Sometimes History DOES suck…

“the Everett Massacre”
In 1916, Everett, Washington was facing severe economic difficulties. There was ongoing confrontation between business and commercial interests and labor and labor organizers. There had been a number of labor organized rallies and speeches in the street. These were opposed by local law enforcement, which was firmly on the side of business. IWW organizers (labor organizers otherwise known as “Wobblies”) had gone into Everett to support a five-month long strike by shingle workers. Once there, vigilantes organized by business had beaten them up with axe handles and run them out of town. The Seattle IWW decided to go to Everett in numbers to hold a rally to show their support for the striking shingle workers.
As a result, over 200 vigilantes or "citizen deputies", under the ostensible authority of Snohomish County Sheriff McRae, met in order to repel the "anarchists". As their ship drew into the dock, and someone on board threw a line over a bollard, McRae stepped forward and called out "Boys, who's your leader here?" The unarmed IWW men shouted back,
"We are all leaders here!"
McRae drew his pistol, told them he was the sheriff, he was enforcing the law, and they couldn't land here. There was a silence, then a Wobbly came up to the front and yelled out "the hell we can't." Just then a single shot rang out, followed by about ten minutes of intense gunfire. Passengers aboard the vessel rushed to the opposite side of the ship, nearly capsizing. The ship's rail broke as a result and a number of passengers were ejected into the water.
At the end of the mayhem, 2 citizen deputies lay dead. The IWW stated that as many as 12 IWW members were killed. There was a good likelihood that the citizen deputies casualties on the dock were caused not by IWW firing from the steamer, but from vigilante rounds from the cross-fire of bullets. The IWW workers that survived were tracked down and charged with murder….
LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL