On June 7, 1913, the Industrial Workers of the World presented the Paterson Strike Pageant at Madison Square Garden. It was a powerful and innovative use of the pageant form: On a huge stage, more than 200 feet long and capable of holding more than 1,000 performers, workers from silk factories at Paterson, New Jersey, recreated the central events of their strike, which was led by the IWW. The strike had begun in February. By June, two workers had been killed by random gunfire from police and private detectives hired by the mill owners. Nearly 1,500 strikers and sympathizers had been arrested. Among those arrested was the young journalist John Reed, who was later to write Ten Days That Shook the World.