Sailors Accuse Waterfront ‘Crimpers’ of Kidnapping and Beatings
The local Sailors’ Union demands an inquiry into boarding-house masters accused of holding men aboard ships at gunpoint and beating them into submission.
The local branch of the Sailors' Union held a short meeting yesterday afternoon and unanimously agreed to court an investigation into the merits of the crimping system being operated in this city by Newman Wright, proprietor of the Sailors' Home, and also into the question of detaining men forcibly aboard ships by the use of firearms and other indignities imposed upon them, such as being beaten into submission by prizefighters in the employ of the crimpers.
The union is willing to have a committee appointed by the Chamber of Commerce or any paper in the city investigate the entire matter, and is willing to put up a bond for the appearance of its members before such a committee. Secretary Glynn told a Post-Intelligencer reporter that if an investigation were held he could produce testimony on the cruelty of these crimpers that would make the blood of many people curdle. He said Capt. Gove, of the tug Tyee, had stated after towing the ship Babcock to sea some time ago that the practices of the boarding-house masters, or crimpers, were a disgrace to American civilization.
Newman & Wright, the boarding-house owners, could not be seen yesterday, being out of town, but it is said they brand Glynn's answer as a pack of lies. They say they are doing a good business and expect to come out on top.
“He could produce testimony on the cruelty of these crimpers that would make the blood of many people curdle.”
The 'crimping' system was a form of labor trafficking: boarding-house masters took sailors’ wages, held them aboard ships, and used violence to keep them working. The Sailors’ Union’s demand for an outside investigation echoes modern fights against forced labor and wage theft on the waterfront and in migrant industries. Seattle’s port economy was built on this kind of coercive labor, and the story is a reminder that 'labor shortage' sometimes meant 'workers who could not leave.'
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