The Trial of the 'Commonwealers'
Deputy marshals recount the violent confrontation between strikers and authorities during the march of the Industrial Army.
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 second day of the trial of the first batch of fifty-one Commonwealers before Judge Hanford commenced promptly at 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon. A. T. Devoigne, a special United States deputy marshal, recounted his experience with the Industrial Army on trains between Puyallup and Yakima. He testified that at Yakima, the trouble was started by the mob surrounding the deputies and eventually downing one, Palmer. Shots were heard, after which the men climbed and jumped off in all directions. Witness identified several prisoners, including John Byers, as being involved in inciting the men to stick to the train. Freight conductor P. S. Clement described how the Commonwealers refused to vacate the train, necessitating several stops and clearing attempts. The situation escalated when stones were thrown, followed by thirty or forty shots, forcing the men off the train. Other deputies testified to the military organization of the 'Army' and identified various participants, including one man who struck a deputy with a club. Judge Brinker successfully moved for the discharge of Andrew Simml, as evidence showed he was not present in Yakima at the time.
“The crowd alongside the train was inciting the men on the train to stick to it. The first intimation of trouble was throwing of stones from the crowd; then a shot was fired.”
This trial centers on the 'Industrial Army' or 'Coxeyites,' a Depression-era labor movement that saw jobless workers organize and march toward Washington D.C. to demand government relief. The legal tension here—between the right to protest and the enforcement of property rights on rail lines—foreshadows decades of Seattle labor struggles and contemporary debates over public space and protest movements.
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