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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

100 years ago in Spokane: Local labor leader John Grady named national chief of the Wobblies

Two years earlier, Grady had been arrested in Spokane as the local “ringleader” of the Wobblies.  (S-R archives)
By Jim Kershner The Spokesman-Review

John Grady, a well-known Spokane figure, was elevated to the top spot of a national political organization.

However, the organization was the Industrial Workers of the World – the Wobblies – so the Spokane civic establishment was not exactly filled with pride.

Grady was remembered in Spokane partly for his labor organizing and partly for his frequent appearances in court. Two years earlier, he had been arrested in a police raid and identified as the local Wobblies’ “ringleader” and “kingpin.”

Grady was now in Chicago where he was named “national chief” of the Wobblies. He told reporters that the Wobblies’ membership numbered 1.25 million.

Grady replaced William “Big Bill” Haywood, who was a fugitive from justice in the Soviet Union.

From the zoo beat: The Spokane Daily Chronicle sent a photographer to the Manito Park Zoo in an attempt to coax the zoo’s new baby kangaroo out for a photo. The photographer was unsuccessful but did manage to shoot a photo of the “kiddie kangaroo” peeking out from his mother’s pouch.

In a caption, the Chronicle imagined that “Ma Kangaroo” was saying, “No, you must stay in the house because the grass is too damp for you to be playing outside.”