The False Deputy of the Snohomish River Bridge
A machinist strike in Everett turns into a legal farce when a 'special police officer' is revealed to be a hired gun without any official authority.
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.
Within two weeks ago, it had been the practice of the union pickets to go into the tower on the Snohomish River bridge for a drink of water. Suddenly, bridge tenders notified the men that nobody not belonging there was allowed. When pickets Johnson and Botting asked Bridge Tender Peterson why the exclusion was made, they received no satisfactory answer. During a tense exchange, a 'special police officer' named Goodman intervened. He threatened to club Botting and placed him under arrest for disorderly conduct. However, in court, it was revealed that while Goodman held a commission from King County, he had no official standing as a special officer in Everett. The city council had never approved his appointment. Judge Sheller dismissed the case, noting the offense was trivial and the arrest lacked any legal basis. The striking machinists contend Goodman was a hired Pinkerton operative brought in to intimidate workers.
“Who is paying Goodman's salary, the Metal Trades' Association or the taxpayers and citizens of Everett?”
This 1910 incident highlights the long history of private security firms being used to suppress labor organizers in Everett, a dynamic that remains relevant in contemporary debates over the privatization of public space and the policing of picket lines.
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