At Spokane,
in 1910, the jail was soon filled, and sixty prisoners went on a hunger
strike which cost several lives. In the lumber mills of Aberdeen,
South Dakota, explosions and riots occurred. In Hoquiam, Washington, a
twelve-foot stockade surmounted by barbed wire entanglements failed
to protect the mills from the assaults of strikers. At Gray's Harbor,
Washington, a citizens' committee cut the electric light wires to darken
the meeting place of the I.W.W. and then used axe handles and wagon
spokes to drive the members out of town. At Everett, Washington, a
strike in the shingle mills led to the expulsion of the I.W.W. The
leaders then called for volunteers to invade Everett, and several
hundred members sailed from Seattle. They were met at the dock, however,
by a large committee of citizens and were informed by the sheriff that
they would not be allowed to land. After some parley, the invaders
opened fire, and in the course of the shooting that followed the sheriff
was seriously wounded, five persons were killed, and many were injured.
The boat and its small invading army then returned to Seattle without
making a landing at Everett.

The I.W.W. found an excuse for their riotous action in the refusal of
communities to permit them to speak in the streets and public places.
This, they claimed, was an invasion of their constitutional right of
free speech. The experience of San Diego serves as an example of their
"free speech" campaigns. In 1910, I.W.W. agitators began to hold public
meetings in the streets, in the course of which their language increased
in ferocity until the indignation of the community was aroused. An
ordinance was then passed by the city council prohibiting street
speaking within the congested portions of the city, but allowing
street meetings in other parts of the city if a permit from the police
department were first obtained. There was, however, no law requiring
the issue of such a permit, and none was granted to the agitators. This
restriction of their liberties greatly incensed the agitators, who
at once raised the cry of "free speech" and began to hold meetings in
defiance of the ordinance. The jail was soon glutted with these apostles
of riotous speaking. In order to delay the dispatch of the court's
overcrowded calendar, every one demanded a jury trial. The mayor of
the town then received a telegram from the general secretary of
the organization which disclosed their tactics: "This fight will