The Starving Men of Springbrook
A deputy sheriff returns from a strike site near Springbrook to report that workers have been left without food or wages for days, contradicting company claims of a riotous mill burning.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The latest advice from Springbrook is to the effect that affairs there are in no better condition. Deputy Sheriff Miles returned to the city yesterday afternoon and, when asked if promises to provide food and wages had been fulfilled, said: 'The company sent out two sacks of flour and a small piece of cheese last night, and this morning they tried to get one of the sacks back, but the men, who were starving, refused to allow it to be moved. As to the money, that had not arrived when I left at noon. The condition of the men is pitiable in the extreme. Only one meat meal was given them in six days, and then there was not half enough to go round. Many of the men are absolutely barefoot, and only one man had a cent, and he only $1.10. You may imagine the misery.' When asked if there was any truth to the story of an attempt to burn the mill, he replied: 'Not a word; I am satisfied about that. The men are quiet and peaceable, and all they want is their food and their wages. Two of the men came into town today; one had acted as bookkeeper and the other as clerk. They were told they would handle $1,000 a week, but were given a receipt for $80 as security. One man states that he has not a cent in the world, and that the only money that has passed through his hands in the two months he has been there has been $20 instead of the thousands he was promised.'
“The men, who were starving, refused to allow it to be moved.”
This 1887 report of labor exploitation and corporate broken promises at a mill site near Seattle highlights a recurring theme in the region's history: the precarity of the working class during periods of rapid capital expansion. Today, this 'rhyme' persists in the struggles of gig workers and warehouse laborers who similarly face wage theft and inconsistent safety nets while corporate entities control the narrative of their labor disputes.
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