Approximately 50 union members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) gathered in downtown Centralia’s George Washington Park on Sunday, June 23, to dedicate a new Union Victims monument to the IWW members of the Centralia Tragedy of 1919.
IWW member Dave Tucker started the ceremony thanking the Centralia City Council for unanimously approving the monument’s design in 2022 and allowing them to place it in the park next to The Sentinel, a statue dedicated on Nov. 11, 1924, to the four American Legion members killed during the Centralia Tragedy.
The 7,500-pound granite pedestal, which serves as the monument’s base, was produced by Centralia Monument and installed at the park last week, on Tuesday, June 18.
“(Centralia Monument) cut a deal, and they were very happy to make this monument because they also made this one 100 years ago,” Tucker said, pointing at The Sentinel. “The word we got from ownership of the Centralia Monument company was they wanted to come full circle and participate in making things right.”
Centralia Monument matched both the color of the granite and the style in which it was carved to the same color and style used for The Sentinel. Additionally, members of the Laborers Local 252 Union apprentice program poured the monument’s base.
Tucker thanked all those who came together and raised more than $20,000 to fund the Centralia Monument Committee in their efforts to build this new monument.
Designed by the IWW Centralia Monument Committee, the Union Victims monument was funded by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations Central Labor Council, the Washington state Council of Fire Fighters, other local unions and the IWW’s branches and administration, along with contributions from over 200 individual workers from around the U.S.
Tucker also thanked the Vietnamese quarry workers and those who helped ship the stone across the Pacific Ocean.
It was on Nov. 11, 1919, during an Armistice Day parade in Centralia following the end of World War I in 1918, when, according to some accounts, Legionnaires from the local American Legion post halted in front of the IWW’s union hall.
Though it’s debated to this day what happened — with Legionnaires claiming the IWW opened fire first while IWW members, also known as Wobblies, maintaining they only fired once the attack on their union hall began — a skirmish ensued between the two sides, resulting in four Legionnaires being killed, one member of an ensuing posse being killed by friendly fire, one IWW member being lynched and eight more charged with murder.
As for what happened on that fateful day in 1919, Tucker shared details he felt have been left out of most historical accounts.
“Westley (Everest) was pulled out of jail the night of Nov. 11 and lynched. That’s a well-known story,” Tucker said. “What’s not known so well is he was probably mistaken for the (IWW) branch secretary, Britt Smith, who was a much more visible member. Westley had only been in town for a week or so when this happened.”
And though it isn’t confirmed, some believe Everest, dressed in his old World War I U.S. Army uniform, actually attended the meeting where the raid on the IWW hall was being planned. A previous raid destroying the IWW’s old union hall had already been carried out in 1918.
Because he was acting as a spy for the IWW, that may have put a target on his back, IWW members theorize.
“There’s also a thought that Everest was recognized and then targeted because he knew the inside scoop. He knew who was who and what was what,” Tucker said.
Despite abducting Everest and lynching him, along with accidentally killing a member of their own posse named John Haney, no American Legion members or anyone else involved in the raid on the IWW hall were ever charged.
The fate of the remaining IWW members
Of the eight IWW members charged with murder, all were convicted of second-degree murder and spent at least 10 years in prison. The attorney who defended them, Elmer Smith, was disbarred.
The IWW members convicted included Britt Smith, Eugene Barnett, Ray Becker, Bert Bland, Ora Commodore “O.C.” Bland, John Lamb, James McInerney and Loren Roberts.
According to Tucker, Britt Smith, the branch secretary, was eventually paroled in 1933 and moved to Tenino, where he would reside until his death in 1963. He is buried in Tenino’s North Grove Cemetery.
Barnett, a miner, was granted a six-month leave from his sentence in 1931 to care for his dying wife, and Washington’s governor at the time, in a bid to bolster his reelection chances, allowed Barnett to remain a free man after his wife’s death. He became a rancher and songwriter, and he was buried in Clarkston after he died in 1973.
Becker, whose legal name was Ralph Burgdorf, had only arrived in Centralia two days before the Centralia Tragedy. He refused parole and demanded a full pardon and apology.
Ultimately, he served the longest sentence, which was commuted to time served in 1939. Becker was then released and moved to Vancouver to run a crafts studio. He died in 1950 and was buried in Chicago, Illinois.
Bert Bland was a logger who was eventually paroled in 1933 after his fellow logger and older brother, O.C. Bland, paroled in 1931.
O.C., a Centralia native, would remain at his Centralia home until his death in 1938. He is buried in Centralia’s Mountain View Cemetery. Bert moved to Wisconsin after his parole and died the same year as his brother after being struck by a car. He is buried in Baraboo, Wisconsin.
Following his release from prison in 1933, Lamb returned to Centralia and became a massage therapist. He died in 1949 after saving his wife, children and grandchildren from a house fire and is buried in Centralia’s Mountain View Cemetery.
McInerney, an Irish immigrant born in 1885, was the oldest of those convicted. A logger, McInerney died while still in prison in 1930.
Elmer Smith organized his funeral procession, which was said to be among the largest Centralia has ever seen, with over 2,000 people in attendance. He was buried at Centralia’s Mountain View Cemetery.
Roberts, also a logger, was released from prison in 1930 following a sanity hearing. He returned to being a logger and formed a new union, the International Woodworkers of America. Roberts passed away in 1976 and was buried in Grand Mound.
After being disbarred and losing his law practice, Elmer Smith spent the rest of his life trying to secure the release of the eight men convicted and correct the historical record surrounding the Centralia Tragedy, which through history has all been called the Centralia Massacre, though that name is considered offensive and unfair by members of the IWW and others.
“He was the one who advised the Wobblies they had a legal right to defend their hall because the Wobs knew what was happening,” Tucker said.
Although he was readmitted to the Washington State Bar in 1931, his health and personal life had been ruined during his attempts to continue defending the IWW members. He died in 1932 and was buried in Centralia’s Mountain View Cemetery.
As for correcting the historical record, Tucker continued Elmer Smith’s efforts.
“Even the American Legion now says tragedy. They no longer use that ‘M’ word, which is freighted with blame and hyperbole,” said Tucker. “It was a tragedy for the families on both sides, the Wobs and the Legion men who were killed attacking the hall. It was a tragedy for the whole community.”
While the IWW sent Gov. Jay Inslee a request for posthumous pardons for all eight union members late last year, Tucker said he has yet to respond to the request.
“If Jay Inslee comes to your town, go to his event, raise your hand and ask him, ‘Governor Inslee, what about that posthumous pardon petition that the IWW sent you?’ Tucker said. “... The only way we’re going to get it done is with public pressure.”
Despite choosing to convict all eight men of second-degree murder, five jurors came out following the trial and signed sworn affidavits stating the convicted men were actually not guilty.
They claimed some jurors went into the case already believing the IWW men were guilty, important witnesses were not allowed to testify, certain evidence against the Legionnaires was excluded and even some members of the prosecution spread rumors amongst jurors of an imminent attack on the courthouse by the IWW. Despite their signed affidavits, no new trial was ever organized.
To learn more about the Centralia Tragedy of 1919, visit https://bit.ly/3s6t1RR.
