The 'Boycott' Against the Marsh Café
When the Queen City Assembly of the Knights of Labor blacklisted a local Seattle eatery over an unpaid debt to a defunct newspaper, it ignited a town-wide showdown over journalistic dignity and worker solidarity.
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.
At a regular meeting of Queen City Assembly, No. 3413, held last evening, the following preamble and resolutions were adopted: Whereas, the Marsh Café is being operated by the same owner as the late Seattle Herald, and Whereas, the said late Herald, at the time of its demise, was indebted to and still owes members of this Assembly for services rendered, and Whereas, it is the duty of all those who believe in honest toil, and who attempt to obtain justice from a confiding public to their own gain; therefore be it Resolved, by Queen City Assembly, Knights of Labor, that all working men are requested to avoid the Marsh Café. Resolved, that we will not patronize, and will urge all our workingmen friends to avoid, any advertiser to the said Marsh Café. Signed, M. McMillan, M.W., William Watson, S.S.
“Resolved, by Queen City Assembly, Knights of Labor, that all working men are requested to avoid the Marsh Café.”
This 1885 dispatch highlights the 'boycott' as a foundational tool of Seattle labor movements. While today we use social media to organize support or divestment from businesses, the Knights of Labor were using the same tactic of moral and economic pressure to enforce accountability for wage theft long before the city became a modern tech hub.
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