Blood Spilled at Pike Place During Dock Strike
A violent clash between union sympathizers and nonunion longshoremen leaves three men wounded at Seattle's public market.
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.
Two men were shot, but not dangerously wounded, and a third was severely beaten during a fight between 16 negro nonunion longshoremen and strike sympathizers at the Pike Place public market, Seattle, Saturday night. F. A. Webb, a butter and egg dealer in the market, was struck in the leg by a stray bullet. William Clarke, a union longshoreman, was shot in the leg. O. W. Bridgefarmer, a special policeman employed as a guard at pier No. 6, was seriously beaten and kicked, suffering a broken nose and numerous bruises. Several other men engaged in the fight were badly beaten, but none were seriously injured.
“Two men were shot, but not dangerously wounded, and a third was severely beaten.”
This incident highlights the intense labor tensions that characterized the Seattle waterfront in 1916. Today, Pike Place Market is a tourist landmark, but at the time, it was a volatile intersection of commerce, racial exclusion, and labor strife.
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