A Mill Owner Held Hostage by His Own Unpaid Crew
When John Tuilock threatened to shut his Rainier shingle mill without paying his hands, the men seized him, marched him back, and forced him to write checks at the point of their anger — until a deputy sheriff rode to the rescue.
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.
OLYMPIA, Aug. 30. [Special.] — S. R. Cannon and five others were arrested at Rainier and brought to this city today, charged with depriving John Tuilock, of Tacoma, of his liberty and threatening him with bodily violence. Tuilock is the owner of a shingle mill near Rainier, and the arrested men have been in his employ. Yesterday Tuilock expressed a purpose to shut down the mill and discharge the hands. The pay of the latter not being promptly forthcoming, they made riotous demonstrations, and Tuilock attempted to fly from the scene. He was caught and taken back to the mill, where he was compelled to give the men checks for the sums claimed to be due. One of the workmen was then dispatched to Tacoma to cash the checks, and, awaiting his return with the money, Tuilock was kept under guard. During the trouble threats were made to hang him. A man named Robert Frazier informed Deputy Sheriff Savage, of Tenino, of Tuilock's plight, and that officer, with the aid of a few citizens, released the mill proprietor. Warrants were sworn out for the workmen concerned in the affair, and all but two were arrested. Those who escaped are said to be in hiding near Tenino. Frazier, who informed the deputy sheriff of the affair, claims to have met the fugitives in the woods today and states that they threatened his life. The prisoners will be given a preliminary examination tomorrow.
“During the trouble threats were made to hang him.”
A wage dispute that flipped into a standoff is no relic of 1892: from day laborers chasing unpaid checks to gig workers organizing for the money they are owed, the fight over whether the boss pays before he walks away is still live. Here the roles were briefly reversed — the employer held until the wages arrived.
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