On the morning of November 3 at 9:30 AM, 200 to 300 white citizens of Tacoma gathered on Pacific Avenue. The mob had shortly thereafter grown to nearly 500 people. The mob marched from Seventeenth Street to Old Tacoma, stopping at each Chinese residence and business to tell the people within to pack and be ready for a wagon to come at 1:30 PM that day to take them away. They visited the homes and businesses of white citizens who had refused to fire their Chinese employees, delivering their message to them as well. The mob acted methodically and militaristically in their action to expel the Chinese population of Tacoma, and many of the men were armed with either guns or clubs.