by Susan Couso
Click here to read Part One of this story.
The C.I.O/I.W.A. claims of signing up 600 new members during the first few days of the strike may have been exaggerated, but it was obvious that they were ‘making headway.”
On July 12th, the C.I.O./I.W.A. announced that a ‘Unity Meeting’ would be held that night. The crowd, estimated at between 1,400 to 2,000 people, pressed inside the hall, with hundreds more outside.
During the speeches and statements, a committee was formed consisting of ten I.W.A. members and ten I.E.U. members. This committee was to determine how to end the strike.
Despite the combined committee, it was uncovered that the Red River Company had decided days before to run the C.I.O. out of town.
According to Labor History, published by the Tamiment Institute, “The Walkers and their supervisory personnel belonged to a private club, the 30-30 Club, where, in the words of Ted Walker, company vice-president, “we go out and have target practice… to be prepared for communists.”
The owners and supervisors had actually planned a violent end for C.I.O./I.W.A.
Labor attorney Joseph Paul St. Sure later recalled, “It was all planned. By accident, the doors of the warehouse of the company were left open that night so people could go in and get axe-handles.
By pure coincidence, the company store had stocked up with deer rifles and ammunition in great supply the week before. By pure coincidence, the fire hoses were left on the ground with the water attached, so when the C.I.O. guys rallied to the support of the pickets, they were knocked down by streams from the fire hoses which were there. The whole thing was set up as a planned and rigged effort to drive these people out of town…”
The details of this assault on the C.I.O./I.W.A. supporters were worked out at an American Legion meeting in Chester the day before. On July 13th, company supervisors led their vigilantes into action with full support from the company and the Walker family.
At 5:00 a.m. the mill whistle sounded two blasts and the mill superintendent, Claude Parker, led a mass formation, armed with pick and axe handles, from the mill to attack the picketers. Ted and Fletcher Walker watched nearby as a firehose was attached to the hydrant and the full force of the hose was pointed at the picket line.
The picketers ran, followed by the vigilante group, and the fight became a mass of confusion. The town constable, James Small, with a few of his deputies tried to stay between the conflicting sides, but his salary and direction came from the company. As the picketers ran through the town, the fire hoses were repositioned to prevent their rallying. With few serious injuries, the picketers escaped. One worker said that he saw a group of men advancing with pick handles. He was asked which side he was on. With no hesitation, he decided that he did not belong with the C.I.O./I.W.A.
The vigilantes were in full control of the town and immediately began sealing it off from the outside world. All roads were barricaded and guarded. The hardware store, leased from the Red River Company, provided free ammunition to the group. Free coffee and cigarettes were distributed from the company’s Recreation Hall and company trucks provided transportation for the aggressors. The vigilantes were told to give their names to the company for payment.
Lassen County Sheriff Olin S. Johnson worked on the side of the company and ‘deputized’ 800 company men as ‘armed guards’. Johnson later called the governor and asked for help. Twenty-five National Guardsmen were sent from Lodi before Johnson sent word that they were no longer needed.
Even the highway patrol refused to remove the barricades or help the C.I.O./I.W.A. supporters in any way.
‘Kangaroo Courts’ were held from the bed of a company Chevrolet truck. As each man was brought to ‘trial’ he was accused, found ‘guilty’ by a voice vote from the crowd, and sentenced to banishment from town. Single men had to leave immediately and men with families were given two hours to get out of town. Between 500 and 600 men were banished from Westwood.
Families were rushed to the edge of town with only what they could easily grab. Most lost everything.
Then, to make matters worse, Ted Walker sent out a plea for help from Susanville, saying, “if there are any available men in Susanville with rifles…send them over as they are needed.” Lassen Lumber & Box Company sent 30 men to help.
As some of the C.I.O./I.W.A. supporters and their families reached Susanville, about 75 citizens assisted deputies in keeping them moving through town. No one supported them. No church groups, no civic organizations, no government offices. No one reached out to help. But two hundred Susanville residents pledged armed support to prevent their return.
The town of Chester imposed a ban on the sale of ammunition and liquor, and Red Bluff’s mayor refused to permit refugee gatherings.
The refugee C.I.O./I.W.A. supporters were forced to sleep in the forest near Payne’s Creek. There was no food, no blankets, no money, no supplies of any kind for 400 people of all ages.
The Redding newspaper labeled them as ‘agitators’, and with the C.I.O./I.W.A. president in the hospital in Red Bluff with a possible brain concussion and internal injuries received at the hands of the vigilantes, the refugees had no guidance. They dispersed in search of a place to survive.
Uneasiness over the numerous illegal acts committed by the Red River Company weighed heavily on Ted Walker. He turned to noted labor attorney Joseph Paul St. Sure for help. St. Sure agreed, but when he arrived in Westwood and learned the facts of the incident, he immediately counseled the Walkers to end the assault. The Walker family did not agree until St. Sure pointed out that it would take very little to make the disgruntled vigilante group turn on the company.
Finally, Willis Walker listened. He immediately called the Board of Directors, all family members, and set up a meeting. St. Sure told them what to do to best alleviate the situation: take down the barricades, call in all weapons, inform the sheriff that he is responsible for maintaining the law, get the town and mill back into operation, and offer to give all jobs back to the banished workers.
Within twenty-four hours the Walker family complied with every suggestion. But within a short time, they contacted the A.F. of L. and offered their willingness to have them form a local union and replace the now defunct I.E.U.
On Friday, July 15th, Edward D. Vandeluer, Secretary of the State Federation of Labor announced that he was immediately issuing an A.F. of L. charter to the Red River Lumber Company’s union.
By July 16th, three days after the riots, the former office of the I.E.U. was packed with men signing up for the new A.F. of L. union with Ken Merrill as president. The mill was back in operation.
The plight of the refugee C.I.O./I.W.A. supporters was not so easy. State authorities refused to help. Caravans of returning workers were stopped by Lassen County Sheriff Olin S. Johnson. Only families were allowed through. Single men were turned away “in the interests of law and order.” Those who did make it through were harassed and threatened.
Legal challenges to the Red River Lumber Company continued for years, stymied by the fact that every attorney in Lassen County had worked to represent the Red River Company at one time.
In February 1939, workers went on strike again to get their wages restored. The usual violence erupted and as the riots were quashed it became apparent that they had been politically motivated. The workers had grown weary of being used as pawns to further the interests of others.
But the last act of worker violence in Westwood got the attention of both State and Federal officials who stepped in and announced that they would operate on a policy of non-interference in union matters.
After more than a year of strife, the certification election was held on May 28, 1941. The A.F. of L.’s 1,059 votes over 432 votes against, removed the C.I.O/I.W.A. permanently. The Red River Lumber Company had complete union membership for its workers.
For all of their devious plots and violence the Walker family ended up with a closed shop. As attorney Joseph Paul St. Sure commented, “They learned the hard way, believe me.”
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