The Governor’s Gambit: Why Washington’s Leader Refused to Send Troops to Strike Miners
In the heat of a labor dispute in Roslyn, Gov. Henry M. Temple argues that calling out the military is a last resort, while local officials clash over the legality of using armed citizens as police.
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.
TACOMA, Jan. 23.—Gov. Temple was at Tacoma this afternoon, speaking to our correspondent and expressed the following views in response to statements of partisan battle from Roslyn:
"So far as respect of myself is concerned, I went with my staff to the scene of the alleged trouble yesterday to see if any hurt had been made out that would justify the exercise of my power. And I think it was not the case, and as there was no further reason for remaining in the vicinity we returned."
"The Governor has the power to call on the whole county to act as posse comitatus to execute warrants, and must do so before calling on higher authority. It is a very nice determination on the part of the Sheriff of Kittitas County would assist all disturbances among the laborers. You must understand that the Governor's position in such a case is analogous to that of a court. That cause must be made out before he has power to act."
Col. Murray of my staff, who is beside me, will tell you that it is a well-known judicial dictum that it is very necessary for a commander to take the responsibility of an order hence my order No. 12 annulling said order No. 2 issued from brigade headquarters had not been Gen. Hill's term of office expired he would have been court-martialed. When an exigency arises which calls for troops they will promptly be mobilized by proper authority."
Gov. Temple left for Olympia this afternoon. Telegrams received today from Cleveland by the Northern Pacific show very bitter feelings against rumple for not taking some action at Roslyn. One dispatch says "Usurpation that 10 or 20 men must be killed before his presence is required."
ROSLYN, Jan. 23.—A son of Roslyn's citizens was interviewed here today. He said there was no trouble there yet, and that the company were trying to put the miners in a bad light by sending out wrong reports in regard to the situation, which was greatly exaggerated. The miners are divided about going to work. Half of them are willing to go to work under any superintendent, one-fourth will not work under the present Superintendent Donald, and the rest do not know what they do want. The company desires to put in new men but seems afraid of the consequences.
John Anderson, the former superintendent at the mines, and whose discharge was the main cause of the trouble, left for his home in the East today, all the miners turning out with a brass band to tender him farewell.
This 1897 account captures the volatile tension between labor and capital that defined early Seattle-area industrial history. The Governor’s refusal to deploy troops mirrors modern debates over police militarization and state intervention in strikes, highlighting how local authorities have long struggled to balance public order with workers' rights without escalating violence.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.