Longshoremen and Strike-Breakers Clash on the Docks
Tensions boil over as union members and non-union laborers brawl at the Ocean Dock in Seattle.
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 first blood in the conflict between the longshoremen's union and the Pacific Coast Steamship Company was spilled yesterday morning at the Ocean dock, when a crowd of longshoremen severely pummeled several men who went to the dock seeking work. Since the lockout ten days ago, the longshoremen had conducted themselves peacefully. However, after fair means of persuasion failed, they became desperate. Around 7 o'clock, a large crowd congregated in front of the warehouses on the Ocean dock. Foiled in their attempts to block all entries, they proceeded to wreak their vengeance on the men who had come seeking work. J.S. Camp was knocked senseless at the first onslaught, then kicked in the head and otherwise abused. J. Sheehey and T.B. Everson were also severely pounded. Police arrived, but the longshoremen were only driven off at the muzzles of revolvers drawn by officers, who retreated to Railroad avenue. Several men were arrested, but despite the violence, injured workers like Camp remained determined to work to feed their families.
“The longshoremen soon singled out men who were seeking work and pitched into them. No sooner did they learn that a man would work than half a dozen longshoremen began pummeling him.”
This 1894 strike at the Seattle waterfront reflects the long and often violent history of labor organizing in the city. The struggle for job security and living wages at the port remains a persistent theme in Seattle’s economic and political identity over a century later.
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