The Race War in Roslyn: How Seattle’s Coal Mines Became a Battleground for Labor and Lynching
As strikers hold the line, the company imports Black miners from Illinois to break them. The result is not just a labor dispute, but a violent racial confrontation that exposes the dark underbelly of Washington's industrial boom.
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.
QUIET AT ROSLYN. The New Hitters Not Yet Arrived.
Roslyn, Jan. 28 — Everything at Roslyn is quiet to-day. The policy of the railroad company with reference to bringing in new men can not be learned definitely, but rumor has it that the new men will come to-night. If they do there will be serious trouble, as nearly all the miners have homes and considerable property, which they will fight for, as to dispose of it at this period would mean great loss. The miners are not particularly communicative and maintain a sullen and defiant demeanor. They are prone to suspect every stranger as a spy, and the Post-Intelligencer reporter to-day was watched very closely.
THE STRIKERS' LAWLESS SET. Citizens of Roslyn say every drunken row is enlarged upon and reported as the outcome of the strike and the work of strikers, when in reality the strikers had nothing to do with it. They say that the assault made on Clealum, which occasioned the call on the governor for troops to protect the property and lives of the people here, was not the work of the strikers, but, on the contrary, not a striking miner was implicated at all.
STRIKERS' PREJUDICE AGAINST NEGRO WHISKY. Drunken rows are of almost hourly occurrence at Roslyn, and entirely too much liquor is being drunk to insure much moderation among the old miners if the new men come in to take the strikers' places.
PREJUDICE AGAINST A COLORED SUPERINTENDENT. Dissatisfaction seems to be not so much with the new Superintendent Ronald as a man, but because he is the man who has been overseeing the negro miners in mine No. 3, and the whites consider it an indignity to be headed by a "nigger driver," as they call him; and there seems to be a further cause of dissatisfaction, and probably the most potent one, in the fact that the new superintendent is a Protestant and has supplanted Catholic men by Protestants. This seems to be a very foolish excuse, but it is one argued on all sides by Catholics.
ROSYN OF WHITES AGAINST COLORED. The introduction of colored labor in Mine No. 3 is still rankling in the white miners' breasts, and quiet will never be of long duration while they are there. A large part of the rowdyism of Roslyn is among the negro miners, and the 115 negroes have created more disturbance than the bad white men. One negro kicked his wife to death. Two shootings, one serious cutting scrape and finally the brutal murder last Saturday night head a long list of their depravity and lawlessness.
NOT A SINGLE ACT OF LABOR ORGANIZATION. This strike like most strikes, it seems, was originated and is nursed by a few rowdies who are found everywhere and who by restlessness and recklessness keep good, industrious men out who would work. It is claimed if the restraint were taken off the miners by these men six out of seven would go back to work at once without any concession by the company. The Knights of Labor have disclaimed all responsibility for the strike, and the order seems to be composed of the better element of Roslyn, but the hoodlum element is too strong for them.
TROOPS AGAINST A BREAKDOWN. There will be serious times tomorrow or the day after if the report is true that new men are on the road to take the places of strikers, and it seems from all that can be learned here that the rumor is true. Sheriff Packwood is on guard with 50 deputies and will call for troops if opposition is offered to the new men coming to work. The railroad company has been interrupted on an average of about once a month by strikes of greater or less importance, and have, it seems, become tired of "kissing and making up" and mean business this time.
FORTY-FIVE NEGROES ARRIVED LATER. Forty-five negroes for Roslyn from Streator, Ill., arrived at Ellensburg to-night and will go from there to Roslyn tomorrow. This move is made to get the negroes into Roslyn and outwit the strikers, who look for them by train from Clealum.
BLACK FALLS JAN. 28 — In the westbound train this morning there were 45 colored miners and families bound for the coal mines at Roslyn. They came from Danville, Ill., but had not heard of the strike. They were much alarmed when told they might expect trouble at Roslyn.
This 1888 account reveals how labor disputes in the Pacific Northwest were frequently weaponized with racial violence. The company’s strategy of importing Black workers from the South to break a white union strike mirrors tactics used across the US, turning economic grievances into deadly racial conflicts that the state often failed to prevent.
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