Leading Figures
Leading Figures
Sheriff Donald McRae
Snohomish County Sheriff Donald McRae is most well-known for his efforts to thwart IWW organizing in Everett before, during, and after the Everett Massacre. What remains perplexing about McRae’s role in these events is his pro-labor and politically progressive background. Prior to his election as Sheriff, McRae worked as a shingle weaver and was a member of the Shingle Weaver’s Union in Everett. When he ran for Sheriff in the 1912 and 1914 elections, he did so on the Progressive Party ticket with strong support from the local labor community. Even after the Shingle Weaver’s Union strike was underway beginning in May of 1916, McRae contributed money to the strike fund.
Why, given this background, did McRae then fight so relentlessly against the IWW? Perhaps it was pressure from Everett business owners, already unhappy with the striking shingle workers. Also likely was fear of the IWW’s radical political agenda and a possibly xenophobic perception of the Wobblies, comprised largely of immigrants, as strangers invading the town. The truth of the matter is unclear.
Following the Everett Massacre, McRae grew paranoid and reclusive. After his wife’s suicide in the early 1920s, Governor Roland H. Hartley found McRae a small government job in Olympia. This is the last of what is known of the former sheriff’s life. As of today, there is no known record of when or how he died.
Ernest P. Marsh (c. 1878-1958)
Ernest P. Marsh, originally from the Great Lakes region, moved to Everett, Washington in the early 1900s. Marsh, a former mill worker, led multiple efforts to organize shingle weavers and timber workers, including the American Federation of Labor-affiliated International Shingle Weaver’s Union in Everett that went on strike in May of 1916. As Executive Secretary of the local Shingle Weaver’s Union in Everett and Chairman of the Shingle Weaver’s Strike Committee in 1916, Marsh was a major advocate for the needs of shingle weavers and other timber industry workers, including improved safety conditions, the eight hour workday, and higher wages. He also served as President of the Everett Trades Council and the Washington Federation of Labor as well as Editor of the Everett Labor Journal for many years.
Described by historians as a moderate trade unionist, Marsh was pro-labor but a mainstream labor unionist skeptical of socialism and the IWW’s efforts to organize all workers under “one big industrial union.” Unlike Sheriff McRae, however, Marsh was not a proponent of violence as a means of stymying IWW activity. He attempted to organize a mass meeting with the Wobblies after they were attacked in Beverly Park on October 30, 1916 and spoke out against the bloodshed on November 5 in a report to the Washington State Federation of Labor.
Marsh did not stay in Everett, moving elsewhere in 1925 to work for the federal government as a labor mediator. Following World War II, he also worked as advisor to the Crown Zellerbach Corporation. Marsh passed away in 1958.
References:
Anderson, Matthew. “Everett Massacre Aftermath: The Battle to Control the Story.” IWW History Project, Mapping American Social Movements, University of Washington. 2016, http://depts.washington.edu/iww/everett_story.shtml.
Clark, Norman H. Mill Town: A Social History of Everett, Washington, from Its Earliest Beginnings on the Shores of Puget Sound to the Tragic and Infamous Event Known as the Everett Massacre. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1970.
Riddle, Margaret. “Everett Massacre (1916).” HistoryLink.org. December 18, 2011, http://www.historylink.org/File/9981.