Let’s remember when the Potlatch Riots began in Seattle, on this day in 1913 (July 17)

Potlatch parade, Seattle, Washington, c. 1912. Looking north on Second Avenue; the first intersection at right would be Second and Madison. See our website for the story of a riot that took place during the 1913 Potlatch Festival. Item 77236, Don Sherwood Parks History Collection (Record Series 5801–01), Seattle Municipal Archives

It was a more innocent time 106 years ago, or something like that. A fistfight led to a riot, as is wont to happening on occasion.

Per HistoryLink:

On July 17, 1913, two seemingly unrelated events during Seattle’s Potlatch Days festival — a fistfight and a speech — kick off a chain of events that will lead to violent confrontations in downtown Seattle. The events are linked by The Seattle Times, under publisher Alden Blethen (1845–1915), in an attack on Mayor George Cotterill (1865–1958), the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and anarchists. The effect is to precipitate riots and provide an unsettling preview of the post-World War I nationwide Red Scare.

But wait, there’s more.

The fistfight erupted when three artillerymen in town for the Potlatch, the precursor to today’s Seafair, confronted an IWW street speaker. The Times reported that the street speaker, a woman holding forth on Washington Street near Occidental Avenue, had “insulted their uniforms.” Two sailors joined in the resulting tussle with the crowd. The incident fed fears, inflamed by Blethen and the Times, of “radical elements.” The soldiers and sailors suffered minor wounds before a riot call was turned in and police arrived to disperse the crowd.

Fun!

Read more here:

Fistfight kicks off Seattle Potlatch riots on July 17, 1913.