Union Sailors Raid Scab Crew
A simmering labor dispute on Grays Harbor boiled over as unionized sailors boarded a schooner to strip non-union workers of their clothes.
On Monday night, some of the sailors from the vessels in the harbor having union crews went up to Cosmopolis and captured the non-union crew, with their bag and baggage, on the schooner Annie Gee. The non-unionists were brought down and landed at the bluff in the east end of town, where, we understand, they were left over night and the greater part of their clothing taken away from them. They managed to get back to their vessel again, but their clothing had not been returned at last accounts.
“The non-unionists were brought down and landed at the bluff in the east end of town... and the greater part of their clothing taken away from them.”
This violent confrontation reflects the intense labor-versus-capital climate of late 19th-century Washington, where union status often dictated survival. It serves as a reminder that the early history of the lumber and maritime industries on Grays Harbor was defined as much by organized conflict as by economic growth.
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