Racial Violence Erupts in Roslyn Mines
Tensions turn deadly in a mining town as white citizens clash with Black laborers.
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.
A group of Black men from mine No. 3 were in Roslyn on Monday, and many of them, being in a drunken condition, kept the town in a state of excitement and terror. They flourished knives and guns without restraint, forcing white citizens to stand aside. Finally, about 4 o'clock, a citizen named Joe Merchant, while passing along the street with a saw in his hand, was assaulted by several Black men, one of whom hit him on the head with a club. Merchant tried to defend himself with the saw but was overwhelmed and forced to flee. A man named Fred Woodson, known as 'Redeye,' pulled his revolver and fired two shots at Merchant, one of which took effect in the leg, causing a painful but not serious wound. The fracas has created bitter feelings among the whites against the Black laborers. Woodson is now under arrest.
“The fracas has created a very bitter feeling among the whites against the black ruffians.”
This incident reflects the severe racial friction within early Washington coal mining communities, where laborers were often imported by companies to undermine strikes or manage labor demands. Such tensions were frequently exploited by power structures to prevent labor solidarity, creating a cycle of violence that shadowed the region's industrial growth.
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