This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday March 27, 1917
Seattle, Washington – The Trial of Tom Tracy Continues
SEATTLE, WASH., March 23rd,-Slowly the history of the foul attacks on Free Speech and the right of Labor to organize is emerging in the course of the trial of Thomas Tracy, the first of 74 workingmen charged with the killing of Deputy Jeff Beard on the waterfront of Everett, Wash, on Bloody Sunday, Nov. 5th. These 74 men are tried for the killing of one deputy. Nobody, however, is being tried for the death of five workingmen on that red day. The trial of Tracy is, in reality, the trial of Labor.
EVERETT MAYOR TAKES STAND.
One of the star witnesses for the Prosecution was Mayor Merrill of Everett. He didn’t turn out quite such a star as they thought he would. Under the rigid cross-examination of Attorneys Moore and Vanderveer for the Defense Merrill showed that he was either a rotten Mayor and a good witness or a good Mayor and a very prevaricating witness. A dramatic moment in court was when he was confronted with Louis Scaroff [also Skaroff], a boy who has sworn that the Mayor beat him up brutally in a bedroom in the City Jail and that his fingers were placed, one by one, under the leg of a bed upon which the Mayor and two other men then sat. Even the capitalistic press of Seattle remarked that the Mayor’s face whitened and his voice thickened when faced with the victim of his beastlike brutality.
THE SORDID STORY OF BEVERLY PARK.
On October 30th, 41 men, coming from Seattle to Everett to hold a meeting were met at the Everett Dock, loaded into automobiles and taken to Beverly Park, a lonely spot on the outskirts of Everett. There they were severely beaten up and made to run the gauntlet. The story of Beverly Park is gradually emerging under the insistent pressure of the Defense’s cross-examination. One Hawes, who keeps a scab stationery and printing establishment in Everett, admitted that he was one of the guards on that occasion. He also was forced to admit that the deputies were strung out on either side of the road and that the workingmen were made to proceed on foot towards Seattle, which means they had to pass down between the two lines. This is virtually admitting the gauntlet. He stated that some of the men “got a swat or two” which is the most definite admission of violence so far. Hawes stated that he ran after one man who tried to get away off the road into the woods. When asked why he did that he said the man was a “big baby.” Hawes, himself, stands about six feet two inches and says he weighs 250 pounds. At this moment, Fred Moore brought in two lads who were among the Beverly victims.
“Stand up!” commanded Attorney Vanderveer, and the hulking fellow stood up. Then the two boys were placed next to him, reaching about to his armpits.
“Are these the big babies you talked about?” thundered Vanderveer.
ENGINEER STATES MEN BEGGED HIM TO BACK OUT
Ernest Shellgren, engineer on the “Verona,” a witness for the State, did not do much good for the Prosecution. He said he only saw two guns on the boat and only saw one of these in use. He also mentioned the terrific hail of bullets which came from the deputies on the dock. The cross-examination brought from him the admission that, when the shooting started, a crowd of men rushed down to the engine-room and said to him:
“For God’s sake go up and tell them on the dock to stop shooting!”
The second gun he saw was used on him! He stated that a man came to him, held the gun in his face and commanded him to reverse the engines and back the ship out of the death-trap. Altogether, Shellgren’s testimony was far more favorable to the Defense than to the Prosecution. He was also unable to locate the place from where the first shot came; and it is upon contention that fire was opened from the boat that the entire fabric of the State’s case rests.
ORDERLY AND UNSUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR.
On March 22nd a succession of witnesses were produced by the Prosecution who saw the men leaving Seattle on November 5th. Under cross-examination every one of them testified that the conduct of the men was perfectly orderly and good-natured and that no arms could be seen. A number of Seattle police officers, who arrested the men when the “Verona” returned to Seattle, also testified that a search of the men and the steamer revealed no arms, although they found about seven or eight empty shells upon the boat.
PROSECUTION’S CASE SO FAR WEAK.
So far, the case of the State is by no means a cause of apprehension to Labor sympathizers; but it must be remembered that we are only at the beginning of this great trial. What the Prosecution may have up its sleeve it is impossible to forecast. It is, however, certain that the lumber interests have not spent money like water for the hire of special prosecutors and private anti-labor detectives for nothing. We must not allow ourselves to be lulled by a belief of easy victory. This is a hard fight and it is going to be a harder one! On one side are the masters of industry with unlimited means; on the other, the workers with their hard-earned wages and their young and still undeveloped organizations.
ALL MUST RALLY TO THE DEFENSE.
It is up to every workingman and other person interested in Freedom of Speech and the fight for a higher standard for Labor to come now to the help of the Defense of our 74 fellow workingmen. Only the workers can prevent the masters putting these, our comrades, behind prison bars for life. Action is needed and needed now!
Funds are urgently needed. Send all donations to Herbert Mahler, Sec’y-Treas., Everett Prisoners’ Defense Committee, Box 1878, Seattle, Wash.
Protests and resolutions should be sent to President Wilson and to Gov. Lister, Olympia, Wash. Mass meetings should be held an publicity given to this case. Demand of your congressmen and senators that there be a Federal investigation into the tragedy of Everett, Nov. 5th. ACT NOW!
[I. W. W. poster added.]
SOURCE
Everett Defense News Letter #17
(Seattle, Washington)
-Mar 23, 1917 (051)
[Also source for image of header & footer.]
http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/pnwlabor/page/1
IMAGE
Everett Massacre, Poster, Remember by M. Pass, IW Nov 25, 1916
Info on date published in Industrial Worker:
http://depts.washington.edu/iww/everett_story.shtml
Info that poster drawn by FW M. Pass:
http://www.nw.epls.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/EvrtMassacre/id/79/rec/200
See also:
The Everett Massacre
A History of the Class Struggle in the Lumber Industry
-by Walker C. Smith
IWW, 1918
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001106557
page 154-Mayor Merrill confronted by Louis Skaroff.
page 158-Deputized Company Gunthug Hawes sized up with his victims.
page 159-Testimony of Engineer Shellgren.
page 160-Testimony of Seattle police detectives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hold the Fort – Joe Uehlein
WE NEVER FORGET
The Wobblies on the Verona were singing this song as they
approached the Everett Dock on November 5, 1916: