1934 San Francisco riot

[Story]

The old (1912) San Francisco armory http://www.sfarmory.com/index.php at 14th & Mission was recently sold, so I googled some and found this lost history.

http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist4/maritime17.html

3 Killed, 31 Shot in Widespread Rioting
SCORES INJURED, GASSED AS POLICE BATTLE MOBS;
CARGO MOVING CONTINUES

Officers Pour Gunfire Into Crowd; Women, Children Periled by Bullets;
2000 National Guardsmen Get Arms

I was surprised by the number and type of troops the Governer called out -

Included in the 2000 or more men under mobilization orders are the 250th Coast Artillery, comprised of 795 men; the 159th Infantry, comprised of 1080 men and officers and commanded by Col. Wayne Allen of Oakland; the 184th Infantry, including companies of 160 men each in Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Napa and Gilroy and commanding by Col. Charles R. Blood, Sacramento.

Ordered ready for duty were 15 units of the 159th Infantry, four in San Francisco, seven in Oakland, three in Berkeley and one in Alameda. Included are a machine gun unit from Oakland, a medical company from Berkeley and a howitzer company from Oakland. Maj. Gen. David P. Barrows, former president of the University of California, will be second in command.

 

[Travis]

The old (1912) San Francisco armory http://www.sfarmory.com/index.php at 14th & Mission was recently sold, so I googled some and found this lost history.

http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist4/maritime17.html

3 Killed, 31 Shot in Widespread Rioting
SCORES INJURED, GASSED AS POLICE BATTLE MOBS;
CARGO MOVING CONTINUES

Officers Pour Gunfire Into Crowd; Women, Children Periled by Bullets;
2000 National Guardsmen Get Arms

I was surprised by the number and type of troops the Governer called out -

Included in the 2000 or more men under mobilization orders are the 250th Coast Artillery, comprised of 795 men; the 159th Infantry, comprised of 1080 men and officers and commanded by Col. Wayne Allen of Oakland; the 184th Infantry, including companies of 160 men each in Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Napa and Gilroy and commanding by Col. Charles R. Blood, Sacramento.

Ordered ready for duty were 15 units of the 159th Infantry, four in San Francisco, seven in Oakland, three in Berkeley and one in Alameda. Included are a machine gun unit from Oakland, a medical company from Berkeley and a howitzer company from Oakland. Maj. Gen. David P. Barrows, former president of the University of California, will be second in command.

Wow, thanks for the small piece of history.

 

[Lincsong]

Back in the days when San Francisco was a decent, clean place. This was the beginning of it's downfall.fftopic: Oh darn, don't want to get political.

 

[Feraud]

Amazing. Machine guns and howitzers at the ready for strikers...

 

[Story]

Amazing. Machine guns and howitzers at the ready for strikers...

Yeah, although I'd have to dig to see if they actually dragged out the French 75s and Brownings, or were just more bodies for the riot-control formations. [huh]

 

[Fletch]

I don't know a lot about the '34 actions in SF, but IIRC it either was or came very close to a general strike. No major US city had ever had one of these, and fear must have been running absolutely rampant among the middle-class and white-collar communities, which were much smaller in numbers than today.

There were various labor actions and walkouts throughout 1934, frequently violent. The taxi drivers struck in NYC that year – ride in a scab cab and you might see your driver hauled from the car and pulped, and you too, if you got too angry about it. The mills in Minneapolis, and the docks in Portland, OR, saw similar unrest.

 

[feltfan]

Included are a machine gun unit from Oakland, a medical company from Berkeley and a howitzer company from Oakland. Maj. Gen. David P. Barrows, former president of the University of California, will be second in command.[/I]

I wonder if we still have a machine gun unit and a
howitzer unit here in Oakland. I guess I'd better
behave myself. Figures Berkeley would send the medical
company, even then.

It's a crime that the armory, a beautiful building, sat vacant for
as long as it did. I'm not sure porno studio is really it's finest
use, but at least it will be preserved.

 

[Ben]

Armories

Armories like this exist in most of the major cities in the country and were all built around this time period so there would be troops near by to quell strikes.

Someof them are still used for National Guard staging areas, though a number of them have been converted to different uses.

Still, they are an interesting piece of history, especially in the realm of labor relations.

 

[Story]

Armories like this exist in most of the major cities in the country and were all built around this time period so there would be troops near by to quell strikes.

I've read that assertation, but that's actually the driving force from forty years earlier (post-Civil War). By the turn of the century, it was a convenience issue to build them nearest to the neighborhoods where the Guardsmen lived and large enough to train in, while also acting as a social focal point.

Here, read all about it:
https://www.denix.osd.mil/denix/Pub...vation/Legacy/Still-Serving/stillserving.html

 

[carebear]

I'd sure bring machine guns if I had an incipient general riot on my hands. The machine gun units didn't have the BAR, those were in the companies. These would be the big water cooled Maxims and Vickers, the heavys.

Remember they were worried about a socialist revolution on a national scale, nothing makes a Red mob leader reconsider kicking one off like the idea they aren't going to be able to scuttle out the back to fight another day.

(Of course, they just kicked the aforementioned revolution into super slo-mo and snuck it right on by... :eusa_doh: )

Sometimes the best way to deter widespread violence is a nice old school display of force. Too few bodies and you embolden the violent, even match can be taken as a challenge. Make it clear there's no chance of winning, people tend to find reasons to back down.

Not sure how useful howitzers would be in SF, in Iraq right now the arty guys are often getting stripped to get more infantry on the street.

 

[Story]

I'd sure bring machine guns if I had an incipient general riot on my hands. The machine gun units didn't have the BAR, those were in the companies. These would be the big water cooled Maxims and Vickers, the heavys..

By 1934, the .30 Vickers & Maxims were out of the system. The Machine Gun Companies were armed with the Browning 1917 watercooled .30.

 

[carebear]

By 1934, the .30 Vickers & Maxims were out of the system. The Machine Gun Companies were armed with the Browning 1917 watercooled .30.

Whatever

I was tired, leave me alone...

 

[Story]

Whatever
I was tired, leave me alone...

[Nelson Muntz Ha-Ha] When in doubt, coffee is your friend. :coffee: [/Nelson Muntz Ha-Ha]

 

[carebear]

[Nelson Muntz Ha-Ha] When in doubt, coffee is your friend. :coffee: [/Nelson Muntz Ha-Ha]

That's the problem, I was too distracted to even HAVE doubt.

Besides, there aren't but a dozen folks on here who would've caught it.

(unlike the other boards I frequent)

 

[gpwpat]

It's a crime that the armory, a beautiful building, sat vacant for
as long as it did. I'm not sure porno studio is really it's finest
use, but at least it will be preserved.
__________________

they aren't really doing that to the building are they?

If only they knew back then what would become of the building and the feelings of the area twards those who serve.

 

[Story]

they aren't really doing that to the building are they?
.

Yup. They ponied up $14.5 million for it, too.

 

[Lincsong]

Carebear is right. The powers that be didn't want a Red Revolution to spread. There's still a lot a these old geezer's around here who talk and act like the world has never changed and all they do is mention and talk about the "1934 General Strike":eusa_booh :eusa_booh It gets real tiresome after the third or fourth dozen time you hear it. "yeah, old man this country is so bad you only paid $9000 for your house".:rage:

 

[resortes805]

. . .Make it clear there's no chance of winning, people tend to find reasons to back down.

Ha Ha Ha...I'm glad you're not on my boss's negotiation team!

 

[DeeDub]

Where no mayor has gone before.

I was browsing the Internet Movie Archive this morning and ran across a film of San Francisco Mayor Angelo Rossi's call for order and an end to the 1934 riot. See http://www.archive.org/details/ssfROSSI

Mayor Rossi's speech reminds me of a bad Captain Kirk impression.

 

[carebear]

I was browsing the Internet Movie Archive this morning and ran across a film of San Francisco Mayor Angelo Rossi's call for order and an end to the 1934 riot. See http://www.archive.org/details/ssfROSSI

Mayor Rossi's speech reminds me of a bad Captain Kirk impression.

He was there first. Shatner was doing Rossi.

I've read transcripts of several, after the big fires and quakes in San Fran earlier in the century, where the mayor and governor announce that looters will be shot on sight. The strike must have been pretty orderly.