Seattle: 1900-1920 -From Boomtown, Through Urban Turbulence ...

124 Part Threewill be decided in Everett.” A contingent of about two hundred men set sail from Seattle onthe Verona. McRae’s heavily armed forces awaited their arrival. What followed is knownas the Everett Massacre.When the Verona was docked and the crew was preparing to lower the gangplank,Sheriff McRae, accompanied by Joe Irving and two deputies—one of whom, JeffersonBeard, would be shot through his back—approached the Verona. McRae shouted above thenoise of the crowd, “You can’t land here.” Who fired the first shot has not been determined,but more than one hundred men poured out of the warehouse. Many of these men hadweapons, as did the deputies who were on tugboats offshore, which strongly suggests thatthey were expecting an armed confrontation. Once the firing started, the only option for theVerona’s skipper was to crank up the engine and break the towline if possible; he succeeded.After the boat arrived in Seattle, a National Guard unitsent by Governor Lister escorted the passengers to jail.The number of casualties has never been determined, buton the deck of the Verona, four were dead and twentyeightwounded (one of whom later died). Many of thoseon the ship had jumped into the water and were shot atby the deputies on the tugboats; it is unclear how manydied or survived. Beard and Lieutenant Charles Curtisseem to have been the only fatalities among those on thedock, though many there suffered wounds.In Seattle, Mayor Gill, who was no friend of theWobblies or the unions, claimed that the authorities, notthe IWW, were responsible for the killings. He distributedtobacco to the Wobblies who had been transferred toSeattle jails. Seattleites became preoccupied with theirfate, organizing mass meetings in the city and elsewherein the state. The trial began in Judge James Ronald’scourt on 5 March. George F. Vanderveer defended theWobblies, earning his reputation as “counsel for thedamned.” One month after the trial started, the UnitedGeorge F. Vanderveer, “Counsel forthe Damned.”States declared war, and the trial faded from prominence. During this momentary diversion,the Wobblies were acquitted. Vanderveer would soon find himself in a less friendly courtdefending the Socialist Hulet Wells for distributing anticonscription literature before theSelective Service Act had even been passed.The many acts passed by the 1915 legislature preoccupied the pressure groupsas the November 1916 general election drew near. Altogether, there were nine pieces oflegislation awaiting referendum that were intended to overrule various reforms enactedby the 1909, 1911, and 1913 legislatures. Many clearly demonstrated the class bias of that“businessmen’s legislature.” Up for voter approval were bills, as noted previously, thatimpeded the direct legislation process, prevented municipal corporations from competingwith private ones, thwarted peaceful picketing, or applied prohibition laws unequally tosocial classes.For example, Referenda 3 and 4 required citizens to sign petitions only in the