The Industrial Army's Seattle and Tacoma Divisions Near Collapse
Striking workers and the 'Industrial Army' face infighting and skeptical local authorities as they try to push for transport to Washington, D.C.
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 commissaries of the Seattle and Tacoma divisions of the Industrial Army have begun to break up. Gen. Shepard and Gen. Jumbo have faced internal revolt, with accusations of missing funds and failed leadership. Gov. McGraw arrived in Puyallup to meet with citizens who want the army disbanded and moved out of their town. At an opera house meeting, workers and citizens argued over whether the army should be sent home or provided with rail transport to the nation's capital. While the officers debated finances and accusations of theft, the privates held their own meetings, demanding transparency and threatening trouble if the funds were not accounted for.
“The poor people were going to have money or have blood.”
This 1894 standoff between the 'Industrial Army'—part of Coxey's Army movement—and local authorities highlights the long history of organized labor and transient workers being treated as a public nuisance in Puget Sound. The tension between local business interests and itinerant laborers remains a recurring theme in Pacific Northwest civic discourse.
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