Bill Summary and Fact Sheet for An Act Designating a Plaque for Edward Cohen

Bill Lead Sponsors: Representative Steven Walsh, 11^th Essex

Bill Number: HB3538

Bill Co-Sponsors:

SHOTS, A SCUFFLE, FADED MEMORIES

Published on 08/29/1999.

SOURCE: By John Laidler, Globe Correspondent

On the afternoon of Dec. 5, 1907, Edward Cohen, a Lynn resident and the president of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Federation of Labor, sat chatting with two colleagues in the lobby of the executive office in the State House as they awaited an audience with Governor Curtis Guild Jr.

Suddenly the room erupted into pandemonium. A deranged man who had walked into the office moments earlier pulled out a revolver and began firing at the three labor leaders. Cohen, struck in the head by a bullet, died the next day.  The two others were wounded but survived.

Cohen's assignation, which made banner headlines at the time, dealt a blow to the state's early labor movement.  But with the passage of time, both the killing and Cohen have largely been in Massachusetts, even among union activists.

Now an effort is underway to revive the memory of the then 49-year-old labor leader and the tragic circumstances of his death.  The state AFL-CIO and the Labor Center at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst are seeking passage of a bill that would erect a commemorative plaque or marker at the State honoring Cohen.

Robert J. Haynes president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, says it is a "tremendous oversight that Edward Cohen, a man who dedicated his life to working men and women of this Commonwealth and subsequently lost it in a freak accident at the State House only steps away from the governor, has received little or no recognition in the 91 years since his death."

The campaign to honor Cohen, a native of England who resided in Lynn for the last 15 years of his life, has a special resonance among labor officials north of Boston.  Before reaching the top leadership post in the AFL, Cohen was a key North Shore labor official.

"He is part of the contributions that immigrant workers from Lynn have made to the labor movement in the Unite States over the generations," said Jeffery C. Crosby, president of the North Shore labor Council and Local 201 of the International Union of Electrical Workers, which represents workers at the General Electric plant in Lynn.

The bid to erect the plaque is part of an overall project by the state AFL-CIO and the four labor studies programs of the University of Massachusetts to draw attention to sites around the state that have significance in the history of the state's labor movement according to Labor Center director Tom Juravich, who is taking part in the project.

The current goal is to erect four plaques, Juravich said.  In addition to the one for Cohen, plaques would be installed at sites in Holyoke, Lawrence or Lowell, and New Bedford.

 Juravich said the intent is not simply to recall historic episodes in labor and industrial history but "to make some connections with current workers and current struggles."

The project grows out of an earlier state funded venture by Juravich and two others to write a book chronicling the state's labor struggles.  The book "Commonwealth of Toil," was published in 1996 by the University of Massachusetts Press.

Born in London in 1858, Cohen worked as a cigar maker, belonging to the union that represented workers skilled in that trade.  At the age of 2, he immigrated to the United State and married soon afterward.  He settled in the Boston area, working at a cigar factory in the West End.

By the early 1890's, Cohen had moved to Lynn, where he became active in local union efforts.  He was elected president of the Lynn Central Labor Union and third vice president of the Massachusetts AFL.  In 1904, he represented Lynn at the state AFL convention.

At the 1906 convention, Cohen was elected president of the state AFL.  His wife, whose first name was not given in press accounts at the time, served as president of the Women's Labor League in Lynn.  The couple lived on Ingalls Street and had eight children.

According to Juravich, by the time Cohen joined its leadership ranks, the state labor movement already had begun focusing on the need for legal protections for workers.  Legislation establishing minimum safety standards was enacted in the early 1890's, followed by some child labor restrictions in 1899 and 1900.

Cohen continued to push for protections of child workers with some notable success.  In 1906, a bill was passed that forbade children under 16 from working in a manufacturing establishment unless they could read and write.  That same year, a bill was adopted that barred children under 14 from working during school hours.  Cohen was also an early champion of legislation to establish a system of workers compensation.

On the fateful day in 1907, Cohen, Dennis D. Driscoll, secretary-treasurer of the state AFL, and Arthur M. Huddell, a labor organizer, had planned to meet with Gov. Guild about the case of a labor man who they believed had been unjustly jailed for murder.

As they waited in the governor's outer office, a man later identified as John A. Steele f Everett entered the room and asked to see the governor, according to press accounts at the time.  Informed the governor was in a meeting and could not be disturbed, Steele looked about the room and noticed the three labor men, who were apparently strangers to him.  Advancing toward them, he removed his revolver from is pocket and opened fire.

AN ACT RELATIVE TO DESIGNATING A PLAQUE FOR EDWARD COHEN

There will be a plaque, located in the vicinity of the Governor's Office, to be designated by the State Art Commission as designated by Chapter 6 of the General Laws, in memory of Edward Cohen, the President of the AFL from 1906 until his death in 1907. While lobbying Governor Curtis Guild, Mr. Cohen was shot by an assassin whose intended victim was the Governor.