The Longshoremen’s Riot: How a Watch Theft Sparked a Street Brawl in Pioneer Square
When a dockworker was arrested for stealing a gold watch from a drunk patron, his fellow laborers turned the courtroom into a battleground, forcing the justice to flee and the city to confront its own violent underbelly.
A TRUMPED UP CHARGE.
How James Galvin's Friends Tried to Acquit Him.
James Galvin, who was arrested in the Idaho saloon on Washington street late Wednesday night, on a charge of stealing a gold watch and chain from the person of Robert Lee, who was drunk in the saloon, was brought into Justice Soderberg's court for preliminary hearing yesterday afternoon. Galvin is a longshoreman and a crowd of his fellow laborers was in court. Notwithstanding the fact that Galvin had the stolen property in the leg of his [boots] when he was arrested a few minutes after the row occurred, the 'long-horemen' tried to throw the [weight of their influence/force].
This 1903 incident highlights the intense solidarity and occasional volatility of Seattle's waterfront labor force. The arrest of a longshoreman by a wealthy or prominent citizen (implied by the 'trumped up' nature of the charge) often triggered collective action, reflecting the deep class tensions that defined Seattle's early political landscape, particularly around the docks where union power was strongest.
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