Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1916-11-09
|. w. w. AGITATORs COME BY
BoATLoAD FROM SEATTLE
AND OPEN FIRE.
WOUNDED LIST OVER FIFTY
Pitched Battle Follows Refusal to
Permit Landing-WhoIesale Ar
rests-Women in It-Sheriff
and Deputies Wounded.

Everett, Wash, Nov. 6-Six men
are dead and so suffering from bull
let wounds as the result of battle
here Sunday afternoon, when 250
members of the Industrial Workers
of the World sought to land from
the steamer Verona, which had car
ried them from Seattle.
The boat was met by Sheriff Nc
Rea of Snohomish county, who, with
shot fired from the Verona, accord
ing to the boats officers, was fol
lowed Immediately by rifing from
both Sides The steamer hastened
back to Seattle with the dead and
wounded. The Seattle police took
the dead to the morgue, the wounded
to the city hospital, and the un-
wounded to the city Jail.
The Dead.
In Everett citizens posse
G. O. Curtis, formerly lieutenant
SOunPoAy - oOSOAu 1AAoACAyS w boA"
ington national guard.
Members of the l. w. w., who were
on the Verona and were brought to
Seattle
Hugo Gerlot, age "a. Milwaukee,
Wis, seaman.
John Looney, age 26. Aver juno
tion, Mass, laborer.
Harry Pierce, age %, Seattle, Ia
borer.
Gus Johnson, laborer.
Felix Baron, laborer, age %.
Three Women Arrested.
Including the wounded there are
294 men and three women under ar
rest at Seattle. Forty-one men were
taken from second steamer which
failed to reach Everett. The women
in Jail are Mrs. Hubbard Mailer, Miss
Edith Frenette and Mrs H. Peters.
The coming of the Industrial Work
ers of the World invaders had been
previously announced in messages
sent to Everett from Seattle head
quul CCl n Soll W L. w. w. hOAh
bers from all over the state had been
issued earlier in the week and the
citizens of Everett at a meeting held
Saturday night planned to meet the
invaders and deny them privileges of
landing.
When the Verona reached the city
wharf Sheriff McRea, who was back
ed by a posse of deputy sheriffs and
citizens, stepped forward and inform
ed the men on the boat that they
would not be permitted to land. One
of the men, evidently spokesman for
the party, began arguing with the
sheriff and then made speech.
Apparently as a signal the man
dropped his hand and armed men on
the steamer opened fire on the posse
assembled on the wharf.
Bullet Drops Sheriff.
The first man to fall was Sheriff
McRea, seriously injured. Deputy
sheriffs on the wharf quickly rallied
their forces, however, and returned
the fire of the invaders on the We
roma. Fully 1000 shots were ex-
changed.
Men on the wharf and on the boat
were seen to fall and the Verona i'm
backed out of the dock and
started back toward Seattle.
That there was not further loss of
life was due to the action of Ernest
M. Shellgren, chief engineer of the
Verona, in backing the steamer
away.
Trouble of Long Standing.
The trouble between the l. w. w.
members and the authorities at Ev-
erett has been of several months
standing, and was the outgrowth of a
strike Of shingle weavers here. After
several minor outbreaks of violence
during the strike Sheriff McRae or
ganized the citizens committee and
expelled all members Of the l. w. w.
Ia