nor influenced by any prejudice. He seeks the approval of no +one, nor fears the condemnation of anyone--save that one unerring, +silent monitor, his own conscience. Disregard this whispering voice in +yourself and you may fool the public, you may fool the defendant, you +may, hereafter, with some effort, even close your own soul to her +whispering reproaches and enjoy the ill-earned plaudits of the selfish +or biased friend or interest whom you sought to please, but be assured +you will not change the truth, you will not deceive justice which, at +some time, and in some way, will collect from you the penalty which is +always sooner or later exacted from those who betray the truth. + +"So let me urge that in deciding the issue of facts which is now your +responsibility you be guided by these instructions which you have sworn +to follow, and by their conscientious application to the evidence in +this case. + +"Do not permit yourselves to be swayed by sympathy, influenced by +prejudice, or moved in the least by a consideration of what might or +might not meet the approval or the condemnation of any person or class +of persons, or of interest whatever. To do so will be an act alike +dishonest, violative of your oath, substituting for a fair and impartial +trial an unfair and a partial one. This is an epoch in your lives to +which you will ever look back. Be sure that when you do you may face the +smiling approval of your conscience rather than its stinging reproach. + +"The guilt or innocence of this defendant is a single question of fact +to be determined by the evidence alone. If this evidence shows defendant +to be guilty, then no sympathy, no desire for approval, no fear of +condemnation, can make him innocent; if the evidence fails to show him +guilty, then no prejudice, no desire for approval, no fear of +condemnation, can make him guilty. The issue is a momentous one, not +only to the defendant, who, if innocent, deserves the deepest sympathy, +for the accusation made against him is a serious one; but likewise to +the public and to society at large, and the tranquility and security of +our different communities. + +"A false verdict against the defendant conflicts with the purpose and +the laws of the State as effectively as a false verdict in his favor. +The State has no higher duty or interest than to preserve all its +citizens from suffering under unfounded accusations. If, on the other +hand, the guilt of the defendant has been shown, a false verdict of +acquittal would not only be a breach of your oaths, but it would inflict +a grievous wrong upon the State. If a true verdict calls for conviction, +the misfortune to the defendant is not in the verdict, nor in the +penalty, but in the fact it was his conduct which makes the verdict +true. You alone of all the world, and who now possess all the facts, are +therefore responsible for the verdict in this case. The law is not +concerned about conviction merely--but it is concerned, deeply +concerned, that juries shall conscientiously and fearlessly declare the +truth. Whether it be conviction, or whether it be acquittal, a true +verdict is justice--a false is injustice." + +Judge Ronald followed this lecture on civic righteousness and personal +duty with more specific instructions to the jury, of which the following +are excerpts. + +"In this case you must answer the question--Is this defendant guilty or +innocent? * * * Keep constantly in mind this issue and do not go astray +to discuss any other of the many issues that may be suggested by or may +lay hidden among the great mass of evidence in this case. Whether the +Industrial Workers of the World shall or shall not speak at a certain +place in the City of Everett is not an issue here. * * * Whether the +open or the closed shop shall prevail is not a subject for your +consideration. + +"Every defendant in a criminal case is presumed to be innocent. * * * +You must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of the facts necessary +to show guilt before you can convict. * * * You should give the phrase +'proof beyond a reasonable doubt' its full meaning and weight as +explained and defined to you in these instructions. On the other hand, +you should not magnify nor exaggerate its force and fail to return a +verdict of guilty simply because the evidence does not satisfy you of +guilt to an absolute certainty. No crime can be proved to an absolute +certainty. + +"It does not follow because every one of the facts which are disputed +between the parties may not be established beyond a reasonable doubt, +that there cannot be a conviction. At the same time you will bear +carefully in mind that all facts which are necessary to establish the +conclusion of guilt must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. + +"There are two facts necessary to convict this defendant: + +(1) That some person on the boat unlawfully killed Jefferson Beard. + +(2) That this defendant aided, incited or encouraged such shooting. + +"If you are satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of these two facts, then +you must convict, no matter what may be your belief concerning any other +question in dispute in this case; if you have a reasonable doubt as to +either of these two facts, then you must acquit." + +The instructions then went into detail as to the rights of the workers +to organize, to bargain in regard to compensation, hours of labor and +conditions of work generally, to go on strike, to persuade or entice +their fellow workers by peaceful means from taking the positions which +they have left, to assemble at public places where such meetings are not +prohibited by law and ordinance, and "no person, either private citizen +or public official, has any right to deny, abridge or in any manner +interfere with the full and free enjoyment of those privileges and any +person who attempts to do so is himself guilty of an unlawful act." + +After reciting such acts attributed to the workers in this case as were +in violation of law, the instructions went on to state that "a sheriff +has no authority to arrest any person without a warrant except upon +probable cause for believing such person has violated a law of the +state; nor has he authority after making such arrest to hold his +prisoner in custody for a longer time than is reasonably necessary to +cause proper complaint to be filed, and an opportunity given for bail. * +* * A sheriff has no right or authority to interfere with or prevent any +person from violating a city ordinance, nor has he the right or +authority to arrest for violations of city ordinances" unless "the act +threatened, or the act done, in violation of such ordinance be at the +same time violation of a state law." + +The instructions then outlined the scope of criminal conspiracy, stating +that it was unnecessary for one conspirator to know all of the other +conspirators but that common design is the essence of the charge of +conspiracy. The acts of one conspirator become the acts of any and all +conspirators. In the eyes of the law the sheriff and the deputies also +constituted in this case but one personality, the sheriff being bound by +the acts of his deputies and the deputies being authorized by the powers +of the sheriff. Also the ordinance dated September 21st, 1916, was held +to be a valid one. + +"Now whether any of the Industrial Workers of the World have been, prior +to November 5, 1916, guilty of encouraging disrespect for law, or of +unlawful assemblage, or of riot, is not the question on trial here. They +could all be guilty of all the acts or offenses heretofore mentioned, +and still this defendant be innocent of this particular crime charged on +November 5th, or they could all be innocent of all the acts mentioned, +and defendant still be guilty of the main charge here. + +"Again, whether the sheriff or any of his assistants have been guilty of +any of the acts charged against them is not on trial here. They could +all be guilty of all the acts charged and still be the victims of +unjustifiable shooting from that boat, or they could all be innocent of +any offense, and still be the aggressors and cause of that shooting on +the dock wherein Jefferson Beard lost his life. + +"One of the questions in this case is the question--Which side was the +aggressor on that occasion? + +"In determining who was the aggressor it is your duty to consider all +the facts and circumstances surrounding the situation, the relations of +the parties to each other, their intentions toward each other, and all +the things they did. You will also consider the past conduct of all the +parties, any acts of violence or other assaults that may have been +committed, and any threats that may have been made, and the character +as known and understood by each other. + +[Illustration: Victims at Morgue. + +John Looney Hugo Gerlot, Felix Baran Abe Rabinowitz] + +"Therefore, simplify your deliberations and determine first the +question: Did somebody on the boat unlawfully kill Jefferson Beard? If +somebody on the boat did not kill Beard, then of course Tracy could not +be guilty of aiding John Doe to do something which John Doe did not do. +But if the State has satisfied you beyond a reasonable doubt that Beard +was killed by a shot fired by somebody on the boat, then such killing is +either unlawful, in which case John Doe would be guilty of one of three +degrees of unlawful or felonious homicide, viz., murder in the first +degree, murder in the second degree, or manslaughter; or it is +justifiable in which case John Doe would not be guilty. Hence you will +render one of four verdicts in this case-- + +1. Guilty of murder in the first degree, or + +2. Guilty of murder in the second degree, or + +3. Guilty of manslaughter, or + +4. Not guilty. + +"It is very desirable that you reach a verdict in this case. The law +requires that your conclusion shall be unanimous. It is not required +that any one of you should surrender his individual freedom of +judgement, but it is well that each of you should have in mind that your +true verdict cannot ordinarily be reached except by mutual consideration +and discussion of all the different views that may suggest themselves to +any of your number. The jury room is no place for pride of opinion. A +verdict which is the result of real harmony, or that growing out of +open-minded discussion between jurors, and a willingness to be +convinced, with a proper regard for the opinions of others, and with a +reasonable distrust of individual views not shared by their fellows, is +a fair yielding of one reason to a stronger one; such, having in mind +the great desirability of unanimity, is not open to criticism. The law +contemplates that jurors shall, by their discussions, harmonize their +views if possible, but not that they shall compromise and yield for the +mere purpose of agreement. One should not surrender his conscientious +convictions. + +"And now, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I commit the case to your +hands. Listen to the arguments. Regardless of what may be counsel's +recollection of testimony, you must take and follow your own +recollection. You are not required to adopt any view which counsel may +suggest in argument, but you should give close attention to all they +say. Take up your task fearlessly, with but one single aim--to discharge +the obligations of your oaths. You have no class to satisfy--simply the +dictates of your own conscience." + +Taken as a whole the instructions were distinctly unfavorable to the +defendant, not because of any particular bias of the judge whose +political ambitions might have made him desirous of establishing a +record for fairness, but by reason of the fact that the law itself on +the question of criminal conspiracy is archaic and absurd, being based +upon precedents established when the use of electricity and steam power +were unknown, when the stage coach was the fastest means of locomotion +and the tallow dip the principal form of illumination. This law, like +all other statute law, was created thru the desire of the ruling class +to protect property, therefore it contained no element of justice when +applied to the modern proletariat, the twentieth century worker stripped +of everything but his power to labor. + +Following the reading of the court's instructions prosecutor Black made +his argument, Vanderveer and Moore for the defense addressing the jury +in turn, and Cooley making the concluding plea for the state. This +arrangement gave Veitch no chance to turn loose his oratorical +fireworks, much to the chagrin of the gentleman who had been so kindly +loaned to the prosecution by the Merchants' and Manufacturers' +Association. + +Black's lengthy address was a whine for pity because of his youth and a +prayer for relief from the dire straits and legal bankruptcy into which +Snohomish County had fallen. It is summarized in the following: + +"We are at the close of a great trial. A great deal of evidence has been +introduced; practically two million five hundred words. From the +standpoint of the attorneys who have tried this case the evidence has +been very complicated because it had in it a great mass of evidence that +was only remotely connected with the real issue at bar. You as jurors +have a very simple question to decide in this case. + +"Thomas H. Tracy is charged with the crime of murder in the first +degree, not that he himself killed Jefferson Beard, but that he, Thomas +H. Tracy, aided, incited and encouraged some unknown one to kill +Jefferson Beard of Everett, on last November 5th. + +"I repeat first that some person on the boat unlawfully killed Jefferson +Beard; secondly that this defendant, aided, incited and encouraged such +shooting. + +"I come before you as the prosecuting attorney of Snohomish County. +Owing to the exigencies of politics I was elected to office a few days +after November 5th, the time of this catastrophe. Two months and a few +days after, I took office and found a man charged with a crime that I +did not have the power of prosecution over up to that time. Mr. Webb, +then prosecuting attorney, who had started the action and initiated and +seen fit to collect some of the evidence, was not able to complete the +prosecution on account of the size of the trial. + +"I am a young man without the experience that any man ought to have in +the prosecuting of a case like this, a case the size of which has never +been experienced in the State of Washington, and in many ways an +absolutely pioneer case in criminal trials the world over. + +"So the State has been hampered in that at the outset a young man, a new +prosecuting attorney, has come into office and to him there has come a +case that no man could read up concerning, and a large piece of +battle--it is the State's contention, a battle between hundreds of men +on the boat and a large number of deputies on the dock, a battle +absolutely and surely initiated by firing from the boat, but still a +battle;--a case without parallel in the criminal history of this State +or of the United States. + +"It happens that fortunately the State has had assistance in this case. +The State of Washington, thru its county commissioners, requested the +assistance in this case of Mr. Cooley, whom you have all grown to know, +a man who formerly for four years was prosecuting attorney of Snohomish +County, and who since that time has been associated as assistant counsel +in practically all the criminal prosecutions of Snohomish County that +have required assistance. + +"And in addition to this the State has been fortunate in having, at the +request of the county commissioners, the assistance of Mr. Veitch, a +young man it is true, but one who thru years of service in the district +attorney's office in Los Angeles County had experience in criminal +trials, and especially because of his connection with what are known as +the conspiracy murder trials in Los Angeles County, and also in +assisting the federal prosecution at Indianapolis. It has been necessary +in this kind of a case for the State to have assistance. + +"Now I told you my friends that I came here as prosecuting attorney of +Snohomish County. I am also a deputy prosecuting attorney of King County +under Mr. Lundin. After I was appointed I was very unpleasantly +surprised by one statement. A little phrase, 'without pay,' so that I +don't know whether really I am a deputy prosecuting attorney or not, +because I found that in public office a man always likes to see the +warrant come at the end of the month! + +"You are a jury in this case from King County because the defendant and +the other defendants filed an affidavit to the effect that they didn't +expect that a jury selected in Snohomish County would give the defendant +a fair trial. The State is happy in your selection and knows that you +will follow the dictates of your conscience and is likewise confident +that you cannot help but believe that Jefferson Beard was killed by +someone shooting from the Verona, and that Thomas H. Tracy, alias George +Martin, incited, aided and encouraged in that shooting. + +"Now, the witnesses on the dock are men of Everett, men of family, men +who are laborers, but with families; men who are clerks, with interests +in Snohomish County; men who hold some important positions, as lawyers; +people with families, people who by residence have established +reputation for truth and veracity; men who have established themselves, +have made themselves successful, sometimes in merely that they have +established a small home, or who have lived in Everett and have made +friends and acquaintances. That is the class of men that were on the +dock. + +"There are only two classes of people who know anything about the +shooting. The people on the dock are one set, and the people on the boat +are the other. + +"The people on the boat, with but one or two exceptions, are men who have +established no reputation for truth and veracity, have been successful +in the world in no way, even from the standpoint of stable friends, +living here and there, unfortunately; perchance, with some of them it is +due to unfortunate circumstances and environments, and they have been +unlucky, but still they haven't established stable friends in any +community. + +"Then there are the three boatmen on the boat--and those three men, +unprejudiced, unbiased, not deputies and not Commercial Club members, +but merely laborers, they know where the first shot came from, and they +tell, and their testimony absolutely and entirely contradicts the +testimony of the defense in this case from start to finish. + +"And when you look at that red face and red hair and that honest +expression of big Jack Hogan John Hogan here, and his honest blue eyes, +it doesn't seem to me that you can have any more doubt than I have that +Jack Hogan saw Tracy. + +"Now, these men that come on the stand all confess they had a common +design. Their common design they say, was that about two o'clock in +Everett they were going to speak at the corner of Wetmore and Hewitt +Avenues, that is their common design. + +"The court tells you that the purpose that they admit was unlawful, so +Tracy, by the testimony adduced in his favor, was one of the men having +a common design for an unlawful purpose. Tracy, regardless of his +location, regardless of whether he fired or not, is guilty. + +"The sheriff and his deputies could have been guilty of everything +claimed against them previous to this and the defendant still be guilty +of helping and encouraging someone else to unjustifiably kill Jefferson +Beard. + +"Under the Court's instructions there were acts done at Beverly Park +that were unlawful. There is no question about that. Instead of this +being a weakness on the State's part, it seems to me that it is an added +strength. Because the I. W. W. used Beverly Park for what purpose? They +jumped on it with desire, deeming it a fortunate circumstance because +they wanted to inflame men to invade Everett. They jumped on this, the +men at the head of the conspiracy, they jumped on Beverly Park because +they could use it to inflame their members. How do we know? Their own +statements! Their telegrams! 'Advertise conditions and send volunteers.' +Volunteers for what? Volunteers for what? When a man represents things +and so helps to make men mad he wants these men up there as volunteers +for retaliation. And the Court has instructed you that if these men went +up there with the purpose of retaliating, they are guilty. Tracy having +been one of a common design makes it central, vital, in good conscience +as citizens, that you return your verdict asked by the state. + +"Any time a murder is committed it is important that prosecution be had +and conviction secured. That is always vital from the standpoint of +protection to society. The police, the sheriff's office, and the +officials of all cities and states of the United States sometimes +forget themselves, I take it, sometimes do things they shouldn't do, +sometimes do things they should be censured for, but the fact that they +had is no reason that murder is to be excused or justified, because if +you did, we would have no society. That is true in an ordinary murder +case. That is overwhelmingly true in this case. + +"The I. W. W. is an organization that realizes the great truth in +combating government. They have stumbled upon an overwhelmingly +successful instrument in fighting society. What is that? To commit a +violation of the law in numbers, to violate the law by so many people +that only a few can be prosecuted and even if they are convicted, the +great majority go scott free. They built better than they knew when they +stumbled upon the great secret that the violation of a law in great +numbers would protect practically all of the violators. And this trial +itself is proof of that. + +"Snohomish County can ill afford the expense of this one trial; can ill +afford the expense of two or three trials after this; would be +overwhelmed with debt to convict all the men who are in this conspiracy, +if there were a conspiracy it can't do it; most of them are safe from +prosecution and they know it; and the only protection that Snohomish +County has, and King County has, and the State of Washington has, and +the United States has, is that when something happens like this a +conviction be secured against a man who is guilty, not because you are +convicting all, because you can't, you are helpless--but because that at +least is the voice of warning to the men that if you lead an attempt you +may be the one of the great number that will be caught. It is important +from the standpoint of citizens of the State of Washington to establish +the principle that crimes cannot be committed by numbers with impunity, +that while it is fairly safe, it won't be absolutely safe. We have no +protection. That is the vital part of this case. We have no protection. + +[Illustration: JOHN LOONEY] + +"If this case were just that of murder committed by one man acting +alone, the importance of your verdict would be of small significance, +compared with the importance of your verdict in a criminal case where +the members are part of an organization. True, the society has no doubt +a great many aims that are desirable to improve the welfare of the +workingman. But it has one aim, one vital aim, in its platform to bring +upon it the condemnation of thinking, sober men and women residing +permanently in the State of Washington, and that is sabotage. + +"We are not claiming that the killing of Jefferson Beard was in the +exercise of sabotage. We are saying that sabotage along with the +conscious withdrawal of efficiency, sabotage along with the destruction +of property, may also mean crime. + +"The I. W. W. members did not come to Everett for the purpose of +employment; they were men who were wanderers upon the face of the earth, +who desired to establish themselves nowhere, and none of them, as far as +this witness stand is concerned, expected to work in Everett or to put +sabotage in effect in Everett by working slow. The only way they could +use sabotage in Everett was by the destruction of property. The mayor +became alarmed, and the sheriff, after their repeated threats in their +papers. But whether you believe sabotage to be good, bad, or +indifferent, really is not vital in this case except as a circumstance. + +"Now, the Wanderer. The Wanderer did not happen the way they said it +happened. The sheriff did shoot after they refused to stop. The sheriff +did hit some of them with the butt of his gun. The sheriff brought them +into Everett because they constituted an unlawful assemblage. The +sheriff did the only thing he could do. He filed charges against them +and they were arraigned in court. Twenty-three men cannot be tried +quickly when each one demands a separate trial by jury. Twenty-three +trials would stop the judicial machinery for three months. They could +not be tried and so the sheriff turned them loose. Maybe he did hit them +harder than he should have. Policemen do that! Sheriff do that! Lots of +time they hit men when it is not necessary. Hit them too hard, +sometimes. They don't always understand exactly what they are supposed +to do. But the I. W. W. exaggerated the matter and used it to incite +retaliation on the fifth. So the Beverly Park incident, and all other +incidents, if true to the last syllable of the defense testimony, merely +in this case extenuated the motive on November 5th. + +"Now then, why did the State select Tracy? The State's evidence was to +the effect that Tracy was not only a member of the conspiracy, but was +firing. Several State's witnesses recognized Tracy. There was another +reason. What was that? Some of these men, some of these boys, flitting +here and there from job to job, with never more than a dollar or two in +their pockets, were inflamed intentionally by people who misrepresented +conditions. They did not have any right to be inflamed; they did not +have any right to go to Everett and they are guilty of murder if they +went up there to retaliate for any wrong, actual or conceived. But the +State has preferred to put on first a man who was in the forefront of +the conspiracy; the man that appeared to be an important cog of that +conspiracy, and that man is Tracy. + +"Tracy knew that a great many people of Everett were alarmed and +disturbed. Tracy knew that the I. W. W. did not want anything in +Everett, had no interests there, no friends there except as they were +disturbing conditions. Tracy knew the purposes and Tracy went back to +Seattle so he could lead this excursion to Everett. Tracy is a man of +determination. He knew the situation and he was prominent enough to be +selected by the organization as a stationary delegate. And if any man +knew what they intended to do in Everett, it undoubtedly was Tracy. So, +regardless of whether he fired or not, Tracy was one of the men who were +on the inside. Tracy is a part of the conspiracy that happened. But no +man, my friends, on that boat, that went up there with a common design +to break the ordinance has been sinned against because he is in jail. + +"Now, my friends, you want in good faith to follow the instructions of +the court. It seems to me that the only question you have to decide is +the one the court told you to decide--Was Beard killed unlawfully by a +shot from the boat, and did Tracy aid, encourage or incite that killing? + +"The murder of Jefferson Beard was a premeditated murder. Following the +instructions of the court, separating the wheat from the chaff, and +deciding that one question, we of the State are confident that you as +jurors and good citizens, as honest, sincere and conscientious citizens, +will protect Snohomish County--we believe that your verdict will say 'We +are convinced, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Tracy is guilty, and, +being so convinced, we are going to protect Snohomish County as we would +our own.' I thank you!" + +Vanderveer handled the case from two different viewpoints--that of a +first degree murder trial and also as a section of the class struggle. +His address was a masterly array of invincible logic and satire. +Omitting his readings from the transcript of evidence, his speech was +substantially as follows: + +"This cause is, as the counsel for the state has told you, one of +momentous importance not only to the defendant but to a class--a large +class of people of whom today he stands merely as an unfortunate single +member, fighting their battle. + +"We do not ask in this case for mercy, we do not ask for sympathy, but +it is essential, absolutely essential that we should have cold, stern +justice; justice for the defendant, justice for those who have oppressed +him, those who have denied him his rights. We hope this case is the +beginning of a line of prosecution which will see that justice is done +in the Everett situation. + +"It is not the defense who outlined the issues in this case, it was the +State who determined that. They have chosen their fighting ground, and +we had to meet them on that battle. In the beginning of this case the +State, thru Mr. Black, told you that it would prove a conspiracy of very +formidable proportions, a conspiracy in the first place to commit acts +of violence and to incite acts of violence, a conspiracy to commit +arson, a conspiracy to overrun all law and order in Everett and bring on +a condition of chaos. The claim was a very formidable one. The evidence +has been very silly. The State ought to apologize, in common decency, +for ever having suggested these things. + +"What is the evidence about the fires? The fire marshall's report, made +by a man who would naturally try to enlarge the performance of his +duties and impress upon the public the manner in which he discharged +them, reports only four fires of incendiary origin for the entire year. +Every one of these were discovered before they did five cents worth of +damage. Who had notice of them? Was it the I. W. W. who set them or was +it Reese or some paid employe of the Pinkerton Agency? Can you conceive +that an organization embracing as many members as this does, bent upon +the destruction of Everett, could not set one fire at least that would +do some damage. It is nothing but a hoax! + +"As to force and violence, who did they put on to prove it? Young Howard +Hathaway, a mere boy, whose father represents some mill companies in +Everett. Then Sheriff McRae, and McRae couldn't tell you one thing that +he heard at the street meetings. Then they put on Ed Hawes, the big +brute that out at Beverly called the little boy a coward, a baby, +because he wouldn't stand there and be slugged with guns and clubs. And +what did Hawes say? That he looked up sabotage in the International +Dictionary! And you can search that book until you are black in the face +and you won't find a word in there about sabotage. Why, if sabotage is +such a terrible thing, did Hawes, having heard all about it at the +street meeting, have to go home to look it up at all? + +"At these meetings there was not one thing said that could invite +criticism, there was not one thing said that could justify or invite +censure or abuse; there was not one disorderly thing done but was done +by the officers of the law themselves, and they went in recklessly, +without excuse, without right, they clubbed Henig, they clubbed Carr, a +former member of the council, and they roughed women around and knocked +them down. Why? Because these people were mill owners, their hirelings +and their representatives, who had been instructed in the propaganda of +the open shop by employes, aides and emissaries of the Merchants' and +Manufacturers' Association. + +"A lot of people went to the jail one night, a thousand, maybe. They +hooted, they cat-called, and they hissed. Is it any wonder they did? +Ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you there is no surer verdict on +earth than the verdict of a crowd; and the verdict of that crowd +condemned what the deputies had done. + +"Finally they say there was a conspiracy on the 5th of November to go to +Everett and to hold their meeting at all hazard, to brook no opposition, +to ride rough-shod over it, to oppose everyone and anything that stood +in the way of accomplishing their purpose. I ask you to think just for a +moment how foreign that is to everything you know about the I. W. W. and +their operations and behavior in Everett. Not one witness for the state +could tell you an incident where one of them resisted arrest, could tell +you an occasion where one of them had advocated violence, could tell you +one occasion where any one of them had committed any acts of violence. + +"These people wrote to Governor Lister calling his attention to the +violations of the law on the part of the officers of Everett; they wrote +to Mayor Merrill, enclosing a copy of that letter and calling on him to +restore the order that had been violated by the officers of the law; +they scattered handbills all over Everett, among its best homes and in +its business streets, calling upon the good citizens to come to their +meeting on November 5th at Wetmore and Hewitt, to come and help maintain +your own and our constitutional privileges; they mailed to the citizens +of Everett on October 30th, seven or eight hundred copies of a little +pamphlet calling upon them to intervene and stop the brutality of +officers of the law; they questioned Governor Lister at a public meeting +and again called his attention to the conditions in Everett; they called +in the reporters, called the newspapers and notified the editors that +they were going to Everett and asked them to have representatives +present: Are these the acts of conspirators? + +"You know how that meeting was called and why it was called. You know it +from ministers of the gospel, you know it from the lips of those whom +you cannot help but believe. And it was called for Sunday, the day when +people ordinarily resent disorders of the kind that had occurred there. +It was called for the daytime, when ordinarily abuse and violence are +not attempted. And this big crowd went up there on this fine Sunday +afternoon because in number there is strength and in numbers there is +protection against brutality. + +"At first the deputies had taken out one or two and abused and beaten +them; then they had taken five or six; they had taken eighteen; finally +they had taken forty-one. But I ask you, would you believe it possible +that they could take two hundred or three hundred people in broad +daylight and do to them what had been done to the others? Yet the +evidence in this case shows convincingly and conclusively they intended +to do substantially that thing. They intended to run those men into a +warehouse; they didn't intend to let one of them get away. And had they +gotten them into that warehouse you don't know, I don't know, nobody +knows what would have happened! + +"That is the evidence of conspiracy in this case. They have claimed no +other conspiracy; they have offered no other evidence of conspiracy, +either to set fires or to incite violence, or to override all opposition +on November 5th. Their evidence doesn't stand even if unanswered--and no +evidence could be more successfully answered. + +"What evidence is there that Tom Tracy had anything to do with such a +conspiracy, if there were one? Their most willing tools, Auspos and +Reese, don't say a word about Tracy. + +"What does the identification by McRae amount to? He identifies Tracy as +the man who leaned out of the window and shot at him. Now at the time +this shot was fired McRae had his back turned to the man who shot it. He +says himself he did, and he was shot thru the heel, which seems to prove +it. That, by the way, suggests to me that it was not an I. W. W. who +shot McRae. The man who shot him must have thought McRae a hero, like +the gentleman of mythological fame who was killed by an arrow thru the +heel which no I. W. W. does, I assure you. Or else he thought that McRae +wore his brains there. + +"But I am not going to discuss McRae at great length either now or at +any other stage of this case, because the greatest kindness I can do him +is to forget him. The man is a perjurer! He lied! He was not mistaken. +He deliberately, cold-bloodedly lied about almost everything in this +case wherein his conduct as an officer was questioned. He lied about +'Sergeant' Keenan! He lied about shooting at the "Wanderer," and you saw +the bullet holes. He lied about Berg and about Mitten, and finally, and +last of all lied, and we have proven it conclusively, about being out to +Beverly Park. + +"Bridge's identification of Tracy does not agree with that of Smith, and +Bridge does not even agree with his own testimony given at the coroner's +inquest. Smith picked out a photograph and said it was Tracy and that +picture resembles Tracy about as much as I do some of you jurors. Bridge +and Smith say that Tracy fired three shots, and Hogan says he fired only +one. And you know, ladies and gentlemen, that Hogan did not see this man +at all. You know that he did not even see the window at which he +pretends this man was sitting when the shot was fired. You know it +because you went there to the dock and you saw the boat lined up to a +mathematical certainty by the shot marks, and you saw a photograph taken +with the camera placed by John Hogan exactly where he said he was +standing himself. And there wasn't a one of you who could identify Bob +Mills, with his long nose and angular features, with everything that +makes identification easy, when he was in the position attributed to +Tracy. And when you came around from there to where you could look +directly at the place, the reflected glare of the sunshine left nothing +but a blank background. + +"There were one hundred and forty deputies looking toward the place +where the first shot was supposed to have been fired. They have produced +on the witness stand only about one in ten. We challenged them to bring +them all on, we dared them to do it, and Mr. Cooley said 'I accept that +dare!'--look it up Mr. Cooley on page 1802 of the transcript--but he did +not dare accept that dare. Mr. Cooley knows what those nine-tenths would +testify to. Twelve out of their sixteen witnesses who testified about +the first shots said that their brother deputies were mistaken as to +even the place on the boat where the first three shots came from. + +"I venture, ladies and gentlemen, that with a bit of the kind of work +the State has employed in this case, a little bit of the same zeal that +was employed on Auspos, a little bit of the same zeal that was employed +with Reese, a little bit of the help of McLaren of Los Angeles, I can +take these one hundred and forty-five men and pick out four men who will +honestly and truthfully testify that they saw anything, and I say that +with no reflection on their honesty either, because the power of +suggestion is enormous. It is not surprising that four people have come +here to say they saw Tracy. It is not surprising that three out of the +four should have been proven, conclusively, convincingly and absolutely, +not to know what they were talking about. + +[Illustration: FELIX BARAN + +Dark lines on body caused by internal hemorrhage; Portland doctor said +life might have been saved by operation.] + +"The court has told you that in this case it is not a question of who +shot first, not a question of which side shot first, it is a question of +who was the aggressor, who made the first aggressive movement, who did +the first hostile thing. The man who did a thing to excite fear was the +aggressor, and that man was McRae when he pulled his gun. McRae clearly +did that before there was any shooting. + +"In determining who the aggressor was, you are entitled--not only +entitled but must take into account the past behavior of all parties. +And what does that show you? Was it the I. W. W.'s who had never offered +violence, who had never done an act of violence, who had decried and +deplored violence, as members of their audiences told you, and advised +caution against it? Or was it McRae and his deputies? + +"It is only formally correct to refer to these as deputies. They had +commissions, but in nothing else in the world did they bear the remotest +resemblance to officers of the law, not in their conduct, not in their +training, not in their purposes, not in anything. They were the +hirelings of either the mill owners of Everett or the Commercial Club. +Did you ever in your life before hear of officials taking their +instructions from representatives of an industrial movement? Did you +ever before hear of deputy sheriffs being instructed in the propaganda +of the open shop, being instructed in the methods employed at Minot +unlawfully to prevent street speaking? That is where the first mistake +in this case was made. First in the selection of that kind of men; +second in the deliberate attempts which were made to color their +actions, to pervert them, to make them the tools of the employers. + +"That is the reason Henig and Carr were beaten, that is the reason +Feinberg and Roberts were beaten, that is the reason men and women were +knocked down in the crowds, that is the reason that this boy, Schwartz, +was taken out by McRae and chased zigzag down the road in mortal terror +of being run down by the sheriff's automobile, that is the reason +'Sergeant' Keenan was hit over the head with a gun, that is the reason +James Rowan was taken out and beaten black and blue. How do you suppose +Rowan got those marks on his back? Did he put them there for fun, or +were they put there by somebody else's rotten, dirty brutality? If you +didn't know a thing about him except what you know about Beverly and +these other incidents, and it was deep darkness where this happened, I +venture you would all say off-hand, 'It must have happened at Everett, +anyway. There is no place else that I know of where they do such +things.' + +"Black says the "Wanderer" has been greatly misrepresented to you, that +the things we claim happened did not happen there at all. Well, there is +a lot of evidence that they did happen. There are a lot of people who +could have denied it. There are a whole crew of deputies who could have +come up here and denied it. Why didn't they? Because they were ashamed +of it and they knew they could not stand the grilling that was awaiting +them in the court room. It is true, certainly! And I say here that +nothing but providential intervention prevented McRae on that day from +being a cold-blooded murderer! That is the manner of man you are +considering. You are considering whether he was the aggressor, he or the +people he shot at. + +"Counsel says that Louis Skaroff lied. Now I am very frank to confess +that when we produced that story on the witness stand I feared you would +not believe it, not because I doubted the truthfulness of his statement +but because the story itself is so brutal and inhuman that I questioned +whether there could be found anywhere in the county twelve persons who +would think such things could possibly happen just thirty miles away. +But when one of their own witnesses went on the stand here, in rebuttal, +and told you that Louis Skaroff came out of that room with his arms +above his head, crying, with the blood running from his finger tips, I +knew that you knew that Louis Skaroff had told the truth. + +"The state has been very reluctant in this case to admit that there were +rifles on the dock, because if the deputies went there with rifles there +was a reason for it. You could not find a rifle on that dock until we +proved--what? That rifle shells were around the dock in great numbers; +we proved it by innocent, clean little boys who picked up the shells; +until we proved by witnesses that the rifles were there and were being +shot; until we proved by a rifle bullet with human blood and a man's +hair on it that the use made of the rifles was a deadly one. + +"Who was the aggressor? Even now the State doesn't like to admit, +because the State knows it is fatal to their case to admit, and +notwithstanding hopeless to deny, that there were helpless men in the +water being shot at. They do not like to admit that a man was so +impressed with the inhumanity of the thing that he ran from the depot to +the boat house hoping to effect a rescue of the men and was stopped by +the armed deputies. The State does not like to admit the evidence of +their own deputy witness, Groger,--whose actions I want the counsel for +the state to explain and justify if he can--who repeatedly fired at a +man who was trying to untie the boat so the unarmed men could escape. + +"Counsel said that if there was any intention to start trouble men would +not have lined up as they were on the dock in an exposed position. And I +ask you, if there was not an intention to start trouble why were they +kept in the warehouse until the boat had almost tied up? If that was not +an ambuscade, what on earth was it? If they did not intend to start +trouble why was it McRae waited until the line was out and made fast. +Why was it, then, he did not say to the captain, 'Take your boat out?' +He said he was afraid they would go somewhere else. Well, when he told +those boys they could not land he expected them to go away. Or did he +expect them to go away? Which was it? + +"The manner in which McRae handled this thing indicates nothing so much +as that he intended to get them there and administer to them another of +the things that he calls a lesson, another of the things that other +people call infamous, damnable brutality. + +"Counsel says there have been mistakes made. He doesn't want to +apologize for them, but clearly he doesn't want to be held responsible +for them. There were mistakes made. Beverly was one! The "Wanderer" was +one! From the beginning to the end of all their operations in Everett +everything has been a mistake--a mistake because the ordinary processes +of law and the rights of other people were ignored. There was no +ordinance prohibiting speaking. The boys were yielding implicit, careful +obedience to such law as there was. McRae unblushingly tells you that +the reason he made arrests was because there were labor troubles in +Everett and the shingle mill owners didn't want things embarrassed by +the truth, by the disclosures contained in this little report of the +Industrial Relations Commission. + +"They were not afraid of the I. W. W.'s going up there to incite +violence, to advise disorder, to invoke a reign of terror. Reigns of +terror are the employers' specialty! They were afraid of cold fact. +Never a man went up there to speak on the street and used that little +Industrial Relations report but was thrown in jail for it--Thompson, +Rowan, Feinberg, Roberts, all. + +"It's nice to enjoy the powers, the position and authority of a dictator +who can repeal, amend and modify, ignore, disregard laws when it suits +his fancy, but it's kind of tough on other people. That's what McRae +did! + +"On the 5th of March, nearly nine weeks ago, His Honor called this case +from his bench 'State versus Thomas H. Tracy,' and my friend Mr. Cooley +rose from his chair and said 'Your Honor, the State is ready.' I say to +you, Mr. Cooley, you slandered the fair name of your state! What has the +State of Washington to do with this thing? The name of the State of +Washington in such a case as this should stand for law and order and +decency. The State is supposed to protect the innocent against abuse and +injustice and you who are now running this case do not now maintain +these things, or if you do, you protect them only when convenience +requires it. + +"It is not the State of Washington versus Thomas H. Tracy at all, and if +the decent people of Everett who know the facts could decide what course +this action should take it would never be here. Even the title of the +case is a mistake. It is the case of the Commercial Club of Everett, the +mill owners of Everett, against Labor. This is an attempt, just as all +the actions for months have been an attempt, to keep Labor out of its +rights in Everett. The same people who took possession of the machinery +of law in Everett, who took possession of the sheriff and furnished him +with guns and clubs and murderous things like that and instructed him +how to act, the same people who employed detectives to set fires in +order that they might manufacture evidence and public sentiment against +these boys, those same people are today prosecuting this case. + +"I don't know where Governor Clough was on November 5th. I suspect he +was not anywhere where there was any danger, but I know the smoke had +not left the decks of the Verona before he was hot-footing it to the +telegraph office,--Governor Clough, not the prosecuting attorney, not +the sheriff, nobody but Clough and Joe Irving, the man who was so drunk +that he beat up Schofield,--to send a telegram to Judge Burke of the +Chamber of Commerce of Seattle, to the Mayor of this City and to the +Chief of Police of this City to arrest the whole bunch of them. + +"Then right away they got their other emissaries at work, Reese and +Smith, down here with two fingers out of the door of a darkened cell, +deciding for the State of Washington who should be prosecuted in this +case, and H. D. Cooley, who surely then was not a prosecuting attorney, +giving them legal counsel and directing their energy, taking out the +men, preparing statements, and getting ready for the work he was going +to do in this case, because his employers wanted it. + +"There is a conspiracy in this case, a conspiracy supported by evidence, +a conspiracy of men in the Commercial Club to take over the machinery of +government, and by it club these fellows out of their rights, club them +out of Everett, club them out of all contact with the workers in order +that they might not bring to them the gospel of their organization. + +"But I say to you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, that this struggle, +the struggle of Capital against Labor, the struggle of the Commercial +Club against the I. W. W., which is just one phase of the bigger one, +this struggle is going on in spite of Cooley, this struggle is going on +in spite of McLaren, this struggle is going on in spite of Arthur L. +Veitch of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association, this struggle +is going on in spite of McRae, this struggle is going on in spite of the +Commercial Club, because it is founded on a principle so big, so +wholesome, and so decent, so righteous, that it must live. And it will +go on until in this country we have industrially that which we have +struggled so long and hard for and finally won politically; until we +have democracy. + +"There is nothing in revolution, gentlemen, that is wrong. We came to +the condition in which we now find ourselves by revolution; first the +grand American revolution and then the revolution against chattel +slavery. It was nothing more nor less than revolution, because slavery +was then entrenched under the highest law of the land, the decision of +the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case. We took it out of the courts +and slavery was wiped out. Slavery again will be wiped out! + +"The thing about this case which makes it of most serious importance, +the thing about this case which makes it of public interest, the thing +about this case which has so enlisted the sympathy of every one +connected with it, which makes us feel the importance of a just verdict, +is that it is not merely the liberty of a man that is at stake, but in a +larger measure than you know there is at stake in your verdict in this +case the rights of the working people, their right to organize, their +right to protect themselves, their right to receive and enjoy the fruits +of their labor. + +"There is involved the question of whether or not the working people +shall receive justice or forever must be victimized by organized +capitalists. There is involved the question of whether or not such +things as have gone on in Everett for the last six months may continue +forever with the endorsement of the jury or whether the working people +on the other hand may go and discuss their wrongs and grievances and +strive for their rights. + +"As I have confidence in the righteousness of this cause and the +integrity of this purpose, so I have confidence that your verdict will +be not guilty." + +Attorney Fred Moore closed the case for the defense with one of the +greatest speeches ever delivered in a court room, a speech that seered +its way to the minds and hearts of the jurors. Far more than a defense +of Thomas H. Tracy it was an explanation of the industrial problems +underlying society, the class warfare rooted in industry and manifesting +itself on November 5th. It was a sustained and definite statement of the +aims and objects of the I. W. W. and Moore showed, not only a great +knowledge of the problems of the working class, but a wonderful command +of satire and irony. Following is an abridgement of Moore's speech to +the jury: + +"May it please the court, and ladies and gentlemen of the jury; For a +period of something like five hundred years the Anglo-Saxon has seen fit +to place the final adjustment of the question of justice in the hands of +twelve men. In the evolution of the law, that number has been increased +until now in this state we have fourteen. Likewise, in the evolution of +the law and in the face of the vast amount of public protest, and in the +face of the most reluctant world, we have enlarged the term jurors to +include women jurors. This is the first time that I personally have ever +tried a lawsuit in which ladies sat in the jury. + +[Illustration: HUGO GERLOT] + +"The state has told you why this case is one of grave responsibility for +them. Allow me to tell you why this is one of grave responsibility for +you. One hundred and ninety-six witnesses have appeared for the +defendant in this case. Yesterday, counsel brought home the fact that +many of these witnesses were not residents of this community, were +without homes, without any permanent places of abode. All true. The +responsibility that you have in this case is commensurate with the fact +that the case reveals to you, as it were, a cross-section of our lives. +You who are property-qualified have a responsibility to pass upon the +liberties and the lives of a body of men who are propertyless. If there +is any change in men's thoughts and views as they acquire a home, as +they settle down, as they marry, as they bring into the world children, +then I ask you in all fairness to attempt to put yourselves in the +places of this defendant and of this defendant's witnesses who have +taken the stand, and to realize that your responsibility here is +commensurate with the fact that the testimony reveals, as it were, a +most deplorable condition of modern life. In other words, your +responsibility here is that of measuring out absolute and complete +justice between warring elements in our modern life, not for one moment +allowing your judgment to be swerved by the fact that one class of +witnesses here are witnesses of social position, are witnesses of +property qualifications, are witnesses with homes, while, on the other +hand, the witnesses called by the defense were witnesses from the four +parts of the earth, witnesses whose only claim to your consideration is +that they have built the railroads, that they have laid the ties, that +they have dug the tunnels, that they have harvested the crops, that they +have worked from one end of the country to the other, in season and out, +floating from job to job. + +"In most jurisdictions, the defendant has the opportunity of either a +grand jury investigation or of a preliminary; in other words, he is in +some degree advised of what evidence he is going to be called upon to +meet. In this case, we came in here on the 5th day of March with no +information whatsoever relative to the State's case other than that +given us from the four corners of the instrument on file here, known as +the information, together with the fact that on that information there +were the names of some three hundred or more witnesses. That was all we +had. We were further handicapped in view of the fact that we did not +have behind us all the resources of the State of Washington and the +county of Snohomish, neither did we have behind us all of the resources +of various business interests, neither did we have behind us all the +resources of allied business on this west coast, as represented by Mr. +Veitch." + +Mr. Veitch: To which I take an exception, if the court please. + +The Court: Exception allowed. + +Mr. Veitch: On a matter of personal privilege, I have a right to +characterize that statement as a deliberate misstatement of the fact. + +Mr. Moore: Mr. Veitch has not seen fit to explain why he was here. + +Mr. Veitch: I am employed by friends of Mr. Jefferson Beard. If that is +not enough-- + +Mr. Moore: That is outside of the record. + +The Court: Both of you are outside of the record. Proceed Mr. Moore. + +"Suffice it to say that we are here as the frank and honest +representatives of the defendant and of the defendant's organization. We +do not have behind us the power of the State, or the power of any +interest other than the defendant himself and of his organization. + +"Mr. Black complained that the State had been hampered in this cause. Is +it fair to say that the state has been hampered when on the fatal +November the 5th. Judge Bell and Mr. Cooley were both on the dock? Judge +Bell would have us believe that he was unarmed, and so far as we know +Mr. Cooley was unarmed. Then why were they on the dock? Judge Bell was +there as the representative, as he himself has testified, of a number of +lumber mills, and Mr. Cooley was there likewise; both citizen deputies; +both there; both unarmed if their testimony is to be believed. Again Mr. +Cooley was, in the matter of a few hours, down here at the Seattle jail. +Certainly he was not there to represent the defendant Tracy. Who was he +there to represent? He was either there in a private capacity, +representing private clients, or he was there in a public capacity +representing a public client, namely, Snohomish County. Wherein do you +find the evidence of the State being hampered, sir? From the beginning +to the end the State has moved majestically, exercising all the power +that it had. Mr. Black has had able assistance in this cause, the able +assistance of Mr. Cooley, the able assistance of Mr. Veitch, the able +assistance of the man behind Mr. Cooley and Mr. Veitch, Mr. McLaren. +Yet, all the resources of the State have failed to produce one scintilla +of evidence against the defendant Tracy here so far as tending to +indicate that he did counsel, aid, incite, abet, or encourage anyone to +fire any shot, except the testimony of George Reese produced at the +eleventh hour on rebuttal. I intend to treat of our friend Mr. Reese +later. + +"It is significant that out of all that mass of testimony that has been +introduced in this case up to this time not one single bit of testimony +has been introduced or any argument had upon that testimony dealing with +the object and principles and purpose of the Industrial Workers of the +World. Mr. Black did not refer to it. Mr. Cooley has the final say. I +anticipate his argument for the State. They have that old reliance, that +old faith, if you will, in the trial of a case of this character, namely +conspiracy; hallowed by age. + +"Way back in the sixteenth century the tub women on the banks of the +river Thames were indicted for conspiracy in attempting to raise wages. +The chandlers in London were likewise later indicted. The stonebreakers +in New York, the carpenters in Boston. From time immemorial the charge +of conspiracy has been leveled against the ranks of labor. Indeed, it +was only in the reign of Queen Victoria that labor unions became other +than simple conspiracies. Up to that time labor unions were within a +classification themselves of criminal conspiracy. + +"Knowing that under the charge contained in the information we might be +called upon to meet evidence of conspiracy, we then commenced a careful +survey of all the facts in connection with the Everett tragedy. And +what did we find? We found not a hint of conspiracy! + +[Illustration: Dead body of Abraham Rabinowitz.] + +"James Rowan had come into Everett without knowledge at the time that +there was any trouble there. He had not been advised that there was any +possibility of trouble. From all the prior history of Everett he had no +reason to anticipate trouble. Thompson had spoken there and many others +had spoken there. Rowan was charged with a violation of the peddling +ordinance. He had been given an arbitrary floater out of town and had +exercised his right to come back, was seized again and taken to the city +jail; the sheriff goes there and arbitrarily demands Rowan from the +Chief of Police. These things happened prior to any acts that by any +remote possibility could be charged to us. There was no literature in +the town at that time other than the Industrial Relations report. What +at that time did we have to conspire about? We had no object. + +"And as with Rowan so it was with Thompson, Remick and others. If there +was a conspiracy to violate a city ordinance why did not the city +officials make arrests and charge the men with such violations? The +record is silent. Why wait until Tom Tracy is on trial for murder, and +then at the eleventh hour spring this delightfully specious argument? + +"I can almost hear ringing in my ears the impassioned plea of Mr. Cooley +in closing this case. He is going to read this, 'The question of 'right' +and 'wrong' does not concern us.' He is going to say that is the I. W. +W. philosophy. My God, did it ever concern the sheriff of Snohomish +County? Does it seem very much to concern others who are attempting this +prosecution? + +"We were told in connection with the argument of counsel that Hickey was +not on trial. They might have said that sheriff McRae was not on trial; +they might have said that Bill Pabst was not on trial; they might have +said that Joe Irving was not on trial; they might have said that the +Commercial Club was not on trial; they might have said that all the men +that have been guilty of all the brutality in that County during the +months of August, September and October were not on trial. We know it! +Why are they not on trail? + +"Deprivation of due process of law and confiscation of property! And yet +Mr. Cooley is going to urge that the I. W. W. does not believe in +government; he is going to urge that the I. W. W. does not respect the +law. That kind of law never gets the respect of anyone. I hang my head +in shame before such a history of usurpation and seizure of public +authority as has been shown in this case. + +"Are you going to give the stamp of your approval to this sort of thing? +When you bring in a verdict in this case for the State you give your +approval to Donald McRae. I beg of you to not put the seal of your +approval upon lawlessness, official lawlessness, the kind of lawlessness +that is worse, tenfold worse, than any private lawlessness. + +"You are asked to stamp with your endorsement, to give your approval, to +a man; a public official, the chief executive officer of a municipality, +Mayor Merrill, who admits on the witness stand that he allowed a little +group of members of the Commercial Club to take the power of the police +department out of his office and turn it over to the sheriff of the +county. + +"Had the State put on Governor Clough and others on their side of the +case we might have wrung from their reluctant lips the evidence of what +occurred at the meeting on August 30th at the Commercial Club. But the +State was careful not to put him on. Indeed, the most significant and +outstanding thing in all this case is not who they put on, but who they +did not put on. Neil Jamison did not testify in this case for the State; +Governor Clough did not testify in this case for the State; Joe Irving +did not testify in this case; Colonel Hartley did not testify in this +case; Captain Ramwell did not testify. Why didn't Kelly, Chief of +Police, take the stand? You might go down the line and you will find +that the assets of all the witnesses for the State combined would total +but a few thousand dollars, while you could take the remaining witnesses +for the State who did not testify and you could build up an enormous +fortune, running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. We didn't +call them because we cannot cross-examine our own witnesses. + +"Is the administration of the law to be made a farce? Shall the State be +allowed to blow hot and cold; one minute hot on the enforcement of the +law, the next minute cold when the shoe pinches, and then hot again when +they can use the law for the advancement of the interests of their +prosecution? They say McRae and Hickey are not on trial; there is no +promise that they shall ever be on trial! + +"Let me say to you that no one violates the law, I care not who it is, +just for the fun of violating the law. Jails are not pleasant places to +abide in. People who violate the law and go to jail do so either because +they are deliberately criminal or because they want to focus attention +on some public issue. However, Mr. Black is too kind and considerate +when he gives all this credit to the I. W. W. + +"The facts are, if you go back into the history of the Revolutionary +Days, that our forefathers urged and banded together and combined and +federated, and if you will, conspired to violate the Stamp Act of the +British Government, and were willing to go to jail if necessary. They +went even further! They threw the British tea into Boston Harbor. +Violation of the law? Yes, if you want to call it such, but the +indignant protest of a people as against the enforcement of an unjust +law. + +"I might urge upon you that the State at that time wanted to absolutely +suppress any speech whatsoever, because they had constituted the chief +of police, the sheriff, the arresting officer, as the executive, the +legislative and the judicial department of our government. The sheriff +executed the law in person, the sheriff declared the question of guilt +himself, the sheriff ordered deportations, and the sheriff took physical +charge of the deportations. Isn't it impossible to avoid a fight when +someone usurps unlawfully and illegally the legislative and judicial +functions of government? Isn't it time to fight? If it isn't then we +may as well cease any attempt to administrate the law! + +"In the phraseology of these boys 'Fight' means a moral adherence to +principle, a firm determination to face the authorities in the +administration of the law, and if necessary to be arrested. But the +State would have you put into it now a more sinister meaning, entirely +new and foreign to its former use. + +"The State brought in the death of Sullivan of Spokane in their opening +and abandoned it in their close. One of the exploded hopes of the State! +They counted on North Yakima and Wenatchee to show violence and arson, +and they failed most miserably. They have failed in their identification +of the defendant. Now, their forlorn and bankrupt plea here is the +charge of conspiracy. + +"The court has told you that this is a murder case. Why then has the +State cumbered the record with the I. W. W. preamble and constitution? +Why with two pamphlets on sabotage? Why with an I. W. W. song book and +such matters? Why? + +"Because out of some of the phraseology here, phraseology far removed +from you and me, they may build up a condition of prejudice which may +result in your returning a conviction on a smaller degree of evidence +than you would otherwise require. Mr. Cooley is going to stand here and +read little, short, listed extracts from the context of the whole. The +pamphlets he has introduced on the question of patriotism and the worker +is the foundation from which Mr. Cooley will appeal to your prejudices +and passions. + +"We are not afraid of the evidence. We are afraid of this deep-grained +interest that goes down into men's conscience and that reached back a +thousand years. + +"Remember that behind this case are many women and children whose cause +these boys represent; whose cause these boys are attempting to fight +for. They fight because they must! They fight because to do anything +else is suicide. You could not have stopped the American Revolution with +all the powers of the British government. Since this jury was empaneled +you have had the collapse of one of the greatest powers of modern times. +I refer to Russia. It has passed from an absolute monarchy to a stage of +a republic. + +"The trial of this cause is the presentation of a great social issue, +the greatest issue of modern times, namely, what are we going to do +today with the migratory and occasional workers? These migratories, they +are the boys who have told their story on the stand. + +"If there is one principle that is ground into Anglo-Saxon thought it is +that of liberty of the press and freedom of speech. Those two things +stand as the bulwark of our liberty. They are the things for which the +Anglo-Saxon has fought from time immemorial. Away back in the eighteenth +century Charles Erskine, a member of the British bar, defended Thomas +Paine for having written the 'Rights of Man'. Case after case was fought +out during that period when English thought was budding into fruition; +when English thought was being tremendously influenced by the French +Revolution and when those thoughts were bearing fruit in England. Time +and time again the British crown attempted to throttle freedom of speech +and liberty of the press. Time and time again Charles Erskine's voice +was raised in the House of Lords in protest. Time and time again the +British courts and finally the British jurors, gave voice to the +doctrine that freedom of speech and liberty of the press may not be +invaded except insofar as that subject, that document, is accompanied +with acts; that you may not convict men for what they think; you may +convict men only for what they do. Freedom of discussion thru the press +and thru the public forum are the mainstay and the backbone of social +development and social evolution. Only in that way, thru freedom of +thought and freedom of discussion, may you fan the wheat from the chaff. + +"Why, if this I. W. W. literature is all the State claims it is, why +doesn't the State act in the way the law says they should act, prefer +charges, arrest someone, bring the literature before a duly qualified +body, a court with jurisdiction, and try the matter out? The State has +not done that; the State will not do that; and we are in the position of +a man fighting in the dark, without knowledge of what character of +argument the State proposes to make. + +"I do know that the name of Joe Hill is going to be paraded in front of +this jury. The I. W. W. song book dedicated to Joe Hill, with the +inscription 'Murdered by the authorities of the State of Utah, November +19th, 1915.' I cannot go into the conditions that surround that tragedy, +but I can call your attention to one or two things that bear upon the +question of the type of the man. Before he died, written in his cell on +the eve of the execution, was Joe Hill's last will: + + + My will is easy to decide, + For there is nothing to divide. + My kin don't need to fuss and moan-- + Moss does not cling to a rolling stone. + + My body? Ah, if I could choose, + I would to ashes it reduce, + And let the merry breezes blow + My dust to where some flowers grow. + + Perhaps some fading flower then + Would come to life and bloom again. + This is my last and final will. + Good luck to all of you, JOE HILL. + + +"This is the type of man you are asked, because he was honored, because +some odd hundred thousand workers who suffer and who wander and who live +in the jungles of labor as he did, and because he wrote songs that they +understood, songs that because their songs, to judge as the author of +the songs and bring in a verdict against Tom Tracy. Mr. Cooley will +parade the songs one by one. Remember that behind any words he voices, +any thought he expresses, behind it all was a human soul, a human soul +passed, a human soul that lived as you and I, a human soul that had +rights that had been trampled upon, and who attempted to voice those +things. + +"With all the oratory he can display Mr. Cooley will read the song, +'Christians at War.' A song that Mr. Thompson designated as a satire. +You recollect that when the European war broke out both parties in that +conflict called to their aid and said they were acting under divine +guidance; that the Kaiser was fighting under the name of God, and that +the British and French governments were allied with the Almighty. It is +not for me to attempt a settlement of that dispute. History will say +that of all the tragedies of the Twentieth Century, the most tragic +thing of our modern life is that we of different nationalities, but +bound together by all other ties, should be engaged in a death grapple. +But that is not the issue here. But I cannot at this time anticipate +wherein and how this literature presented by the State helps you to +decide the question of who was the aggressor on November 5th. + +"Who was the aggressor on July 31st when James Rowan was arrested and +brought into the city court? McRae comes in and tells him to get out of +town. An intervening series of events and Levi Remick is run out of +town. Who was the aggressor? Sheriff McRae! On August 22nd Rowan and +Remick were both in the union hall. McRae comes in and orders them out +of town. Who was the aggressor? That night Thompson and others came up +to Everett--who was the aggressor then? Next morning, with Kelly +treating them half way white, along comes McRae and takes away one of +the boy's money. Who was the aggressor? We come now to the deputies +meeting at the Commercial Club on August 30th. Who was the aggressor? +Had any of their members been beaten up? Had anything happened to their +members whatsoever? Not at all! Yet murderous blackjacks were put into +the hands of the membership of the club. Was James Rowan the aggressor +when he was railroaded out of town and beaten? Who was the aggressor at +the time of the 'Wanderer' outrage? Old Capt. Mitten, old John Berg, +Edith Frenette? Who was the aggressor with Henig? With Feinberg? With +Roberts? You have the testimony of Cannow, you have the testimony of +Schofield, you have testimony showing the instructions given to the +deputies. No one denies it. Here is a series of acts leading up to +October 30th, in which on each and every occasion McRae and his +deputies, either regular or citizen deputies, were the aggressors. I +said, who were the aggressors? Is there any question in your mind who +was the aggressor up to Beverly Park? Any question in God's world who +had done the dirty work up to that time? The State would have you +believe that the I. W. W., with its membership coming from the four +corners of the country, changed complexion practically over night, +changed their whole ideas and their methods. I do not believe it and you +do not believe it. + +[Illustration: Part of 78 prisoners of County Everett Wn. Released +May 8, 1917.] + +"The excuse the State gives for the actions of the deputies is that in +the case of large numbers they could not give due process of law. +Gentlemen, I refuse to believe that the Government is bankrupt in its +capacity to protect itself thru legal and lawful measures of law +enforcement. I have yet to sit in a court room and hear a plea on social +and governmental bankruptcy such as is the plea of counsel for the +State. + +"The machinery of the government was there but it was not the kind of +machinery that McRae wanted to use. It was not the kind Clough wanted to +use. It was not the kind of machinery the executive committee, whoever +they were, sitting behind the closed doors of the Commercial Club, +wanted to use. + +"And these members and leaders of the Commercial Club passed resolutions +stigmatizing their own citizens, member of their own community, property +owners in their own town, as well as the I. W. W., when they declared +for an open shop. How do they stigmatize them? 'Professional agitators!' +Yes. Lloyd Garrison was a professional agitator. Wendell Phillips was a +professional agitator. The men who fought the battle that lay the ground +work that made Abraham Lincoln possible, the men who are at work to +better American politics, those men have all been professional +agitators. + +"Now on the boat they were ninety-nine percent I. W. W.'s, just a few +passengers had bought their passage before. On the dock they were all +citizen deputies, persons interested therein, and persons satisfactory +to the men who had been stationed there to see that nobody but the right +ones got on the dock. That means that as far as the first shot was +concerned the two classes of witnesses are in some degree interested +parties. The State put on a total of twenty-two witnesses, one of them +not a deputy, all of whom testified that the shot came, or they thought +it came from the dock, and of that number thirty-seven were I. W. W.'s, +and twenty-four were not members at all but were Everett people from all +walks of life. + +"Now counsel is going to discount the value of the testimony of these +citizens. Well, Mr. Cooley, we used the only kind of witnesses that you, +in all of your care exercised in advance on November 5th, left for us. +In the exercise of the highest degree of judicial advance knowledge they +saw to it that nobody got any closer to the end of the dock than the +landing. We could not help that. You barred us from the dock; you barred +us from access to the facts. We did all we could to get the facts, and +if we couldn't get any closer it was not our fault. And the man who +barred us from access to the facts is the man who is least qualified to +come into court now and urge that our witnesses are disqualified in the +face of the evidence that they disqualified them. But those witnesses +could testify, and they did testify, to the very definite and specific +facts--the first tipping of the boat, the rushing of the men, the volley +firing, all of those matters. + +"At the eleventh hour there came into this case a man by the name of +Reese, a member, if you will, of the I. W. W. Back in the Chicago +stockyards they have a large pen where they keep the cattle which are to +be driven to slaughter. In that place they have had for years a steer +that has performed the function of going into the big pen where all the +cattle are, and, after mingling with them, then walking out thru a gate. +He is trained to do it, he is skilled at it, this steer--and after +walking around with the poor peaceful cattle that don't know they are +about to be killed, this steer then goes up an incline, the gate is +opened and the other cattle follow, and when he gets to the top of the +incline there is a door and he turns to the right thru this door to +safety and his followers turn to the left to death. That's George Reese! +Proud of him? George Reese, the man who reported day by day with his +confederates! To whom? During one period to the Pinkerton agency in +regard to the longshoremen's union; during another period on behalf of +the Pinkerton Agency to the Commercial Club in Everett. George Reese! A +man who doesn't even come under the approximately dignified title of a +detective; a man whom Ahern, of his own agency says, 'Well, he wasn't a +detective, we used him as an informer.' Informer! A human being that has +lost its human color. + +"In connection with the testimony of Reese let me call your attention to +the Industrial Relations Commission Report, a report that our friends of +the Commercial Club had read and knew all about: + +"'Spies in the Union: If the secret agents of employers, working as +members of labor unions, do not always instigate acts of violence, they +frequently encourage them. If they did not they would not be performing +the duties for which they are paid. If they find that labor unions never +discuss acts of violence they have nothing to report to those employing +them. If they do not report matters which the detective agencies +employing them can use to frighten the corporation to cause their +employment, they cannot continue long as spies. Either they must make +reports that are false, in which case discovery would be inevitable, or +they must create a basis on which to make a truthful report. The union +spy is not in business to protect the community. He has little respect +for the law, civil or moral. Men of character do not engage in such +work, and it follows that the men who do are, as a rule, devoid of +principle and ready to go to almost any extreme to please those who +employ them.' + +"That is the descriptive adjective, definition and analysis of the +character of union informants made by the National Industrial +Commission, appointed by President Wilson, and composed of nine men, all +men of national standing, three representatives of labor, three +representatives of capital and three representatives of the general +public. That is their definition, description and classification of that +character of testimony. + +"Mr. Vanderveer closed yesterday by saying that this struggle, whatever +your verdict is, will win. If yours is a verdict of 'not guilty,' Tom +Tracy must take up again the job of finding a job, the endless tragedy +of marching from job to job, without home, wife or kindred. His offense +consists of being a migratory worker. I beg of you to render a verdict +that has due regard and consideration for the tragedy of our twentieth +century civilization that does not as yet measure out economic justice. + +"Your verdict means much. The wires tonight will carry the word all over +this land, into Australia, New Zealand and thruout the world. Your +verdict means much to the workers, their mothers, their children, who +are interested in this great struggle. We are not in this courtroom as +the representatives of one person, two persons or three persons; our +clients run into five or six hundred thousand. We are here as the +mouthpiece of the workers of America, organized and unorganized, and +they are all behind our voices. + +"Tom Tracy stands here in your control. You are the ones to determine +whether or not he shall walk out free, whether or not he shall be +branded for all times with the most serious felony known to the law, +namely, that of a murderer. Can you find it in the evidence to bring in +a verdict of guilty in this case? + +[Illustration: Singing to the Prisoners.] + +"In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, we want no compromise here. When +you retire to your jury room I beg of you not to compromise with any +verdict other than not guilty. We don't want manslaughter in this case, +we don't want second degree murder in this case; it is either first +degree murder or an acquittal, one or the other. Allow none of those +arguments that we, as lawyers, know are made in the juryroom to +influence your honest verdict in this case. We ask at your hands, and we +believe with all the sincerity of our souls, that the evidence warrants +it, we ask a verdict of not guilty for the defendant, Thomas H. Tracy!" + +If the speech of prosecutor Black was a whine, that of prosecutor Cooley +was a yelp and a snarl. Apologies, stale jokes, and sneers at the +propertyless workers followed one another in close succession. The gist +of his harangue was as follows: + +"In this case I am going to try simply in the closing argument to select +a few of the monuments that it seems to me stand out in this case and +that point a way to a proper verdict. + +"Now, in the first place, a whole lot has been said here as to the +nature of the controversy that existed for a number of months before +November the 5th, 1916, between two classes of individuals there at +Everett. Upon the one side were the people who were living in the city +of Everett, who had made their homes there, who had come there for the +purpose of carrying out their future destiny in that city. It was their +home. Their interests were there. Their families were there. And upon +the other side were a class of people who did not claim Everett as their +home, who did not come there for the purpose of amalgamating with the +citizenship of the city of Everett. They were not coming there because +they had work there, nor because they were seeking work there; they were +not citizens of Everett, nor were they seeking to become citizens of +Everett, and there arose a controversy between the citizens of Everett +on the one hand and these people from the four corners of the earth upon +the other. The first thing we want to inquire into to find out if we can +from the testimony in this case exactly what was the nature of that +trouble that existed between them. Why was it that upon the one hand +there was a band of people congregated down here in the city of Seattle +from all over the land and making one excursion after another, +attempting to break into the city of Everett? Why was it that there were +citizens of Everett up there seeking to do only one thing, asking only +one thing, that these people keep away from Everett? + +"Was it a fight to win the right of free speech on the one hand? Was it +a fight on the other hand of a group of individuals who were simply +seeking to force the open shop? Or was it a fight of a more serious +nature on either hand? + +"I grant you that the origin of the trouble arose because a man was +seeking to speak upon the streets of Everett and he was stopped. But +long before November 5th that original incident was lost sight of and +forgotten. The controversy had grown to a magnitude that overshadowed +the original incident. It was necessary in order that you might +understand the situation with which the people of Everett were +confronted that you should be apprised of the nature of the organization +to which those people belong, that you should be apprised of the nature +of the place in the world that they had attained, and that you should be +apprised of the nature of their propaganda that they were seeking to +inject into the city of Everett and that locality. + +"I want to say right here and now that I have the highest regard for +organized labor. Labor has the right to organize. There is not any +question about it; there is not any dispute about it. Labor has +organized and it has made a manful fight, and all down the pages of +history you will find that labor, thru its organization and thru its +lawful methods pursued under its organization, has gradually bettered +its condition. + +"It is not a question, and never has been in this case, as to the right +of the labor men to organize; the right of the laboring man to use all +of the lawful methods for the purpose of bettering his condition. The +question in this case is as to whether any organization, whether it be +a labor organization or any other, has the right to use unlawful +methods; whether it has the right, because it may have the power, to use +unlawful methods. + +"Now there were coming into the city of Everett people representing this +organization known as the Industrial Workers of the World. What was the +propaganda that they were seeking to introduce there? They put upon the +stand their chief exponent in this part of the country, to tell you what +their purpose was in coming to the city of Everett, and what the +doctrines were that they were teaching to the people that congregated +there in the city of Everett. Mr. Thompson was upon the stand for about +two days, and he delivered to this jury a lecture, which he says was a +resume of three lectures that he gave up there in the city of Everett. +He was asked whether or not he talked on sabotage and he told you what +he had to say about it. He said sabotage was 'a conscious withdrawal of +efficiency, a folding of the arms.' But Thompson says it is never the +destruction of property, and yet the organization that sends him out to +talk on sabotage puts out right along with him the literature that has +been adopted by the I. W. W. as a part of their propaganda, defining +what sabotage really is and it gives the lie to Mr. Thompson. It may +mean working slow; it may mean poor work; it may mean folding of arms; +it may mean conscious withdrawal of efficiency. So far sabotage is legal +and anyone has a right to use it. But it may mean the spoiling of a +finished product, it may mean the destruction of parts of machinery, it +is the destruction of property. 'Sabotage is a direct application of the +idea that property has no rights that its creators are bound to +respect.' It does not say that certain kinds of property has no rights, +but that there is no property that has any rights that are bound to be +respected. But Thompson says that is not sabotage. + +"Sabotage is what? Where is that old song book? Let us see whether it +means simply the folding of the arms. (Cooley dived into a mass of +pamphlets, but being unable to locate the song book he came up with +Elizabeth Gurley Flynn's pamphlet on Sabotage, reading from it as +follows:) 'Sabotage itself is not clearly defined. Sabotage is as broad +and changing as industry, as flexible as the imagination and passions of +humanity.' Why, if it consisted simply of a folding of the arms, if it +consisted simply of the withdrawal of efficiency, there would not be +much flexibility to it, would there, and the passions of humanity would +have nothing to do with it? That language means that sabotage means +anything that the imagination can devise and the passions of men adopt, +if they had the power to use it and get away with it. Oh, it is not +wrong! No matter what form it takes it is not wrong, because they say so +in their official publication. 'The tactics used are determined solely +by the power of the organization to make good in their use. The question +of 'right' and 'wrong' does not concern us.' Put the two together. +Legality and illegality, those terms have no meaning to a man of the +Industrial Workers of the World. Why? Because there is no law that they +are bound to respect except the law that is made by them in their own +union hall. It is in the song book, 'Make your laws in the union hall, +the rest can go to hell.' That is the class of people that we had to +deal with, who were coming there to Everett. + +"In Spokane there were twelve hundred convictions upon a valid +ordinance, and yet, after they had convicted a hundred of them they +didn't stop coming, and two hundred, and two hundred and fifty, and five +hundred, and they continued coming there until the city jail of the city +of Spokane was filled, until the county jail of Spokane county was +filled, until an old deserted school house was filled, and then until an +army post jail was filled. A species of sabotage! They weren't willing +to accept the verdict of one jury, or ten juries, or of a hundred +juries, that they were violating the law. They had made their laws in +their union halls and they were going to speak at a certain place, upon +a certain street of Spokane; and they were going to compel the citizens +of Spokane to let them speak when they pleased, where they pleased, and +say what they pleased; and they kept it up until after Spokane had the +expense of a thousand trials and had upon its hands a thousand +defendants it began to think it had better yield and let them speak when +they pleased, where they pleased and say what they pleased. And Spokane +was licked! + +[Illustration: Charles Ashleigh speaking at the funeral, of Looney, +Baran and Gerlot.] + +"Is it any wonder that the citizens of Everett said 'If you have no +regard for law we will meet you on your own ground; we are not going to +be bankrupted; we are not going to be hammered into defeat as they were +in Spokane; we are not going to have you sabotage us in that manner by +your numbers; we are not going to have your people coming from the +Dakotas, from Montana, from Oregon, and from all over the various parts +of the state of Washington, and camping down on us until we surrender to +you. We are going to keep you out of here.' Now, that may not have been +strictly legal, but it was human nature. + +"There is not hint anywhere in the argument of either counsel for the +defense in this case as to what was ever done in the city of Everett by +the I. W. W. that would constitute new methods and new tactics. Do you +remember the testimony over a period of time there before Labor Day that +they allowed them to speak without interference and a meeting was held +there and every time they went up with a chip on their shoulder and were +not satisfied when no one interfered with them. When they were there +speaking on the corner of Hewitt and Wetmore somebody was going around +the city of Everett distributing a nasty stinking chemical in the +theater building, into the store buildings, into the business houses, +into the automobiles. And the paper in the next issue gloats over it and +intimates that the reason the officers did not arrest Feinberg was +because they were evidently too busy chasing a cat of malodorous +tendencies. When Thompson was upon the stand and was being questioned +about sabotage and about cats; he could tell you what a cat was, he got +a bit halting in his speech when he was asked what it meant when they +said that the claws of the cat had been sharpened, when he was asked +what a 'sabcat' meant, but when he was asked as to what a cat of +'malodorous tendencies' was he said he didn't know unless it was a +skunk. But by that was meant that the skunk accomplishes sabotage. You +never heard of a skunk that did sabotage by simply a withdrawal of +efficiency, never! + +"Now as to incendiary and phosphorous fires. Fire Chief Terrell tells +you that up to the date of September 28th, the date of the first known +phosphorous fire in Everett, that up to that time, in all of his +experience upon the fire force of the city of Everett, it never had come +to his knowledge or observation in any way that a phosphorous fire had +ever occurred in the city. It occurred there, known to be a phosphorous +fire, and within a period of two months at least two other fires +occurred, mysterious, the origin unknown because the fire had progressed +to such an extent that no one could tell how it did start." + +Mr. Vanderveer: Didn't your detective go to work September 21st? + +Mr. Cooley: Yes sir, he did. + +"And they would have you believe that the detective was up there setting +those fires. That, I know, is an insinuation not supported by any +evidence in this case, and the detective wasn't working up there, he was +operating down here in the city of Seattle. He was sending his reports +to Blain before the Wanderer started out, before the men started out on +October 30th, and that goes a good way to explain how it happened how +these people were met on these different excursions and were not +permitted to come within the city of Everett. They were trying to get +into the city of Everett, to use their own judgment, to act on their own +initiative, according to instructions that had gone out. And the +officers stopped the thing before it started. + +"What were they coming to Everett for, these forty-one men who were met? +Were they coming to hold a street meeting? Forty-one men, enthused with +the enthusiasm of the belief in their grand and glorious doctrine that +they are teaching, forty-one men starting out as crusaders to carry the +gospel of their organization to the benighted of Everett, forty-one +going up there to be martyrs, to be beaten for the cause, and nothing +else! + +"I have told of the tactics and methods advocated, used and encouraged, +by this peculiar, particular organization, so you can judge the +character, purpose and intentions of the individuals that were seeking +from time to time to force themselves into the city of Everett, in order +that you may judge the two hundred and sixty that left on the Verona on +November the 5th. + +"But there is another matter you should likewise take into consideration +in determining the character of the individuals of that crowd. +Regardless of all environment, regardless of the effect of all +legislation, regardless of all social conditions, men are born--not all +with the same propensities, not all with the same natural ambitions, not +all with the same qualifications, and out of the entire mass of humanity +there is a certain percentage that were born without any ambition, born +without any incentive; they go thru life without any incentive, +constantly tired. Now I am not here to say that all the I. W. W.'s are +that kind of people. I am not here to say that because a man is a member +of the I. W. W. he is a tramp or a hobo. But there is a class that has +been recognized in this country ever since the country existed, a class +that don't want to work, that would not work if you gave them an +opportunity. These are a percentage, I don't know how large, and I say +that every one of these people are members of the I. W. W. organization +or should be. Why? Well, in the first place, you don't have to show any +qualification for any line of work. You don't have to make proof of +anything whatever to become a member of that organization. And is there +any inducement for a man who has been drifting here and there, walking +the ties, counting the mile posts as he walks from one place to another, +to join that organization? It gives him a pass upon every freight train +that travels the length and breadth of the land. One of the best +inducements in the world. + +"There is another class of people in this country that are born with +criminal instincts implanted in their very natures; they are scattered +all over this land and we have them with us and we will always have them +with us. There are men who are driven to crime thru misfortune; there +are men who commit crime under the influence of environment; but there +is a percentage of men who are habitual, natural and instinctive +criminals. Now I don't say that because a man is a member of the I. W. +W. he is necessarily and instinctively a criminal, but I do say that +every habitual, instinctive criminal, who knows that he intends to +violate the law upon every opportunity to satisfy his own criminal +desire, has every inducement to become a member of that organization. + +"There are a few uncontested and undisputed facts in connection with the +occurrence at the dock. Jefferson Beard was killed on that dock. No +doubt about that! The defendant was on the boat. No question about that! +There is no question that the conversation between McRae and the people +on the boat occurred substantially in the language that you have heard +repeated here by witnesses for the State and for the defense, all +agreeing that the conversation preceded the shooting. There is no +dispute that McRae turned partially away from the boat and that one of +the first three shots fired hit McRae while he was turning. The burden +of the whole argument of the defense was that when somebody on the boat +saw McRae put his hand on his gun he was justified in shooting. It is +not material whether Tracy shot Jefferson Beard or somebody else. It is +not material whether Tracy fired a gun or not, provided the evidence in +this case satisfies you beyond a reasonable doubt that Tracy was a party +to the conspiracy to go up to the city of Everett to violate an +ordinance of the city of Everett. + +"But have you any doubt that Tracy was seen on the boat? Hogan saw the +window and he saw a man with his face at the window shooting in his +direction. Hogan wasn't thinking of the exact angle at which the boat +was standing to the dock, but he knows he was standing at such an angle +to the boat that he could see a man in a certain place on the boat. And +he testified he did see him. + +"It wasn't Thomas Tracy that was looking out of that window, it was +Martin. It wasn't Thomas Tracy dressed for the occasion, it wasn't +Thomas Tracy shaven for a picnic, it wasn't Thomas Tracy wearing a +Sunday countenance, it wasn't Thomas Tracy gazing placidly out of a mild +blue eye! It was Thomas Tracy, alias Martin, with his face drawn down +into a scowl of hatred, with his eyebrows lowering over his eyes, gazing +at John Hogan, not only gazing at him thru a window, but gazing at him +over a gun! And if there is anything that would impress itself into the +memory and recollection of a man it is the remembrance of a face filled +with venomous hatred, the eyes shooting daggers at you while he is +gazing at you over the muzzle of a gun--and you are not going to forget +that! + +"Counsel for the defense says this is an important trial, that important +questions are involved, that the verdict in this case will have a great +deal to do with the ultimate future of the working man and organized +labor. I don't think that matters of that kind should enter the minds of +the jurors in arriving at a verdict, but if it does, I want to +supplement what counsel for the defense has said. I want to say that in +my mind a verdict in this case will have much to do with the future +success and the future advancement of honest labor in every line and in +all organizations. It will have much to do with clarifying the situation +insofar as this one organization is concerned. Every organization don't +preach the doctrines that are preached by this organization, and if this +jury by its verdict does not support that kind of method and that kind +of procedure it will aid in purifying an organization that otherwise +might do a world of good, but as it stands today, uttering the +propaganda that it does, pursuing the tactics that it does it, is a +menace not only to society, but is a menace to the welfare of the other +labor organizations that believe in pursuing lawful methods, in a lawful +manner. This is an important case in that regard. + +"I believe that it is a fortunate thing that a jury of King County and a +jury from the city of Seattle should have been called to try this case. +The seed was not planted in Snohomish County! The plot was not hatched +in Snohomish County! It was hatched down here in Seattle. The expedition +started out from Seattle, not this one alone but many of them. Seattle +was the base, the enemy's base, and it was from here that they started. +Just down here almost in sight of this court house is the place where we +claim the plot was formed, and it has come back here, and we come into +court and lay it at your feet. They returned here, they have brought the +case here for trial, and we are satisfied. Now we lay it before you and +say,--'As citizens of Seattle do justice to the city of Everett and +Snohomish County.'" + +With these words ringing in their ears the twelve jurors retired for +their deliberations, the court having entered an order discharging from +further service the two alternate jurors, Efaw and Williams. + +Retiring shortly before noon, the jury consulted for nearly twenty-two +hours, taking ballot after ballot only to find that there were some who +steadfastly refused to agree to any compromise verdict. Then, shortly +after nine o'clock on May 5th, two full calendar months after the start +of the trial and just six months to the day from the time of the tragedy +of the Verona, Foreman James R. Williams announced the result of their +deliberations, and the word sped out to the many hundred thousands who +had spent an anxious and sleepless night; + +"We, the jury, find the defendant, Thomas H. Tracy, NOT GUILTY!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +SOLIDARITY SCORES A SUCCESS + + +"I. W. W. Not Guilty!" + +In this headline the daily papers of Seattle, Washington, gave the +findings of the jury. With an unbroken series of successful prosecutions +of Labor to the credit of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association +this, the first great victory for the working class on the Pacific +Coast, was a bitter pill for the allied employers and open shop +interests to swallow. + +With Tracy freed and the I. W. W. exonerated, there was nothing for the +Snohomish County officials to do but to release the rest of the free +speech prisoners. Yet the same contemptible spirit that had marked their +actions from the very start of the trouble led them to hold the +prisoners for several days and to try to make a few of the men think +that there would be a trial of a second prisoner. + +Part of the men were released in Seattle and part in Everett. All went +at once to the I. W. W. hall upon gaining their freedom, and from there +nearly the whole body of released men went to Mount Pleasant cemetery to +visit the graves of their dead fellow workers. + +Returning to the hall, those who had previously been delegates, or who +had fitted themselves for the work while in jail, immediately took out +credentials and started on an organizing campaign of the Northwest, with +the uniting of the workers in the lumber industry as their main object. + +[Illustration: Gus Johnson Felix Baran John Looney] + +[Illustration: Hugo Gerlot Abraham Rabinowitz] + +The dearth of workers due to the war, the tremendous advertisement the +I. W. W. had received because of the tragedy and the trial, and the +spirit of mingled determination and resentment that had grown up in the +jail, made the work easy for these volunteer organizers. Members joined +by the dozen, then by the score, and finally by the hundreds. + +Seattle had but two officials under pay on November 5th--Herbert +Mahler, secretary of the I. W. W., and J. A. MacDonald, editor of the +Industrial Worker. By July 4th, 1917, one year from the time of the +loggers' convention at which there were only half a hundred paid up +members, the I. W. W. in Seattle had thirty people under pay, working at +top speed to take care of the constantly increasing membership, and +preparations were under way to launch the greatest lumber strike ever +pulled in the history of the industry with the eight hour day as the +main demand. That strike in which thousands of men stood out for week +after week in the face of persecution of every character, in the face of +raids upon their halls and the illegal detention of hundreds of members +by city, county, state and federal agents, and in the face of +deportations by mobs of lumber trust hirelings, deserves a volume to +itself. + +This activity in the lumber industry reflected itself in all other +lines, particularly so in construction projects all over the Northwest. +Demands for literature, for speakers, for organizers, flooded the +offices of the organization and many opportunities to organize had to be +passed by simply because there were not enough men capable of taking up +the work. + +Part of this growth was of those who had interested themselves in the +trial. Many of those who had gone on the witness stand for the defense +afterwards took out membership cards in the I. W. W. The women of +Everett,--considerably more inclined toward revolutionary ideas than the +men there, by the way,--were among the first to ask for a "red card." + +Too great praise cannot be given to those who voluntarily gave their +services to the defense and thus helped to bring about a verdict of +acquittal. Thru the work of Mr. A. L. Carpenter a great deal of valuable +information was secured and it was thru his efforts that Deputy Joseph +Schofield was brought from Oregon to testify for the defense. For his +activity on behalf of organized labor Mr. Carpenter received the rebel's +reward--he was discharged from his position as district manager of a +large corporation. Scores of Everett citizens gave splendid assistance +to the defense, asking only that their names be withheld on account of +the Commercial Club blacklist. + +All persons directly in the employ of the defense proved their worth. +Deserving special mention in their work of investigation were Rev. T. T. +Edmunds, W. A. Loomis and John M. Foss. The Reverend Edmunds, being no +follower of a "cold statistical Christ" and having more of +humanitarianism than theology or current religion in his makeup, was +able to gain information where many another investigator might have +failed. The expert services of Loomis were of no less value, while the +particular merit of the work of John Foss was that he went to Everett +immediately after the catastrophe, at a time when chaos still reigned +and when the blood-lust of the deputies had not yet completely given way +to craven fear, and worked there night and day until a verdict of +acquittal for his fellow workers was practically assured. Both as an +investigator and as correspondent to the I. W. W. press, C. E. Payne, +familiarly known as "Stumpy," proved himself invaluable. Charles +Ashleigh handled the publicity for the Everett Prisoners' Defense +Committee in an able and efficient manner, while to Herbert Mahler +credit is due for the careful and painstaking handling of the large fund +raised to fight the case thru the courts. + +"Justice" is an expensive luxury in the lumber kingdom. Independent of +the large amount of money spent directly by individuals and by branches +of the I. W. W. the cost of the verdict of acquittal was $37,835.84. +Nearly thirty-eight thousand dollars! Thirty-eight thousand dollars to +free innocent workers from the clutches of the law! The victims in jail +and the murderers at liberty! But then, the last thing expected of +"Justice" is that it be just. + +Whence came the fund that, as a token of solidarity, set the free speech +prisoners at liberty? In the financial statement of the Everett +Prisoners Defense Committee it is set forth in full. Summarized, this +report shows that Labor united in the defense of the prisoners, that, +while this case was more largely financed directly thru the I. W. W. +than any other trial of the organization, there were many and generous +contributions from local unions of the American Federation of Labor, +from the Workers' Sick and Death Benefit Fund, from various other +working class societies and from sources so numerous as to make special +mention impossible. But these receipts varied from a dollar bill sent by +"A poor Working Stiff" from North Bend, Oregon, to a donation of $3.75 +from the Benevolent Society for the Propagating of Cremation at Yonkers, +New York. + +Hundreds of dollars were raised in Seattle by the I. W. W. thru smokers, +dances, theatrical benefits, entertainments and collections by speakers +who told the story of Bloody Sunday before societies of every kind and +character. The Dreamland Rink meetings, attended in every instance by +thousands of people, were the means of bringing hundreds of dollars to +the defense. A considerable fund was raised directly within the +organization by the sale of embossed leatherette membership card cases +issued in memoriam to the martyred dead. In Seattle notable service was +rendered by the International Workers' Defense League. + +[Illustration: May First at Graveside of Gerlot, Baran and Looney.] + +The nature of the case demanded heavy expenditures unlike those required +in any of the previous trials in which I. W. W. members were involved. +Many of the witnesses were men who had beaten their way from long +distances thru storms and snow to be in readiness to testify in behalf +of their imprisoned fellow workers, and most of these had to be +maintained at a relief station until called upon the stand. The care of +the wounded was an added item, and there were many necessary +expenditures for the big body of prisoners held as defendants. To each +of the men who was released at the end of the six months imprisonment +there was given a sum of $10. Owing to the sweeping nature of the +conspiracy charges and because of the large number of witnesses endorsed +by the State, all of whom required investigation, there was a large sum +required for use in taking these necessary legal precautions. Heavy +charges were also made for the work of the stenographers who recorded +the evidence, this being an item borne by the State in most parts of the +country. The totals of these expenditures were as follows: + + + Counsel fees in full $8,470.00 + Legal investigation 8,955.36 + Court stenographers 3,354.30 + Miscellaneous legal expense 1,304.20 + Office expense 1,942.53 + Publicity work 4,830.44 + Miscellaneous accounts 8,457.37 + ---------- + Total expenditures $37,314.20 + + +A balance of $521.64 was sent to the General Headquarters of the I. W. +W. and this, with $581.36 which remained in the General Office from the +sale of voluntary assessment stamps, was set aside as a fund to be used +for the maintenance of Harry Golden, Joseph Ghilezano and Albert +Scribner, three of the boys who were seriously injured on the Verona. + +The financial report was audited by E. G. Shorrock and Co., certified +accountants, and by a committee composed of Harry Feinberg and J. H. +Beyer, representing the prisoners, C. H. Rice, representing the Seattle +unions of the I. W. W., and General Executive Board member, Richard +Brazier, representing the General Headquarters of the I. W. W. The +statement made to contributors to the fund concluded with these +expressive words: + +"On behalf of the defendants, and the Industrial Workers of the World, +we take this opportunity to express our grateful appreciation to all +contributors, and to all the brave men and women who assisted us so +nobly in this great struggle to save seventy-three workingmen from a +living death at the hands of the Lumber Trust and the allied commercial +bodies of the Pacific Coast. + +"It was the solidarity of the working class, and that alone, which +brought about this great victory for labor, so let us turn fresh from +victory, with determined hearts and unquellable spirit to unflinchingly +continue the struggle for the liberation of all prisoners of the class +war, remembering always that greatest expression of solidarity, 'An +injury to one, is an injury to all.' + + + "THE EVERETT PRISONERS DEFENSE COMMITTEE. + + THOMAS MURPHY, + CHARLES ASHLEIGH, + WM. J. HOUSER, + RICHARD SMITH, + HERBERT MAHLER, Sec'y-Treas." + + Seattle, Wash., + June 12th, 1917. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE BANKRUPTCY OF "LAW AND ORDER" + + +The facts in this case speak pretty well for themselves. To draw +conclusions at length would be an impertinence. He who runs may read the +signs of decay of Capitalism, the crumbling of a social system based +upon the slavery and degradation of the vast majority of mankind. And +from the lips of the prosecution counsel--the Voice of the State--we +have the open and frank acknowledgement of the bankruptcy of law and +order, the failure of government as it is now administered. + +It is no part of this work to attack The Law. The Law is august, +majestic in its impartial findings and the equality of its judgements, +always however with due allowance for those subtle distinctions so +incomprehensible to the masses which exist between high finance, +kleptomania and theft. The Law strips no one of his possessions; under +its beneficent reign the rich retain their wealth and the poor keep +their poverty. Founded on dogma and moulded by tradition, The Law stands +as a mighty monument to Justice. It is ever in this way that we show our +respect and reverence for the dead. Being an outgrowth of precedent it +gains added sanctity with each fresh proof of antiquity, differing in +this regard from automobiles, eggs, women, hats, the six best sellers, +and the commoner things of life. Surrounded by mysticism, surcharged +with the language of the dead, and sustained by force, who is there +would have the temerity to question the sanctity of The Law? + +It remained for Attorneys Black and Cooley--and not for the outcast +industrial unionists, socialists or anarchists--to charge that The Law +is a bankrupt institution, and it was for the citizen-deputies--and not +for the despised workers--to prove the truth of the indictment. Truly +Society moves in a mysterious way its blunders to reform! + +With the true logic of the counting-house Cooley admitted that the mill +owners had formed a mob to protect themselves from the rabble, they had +pursued illegal methods to prevent the breaking of The Law, they had +jailed men in order to preserve Liberty, they had even blacklisted union +men in order to give to every man the right to work where, when and for +whom he pleased. There is no escaping such logic if one owns property. +Of course those who possess no property are the natural enemies of +property, and law being based upon property, they are defiers of The +Law, and Society being upheld only by observance of The Law, they are +the foes of Society. It is not best to kill them in too large numbers +for they are useful in doing the work of the world, but they must be +kept in fear and trembling of The Law and made to respect it as sacred +and inviolable, even if we do not. So argued Black and Cooley. + +But the whine of Black, the snarl of Cooley, the moody silence of +Veitch, alike served as a confession that "law and order" was a failure. +The plea of the State was that all law is the creature of property and +when the power of the law proves inadequate in its function of +protecting the accumulations of wealth the possessors of property are +justified in supplementing The Law with such additional physical or +brute force as they can muster, or in casting aside The Law altogether, +as it suits their convenience. To the workers The Law must remain sacred +while to the leisure class Property is the thing to worship, for however +much robbery is to be condemned, the proceeds of robbery are always to +be respected. + +Their further contention was that the streets are for traffic, for +maintaining commerce, in other words to aid in the gathering of property +and to enhance the property values already cleared. Out of the +graciousness of their hearts the business men and employers allow the +pedestrians to use the streets incidental to the purchase of goods or to +journey to and from their tasks in the factories, mines, mills and +workshops. That the streets might be used for social, religious, +political or educational purposes does not enter their calculations, +their ledgers carry no place for such entries on the profit side. Free +speech is tolerated at times provided nothing of importance is said. + +Two trials were going on in the court room at the same time; that of +Thomas H. Tracy and the I. W. W. before a property-qualified jury, and +that of the existing system of law enforcement before the great jury of +the working class. And just as surely as was the verdict that of +acquittal for Tracy and his union, was there a most decided judgment of +Guilty upon "law and order." For Tracy was not freed by the law but by +the common sense of the jury who refused to consider him guilty and +viewed him as a class rather than as an individual. Under the existing +conspiracy laws he might well have been considered technically guilty. +But "law and order" technically and otherwise was proven guilty, and the +charge that Capitalism is guilty of first degree murder, and a host of +other crimes, was clearly proven. + +Why? Why all the brutality depicted herein? Why? + +The answer is that we are living in an insane social system in which +money ranks higher than manhood. + +To be more specific the outrages at Everett had their roots in the +belief that the men who labor, and especially the migratory and the +unskilled element, form an inferior caste or class to those who exploit +them. The dominant class viewed any attempt to claim even the same civil +rights as an assault upon their supremacy and integrity,--this to them +being synonymous with social order and civilization. This is always more +evident where a single industry dominates, as evidenced by the +occurrences at Ludlow, in the coal district, Mesaba in the iron ore +section, and Bisbee where copper is the main product. Everett +controlled by the lumber interests clinches the argument. + +A community dominated by an industry, impelled by a desire for high +profits; or under the spell of fear or passion, whether justified or +not, cannot be restrained by law from a summary satisfaction of its +desires or a quieting of its apprehensions. Before such a condition the +fabric of local government crumbles and lynch law is substituted for the +more orderly processes designed to attain the same end. The Everett +outrages were no example of the rough and ready justice of primitive +communities. The outlaws were in full possession of local government, +legislative, judicial, and executive, yet they fell back upon brute +force and personal violence and attempted to protect the lumber trust +profits by tactics of terrorism. + +Insofar as the law can be wielded for their immediate purpose a +capitalistic mob, such as these at Everett, will clothe their violence +in the form of ostensible legal process, yet often the letter and the +spirit of their own class-influenced laws will be ruthlessly thrust +aside. They want law and order, efficacious, impartial, august, in the +eyes of the general citizenry, but they want exemption of their class +from the rule of the law on certain occasions. Strongly would they deny +that all law is class law, made, interpreted and administered in behalf +of a privileged property-owning class, yet the facts bear out this +contention. + +The conception of impersonal and impartial legalism has been generally +accepted along with traditional moral opinion and the naive belief in +the excellence of competitive, individualistic, and unrestrained +business. But this historical case has proven, as nothing else could +prove, that these bonds are relaxing and the faith and formulas +underlying the whole legal establishment are the subject of attack by an +increasingly large and uncompromising army of dissenters. + +From the developments of the Everett situation one can sense the rising +tide of industrial solidarity. It was the unity of the workers that won +the great case. It will be the unity of Labor that will win the world +for the workers, just as the embryonic democracy of the toilers in its +blind groupings has already cracked the shell of the industrial +autocracy of the present day. + +At present we are at the parting of the ways. There is not sufficient +faith in the Law to hold the dying wage system together and there is not +a sufficiently clear conception of the solidaric ideal of a new society +to bind the rebellious elements to a definite program. So chaos reigns +in society and events like those at Everett may be expected to arise +until the struggle of the exploited takes on a more constructive form +and develops the necessary power to overthrow capitalism and all its +attendant institutions. + +Industrial unionism is the only hope of the disinherited and +dispossessed proletariat. It is the voice of the future. It spells at +once Evolution and Revolution. Its assured success means an end to +classes and class rule and the rearing of a race of free individuals. + +The strength of the workers is in industry. Every worker, man, woman or +child, has economic power. The control of industry means the control of +the world. + +He who strives to bring the workers closer together so that their +allied forces in an industrial organization may overthrow the wage +system and rear in its place an Industrial Republic in which slavery +will be unknown and where joy will form the mainspring of human +activity, pays the highest homage to those who, in order that the spirit +of Liberty might not perish from the land, gave their lives at Everett, +Washington, on Sunday, November 5th, 1917: + + + FELIX BARAN, + HUGO GERLOT, + GUSTAV JOHNSON, + JOHN LOONEY, + ABRAHAM RABINOWITZ. + + +FINISH + + * * * * * + +SONGS + +Of The Workers + +The Latest + +I. W. W. SONG BOOK + +General Defense Edition + +Contains sixty-four pages of satirical, humorous and inspiring songs of +labor. Parodies on the well known popular airs. Wherever the English +language is spoken, there will be found countless numbers of workers +singing these real rebel songs. + +[Illustration] + +PRICES + +Single Copies Ten Cents + +$5.00 a Hundred + +Address + +I. W. W. Publishing Bureau + +1001 W. Madison St., Chicago, Ill. + + * * * * * + +I. W. W. LITERATURE + +I. W. W. Publishing Bureau + +1001 W. Madison St., Chicago + +Pamphlets at 10c Each, or 3.50 Per Hundred + + I. W. W. History, Structure & Methods (St. John), revised + Industrial Unionism, the Road to Freedom (Ettor) + The Evolution of Industrial Democracy (Woodruff) + One Big Union, The Greatest Thing on Earth + Advancing Proletariat (Woodruff) + Patriotism and the Worker (Herve) + Onward Sweep of the Machine Process (Hanson) + Red Down (Harrison George) + Is Freedom Dead? + + +Pamphlets at 10c Each, or $5.00 Per Hundred + + The I. W. W. Song Book. + The General Strike (Haywood); also containing "The Last War." + Proletarian and Petit Bourgeois (Lewis) + The General Secretary's Report of the Tenth Convention + Hotel, Restaurant and Domestic Workers (L. S. Chumley) + Revolutionary Writings (Kelly Cole) + + +Books at Various Prices + + The New Unionism (Tridon), 35c per copy 100 $25.00 + Opening Statement of G. F. Vanderveer, 25c 100 20.00 + Cloath Bound, 50c per copy 100 35.00 + Testimony of William D. Haywood Before + the Industrial Relations Commission, 15c 100 10.00 + Trial of New Society (Ebert), 50c per copy 100 35.00 + Proceedings 10th Convention, 50c per copy 100 35.00 + The Everett Massacre, Cloath Bound, $1.00 100 75.00 + Indictment, 25c per copy 100 20.00 + + +I. W. W. Leaflets + + I. W. W. Industrial Unionism (St. John), 5c + per copy 100 $1.00 + High Cost of Living (Dougherty), 5c per copy 100 1.00 + Metal and Machinery Workers (leaflet) 100 .25 + To Colored Working Men and Women 100 .30 + + +Songs and Music by Joe Hill + + 25c copy; 5 for $1.00; 10 or more, 15c each. + Workers of the World, Awaken! + The Rebel Girl. + Don't Take My Papa Away from Me. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Everett massacre, by Walker C. 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