Shelvy Daffron Memorial

From the book, History of the Seattle Waterfront

At the June 30 Joint Northwest Strike Committee meeting, Seattle delegate Shelvy Daffron reported, "There was Hell to pay out at Pier 41." Action had to be taken before hot-blooded pickets got themselves slaughtered attacking police positions.

The meeting temporarily adjourned while delegates hustled to Smith Cove.

That same evening Daffron accompanied striking sailors and longshoremen to Point Wells to check on a rumor that nonunion crews were about to sail two oil tankers. Thirty strikers rushed the main gate. On the other side guards waited with axe handles.

One of the guards yelled, "Let’s give it to them." As the two groups clashed, shots rang out from bushes behind the longshoremen.

Striker Shelvy Daffron cried out, "They got me boys! They got me!" Daffron died several hours later in a Seattle hospital of gunshot wounds in his back.

On July 6, 1,320 longshoremen and marine workers attended Daffron’s funeral in Eagles’ Hall. Forming a line four abreast, thousands marched behind the hearse and union banners to Lakeview Cemetery.

For over fifty-five years, Seattle longshoremen have placed a wreath on Daffron’s grave on July 5.

From the July 16, 1964 issue of the Local 19 newsletter The Hook;

The Pensioner's express and "The Hook" wholeheartedly agrees, concerning the disappointment in the increasingly lack of interest in Bloody Thursday. Only a handful of members attended the ceremony at Shelvy Daffron's grave and there are probably only a few members left who knew the Brothers that were killed on that day in 1934. That makes no difference. These ceremonies are not for the old friends of these men.

These ceremonies are a recognition of the fact, that on that day, out of the bloodshed and tear gas and lumped heads, the West Coast Longshoremen found unity which gave birth to the ILWU. The editors feel it certainly wouldn't hurt all of us to take a little time out in remembrance. it probably would do us a hellava lot of good, in fact, to remember that longshoremen didn't have what we now enjoy and that it wasn't handed to us on a silver platter.

Wreath Laying Ceremony

Longshoremen who Lost their Lives on the Seattle Waterfront

William Kade	1886	Magnus Ulxickson	1922
Henry Jackson	1886	E. J. Sorenson	1922
Pat Priestly	1886	H. W. Curtis	1922
George Water	1886	Thomas McCarthy	1923
Angus Johnson	1886	James Henry	1925
Hans Hanson	1886	Robert A. Pelky	1925
Milton McAuley	1887	Peter V. Larson	1926
John C. Smith	1890	Arthur Saboc	1927
Gus Wishman	1908	Hans Hanson	1927
Orlando Pittman	1908	John Tangye	1928
John Ryan	1910	Shelvy Daffron	1934
Peter Kavenaugh	1911	Olaf Helland	1934
Steven Peseta	1913	Axel Bruno Anderson	1936
J. Milmoe	1915	Oscar D. Silow	1937
Harry Ragan	1916	John M. Reilly	1938
Joe Goldsby	1916	Percy F. Norris	1939
A. G. Bryant	1917	Wales C. Fenton	1943
Samuel Grover	1918	Tom Rawson	1959
Charles Hallier	1918	Otto L. Blosi	1960
T. Thompson	1918	Dallas Schachere	1962
Gust Nelson	1918	John Josvold	1962
Fred Jackson	1918	Donald Scribner	1963
Harry Krise	1918	Dagfin Petterson	1964
Gilbert Halverson	1918	Ralph Sharar	1965
Stockton Rumsey	1918	LeRoy Parr	1969
James G. Carlson	1919	Olimpio Leonardo	1972
Martin Burns	1919	John W. Miskey	1972
Edward C. Grampie	1919	Elmer Knutson	1972
John Miller	1920	Douglas Farnan	1976
Anatone Olson	1921	James R. Kennedy	1984
Alfred C. Jack	1921	Joseph Aliseo	2007
S. C. Sullivan	1921	Dan Miller	2007
Fred W. Wilford	1921	Paul Stuart	2012
Erling Johnson	1922	Michael G. Freeman	2022

Final Dispatch

Bloody Thursday - What it Means