Street Brawl and the Policing of Pickets
A physical confrontation between strikers and scabs on Everett's streets highlights the volatile nature of labor disputes and the bias of local law enforcement.
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.
During a picket line dispute, a physical confrontation occurred between striking machinists and strikebreakers. George Sumner, acting as a leader for the strikebreakers, challenged a striker named Parker to a fight. Parker emerged victorious, leading to further conflict when a special officer named Riggs intervened, assaulting a striker named Berg. Both men were fined. Following the trial, the employer-hired strikebreakers were granted special police authority, raising questions about the fairness of a city administration that allows strike-breakers to wield police power against workers fighting for better conditions.
“It's a curious thing that a strike-breaker can get police authority in this town on the simple pretext that they must be protected in their right to scab.”
The practice of using 'special police' or private security to break picket lines was a common tool of 20th-century industrial suppression. It serves as a stark reminder of how public and private power were often intertwined to suppress labor organizing in Pacific Northwest mill towns.
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