The Colonel and His Friends: A Suppressed Play
- [Seattle: 1913]
[Seattle: 1913]. Octavo. Staple-bound pamphlet; 32pp. Mild external wear, with a bit of sunning at bound edge; internally clean, tight and unmarked. Very Good or better overall.
Scarce Socialist three-act drama based written in response to the Potlach Riot of 1913, when a mob of nativist citizens attacked the Seattle headquarters of the Socialist Party of America and the I.W.W., completely destroying both premises and setting fire to literature and documents. Wells, chair of the local Socialist Party and Editor of the local weekly Socialist Voice, was a first-hand participant in the events. The play uses direct extracts from the subsequent newspaper coverage and court proceedings, lampooning many of the individuals involved using thinly-disguised pseudonyms, including Publisher of the Seattle Times Alden Blethen, here presented as "Col. A.J. Blather" of the "Seattle Crimes." Ongoing tension following the episode resulted in cancellation of the play's one scheduled performance, at the Moore Theater near the Pike Place Market. Rare in commerce; OCLC notes about a dozen locations.
Scarce Socialist three-act drama based written in response to the Potlach Riot of 1913, when a mob of nativist citizens attacked the Seattle headquarters of the Socialist Party of America and the I.W.W., completely destroying both premises and setting fire to literature and documents. Wells, chair of the local Socialist Party and Editor of the local weekly Socialist Voice, was a first-hand participant in the events. The play uses direct extracts from the subsequent newspaper coverage and court proceedings, lampooning many of the individuals involved using thinly-disguised pseudonyms, including Publisher of the Seattle Times Alden Blethen, here presented as "Col. A.J. Blather" of the "Seattle Crimes." Ongoing tension following the episode resulted in cancellation of the play's one scheduled performance, at the Moore Theater near the Pike Place Market. Rare in commerce; OCLC notes about a dozen locations.