The Everett Massacre: A Bloody Sunday on the Waterfront
An armed confrontation between I.W.W. protesters and a citizens' posse leaves six dead and scores wounded after a failed landing in Everett.
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.
Everett, Wash., Nov. 6.—Six men are dead and 50 are suffering from bullet wounds as the result of a battle here Sunday afternoon, when 250 members of the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) sought to land from the steamer Verona, which had carried them from Seattle. The boat was met by Sheriff McRae of Snohomish County, who, with a posse, forbade the men to land. A shot fired from the Verona was followed immediately by firing from both sides. The steamer hastened back to Seattle with the dead and wounded. Among the dead are Hugo Gerlot, John Looney, Harry Pierce, Gus Johnson, and Felix Baron. The conflict originated from an ongoing strike of shingle weavers and the subsequent expulsion of I.W.W. members from Everett by a citizens' committee. Following the clash, authorities made nearly 300 arrests, including three women.
“The fight must be won.”
The Everett Massacre remains a defining moment in American labor history, exposing the volatile intersection of civil liberties, free speech, and state-sanctioned violence. The tension between organized labor and local authorities in Washington continues to resonate in modern debates over the right to protest and the limits of police power.
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