The Shadowy 'Dynamiters' and the Seattle Employment Crisis
While international fears of dynamite conspiracies gripped 1885, a local Seattle employment agency quietly documented the harsh reality of thousands of men out of work, desperate, and struggling in the wake of an ironworks decline.
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.
Within the past two weeks, information has been obtained that shows there is in Pittsburgh a socialistic organization ready to call forth at any propitious moment. It is said that dynamiters who are armed and supplied with explosives are waiting to cause an outbreak whenever a favorable opportunity is presented. For several months, one Russian and two Polish agitators have been at work in Pittsburgh and vicinity, endeavoring to manufacture sympathy here with the Irish dynamiters. Pittsburgh has for a long time been the source of large revenue to the dynamiters. Men in the mills and mines who subscribe to the doctrine of annihilation have been liberal in their donations for the cause. It must be understood at this time of disaffection and bitterness among the workmen, that the act of a few among those who are out of employment and in sore need of sustenance supports the idea of a socialistic movement, and they would be among the first to help suppress it. But there is a class of men who are not. There are at this moment, gathered here, several thousand men in this community who would not stop at anything which would carry out the spirit of the rights of the working man against the possession of the rich. These men have gathered like storm clouds from Chicago, from the East, and from the Washington Territory coal mines of the Cascades. These men have been drifting into town for work, but in reality to hold themselves in readiness to aid in any movement of public discontent against the law. Within the past three weeks, from 1,000 to 1,500 guns and revolvers have been received by men in this city with money from Eastern points. These guns were put into the hands only of those whose characters are known, to be called upon if necessary.
“It must be understood at this time of disaffection and bitterness among the workmen... the act of a few among those who are out of employment and in sore need of sustenance supports the idea of a socialistic movement.”
In 1885, Seattle was bracing for labor unrest linked to a national economic depression, with newspapers pathologizing unemployed workers as potential 'dynamiters.' Today, Seattle’s labor and housing tensions continue to reflect this historical cycle, where economic precarity is often framed through the lens of criminality rather than systemic collapse.
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