Although she grew up in Centralia, Joan Kuder Bell said that until her junior year in high school, she knew little about what transpired on the city’s streets on Nov. 11, 1919, known alternately as the Centralia Tragedy and the Centralia Massacre.
On that day, violence erupted during the first Armistice Day parade, leaving four World War I veterans dead from gunshots and, later that night, a union activist lynched from a bridge by a mob. Vigilantes in a posse later killed a fifth man — one of their own — during a search for members of the Industrial Workers of the World.
Today, Bell knows all about what transpired that day after obtaining court records from the early 1920 trial at Montesano in Grays Harbor County (a venue change designed to provide a fair trial) and diligently transcribing the testimony. She said her Centralia College drama instructor Phillip Wickstrom had spoken of wanting to write a play based on the trial but never gained access to the records.
After retiring in 2018, Bell launched a search for the trial records, checking with the Library of Congress, the University of Washington, the American Legion Library in Indianapolis and elsewhere. She paid the UW Library Archives to put the files into an electronic format, then transcribed the text and shared excerpts on the Centralia Armistice Day Tragedy Facebook page.
“It took me nine months to first type it into the computer because it couldn’t be read electronically,” she said. “And then it took me another four months to do the little excerpts that went to the Facebook page.”
With her rich background in classical theatre — she and her husband, Richard, created The Upstart Crow Theatre Company in Boulder, Colorado, in 1980 and ran it until retiring in 2018 — she wrote a play called “And Justice Wept.”
As for how long it took to write the play, she said, “Well, from inspiration in late 2018 to last month.”
On April 25, about 75 people spent a Saturday afternoon in Corbet Theatre listening to a dramatic reading of the play by members of the Centralia College Theatre program. Another 46 watched online. Bell said many were friends from her 1970 Centralia High School graduating class eager to learn more about the Centralia Tragedy.
“There are still questions, and I think there always will be questions, on what absolutely happened,” Bell said during her introduction to the play.
She also explained her challenges in condensing a long convoluted trial into a two-hour play. “There were 11 who were charged with the crime of murdering Warren Grimm, and I’ve had to get it down to only four. It was a six-and-a-half-week trial, and I’ve got two hours to tell you.”
Two fictional narrators provided information and transitions about the setting and trial that began on Jan. 26, 1920, but the others portrayed actual historical figures — the prosecutor, defense attorney, judge, witnesses and defendants.
Although four WWI soldiers died that day — Lt. Warren O. Grimm, Arthur McElfresh, Ben Casagranda, and Dale Hubbard — the trial focused solely on the murder of Grimm.
Director Emmy Kreilkamp introduced those who were doing the dramatic reading, including narrators Janelle Lunzman and Angelina Smith:
• Dakota Fox as W.H. Abel, the special prosecutor;
• Thomas Lockhart as George F. Vanderveer, defense attorney;
• Joe Pettit as Grays Harbor County Superior Court Judge John Wilson;
• Maysie Bishop as both witness Thomas C. Morgan and defendant James McInerney;
• Spencer Walker as both witness Frank R.S. Van Gilder and IWW member Bret Faulkner;
• William Faussett as IWW secretary Britt Smith;
• and Gary Haas as both defendant Mike Sheehan and witness Dr. F.J. Bickford.
Thomas Perkins handled lights and sound.
I knew from my research in writing “Shattered Peace: A Century of Silence” that emotions ran high during the trial with juror intimidation playing a role. On the pretext of protecting the courthouse from angry IWW members, Republican Gov. Louis F. Hart sent a hundred soldiers from the Army National Guard’s 35th Infantry to camp on the lawn — coincidentally where jurors took exercise.
After hearing from 271 witnesses, many who testified that the Wobblies acted in self-defense by trying to protect their union hall from a planned raid, jurors convicted seven IWW members of third-degree murder on March 13, 1920. However, Judge Wilson said that charge didn’t exist, so jurors opted for second-degree murder but asked for leniency, saying the Wobblies conspired to protect their hall but never intended to murder Grimm. The testimony indicated some never even fired a gun.
But the conservative judge who had delivered eulogies at the funerals of the slain American Legionnaires sentenced the seven — Britt Smith, Eugene Barnett, Ora Commodore “O.C.” Bland, Bert Bland, John Lamb, James McInerney, and Ray Becker — to 25 to 40 years in prison, the maximum penalty allowed.
Acquitted in the trial were Centralia attorney Elmer Smith, who was disbarred, and IWW member Mike Sheehan, while Loren Roberts was found innocent by reason of insanity. All charges were dropped against Bret Faulkner. Smith toiled tirelessly until his death in 1932 to free the men whose sentences were commuted in 1933 by newly elected Democrat Gov. Clarence D. Martin. McInerney died behind bars and Becker refused to leave prison until receiving a full pardon. In 1939, his sentence was commuted to time served.
As I watched the trial unfold on the stage, I thought how hard it would have been to serve as a juror, weighing the testimony while trying to hold someone responsible for Grimm’s death. Did veterans in the parade attack the hall before shots were fired? Or were shots fired first by IWW members on Seminary Hill or in a nearby hotel, prompting soldiers to attack the hall? If jurors exonerated IWW members, would riots ensue? Would the National Guard retaliate? Would jurors face threats at home? If they convicted the Wobblies, would IWW members threaten them?
The program shared a special note from Bell: “The playwright would like to thank Centralia for being a wonderful place to grow up and Centralia College for a wonderful education. She would also like to thank the Boulder, Colorado, actors who participated in a previous reading of this work: ‘whose voices let me hear the characters outside of my head.’”
At the end of the play, the cast sang the trade union anthem “Solidarity Forever” written in 1915 by Ralph Chaplin.
Chatting before the play, Bell told me she enjoyed my novel on the Centralia Tragedy, which was nice to hear. I can reciprocate because I enjoyed her play, which left me wondering just what I would have done if I’d sat on that jury.
I do believe the title of her play was perfect: “And Justice Wept.”
Soldiers shot and killed on the streets of Centralia. A union activist lynched. John Haney killed by a posse. IWW members—some who may never have fired a gun—given long prison sentences for murder.
And nobody ever held to account for the lynching of Wesley Everest and fatal shooting of Haney.
Justice truly did weep.
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Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at memoirs@chaptersoflife.com.
