Veteran wobbly, Irish-born fellow-worker, 40-year-old William McCay was shot in the back of the head running from a company gunman after a picket-line confrontation during a strike against the Bay City Lumber Co. on May 3, 1923. We Never Forget.

‘Gigantic Funeral Parade Honors Murdered Picket’ from Industrial Worker. (New) Vol. 5 No. 20. May 16, 1923.

Striking Workers of Aberdeen March Through Streets With Banner to Bury William McKay, Killed by Hired Gunmen of Bay City Lumber Co; Stirring Address at Grave.

ABERDEEN, Wash. Approximately 8,000 men, women and girls were out to the funeral of the latest martyr of the I.W.W., Fellow Worker McCay. The funeral procession marched through the main streets of the business section. A banner which read, “FELLOW WORKER WILLIAM MCKAY, MURDERED BY CAPITALISTIC GUNMEN OF THE BAY CITY MILL COMPANY THURSDAY, MAY 3; WE NEVER FORGET.”

Fellow Worker Tom Waldon spoke at the grave for 20 minutes on the theme of a revolutionary industrial union, and the necessity of organizing in it in order to preserve the lives of the workers.

The strike committee had given the funeral and the shooting, which was the cause of it, the utmost publicity. A large strike bulletin, printed in black capital letters, was distributed about the community. It reads:

“BAY CITY GUNMAN MURDERS UNARMED PICKET IN COLD BLOOD.

“Pickets who returned from the western penitentiary at Cosmopolis, where over 150 out of 600 of their inmates are on strike for the 8 hours, approached the Bay City Mill and were stopped about 200 yards from the mill gate by a gunman by the name of Green. The gunman started a vicious argument, and made two passes with a leather-bound sap. After hitting two pickets vicious blows, which glanced, he was stopped. Some of the pickets scattered. He drew a revolver, shot twice, and killed one picket, from the back, who was fully 100 feet from him when he fell. The bullet entered the back of his head and he died one hour afterwards. He was unarmed and brutally murdered from the back. The strike committee asks every fair-minded citizen to watch this case and compare it with the Centralia “Frame-up.” Most likely this vicious, red-handed murderer will be bought free by the Lumber Trust; the same Lumber Trust that put over the Centralia “Frame-up” with their giant slush fund. (Strike Committee of the I.W.W.)”

The funeral was held Tuesday, May 8, at 1:30 p.m., and the procession started from L. E. Elerding’s Undertaking Parlors.

Perhaps no event of the past week has been discussed to such an extent or is itself more appalling than the violent death of William J. McKay, aged 40 years, at the Bay City Mill, Thursday morning.

Several conflicting stories are current regarding the episode. We publish below an account as given by C.E. Barton, a resident of Cosmopolis and a World War veteran, who was an eye witness of the occurrence. Mr. Barton asserts that he is not a member of the I.W.W. and was therefore a disinterested spectator.

“In regard to the shooting of William McKay by E.L. Green, night watchman at the Bay City mill, I will say that I was an eyewitness, having been present, however, merely by accident. The mill officials had laid out a dead-line about 100 feet from the mill enclosure by dropping a few boards end to end in front of the entrance. It was along this line that the I.W.W. pickets were standing. Green was standing a short distance away, loudly taunting the crowd of men with abuse and vile language, including in his remarks something to the effect that no one belongs to the Industrial Workers’ Union but foreigners who cannot speak English. McKay stepped forward, at this, saying, “Do you mean that for me?” Green lunged forward and struck Mc Kay with a club. They clinched, wrestled on the ground for a few seconds until McKay, being urged to stop by his comrades, broke away, leaving Green in a sitting posture. McKay glanced back just in time to see Green draw a gun, but too late to defend himself. He started to run from the mill but turned and ran along the railroad track. The watchman’s first bullet went wild, but the second time he took deliberate aim over his left arm, felling the picketer with a shot through the head. McKay was about 60 feet from the line, and on railroad property, when he fell. (Signed) C. E. BARTON,(Cosmopolis Times).”

IN APPRECIATION

In the death of William McCay, the working class loses a staunch fighter. “Mac” was born in Ireland, coming to this country in his early youth. He worked for a while in Chicago, finally landing in Vancouver, B.C., where the writer met him about 12 or 14 years ago.

McCay was of a quiet, reserved disposition, yet withal, ready to speak and act when the occasion demanded talk and action. He was an old member of the I.W.W., taking part in the early struggles of the organization, when to be an articulate I.W.W. on the job was to not only encounter the hostility of the masters, but to endure the sneers and jeers of the ignorant slaves.

McCay took part in the famous unemployed demonstration on the Powell street grounds, Vancouver, B.C., January 12, 1912. He also took an active part in the Canadian Northern strike of that year. For his activities in the coast camps of British Columbia he was one of the first to be blacklisted. For a long while he stubbornly stood his ground with all the determination characteristic of his race, eventually having to quit the B.C. camps, owing to the strategic position and power of the masters.

“Mac” was a familiar figure at every important gathering of the workers in Vancouver. He was well posted in history, economics, and the labor movement in general, but, as between theory and practice, he was always mindful of the fact that in a crisis, a man of action is worth 10,000 philosophers.

He died, as he often expressed to the writer, “I would rather die fighting the masters than be killed slaving for them.” May his fighting spirit animate others.

“Workers of the world unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains, and a world to gain.” (R.H.)

The Industrial Union Bulletin, and the Industrial Worker were newspapers published by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) from 1907 until 1913. First printed in Joliet, Illinois, IUB incorporated The Voice of Labor, the newspaper of the American Labor Union which had joined the IWW, and another IWW affiliate, International Metal Worker.The Trautmann-DeLeon faction issued its weekly from March 1907. Soon after, De Leon would be expelled and Trautmann would continue IUB until March 1909. It was edited by A. S. Edwards. 1909, production moved to Spokane, Washington and became The Industrial Worker, “the voice of revolutionary industrial unionism.”

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