Vandals Target Seattle Shingle Mills Amid Labor Unrest
Striking shingle weavers are suspected of sabotage at the Stimson and Cedar Lumber Company mills, marking a tense escalation in local labor disputes.
The story, cleaned up
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Some unknown men, suspected to be striking shingle weavers, entered the mills of the Seattle Cedar Lumber Company and the Stimson Mill Company early yesterday, before daylight, and did serious damage to the machinery. At Stimson's, the vandals were favored by the fact that the large arc light was out due to a defective carbon. In the five minutes they were inside before being spotted by a night watchman, they cut two belts on the ten-block machine and removed spalt pins. At the Cedar Lumber Company's mill, the damage was more extensive, involving cut belts on both ten-block and double-block machines, and the theft of saw screws and castings. While the Stimson mill managed to keep operating, the Cedar Lumber Company mill was forced to delay its start until the afternoon.
“Some unknown men, suspected to be striking shingle weavers... did serious damage to the machinery.”
This act of sabotage during a 1895 labor dispute highlights the long history of militant labor organizing in Seattle's waterfront and timber industries. Such direct-action tactics underscore the extreme pressures workers faced during the late 19th-century economic downturns, long before modern labor laws provided institutionalized channels for negotiation.
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